Ever notice how Marcia Brady kinda loses steam in the last season of The Brady Bunch's opening credits?

Get a little existential with Marcia, Marcia, Marcia ...

The opening credits of The Brady Bunch are as iconic as it gets in classic TV history. It's been parodied over and over again, and if you were a fan of the show, you likely loved how nearly every season updated the sequence, so you could watch the kids grow up (and Mike's hair 'fro out!) in those little boxes that signified the beginning of the idyllic family sitcom.

Watching the opening credits from season to season, you'll notice small changes. Cindy's ribbons change colors. Bobby's shirts shift in styles. Peter's hair gets a little wild. But we were watching closely going season to season when we noticed that there's something a little off about the final season's opening credits sequence, and it all has to do with Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, of course.

Marcia's square is located in the upper left corner, and for the first four seasons, if you watch the opening sequence, Maureen McCormick played the role with all smiles, looking down and to the corner at all her younger siblings, and occasionally glancing over at Carol. She's cute as a button any time her face lights up, so it was a little distracting when we got to the fifth season opening credits and noticed a slight shift in attitude in Carol's oldest daughter.

Watch the opening credits of any fifth season episode and you'll see what we mean. There's a good long moment where Marcia's eyes seem to go a little vacant, as she stares off into space, rather than glancing around at her fellow castmates. The sides of her face usually pushing her cheeks up into a great big grin go a little slack, and the corners of her mouth even slightly downturn. It makes us wonder: What was Marcia really thinking?

Of course, Marcia as a character is known to be a little spacy every now and again, especially when she has a crush, so perhaps this little blip is meant to be entirely in character. Your guess is as good as ours, but for now, scroll through the animated GIFs below to watch Marcia kinda lose a little steam in the last season's opening credits for The Brady Bunch.

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Season 1

 

Seasons 2 & 3

 

Season 4

 

Season 5

 
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33 Comments

MattOresko 24 months ago
Well Greg got stoned on the set. She may have partaken as well.
ZoSodiac 39 months ago
I think cowgirl is fanning her trigger?
EricFuller 39 months ago
Season 3 was the hot period for Maureen. Season 4 and 5 was Jan's (Eve Plumb) time for hotness.
Dario 40 months ago
I think she bored with doing that sequence when she film it for the 5th season. I can't really fault her for that!
BunnyEars65 62 months ago
I believe she was just simply maturing (at this point in her life). The same probably be said for Jan, Greg, Peter....
Dario 68 months ago
Perhaps she wanted to look more mature by Season 5?!?
RedSamRackham 68 months ago
By final season all 6 Brady Kids were outgrowing their cuteness & show was being clobbered in ratings by NBC's Sanford & Son. Robbie Rist was brought in as Cousin Oliver in a desperate attempt to bring new life to the failing sitcom but writers/producers failed to use Robbie to his full potential so often he was merely seen hanging out with Bobby & Cindy but having no significance beyond just being there. ☺
ELEANOR 68 months ago
Can you picture it? Mo (that was her nickname) has just finished her last scene for the day and has "left" Marsha in the dressing room. She is rehearsing not her scenes for tomorrow, but rumors that this is the last season. Bob is getting more and more antsy, and they're running out of story lines. As she is just about to get in her car to go home and suddenly, the AD calls Mo over and says, "we need the opening credits video." They shoot it and Mo is caught spacing out.
George 68 months ago
Maureen McCormick was most likely on drugs!
KathyMcKinny RogerKaputnik 52 months ago
You OBVIOUSLY don't know much about Mo.....she WAS ON DRUGS.....she has said as much in books and interviews!!!
SheriHeffner 68 months ago
Marcia is really not one of my favorite characters. But she looks as if she's thinking "Oh BOY! Another year with Bob and Sherwood at one another's throats. But I'll just try to smile and look happy for yet another year in the so called happy family." They say Bob was a tyrant. Sherwood should have replaced him after the pilot with the other guy they considered to play Mike.
RedSamRackham SheriHeffner 68 months ago
If I were a teen Greg Brady & Marcia Marcia Marcia were my step-sister I'd never leave the house! ☺
Claude 68 months ago
The answer is simple..... She was Stoned out of her mind!
KathyMcKinny RogerKaputnik 52 months ago
BOY.....the truth seems to really HURT you........toughen up you sissy boy
sd81 68 months ago
it just reminds me of the barbie on the first Toy Story movie blooper. " is everyone gone? oh my cheeks are getting so tired from all that smiling!"
ClaudiaLNowak 68 months ago
I do not get Brady Bunch I like Brady Bunch but said it
MaryHelen 68 months ago
sound just like the current media making a mountain-- exaggerating -- it's just normal teen-age angst we all went through
Michael51202800 69 months ago
I just think it was just Marcia becoming a lady. It wasn't intentional!!!
RottyAngel 69 months ago
Hey, I give the creative team at METV kudos for coming up with all these quizzes and games and little itsy trivia nobody else would notice. It shows they are on their toes for noticing little things like this. They are doing what they are being paid to do folks! :)
daDoctah RottyAngel 68 months ago
If MeTV ever decides to run "Dallas", I hope they run an article pointing out that every season's opening credits manages to put Patrick "Bobby" Ewing in the swimming pool at some point. I figure it was a holdover from his previous series role on "The Man from Atlantis". (And recall that when he came back from the "all last season was just a dream" thing, his first appearance was in a shower, once again soaking wet.)
KathyMcKinny daDoctah 52 months ago
he was the beefcake of the show.....gotta keep him half naked WHENEVER possible.......hahahahaha
Geoff 69 months ago
It's like this,Fifty thousand year's from now The Brady Bunch will still be watched and remembered as one of the best,Whatever problems any of the cast may have had in their personal lives is not for us to judge.The Brady Bunch show was the very best and Marcia's place as a role model for other young girls was second to none.I do not care about the stories,though true some of it may be it is not for me to cast anything negative about The Brady Bunch T.V. family.It gave me a great moral compass as a young boy and helped me so many times in my young life.I love the Brady Bunch and I always will as so many of my baby boomer generation also do.The Brady Bunch is forever.Semper Fi.
Gregory 69 months ago
She was sexually abused.
cperrynaples Gregory 69 months ago
That was uncalled for! However, I will say that McCormick was the Jennifer Aniston of the Brady kids because of her stand-offish attitude! Notice that until the renovation show was announced, she refused to do reunions for nearly 30 years!
BrianMoore cperrynaples 69 months ago
She did do the Brady Bunch Variety Hour, though.
KipDon Gregory 69 months ago
Sexually Abused?
Oh man... 'Whatchoo talkin' bout Willis! I lost my virginity to Marcia!
SheriHeffner cperrynaples 68 months ago
Yes, I loved how the other cast members threw stuff at the picture of Marcia in her famous "Oh my NOSE!" on the late Florence Henderson's birthday on The Talk in I believe it was 2015? remember even the late Ann B Davis wished Florence a happy birthday on a monitor. MIss high-and-mighty Mccormick was too good to come on the show with the rest of the cast.
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