Barry Williams Is Still Bitter About This ‘Brady Bunch’ Episode
Did you know that there is an episode from the fifth season of The Brady Bunch that drives Barry Williams absolutely nuts to this day? In fact, it’s fair to say that he’s somewhat bitter about the whole deal — which also has everything to do with his TV sister, Marcia, played by Maureen McCormick.
This tale comes courtesy of The Real Brady Bros. podcast, which is hosted by Christopher Knight and, Greg Brady himself, Barry Williams. Every now and again, the fellers just answer questions, and this was one of those episodes. As they talked, Barry declared that “The Driver’s Seat,” the 15th episode to be broadcast during the Bradys’ fifth and final season on ABC, was one of the most cringe-worthy and certainly one of his least favorite.
In this episode, Greg and Marcia make a bet about who is the better driver. To decide, both Brady kids must drive through a pylon-filled obstacle course. The winner would be determined by who negotiated the pylons best — and if both did a good job, the final champion would be decided by who could park closest to a pylon with an egg balanced on top without disturbing it.
Everett Collection
Marcia goes first in the competition, casually negotiating all of the cones without hitting any of them. Then, she parks the car within an inch and a half of the egg. Everyone in the family is jubilant, except for Greg, who cannot believe his eyes. When Greg has his turn, he also does a great job maneuvering around the cones, but at the very end, he chokes and hits the gas instead of the brake pedal; the end result is a very unfortunate broken egg.
Now, it’s important to note that Barry wasn’t bothered by the fact that Maureen McCormick’s character, Marcia, won the contest. Instead, what really irks him was how she won. He told the show’s writers at the time that no one would believe Greg was going to somehow confuse the gas pedal for the brake pedal. It just didn’t make sense to him then, and because he’s still bringing it up, I think it’s fair to say that he’s still confused by it now.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2023, Barry joked about the ongoing rivalry he still has with his TV sister. When Maureen competed in Dancing With the Stars in 2016, she went home during week seven. Williams, who survived until week eight, told the outlet he wanted to make it at least farther than his TV sister to settle a score dating back to their days on The Brady Bunch.
“I have to do that,” he said. “I lost that egg on the cone driving contest, and she never let me live it down.”
Remind 
Favorite TV Families
December 2020
Who was your favorite TV family? We cover the decades, from the Cleavers, Waltons and Brady Bunch, to the Ewings and much more!
Buy This Issue