"You're Never Too Old" is the name of an episode of iconic sitcom The Brady Bunch that aired for the first time on March 9th, 1973.

My family was gathered around the TV because, well, it was Friday night and The Brady Bunch was on. 'Nuff said.

The episode was about a visit from Carol Brady's grandmother and Mike Brady's grandfather, who managed to be in the Brady household at the same time. More to the point, the episode revolved around the efforts of Marcia and Jan to play matchmaker for the two of them.

I'm thinking now that the members of my family watched the classic series for multiple reasons. For me and my sister, it was an easily digestible family show. But for Mom and Dad, it probably had more to do with the fact that the late Florence Henderson, who played Carol Brady, went to high school in Owensboro.

And Owensboro is a town she loved. After all, she returned in 2015 to be a co-grand marshal (alongside Carson Kressley) of the annual Christmas parade. But she also loved this city so much that she made sure it got mentioned on her show.

And on that episode--which, along with every other Brady Bunch episode, is reviewed at BradyBunchReviewed.wordpress.com--Carol introduces her grandmother as, "the pride of Owensboro, Kentucky!" Well, we all just came up out of our chairs or off the floor, as the case may be, and were stunned at the mention. My sister and I couldn't get over how cool that was. And, well, IS, come to think of it.

And, unless I've missed something--entirely possible--that was the last time Owensboro was mentioned on national television for more than 40 years. That is, if you COUNT streaming services as "national" television. And for the purposes of this story, I will.

Four years ago, I checked out 11.22.63 on Hulu. It's an adaptation of a popular Stephen King novel about a man who goes back in time in an attempt to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

The target town once he GOES back is Holden, Kentucky. When I watched it and they put up a map showing the location of Holden, there was Owensboro, just as plain as day. And I had a little fun with it.

 

So there you go. At least twice, Owensboro has been mentioned on television (in some form) to the masses, and just over 40 years apart. But I'm going to keep digging. Surely there's something in that 40 year gap that I'm missing.

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