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

[Willbo]

Ricky was bad but I think the show was on the decline and would have been cancelled anyway. It's funny how Ricky got more attention than Chris and Tracey.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Willbo

Ricky was bad but I think the show was on the decline and would have been cancelled anyway. It's funny how Ricky got more attention than Chris and Tracey.

Yeah, he'd almost always have more 'lines' in his tags than the two youngest Partridges combined would have for entire episodes. Oh, and Ricky never seemed to interact with them- just Shirley, Keith, Laurie and sometimes Danny.

[torcan]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

Sound Magazine is such an excellent album and could have had several hit singles, but strangely I Woke Up In Love This Morning was the only hit. One Night Stand, Echo Valley, I'm On My Way Back Home, Summer Days, and 24 Hours A Day could have been hits as well. Sound Magazine plays like a greatest hits record, there's not a weak track on the album.

I agree with you that some of these songs would have made great singles - especially "Summer Days", but back then it was common for labels to only release about two singles from most LPs - mainly because there was usually another album from the same artist six months/one year later.

They didn't start releasing lots of songs as singles until the '80s, when it was quite common to have four or more hits from an album.

[torcan]

Originally Posted by 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.

As a record collector, I happened to be looking thru some 45 PRM picture sleeves at a record show a few years back and found Ricky Segall's "Sooner or Later" picture sleeve. I picked it up for a buck. Never saw the record though.

It's neat to have but not something I'd ever listen to. It's probably not worth very much.

[Tankeryanker]

https://www.discogs.com/Ricky-Segall...elease/3088988

[Cocoa8]

Originally Posted by icecream

LOL, sad and funny!

[Cocoa8]

In addition, Susan and David were beginning look their real ages, versus young college kids.

[Cocoa8]

I just saw the episode where Ricky was introduced. I thought it was cute. His mom was a hot mess! I thought Ricky was cute, did he only make cameos or was he a regular during season 4? Maybe if they had only let him act versus the annoying singing, maybe there would have been better reception. That was a little disturbing when he told Keith his older sister had a great body. Come on! The kid was only 5 or 6 the most. Did his mom or sis appear any more times on the show.?

[Cocoa8]

I was 3 when the show premiered, and 7 when it got cancelled. Therefore I grew up with the reruns. I liked Oliver on the BB, but he could annoying as well at times. However, I never saw the shark episode with Fonzie. However it is sad Erin Moran's ( Joanie)career tanked post the show. Even sadder about her tragic death. It is what it is, good shows get cancelled for whatever reason.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by 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.

I do wonder if The Partridge Family had a decidedly "uncool" element about them even from the start. I also wonder if Shirley kind of stuck out as a sore thumb with her being up there with her kids. It made it look like she was their chaperone to school dance who suddenly decided that she wanted to "join in" on the fun. Or she came across as a borderline stage mom who was living vicariously through her kids.

[TMC]

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

There's even one episode where Ricky for whatever the reason, accompanies the Partridges on a road trip. Even watching it at the time, I was thinking, where the hell is that boy's mother?

[TMC]

Originally Posted by 1960'sTVfan

I've never cared much for The Partridge Family TV show, always preferred The Brady Bunch. However, The Partridge Family music was good, at least in the beginning. The first album (self titled one), Up To Date, and Sound Magazine are all great albums. It was downhill after that, starting with the Shopping Bag album the music began getting stale. There was still an occasional decent song here and there, but basically after the Sound Magazine album the glory days were gone.

Sound Magazine is a near perfect album, excellent in every way, it would have been very difficult for them to create another album that good. The Christmas album was overall a disappointment, and the first sign that the wheels were starting to come off the spokes. They were under pressure to keep churning the albums out, eventually it took it's toll and had a negative effect on the quality of the music.

I agree that the addition of Ricky was of no benefit to the show whatsoever. But the show had already pretty much run it's course, I don't think there would have been a 5th season, Ricky or no Ricky.

Ricky's addition just seems like the show was I suppose, grasping at straws and trying to find what could stick as a means of keeping the show from getting completely stale going in to its fourth year.

[TMC]

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

I get why many viewers don't like Ricky and think that his arrival in Season 4 was when the show "jumped the shark". I suppose that more cynical types are not comfortable with being subjected to overly innocent, sweet, and/or precocious children (whose only real character trait or calling card is how cute they are) on screen. What even more annoying is that Ricky seemingly got more of a spotlight and exposure than either Chris or Tracy throughout the entire series combined.

Like I said, there was practically nothing to Ricky's character other than being an extremely cute little boy who sung pre-school level songs. It didn't matter whether or not it organically made sense or his character to be around in any given episode. Just having him perform while everybody else sat and watched in awe with big smiles on their faces just came across as extremely cheesy and dorky, even for a show like The Partridge Family.

Also, who is Ricky at the end of the day, supposed to appeal too? I get that with Keith (David Cassidy), he was essentially there for the teenybopper girls to swoon over. And likewise, Laurie (Susan Dey) was there to give the boys watching a pretty girl that they could be infatuated with and who could care less about Keith. But with Ricky, did anybody unironically enjoy his singing or saw him as more than simply being a "Cousin Oliver-type"? That's kind of unfair though because you could argue that Robby Rist on The Brady Bunch unlike Ricky Segall on The Partridge Family, had genuine comedic talent.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by TMC

Ricky's addition just seems like the show was I suppose, grasping at straws and trying to find what could stick as a means of keeping the show from getting completely stale going in to its fourth year.

Seems to me that ABC was losing interest in the show and wanted to put an end to it since they placed it for the 4th and final season on Saturday night up against #1 rated All In The Family on CBS.

[TMC]

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

There was no justifiable reason for Ricky to be on the show because he never really interacted with the Partridge family or got involved too heavily in the plots. All that he really did was pop up out of nowhere to sing an out-of-tune song because one of the Partridges "needed cheering up" while the family just sat there with forced smiles.