David always says that he wanted to get out of the show.
Supposedly if there was a fourth season this guy would have replaced him.
Why does the truth keeps changing for David Cassidy?

We Love Soaps
: There's an interesting note in your bio about getting cast on THE PATRIDGE FAMILY to replace David Cassidy but then the show didn't get renewed. Were you going to play Keith?

Wesley Eure:
NBC called in a bunch of guys, the teeny bop guys because I was doing a lot of Tiger Beat and 16, and we all sang. Bobby Sherman used to produce stuff for me. I used to record with The Jacksons too. And I was in a boy group with Motown for a while which Mike Curb produced. So I came in, sang a couple of songs, they filmed it, and I got the job. David [Cassidy] had decided to leave the show and they wanted to continue it. I was going to be his neighbor and best friend and the guy who was going to be cast as my father was going to be single and have an affair with Shirley. I got the show and from my understanding David heard about it and decided to stay so I was out of luck.


Here is the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FVs3ICdB4E&feature=related

David always says that he wanted to get out of the show.
Supposedly if there was a fourth season this guy would have replaced him.
Why does the truth keeps changing for David Cassidy?

We Love Soaps
: There's an interesting note in your bio about getting cast on THE PATRIDGE FAMILY to replace David Cassidy but then the show didn't get renewed. Were you going to play Keith?

Wesley Eure:
NBC called in a bunch of guys, the teeny bop guys because I was doing a lot of Tiger Beat and 16, and we all sang. Bobby Sherman used to produce stuff for me. I used to record with The Jacksons too. And I was in a boy group with Motown for a while which Mike Curb produced. So I came in, sang a couple of songs, they filmed it, and I got the job. David [Cassidy] had decided to leave the show and they wanted to continue it. I was going to be his neighbor and best friend and the guy who was going to be cast as my father was going to be single and have an affair with Shirley. I got the show and from my understanding David heard about it and decided to stay so I was out of luck.


Here is the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FVs3ICdB4E&feature=related
The Partridge Family's loss was Saturday mornings gain as Wesley Eure went on to play Will Marshall on the Saturday morning Krofft TV show "Land of the Lost".

I haven't heard this before. I did hear the story about Rick Springfield.

Do you mean a FIFTH season? From what I understand (and I could be wrong here) David wasn't 21 when he signed the initial contract. He resigned shortly before season two once he turned 21 which allowed him to take advantage of a lot of the marketing residuals etc.

Now I don't know if that was a 3 or 4 year contract (which would have given the Partridge Family a fifth season) or if the contract was signed year to year. If it was a 4 (or possibly longer) year contract and David walked after 3, would he not have been in breach of contract or did they come to some agreement? I don't recall seeing anything documented about this time.

However, in the fourth season when the show was moved to Saturdays it was routinely creamed by All in the Family so going on another year wasn't an option and the show (IMO) had run its course anyway.

This is an interesting story and I admittedly may not have all the facts straight. Does anyone else know more and can flesh this out a bit?

Wesley Eure said in the article that the reason he didn't ultimately get the job is because David changed his mind and decided to come back. This means it must refer to season 4 since it was the last season. I suspect the fact the Wesley Eure was even signed was part of the networks plan to lure David back for another season. I don't honestly believe they would have actually gone ahead and done another season without David since he was THE breakout star of the show.

Wesley Eure said in the article that the reason he didn't ultimately get the job is because David changed his mind and decided to come back. This means it must refer to season 4 since it was the last season. I suspect the fact the Wesley Eure was even signed was part of the networks plan to lure David back for another season. I don't honestly believe they would have actually gone ahead and done another season without David since he was THE breakout star of the show.

HEre is the Bob Claver interview from CMONGETHAPPY.com
GH: Tell us about David’s contract re-negotiation, and what that was like?

BC: It was very simple. He was left unsigned, by mistake. As a minor, there are certain rules to follow, so in effect, he had no contract. The show was at it’s height, and it scared the hell out of us!! They (David and his manager) could have taken Screen Gems apart financially, but they didn’t. That was Ruth Aarons. I think he went from $600 a week to $3400 after the negotiations. I suppose he could have got three times that, but what was the point? He was making so much money with the music, that it was just more money to give away to taxes.

GH: David and the others signed over their names and likenesses for merchandising and never received any royalties from that. Were the actors given standard contracts for the time, and the level of their experience?

BC: Yes, it was the normal contract. Look, if you are an actor and you want a job, you sign the contract, right? When I took that major pay cut back in New York, I didn’t want that to happen either. But sometimes you take what you have to. The kids were getting scale at the time, and I think Danny was making $450.00 a week.

GH: Do you remember what Shirley was making?

BC: Well, it’s a guess, but I think she was making somewhere around $3000 - $4000 a week.

GH: When David’s contract was renegotiated to $3400 a week, would Shirley’s contract have had a favored nations clause? They weren’t going to pay David more money than the “star” of the show, were they?

BC: No. So they probably had to deal with it. My argument with all those money people at the time – Chuck Fries in particular, was: “If we weren’t so damn busy trying to screw people all of the time, when we got into a position like this, we would have found people who were a lot more sympathetic.”

GH: When did David officially give his “notice” that he was leaving the show after his new contract ran out?

BC: You know, I keep hearing that. I heard that on one of the specials that was just on. I don’t know what kind of notice there was, because to the best of my knowledge, he had a contract. He wasn’t going anywhere until that was up.

GH: It has been reported that ABC moved the show to Saturday Nights because they knew David wasn’t coming back for a 5th season, and it was a sacrificial lamb, trying to put a dent in the ratings of “All In The Family”.

BC: NO! That is so wrong! They all say that and it is wrong! Let me tell you what happened to the show, and I can prove it. They put us on Saturday, up against “All In The Family” and “Emergency”. You will notice in the fourth year, there is a little boy named Ricky Segall that was added to the show. I don’t like to say bad things about him, because it’s not his fault. But the show was obviously beginning to fail at the end of the preceding year. So, it was somebody’s idea at the network to put him into the show, and sing songs that his father wrote. I fought them tooth and nail on this, and asked that the show be allowed to go down with some kind of dignity. I couldn’t imagine why people would tune in to see this. I could barely get through dailies watching it. My point is – why would we have done that if the show was a big hit and David was going to quit?! We knew at the end of the third year that the show would not make it past the fourth year. It was over. We knew it, the actors knew it, and the record producers knew it. There was no way it was not going to be over. I don’t know why people keep thinking otherwise. We knew far in advance that there would be no more episodes and no more records. Actually, I was surprised it came back for a fourth year.

GH: Well, David has given interviews saying how badly he feels, in retrospect, that his departure put so many people out of work.

BC: Well, he’s wrong! There was not a chance. The show was third from the bottom in the Nielsen ratings. Doesn’t that tell you something? Why would he think the show would have been renewed for a 5th season had he stayed? Believe me, the show ran its course.

http://www.cmongethappy.com/interviews/bc/claver4.html