Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Why I love The Partridge Family

I've been watching The Partridge Family on Go!

Here are the reasons why I love it.

1. Shirley is a great role model for mums. She knows when to step back, when to stand up and when to step in. She is a single mum, and there's no question of her needing a man. She's perfectly capable. And I like the way she and Lori relate to each other. And Shirley Jones is great - from Carousel and Oklahoma! to this - she's great. (And such a cute haircut!)(Although I do wonder what about the looks of a man who fathered such different looking children.)

2. The kids are famous but all do their chores.

3. The kids tease each other, but look out for each other too.

4. The clothes. Not only do they wear the same costumes on stage, not just the same as each other, but obviously a limited selection of stage costumes, they also have character wardrobes, so they do wear the same clothes twice, three times. They don't have inexhaustable wardrobes, as characters on tv do these days. I've been looking for a new fashion influence, not for me,but I can copy some of Lori's clothes for the kids.

5. David Cassidy. How skinny is he? He's a dag. He's a spunk. He's a dag. Pop star living with his family, keeping it real. Girls like him, but he does nothing to draw attention to himself. Not presenting as sexy. No publicity stunts. He just plays his music. With his mum. Perhaps more mums should be involved in their kid's talent? See Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Doesn't always work. Hannah Montana? Compare and Contrast.

6. The guest actors. Meredith Baxter and Season Hubley in 1972. Gorgeous.

7. Rheuben Kinkaid. He's a bachelor, but he hangs out with the family. He pretends not to like kids. But really, he loves the family.

8. They play music. Together. Keith writes the music. They work together. Everyone participates in working for the family, and no-one complains. How cool is that?

9. They eat dinner together at the table. Every night. They play card games and monopoly. The house isn't full of clutter. Life was simpler then. Something to aspire to.

10. The social issues. Everything is an opportunity for discussion in our house. We've talked about the battle of the sexes, workers' rights and unions, and so on, because of issues raised in The Partridge Family.

Notice I didn't mention the songs? I don't like the songs particularly, but I don't mind my kids singing them. And I'm happy that my five year old now wants to be Tracey Partridge rather than Posh Spice. A move in the right direction!

2 comments:

Madmother said...

I think I love you! No, really I love David Cassidy and I promise I won't go into why his lips were worn away on my Teen Beat poster, but you may well come a close second. Great blog!

Motherhugger said...

Watched the first episode today. The opening credits were different and it explained how the whole thing started. Shirley was working at a bank six months after her husband passed away. The kids had a band and the lead singer got the mumps and couldn't sing when they had recording equipment they had borrowed from school for one night. Danny had lots of money making schemes. They talked Shirley, who said she was tone deaf (yeah, right) into singing. It was to make money to put the kids through college. Danny approached Mr Kinkaid and the song became a hit on the radio. They bought the bus, and drove to Las Vagas for their first gig. Shirley was nervous and the kids confident, but when the curtain went up they all got stage fright except Shirley.

Funny how I remembered all the songs even though I probably hadn't heard them in twenty years.

Lori was interested in social justice from the first episode. It had the original Chris. And Keith's clothes were very daggy. Glad the wardrobe department groovied them up later!