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In the pilot episode this musical family records a pop song in their garage. Through the marketing efforts of the 10-year-old son Danny and their newly found manager Reuben, the song becomes a hit. After some discussion, the family decides to begin touring the country in a colorful school bus, performing their music in various types of venues.
In the pilot episode this musical family records a pop song in their garage. Through the marketing efforts of the 10-year-old son Danny and their newly found manager Reuben, the song becomes a hit. After some discussion, the family decides to begin touring the country in a colorful school bus, performing their music in various types of venues.


The episodes would often contrast their suburban life with the adventures of a show-biz family "on the road". The series originally ran from [[September 25]], [[1970]] until [[August 31]], [[1974]] on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television network, as part of the Friday night lineup following ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''. It had several subsequent runs in [[television syndication|syndication]].
The episodes would often contrast their suburban life with the adventures of a show-biz family "on the road". The series originally ran from [[September 25]], [[1970]] until [[August 31]], [[1974]] on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television network, as part of the Friday night lineup following ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''. It had several subsequent runs in [[television syndication|syndication]].


Created by [[Bernard Slade]], the series was inspired by and loosely based on [[The Cowsills]], a real pop-music family famous in the late sixties. In fact in its early development the Cowsill children were actually approached by the producers to be featured on ''The Partridge Family,'' though the children rejected the offer when they learned their real-life mother and band member Barbara would not be included in the cast.
Created by [[Bernard Slade]], the series was inspired by and loosely based on [[The Cowsills]], a real pop-music family famous in the late sixties. In fact in its early development the Cowsill children were actually approached by the producers to be featured on ''The Partridge Family,'' though the children rejected the offer when they learned their real-life mother and band member Barbara would not be included in the cast.

Revision as of 23:54, 23 September 2007

The Partridge Family
File:The Partridge Family Cast Photo.jpg
Cast of The Partridge Family
Created byBernard Slade
StarringShirley Jones
David Cassidy
Danny Bonaduce
Susan Dey
Suzanne Crough
Jeremy Gelbwaks (1970-1971)
Brian Forster (1971-1974)
Dave Madden
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes96
Production
ProducerBob Claver
Running time30 minutes per episode
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 25, 1970 –
March 23, 1974

The Partridge Family was an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children living in San Pueblo, a small fictional town in Northern California, originally broadcast on ABC from 1970 to 1974.

History

In the pilot episode this musical family records a pop song in their garage. Through the marketing efforts of the 10-year-old son Danny and their newly found manager Reuben, the song becomes a hit. After some discussion, the family decides to begin touring the country in a colorful school bus, performing their music in various types of venues.

The episodes would often contrast their suburban life with the adventures of a show-biz family "on the road". The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974 on the ABC television network, as part of the Friday night lineup following The Brady Bunch. It had several subsequent runs in syndication.

Created by Bernard Slade, the series was inspired by and loosely based on The Cowsills, a real pop-music family famous in the late sixties. In fact in its early development the Cowsill children were actually approached by the producers to be featured on The Partridge Family, though the children rejected the offer when they learned their real-life mother and band member Barbara would not be included in the cast.

The show starred Academy Award-winner Shirley Jones as mother Shirley Partridge and David Cassidy (Jones' real-life stepson) as her eldest son Keith Partridge. The remaining Partridge children were played by Susan Dey as Laurie, Danny Bonaduce as Danny, Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris and Suzanne Crough as Tracy. Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who was their manager and family friend. After the first season, the dark-haired Gelbwaks who played young Chris was replaced by a blond actor, Brian Forster. It was reported by teen magazines in 1971 that this was because his family simply moved away, but years later it was disclosed by cast members that young Gelbwalks had "behavior problems" on the set, and got replaced after he bit one of the featured players.

A dog named "Simone" was also featured in the first season, though she was phased out of production early in the second season. Like "Tiger" on The Brady Bunch, the dog simply disappeared without an explanation.

The Partridge Family was produced for ABC by Screen Gems television, which was just finishing its run with The Monkees, another show about a fictional music group. The company promoted the success of the show by releasing a series of albums featuring the music of the family band, though most cast members did not actually play on the recordings. The Partridge Family sound was created by a group of studio singers and musicians, led by producer Wes Farrell. Although David Cassidy was originally cast with the intent to lip sync, just weeks into production he convinced Farrell he could sing well, and was allowed to join the studio ensemble as the lead singer. (Several songs were made without Cassidy as lead, and were featured in some of the early episodes and on the first album.) He and Shirley Jones, who sang background, were the only cast members who were actually featured on the recordings. Then the cast would lip sync to the recordings when they performed on each episode. And though it was obvious to most viewers that the cast was lip-syncing, The Partridge Family became an instant phenomenon, not only as a TV show, but a band that produced actual hit songs.

The Partridge Family's biggest hit came in 1970 with the song "I Think I Love You" (lyrics), which began climbing in September and peaked at number one on the Billboard charts in December of that year. (The song was written by Tony Romeo, who had previously written several of the Cowsills' hits.) A companion LP, The Partridge Family Album reached number four. Other Partridge singles, "I'll Meet You Halfway," "Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted," and "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" would also chart high on Billboard. The theme songs "When We're Singing," and its successor "C'Mon, Get Happy" also became popular favorites, as well as album cuts "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" and "Point Me In The Direction Of Albuquerque". Despite the "bubblegum" label and prefabricated nature of the "band", the Partridge Family's records sold very well.

As the show and other associated merchandising took off, David Cassidy became an overnight teen idol. Although the Partridge Family did not actually exist as a live band, Cassidy launched a solo singing career, touring with his own group of musicians and performing Partridge songs as well as hits from his own albums. And in the midst of his overwhelming rise to fame, Cassidy soon grew tired of the show. In the summer of 1972 he gave a very candid interview to Rolling Stone magazine in which he attempted to distance himself from the squeaky-clean image of Keith Partridge.

By the fourth season, due to Cassidy's looming departure and a decline in the ratings an effort was made by the producers to breathe new life into the show by introducing a precocious 4-year-old neighbor named "Ricky" (Ricky Segall) to occasionally sing children's songs with the band. In another parallel to The Brady Bunch, who introduced young "cousin Oliver" during it's simultaneous final season, it was widely perceived that the show had "jumped the shark". Knowing it would not survive, ABC moved the show from its 8:30 Friday night slot to Saturday at 8:00, directly opposite the hit All in the Family. After 96 episodes and ten Partridge Family albums the show was cancelled.

The Partridges had a brief resurgence in animated form, which saw the family propelled into the future. The animated Partridges first appeared when the kids did a series of guest spots on Goober and the Ghost Chasers. That idea evolved into a CBS Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera-produced cartoon, Partridge Family 2200 A.D. (also called "The Partridge Family in Outer Space" on the 1977 syndicated weekday series Fred Flintstone and Friends). Shirley Jones and David Cassidy did not voice their animated counterparts, and Susan Dey and Dave Madden had very limited involvement with this cartoon.

Though more popular in its time than its Friday night companion The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family did not become as widely circulated in syndicated re-runs. Consequently the Bradys, who have never been off the air since 1969 have become more well-known to subsequent generations. Nickelodeon did feature a heavily publicized run of The Partridge Family in the mid-90s, along with The Brady Bunch, as part of its Nick-At-Nite line-up. The network used interviews and commercials featuring cast members, and even created a new version of the Mondrian-esque Family bus for promotion. It was during this time that the "competition" element between the two shows was popularized with special features on Nick and MTV.

In late 1999 two different made-for-TV movies aired on different networks; The David Cassidy Story and Come On Get Happy attempted to tell the story behind the series. While both movies were criticized by fans as being inaccurate, they did recreate imagery from the series. Some of the original musicians were gathered together to re-record music for the "Cassidy" movie, and "Come On Get Happy" even featured another replica of the bus which was later auctioned off on an internet auction site.

A modernized version of the bus was created for a new promotion in 2004, when VH1 premiered In Search of The New Partridge Family. This talent competition in the format of American Idol sought a new cast for a contemporary version of the sitcom. The elimination type program aired seven episodes in which a panel of judges selected a new Partridge Family cast from auditioners across the country. The resulting pilot episode of The New Partridge Family aired in January of 2005, but due to low ratings VH1 opted not to produce any more episodes.

The first two seasons of the original series have been released as of October 2005 on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Also, at the same time Arista Records released a new music compilation, Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family, which included four previously unreleased tracks. Sony has not yet announced release dates for the final 2 seasons.

"Band Members"

Selected discography

  • Spike Lee's 1994 film Crooklyn features a scene where the kids watch "The Partridge Family" while singing along with "I Woke Up In Love This Morning". (We see a clip from the episode "Dora, Dora, Dora".)
  • The 1996 MTV Video Awards featured a "Speed" spoof, with Shirley Jones, Dave Madden and Danny Bonaduce reprising their Partridge Family characters aboard Nickelodean's replica of the bus.
  • In 2006 7 Up featured the Partridge's gospel-style song "Sunshine", from the album "Bulletin Board" in a television commercial.
  • On "Six Feet Under" season 1, episode 4 there is a scene where Claire is watching a scene from the pilot episode of "The Partridge Family".
  • "C'Mon, Get Happy" was adapted in 2007 as the jingle for the Bloom supermarket chain ("Come In, Shop Happy").
  • The 2003 VH1 mini-series "I Love The 70's" features a segment about the Partridge Family phenomenon on its first installment.
  • The 1999, ninth season, fifth episode of "The Simpsons" entitled "the Cartridge Family" references the Partridge Family.
  • The Channel 7 network in Austraia used The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You" as the station promo for 2006

DVD Releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released the first 2 Seasons of The Partridge Family on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Release dates for Seasons 3 and 4 have not been announced yet.

DVD Name Ep # Release Date
The Complete 1st Season 25 May 3 2005
The Complete 2nd Season 24 November 8 2005
The Complete 3rd Season 25 TBA
The Complete 4th Season 22 TBA
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