History The Partridge Family

created television bernard slade, series executive producer bob claver. show inspired , loosely based on cowsills, family pop music group famous in late 1960s. in show s development, cowsill children considered producers, because cowsills not trained actors , old roles scripted, slade , claver abandoned idea. shirley jones had been signed mother shirley partridge , star of show.

the pilot filmed in december 1969. unaired pilot differs pilot broadcast in 1970. in unaired pilot, shirley s name connie , has boyfriend played jones real-life husband @ time, jack cassidy, father of david cassidy. laurie mentions late father once getting drunk @ christmas party, , family has different address , live in ohio. unaired pilot unavailable on home video.

the show proved popular, fame took toll on several, if not most, of starring cast, particularly david cassidy. in midst of rise fame, cassidy felt stifled show , trapped mass hysteria surrounding every move. in may 1972, appeared nude on cover of rolling stone magazine in cropped annie leibovitz photo. used article away squeaky clean image. among other things, article mentions cassidy riding around new york in of car stoned , drunk.

shortly after series ended, scriptwriter roberta tatum launched lawsuit against screen gems concerning creation of show. tatum claimed had submitted similar premise screen gems prior 1970 called baker s half-dozen. matter resolved out of court, tatum receiving reported $150,000 screen gems.

the partridge family, season 1