Would The Partridge Family have lasted longer if Ricky never existed?

[MIKEPR]

Originally Posted by um

The "2200 A.D." show was meant for Saturday morning kid's viewing and was not actually a "replacement" for the original Partridge Family TV show.
It did seem odd though that since a lot of teens were into the original Partridge Family, a Saturday-morning spinoff was ever made.

The cartoon show was more for kindergartners or maybe kids up to age 8. The teen fans of the original Partridge Family would know that the cartoon was based on the TV show and some might have watched the cartoon just because it was all they had of their favorite show. And of course by the time a lot of teens reached their mid to late teens they completely out-grew The Partridge Family music and the main heartthrob but, much younger kids who watch Saturday morning cartoons might not exactly have gotten the concept and might not have known the original "Partridge Family" before the cartoon.

It seems that a lot of the comments on this thread are from people who were not around when the original series first aired. There is a lot of misunderstanding of what happened with the course of the show in the 4 seasons that it lasted.
The fact is that the ratings were dwindling a good amount of time before it went off the air, even by early the third season. The people in charge of the show and TV time slots felt it was time to make a maneuver that would eventually take the show off the air completely. The addition of Ricky has
had speculations. Some say it was to attract viewers to a much younger audience than the teen audience that the show originally attracted sine that audience was growing a few years older and were no longer into the soft pop and the bubble gum image of the characters.
The show was definitely headed for the chopping block significantly before the addition of Ricky. The Partridge Family just Jumped The Shark. (Don't forget that the the very term was coined because someone noticed that the TV show "Happy Days" came to a point where the episodes were dull and stupid and lacked creativity or wit, and decided to use the term because of one particularly boring episode in which "Fonzie" supposedly jumps over a toy shark, which is an episode I never saw but looking at re-run snippets on YouTube it seems he never jumped over any shark and "Fonzie" was always a dislikable character who I think should have been shown being eaten by a shark . That would have gotten better ratings. I never could understand how "Fonzie" became so popular.

But also as far as the cancellation of The Partridge Family, as a lot of us know the Brady Bunch very much had the same fate coming to them and they too Jumped The Shark essentially at the same time. And they added "Cousin Oliver" in the same spirit.

I think I mentioned this in this or other posts. The Partridge Family, I would say, started out as a good concept because it was within the mood of the times, the early 1970's. The music even though it was easy-listening rather than Punk rock had its place.
However it should have lasted no more than two seasons. When it comes to TV shows, there are only re-hashes of plots and episodes and eventually trying to find new situations for main characters gets to where it cannot be done, and shows that lasted much longer such as All In The Family and MASH just stayed on the air too long even though they are now considered classic sitcoms.

So you expected them to cancel a show when the ratings were still good?

[um]

Originally Posted by MIKEPR

So you expected them to cancel a show when the ratings were still good?

Good Question. Perhaps it can only be looked at in retrospect now that it is in the past and we can know what happened overall but when a show is doing so well then essentially the only place it can go next is downhill. It would have been better if TPF was discontinued before then and left certain viewers wanting more than wanting no more. Of course that is asking for the impossible or asking for something that in the TV-Show world is NOT what it is all about. The idea as far as those in charge were concerned was to get as much money as possible (and whatever else desirable) from good ratings until nothing else is left.

I think there is a well-known term, "Brilliant but Cancelled" regarding certain TV shows that ever aired. It refers to TV shows that were cancelled before staying on the air too long. For cancelled TV shows it is something of a honor in trivia history . Shows like The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch and even All in The Family and MASH and One Day At A Time and certain others
underwent major changes for Jumping The Shark.
In certain cases such as with Laverne And Shirley, who were a pair of young roommates in the late 1950s, their characters were so funny and endearing as they were that when the series went into its later seasons the pair were still depicted as still being like ditsy girls even though they had aged several years. With TPF and TBB the youngest kids of the family were cute and caused trouble so as to make good plots. The teens of the family often were the "fall guys" or had typical problems of worrying about passing grades, or attracting a schoolmate who was not attracted to them etc etc, but when they all grew older it was unrealistic that some of them would would still be living at home or acting like 8-year-olds when they were ready to go into high school.

I really liked the show "Joan of Arcadia." Of course it was not a sitcom and I did not like some of the plots but one thing about it is that all the episodes combined were designed to amount to a finale that ended the entire series in a neat way making it seem as if everything that the main character, ("Joan" a high-school-aged female) went through with her random talks with "God" was about finally looking at it all in retrospect. It was a dignified end to a TV series IMO.
Perhaps mid-way the producers knew it would be best to make certain episodes with certain plots so that they accumulate to what finally happens in the last episode.
I don't know if it was planned by the producers from the beginning to have the series run a certain amount of time and a certain amount of episodes and then concluding. .
I don't know how common that is. It seems producers would have to know beforehand not-only plots and twists and long term scenarios within plots, but whether the series would still be interesting to the targeted viewers by a certain time after the series had been on the air, that is if it does not fail on the get go and is cancelled after maybe one broadcast. I think that happened with a planned series based on the movie "The Sunshine Boys."

However as far as ratings and the attention-span of the viewing public, it is often best to quite while ahead.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...y30-story.html

[MIKEPR]

Originally Posted by um

Good Question. Perhaps it can only be looked at in retrospect now that it is in the past and we can know what happened overall but when a show is doing so well then essentially the only place it can go next is downhill. It would have been better if TPF was discontinued before then and left certain viewers wanting more than wanting no more. Of course that is asking for the impossible or asking for something that in the TV-Show world is NOT what it is all about. The idea as far as those in charge were concerned was to get as much money as possible (and whatever else desirable) from good ratings until nothing else is left.

I think there is a well-known term, "Brilliant but Cancelled" regarding certain TV shows that ever aired. It refers to TV shows that were cancelled before staying on the air too long. For cancelled TV shows it is something of a honor in trivia history . Shows like The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch and even All in The Family and MASH and One Day At A Time and certain others
underwent major changes for Jumping The Shark.
In certain cases such as with Laverne And Shirley, who were a pair of young roommates in the late 1950s, their characters were so funny and endearing as they were that when the series went into its later seasons the pair were still depicted as still being like ditsy girls even though they had aged several years. With TPF and TBB the youngest kids of the family were cute and caused trouble so as to make good plots. The teens of the family often were the "fall guys" or had typical problems of worrying about passing grades, or attracting a schoolmate who was not attracted to them etc etc, but when they all grew older it was unrealistic that some of them would would still be living at home or acting like 8-year-olds when they were ready to go into high school.

I really liked the show "Joan of Arcadia." Of course it was not a sitcom and I did not like some of the plots but one thing about it is that all the episodes combined were designed to amount to a finale that ended the entire series in a neat way making it seem as if everything that the main character, ("Joan" a high-school-aged female) went through with her random talks with "God" was about finally looking at it all in retrospect. It was a dignified end to a TV series IMO.
Perhaps mid-way the producers knew it would be best to make certain episodes with certain plots so that they accumulate to what finally happens in the last episode.
I don't know if it was planned by the producers from the beginning to have the series run a certain amount of time and a certain amount of episodes and then concluding. .
I don't know how common that is. It seems producers would have to know beforehand not-only plots and twists and long term scenarios within plots, but whether the series would still be interesting to the targeted viewers by a certain time after the series had been on the air, that is if it does not fail on the get go and is cancelled after maybe one broadcast. I think that happened with a planned series based on the movie "The Sunshine Boys."

However as far as ratings and the attention-span of the viewing public, it is often best to quite while ahead.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...y30-story.html

Think you're making a big to do out of it.


They put it out there and the public enjoyed it for those 4 years and we should leave it at that.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by um

"Fonzie" was always a dislikable character who I think should have been shown being eaten by a shark . That would have gotten better ratings. I never could understand how "Fonzie" became so popular.

Fonzie rocks. He is one of the best TV characters of all time.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by um

I really liked the show "Joan of Arcadia." Of course it was not a sitcom and I did not like some of the plots but one thing about it is that all the episodes combined were designed to amount to a finale that ended the entire series in a neat way making it seem as if everything that the main character, ("Joan" a high-school-aged female) went through with her random talks with "God" was about finally looking at it all in retrospect. It was a dignified end to a TV series IMO.
Perhaps mid-way the producers knew it would be best to make certain episodes with certain plots so that they accumulate to what finally happens in the last episode.
I don't know if it was planned by the producers from the beginning to have the series run a certain amount of time and a certain amount of episodes and then concluding. .

I highly doubt the Joan of Arcadia producers planned to just do two seasons. It deserved a longer run for sure. Sadly Ghost Whisperer, the inferior show that replaced it, lasted three more seasons than Joan of Arcadia.

[TV Guy]

I never understood how the Partridges wound up 200 years in the future and living in outer space. It was bad enough when the kids were solving mysteries with that low-rent Scooby Doo knockoff.

[MIKEPR]

It was bad enough when the kids were solving mysteries with that low-rent Scooby Doo knockoff.[/QUOTE]

Don't see what your issues was with it.

[AMackII]

yes, the sitcom would have continued for another season if it wasn't for the anime Partridge series

[TV Guy]

I saw an episode with Ricky this morning. WTF? What were the producers thinking? That kid couldn’t sing at all. Why did he get a solo in every episode? Was the Oscar-winning Shirley Jones thinking, “They make me sing backup and mix my vocals down on the album versions, yet this brat gets all these solos?”

I keep waiting for Keith or Danny to hit that kid over the head with a guitar, but it never happens.

[GentlemanJim]

I believe that the main thing that killed the show was the groups declining popularity.
It's biggest fans were growing older, and their tastes in music were evolving. And I say this from experience.

There just came a day for me where a band lead by their mother just didn't seem as hip as Alice Cooper. Then.......Deep Purple. And after a friend brought over a Black Sabbath album one day,..I no longer wanted anything to do with kiddie-pop.

Oh, I'm sure that there were die hard fans who played their records until the grooves wore out.....even today I can listen to bands like Ohio Express, in small doses, and find enjoyment in it.
But back in the day there was a strong incentive to try to find the cutting edge, and ride it.

And I just recall that (from my perspective) the Partridge family took on a "too tame" aura right about the same time I felt that I needed to grow up.

[TV Guy]

The songs during the last season aren’t their best, certainly. They don’t even seem to be trying that hard.

Ricky didn’t kill the show. But man, he was awful!

[1960'sTVfan]

The series had already started going on decline mode in the 3rd season so I think the 4th season was definitely going to be the last regardless if Ricky had joined the cast or not. And ABC made sure there would be no 5th season by placing the series 4th season on Saturday night up against #1 rated All In The Family. If that wasn't a set up for failure then I don't know what is. David Cassidy wanted out anyway, after 4 seasons he had enough and was ready to move on.

[DEH55]

I have been watching the 4 th season and Ricky is so annoying and I feel bad for the cast having to smile and laugh at his singing. But its funny how his mom and sister vanish and are never heard from again. And then Ricky just disappears never to be mentioned again. I guess the family just moved away? Lol

[Schmo]

Originally Posted by DEH55

I have been watching the 4 th season and Ricky is so annoying and I feel bad for the cast having to smile and laugh at his singing. But its funny how his mom and sister vanish and are never heard from again. And then Ricky just disappears never to be mentioned again. I guess the family just moved away? Lol

Maybe they couldn’t get happy.

[IllinoisTVFan]

Isn't it funny that they try to launch his career and yet nothing happened? I think I read they put out a Ricky record but it flopped.