Trivia / The Partridge Family

• Ability over Appearance: Danny Partridge was originally envisioned as a wiry, dark-haired boy. Red-headed Danny Bonaduce was cast anyway for his sense of comic timing, which is very rare in a child actor. This of course resulted in an infamous mismatch in appearance with the rest of his onscreen siblings which is still commonly cited decades later.
• Cast Incest: David Cassidy and Susan Dey slept together shortly after the series ended. She had a huge crush on him; he claimed he loved her like a sister, but made an effort anyway. It didn't work out.
• Creator's Favorite: Story editor/consultant Dale McRaven's favorite character was Keith. He said, "I did dumb things, so I had Keith do dumb things, too. He wasn't a dumb character, though."
• The Danza:
  • Shirley Jones as Shirley Partridge
  • Danny Bonaduce as Danny Partridge
  • Ricky Segall as Ricky Stevens
  • Bobby Sherman as Bobby Conway in "A Knight in Shining Armor"
  • Alan Bursky as Alan Kincaid in "Al in the Family"
  • Andy and David Williams as Andy and David in "Two for the Show"
• Dueling Shows: With The Brady Bunch, another popular squeaky clean Dom Com from the 1970s. Both are well-respected in their own right, but The Brady Bunch is less obscure due to the level of spin-offs and reboots, for better or worse.
• Fandom Nod: The show contains many references to David Cassidy's Teen Idol status. In one episode, the fictional Bopper Beat runs a contest to win a date with Keith; in another, Danny refers to Keith as a sex symbol.
• Hey, It's That Place!: Keith's girlfriend in "My Son, the Feminist" lives in the same house as Darrin and Samantha from Bewitched.
• Hostility on the Set: Jeremy Gelbwaks, the original actor of youngest brother Chris, didn't get along with Danny Bonaduce (with the latter claiming years later on Behind the Music that he wasn't above kicking him before they would film a scene). He was replaced by Brian Forster, who got along fine with Danny.
• Non-Singing Voice: Only David Cassidy and Shirley Jones actually sang. The others all lip synched to session singers.
• Old Shame: For at least some of the original cast members. Indeed, Susanne Crough (Tracy) once described the (fictional) group in an interview as "the original Milli Vanilli". (Susan Dey absolutely refused to take part in any reunions.)
• One-Hit Wonder: Semi-averted in their time. The song "I Think I Love You" hit #1 on the Billboard Top 40, the only Partridge Family song to do so. However, the group hit the Top Ten with "I'll Meet You Halfway" and "Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted". They cracked the Top 40 with "It's One of Those Nights (Yes Love"), "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" and a cover of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", and even made it into the Top 100 with "Am I Losing You" and "Friend and a Lover". On the other hand, "I Think I Love You" is the one everyone remembers, and they went from #1 to #99....
• The Other Darrin:
  • A kid named Jeremy Gelbwaks was originally cast as Chris for the first season. He was replaced by Brian Forster after his family moved to West Virginia.
  • Ray Bolger made 3 appearances as the Partridge's grandpa, first known as Grandpa Fred Renfew in his first 2 appearances. By his third appearance, Bolger's character was renamed Grandpa Walter. A year later, Jackie Coogan took over the role of Grandpa Walter.
• What Could Have Been: MTV attempted to produce a revival titled The New Partridge Family in 2005 with a TV mockumentary meant to serve as a pilot, but it never took off. Additionally, a teenage, pre-fame Emma Stone competed in In Search of the Partridge Family eventually being cast in the role of Laurie Partridge.

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