Having a musical group in the guise of a family, or vice versa, kept viewers tuning into The Partridge Family for four seasons on ABC. This group of music makers had some heavy hitters as cast members. Starting, of course, with Shirley Jones. She played Shirley Partridge, the family matriarch who was a widower.
It was her responsibility to raise her kids. Thank goodness a couple of them were older. Namely, David Cassidy (Keith) and Susan Dey (Laurie). Yes, the half-hour sitcom made sure to have a smart-aleck kid in the cast. Danny Bonaduce (Danny) came up with little schemes here and there. Usually, the troublesome Danny not only had Mom on his back but also band manager Reuben Kincaid, played by Dave Madden.
The Partridge Family cast had a couple of changes when it came to the youngest kids. Jeremy Gelbwaks played Chris Partridge in the first season. But he was replaced for the next three seasons by Brian Forster. Why was Gelbwaks replaced? The young kid’s family moved out of the Los Angeles area. Suzanne Crough played Tracey, showing up with her trusty tambourine in the music scenes. For a brief time, neighbor Ricky Stevens (Ricky Segall) appeared in the fourth season to sing a children’s song. That didn’t last long and Segall was bounced from the show.
Sitcom Structure Features A Musical Segment
For the most part, The Partridge Family had a sitcom structure with music segments near the episode’s end. No, they did not play their own instruments. Jones, whose singing voice was highlighted in movies like Oklahoma, did record her song parts. Cassidy, at first, fell into having his vocals covered by session musicians. Yet he proved to producers his ability to sing, so Cassidy recorded his own vocal parts.
And, in case you wanted to know, plenty of guest stars showed up over the show’s run. Imagine seeing Howard Cosell on here. Well, the ABC sportscaster popped up, obviously a tie-in with the network. Other guest stars included Ray Bolger, John Astin, Normal Fell, Mary Ann Mobley, Margaret Hamilton, and James Gregory.
The show also acted as a kind of jumping-off point for a few other actors and actresses. Among them were Cheryl Ladd, Farrah Fawcett, Louis Gossett Jr., Jaclyn Smith, Charlotte Rae, Rob Reiner, Mark Hamill, and Ann Jillian. After four seasons, The Partridge Family lost its ratings luster and was canceled. ABC had the show on Friday nights for its first three seasons, resulting in two Top 20 season finishes.
But the network moved the show to Saturday nights, putting it up against All in the Family on CBS and Emergency! on NBC. That was a death knell to The Partridge Family.
‘The Partridge Family’ Delivered Its Kind of Pop Music
Yet we cannot leave this show alone without talking about its music. Pop music fans in 1970 loved listening to I Think I Love You, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Screen Gems, the television production company behind the show, got attention for it through album releases. Four albums — The Partridge Family Album, Up To Date, The Partridge Family Sound Magazine, and Shopping Bag — earned gold record status.
Lest we forget about David Cassidy’s teen idol status. Teen girls and even older women just fell in love with Cassidy. Screen Gems signed him as a single recording act. And Cassidy capitalized on his individual fame, touring with musicians around the United States and overseas.
Over the years, the series has been released on DVDs. This show’s cast didn’t fare so well in the years after it left TV. Cassidy did his best to stifle that clean-cut image, posing nude on the cover of Rolling Stone. His music and touring life, along with lots of alcohol and drug use, hurt him a lot. Cassidy died in 2017 from liver and kidney failure.
Cast Members Went Through Hard Times
Bonaduce, who found success as a radio disc jockey, also had troubled times. Yet those extended from some serious family situations in his youth. Dey went on to portray Grace Van Owen on NBC’s legal drama L.A. Law between 1986 and 1992. Jones is alive and well at 90 years old. After her divorce from husband Jack Cassidy, David’s father, Jones, his stepmother, remarried to comedian Marty Ingels. Cassidy and Ingels are both dead.
Crough died in 2017 at 52 years old. A Clark County, Nevada, corner indicated that Crough died from a rare form of cardiomyopathy. Madden, who previously had been a cast member on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, died at 82 years old in 2014.
When looking at The Partridge Family these days, it might feel a bit outdated. The family aspect happened to have been somewhat based on the Cowsills. They were well known for hits like The Rain, The Park & Other Things along with their version of Hair.
Still, fans of 1970s sitcoms might tune into The Partridge Family when it airs on television. It still can bring smiles and even get people tapping their feet to the theme song, C’mon Get Happy. And getting happy is definitely something you just might do watching this show all these years later.
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