It's a Family Affair: THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY Revisited (split from"Magical Urine: Television in 2024")

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Because I'm all about quality entertainment I began DVRing Partridge Family airings on AXS TV, which airs three times daily, Mondays-Wednesdays. I got the end of season 2, all of season 3 and the beginning of season 4. AXS mostly shows music docs and concerts. They also show the Monkees.

Yesterday I was going through the channels and saw where due to a carriage dispute, Fios had whacked AXS TV from its lineup.

I hadn't known the Partridges also went to Kings Island, or if I had I'd forgotten it.

[Edgy MD]

I like how the organ intro on that track sounds like a calliope, invoking the carousel setting. That's good direction, right there. Also, that track features the lyric "United, we're dynamite!" which is some good lyric-writing.

The eppysodes featuring Shirley's parents battling are the worst. That's one thing you take away when you stream those things back-to-back. The other is that Lori has like seven boyfriends, and five are played by the same actor

My Partridge Family remake is going to be the best. I don't know what is taking Apple+ so long to greenlight it.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The Kings Island episode was pretty weak, with Danny and Keith battling for the affection of a public-relations specialist. There's a cameo by Johnny Bench as a waiter.

I'm at the point where things are getting serious between Shirley and Bert Convey, whose daughter Jodie Foster is after Danny's meat.

[Edgy MD]

Convey also gets a double role. He appears twice as an aspiring politician/Shirley's paramour and also as the proprietor of a public aquarium in an episode in which Shirley gets a rare lead vocal.

[Benjamin Grimm]

That kind of thing used to happen all the time. Shows like All in the Family and The Odd Couple (and many others, I'm sure) had a stable of character actors who would play multiple roles when needed. (On All in the Family, Vincent Gardenia and Allan Melvin come immediately to mind.) Richard Stahl played two different roles on All in the Family (and one more on Archie Bunker's Place and even more on spinoffs Maude and Good Times), nine on The Odd Couple, two on The Bob Newhart Show, three on Barney Miller, three on Laverne and Shirley, two on Night Court, and others as well. I think viewers today care more about continuity; they're more likely to remember earlier guest stars and would prefer not to be confused by seeing that same person playing a different role in the same "universe".

[Edgy MD]

Stahl was a machine.

Vic Tayback also pulled double-duty in the Partridgeverse — playing an ex-con one episode and a mob-enforcer in another.

[Frayed Knot]

Harry Morgan, Sherman Potter in M*A*S*H starting in Season 4, appeared as a one-off character in an earlier season, specifically
as a crazy General trying to court martial Hawkeye for some reason. 'General Steele, that's with three E's, not all in a row'

[whippoorwill]

Because I'm all about quality entertainment I began DVRing Partridge Family airings on AXS TV, which airs three times daily, Mondays-Wednesdays. I got the end of season 2, all of season 3 and the beginning of season 4. AXS mostly shows music docs and concerts. They also show the Monkees.

Yesterday I was going through the channels and saw where due to a carriage dispute, Fios had whacked AXS TV from its lineup.

I hadn't known the Partridges also went to Kings Island, or if I had I'd forgotten it.

My god since I was just a child when the Partridge family aired (a few weeks older than Danny) I was oblivious to the absolute perfection that was Mr David Cassidy.
My sister (his age) hounded me constantly about him and I think she was just in love with him herself, especially since her fiancé resembled a cro-magnon (sp)

When David died a few thanksgivings ago I truly mourned.
Before my husband retired I binged the Partridge Family everyday when I took a break for lunch.

[Edgy MD]

Harry Morgan, Sherman Potter in M*A*S*H starting in Season 4, appeared as a one-off character in an earlier season, specifically
as a crazy General trying to court martial Hawkeye for some reason. 'General Steele, that's with three E's, not all in a row'

Come to think of it, Harry also had two Partridge incarnations, as a grifter in Episode Two trying to extort money from the fam following a fender-bender (the episode also featured Farrah), and in a later ep as a sweet dude in a dead-end town trying to get the gang to play a benefit for a Native American community he and his wife are assisting.

So many people got two turns at bat on that show. It's a shame that Richard Pryor and Lou Gossett weren't brought back.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Vic Tayback did triple duty on The Partridge Family, not double duty. He tripled up on The Monkees, too. Tayback might've been the king of guest appearances on TV shows from the mid 60's to the early 70s.

[MFS62]

NBC has added Snoop Dogg to their team covering the 2024 Paris Olympics.
https://sports.yahoo.com/news/snoop-dog ... 29021.html
Write your own punch lines.
Later

[Edgy MD]

Vic Tayback did triple duty on The Partridge Family, not double duty. He tripled up on The Monkees, too. Tayback might've been the king of guest appearances on TV shows from the mid 60's to the early 70s.

Both shows were mostly shot on and around Warner Brothers' Blondie Street. Tayback didn't have to wander far to go from show to show, though he did have to run over to the Desilu studio to do his Star Trek bit.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I thought Star Trek was filmed in outer space.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

My god since I was just a child when the Partridge family aired (a few weeks older than Danny) I was oblivious to the absolute perfection that was Mr David Cassidy.
My sister (his age) hounded me constantly about him and I think she was just in love with him herself, especially since her fiancé resembled a cro-magnon (sp)

When David died a few thanksgivings ago I truly mourned.
Before my husband retired I binged the Partridge Family everyday when I took a break for lunch.

David led a pretty sorry life. He had a demanding dad who was disappointed in his success, and he couldn't figure out how to get past the teen-idol stage. A few bad marriages, and a bad drinking problem that eventually killed him at age 67.

Even his book written a few decades after the show seemed like an attempt to bury Keith Partridge, piling on stories of sex and drugs as a teenager.

He was handsome and had that breathy vocal style that George Michael was said to imitate.

[Edgy MD]

His dad struggled with alcoholism, scary mental illness, a barely closeted lifestyle, and the self-pity of a guy who was a Tony-winning success on Broadway but only got supporting roles, B-movies, and game show work in Hollywood.

David's daughter Katie is a successful actress now, and hopefully the crazy bug and the drinking bug skip her generation.

This was my favorite DC vocal. I'm pretty sure it's Carole Kaye and Hal Blaine on bass and drums.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm pretty sure it's Carole Kaye and Hal Blaine on bass and drums.

Why, can you hear them fighting in the background?

[Edgy MD]

I checked. It is Blaine, whose sound is pretty distinctive, but jazz veteran Max Bennett is playing the bass, as he did on the bulk of the PF recordings.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I am relieved to find out I can stream TPF on "Tubi" for free. Started with season 1, episode 1. This was when they were still using non-Keith voices to sing and Keith let his forehead show.

Shirley mentions right up front it was 6 months since her husband died but it doesn't seem to affect any of the kids and there's no plot points that reference the dead guy.

[whippoorwill]

I checked. It is Blaine, whose sound is pretty distinctive, but jazz veteran Max Bennett is playing the bass, as he did on the bulk of the PF recordings.

I think it was on Behind the Music that a guy on a keyboard smiled and said ‘I’m Laurie’. There was a lady there to sing Laurie’s parts.

Shirley of course needed no vocal help :)

[Edgy MD]

My reboot will TOTALLY mention Mr. Patridge.

[whippoorwill]

I think you should play him in flashbacks

[kcmets]

Five of us and Mom working all day
We knew we could help her if our music would pay
Danny got Reuben to sell our song
And we all came together when Dey lit her bong

[Fman99]

I hope Shirley Jones got paid when Austin Powers wore all of her clothes in his movies.

[Lefty Specialist]

I'm just glad that Laurie was able to escape the madness and pursue her law career in LA twenty years later.

[Edgy MD]

Always glad to see a Partridge post.