Chris and Tracy - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

John32070 · 12-03-2001, 09:56 PM

It always bugged me watching this in the 70's as a pre-teen that Chris and Tracy basicly had nothing to do in this show but stand around and take up space. Why didn't the Producers think they could have been more involved? When they did get a little something to do, they did fine, so it's not like they would be afraid they couldn't handle it.

Atl 1996 · 12-05-2001, 12:39 AM

The characters who played Chris and Tracy were noticibly younger than say Danny, Susan and David. I think it may have had to do with the strict child labor laws in California, which limits under 16's (?--age) to only a limited number of hours on the set. Danny, Susan and David, being older were allowed to work more hours and as such had more screen time.

hawaii five-o · 06-27-2003, 04:22 PM

Sadly, the only reason that Chris and Tracy were around was so there would be enough kids in the band to play the drums and tambourine. It was always kind of sad how they were pushed aside, especially after Ricky came on board.

richheart · 07-02-2003, 10:57 PM

Think about it. Whatever appeal they had was limited to kids in their age group. Kids that young who watched the show wouldn't have understood the plots or dialogue that well anyways.

They didn't have to say anything.

Lamont Holmes · 07-05-2003, 01:34 AM

In my opinion,both actors did exceedingly well. Brian Forster IS a lot better playing Christopher than Jeremy Gelbwaks. Brian got along with the cast,and BOY! Can he play those drums!

Suzanne Crough's portrayal of Tracy is nice,except in the pilot. In one scene,Tracy wears a "Cindy Brady"-type hairdo in homage to
Susan Olsen. Honestly,Suzanne!

Although,Jeremy's portrayal of Chris is nice too,even though he didn't stay on the show that long. Talk about your 15 minutes of fame!

What else do yo know about Chris and Tracy?

Steve Carras · 08-22-2003, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lamont Holmes
In my opinion,both actors did exceedingly well. Brian Forster IS a lot better playing Christopher than Jeremy Gelbwaks. Brian got along with the cast,and BOY! Can he play those drums!

Suzanne Crough's portrayal of Tracy is nice,except in the pilot. In one scene,Tracy wears a "Cindy Brady"-type hairdo in homage to
Susan Olsen. Honestly,Suzanne!

Actually, you can credit Anissa Jones with that--"Buffy" on Family Affair had said hairstyle before either Susan or Suzanne (and yes I DO remember Tracey P's do.)

m60tankdriver · 08-09-2006, 04:54 PM

It's true Chris & Tracy were merely "filler" to round out the band. During the first season, at least, Chris was given something to do besides the usual "Who?" reply to Shirley. This is a credit to Jeremy Gelbwaks' acting abilities and a truly expressive face. Check out in particular "Star Quality", "Whatever Happened to the Old Songs" and "Road Song" -- Jeremy got quite a few lines (for a peripheral character), and handled it quite well. While admittedly the better "drummer" (better at faking it, that is), Brian Forster was a worse actor and came across as very wooden. Perfect match for the untalented Suzanne Crough, though! I believe that had Jeremy stayed on, he would have gotten more participation, and left little Tracy in the dust.

TMC · 02-11-2024, 01:11 AM

That's pretty much what others have noted, in that the two youngest Partridge kids were essentially props that wore costumes and pretended to play instruments. They didn't appear to have equal roles like everybody else to put it in another way.

warp9p65 · 05-30-2025, 09:58 PM

They had small roles but those characters made Jeremy, Brian, and Suzanne famous, at least to all the Partridge Family fans out there. That's far more fame than most people will ever have, lol. I thought they did great jobs for the bit parts they had.

stevea · 05-30-2025, 11:43 PM

There's really nothing to complain about for the fill-in parts they had. The show was not "about" them.

The writers would have to develop the characters. Danny, only 10 at the start, had a defined personality and early on he had scripts--he was drafted into the army in a very early episode.

So it COULD have been done with Tracy and Chris. But it wasn't in the cards--they were there just to fill out the musical parts.

icecream · 05-30-2025, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atl 1996

The characters who played Chris and Tracy were noticibly younger than say Danny, Susan and David. I think it may have had to do with the strict child labor laws in California, which limits under 16's (?--age) to only a limited number of hours on the set. Danny, Susan and David, being older were allowed to work more hours and as such had more screen time.

Danny Bonaduce was born in 1959, so he was 11-15 during the show. Same child labor laws would have applied to him.

Tankeryanker · 05-31-2025, 01:47 PM

Tracy played Susan and Chris played John. Why they had John's role played by someone so young, I don't know. Susan wasn't very old when she started with her brother's band. They had some great music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUGWEo33fok

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowsills

12-03-2001, 09:56 PM	#1
John32070 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 03, 2001 Location: Kansas Posts: 29	Chris and Tracy It always bugged me watching this in the 70's as a pre-teen that Chris and Tracy basicly had nothing to do in this show but stand around and take up space. Why didn't the Producers think they could have been more involved? When they did get a little something to do, they did fine, so it's not like they would be afraid they couldn't handle it.

07-05-2003, 01:34 AM	#5
Lamont Holmes Banned Banned!! Frequent Poster Join Date: Jul 05, 2003 Location: Chicago Illinois Posts: 166	Chris & Tracy In my opinion,both actors did exceedingly well. Brian Forster IS a lot better playing Christopher than Jeremy Gelbwaks. Brian got along with the cast,and BOY! Can he play those drums! Suzanne Crough's portrayal of Tracy is nice,except in the pilot. In one scene,Tracy wears a "Cindy Brady"-type hairdo in homage to Susan Olsen. Honestly,Suzanne! Although,Jeremy's portrayal of Chris is nice too,even though he didn't stay on the show that long. Talk about your 15 minutes of fame! What else do yo know about Chris and Tracy?

08-09-2006, 04:54 PM	#7
m60tankdriver Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Aug 09, 2006 Location: fresno Posts: 13	Chris and Tracy It's true Chris & Tracy were merely "filler" to round out the band. During the first season, at least, Chris was given something to do besides the usual "Who?" reply to Shirley. This is a credit to Jeremy Gelbwaks' acting abilities and a truly expressive face. Check out in particular "Star Quality", "Whatever Happened to the Old Songs" and "Road Song" -- Jeremy got quite a few lines (for a peripheral character), and handled it quite well. While admittedly the better "drummer" (better at faking it, that is), Brian Forster was a worse actor and came across as very wooden. Perfect match for the untalented Suzanne Crough, though! I believe that had Jeremy stayed on, he would have gotten more participation, and left little Tracy in the dust.

12-05-2001, 12:39 AM	#2
Atl 1996 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2001 Posts: 20	The characters who played Chris and Tracy were noticibly younger than say Danny, Susan and David. I think it may have had to do with the strict child labor laws in California, which limits under 16's (?--age) to only a limited number of hours on the set. Danny, Susan and David, being older were allowed to work more hours and as such had more screen time.

06-27-2003, 04:22 PM	#3
hawaii five-o Book 'Em, Dano Senior Member Join Date: Jun 27, 2003 Location: At home, eating cereal straight out of the box Posts: 1,406	Sadly, the only reason that Chris and Tracy were around was so there would be enough kids in the band to play the drums and tambourine. It was always kind of sad how they were pushed aside, especially after Ricky came on board.

07-02-2003, 10:57 PM	#4
richheart Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 25, 2002 Posts: 205	Think about it. Whatever appeal they had was limited to kids in their age group. Kids that young who watched the show wouldn't have understood the plots or dialogue that well anyways. They didn't have to say anything.

02-11-2024, 01:11 AM	#8
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,437	That's pretty much what others have noted, in that the two youngest Partridge kids were essentially props that wore costumes and pretended to play instruments. They didn't appear to have equal roles like everybody else to put it in another way.

05-30-2025, 09:58 PM	#9
warp9p65 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 15, 2019 Location: AR Posts: 49	They had small roles but those characters made Jeremy, Brian, and Suzanne famous, at least to all the Partridge Family fans out there. That's far more fame than most people will ever have, lol. I thought they did great jobs for the bit parts they had.

05-30-2025, 11:43 PM	#10
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,170	There's really nothing to complain about for the fill-in parts they had. The show was not "about" them. The writers would have to develop the characters. Danny, only 10 at the start, had a defined personality and early on he had scripts--he was drafted into the army in a very early episode. So it COULD have been done with Tracy and Chris. But it wasn't in the cards--they were there just to fill out the musical parts.

05-31-2025, 01:47 PM	#12
Tankeryanker Do you like my monkey picture? Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 22, 2014 Posts: 3,039	Tracy played Susan and Chris played John. Why they had John's role played by someone so young, I don't know. Susan wasn't very old when she started with her brother's band. They had some great music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUGWEo33fok https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowsills