The Partridge Family is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 1970 to March 1974 on ABC.

The series follows the lives of a fictional pop music band formed by the titular family, including Shirley (Shirley Jones), Keith (David Cassidy), Laurie (Susan Dey), and Danny (Danny Bonaduce), as well as their manager Reuben Kincaid (Dave Madden).

In the pilot episode, a group of musical siblings in the fictional city of San Pueblo, California, (said to be "40 miles from Napa County" in episode 24, "A Partridge By Any Other Name") convinces their widowed mother, bank teller Shirley Partridge, to help them out by singing as they record a pop song in their garage.

Through the efforts of the precocious and streetsmart 10-year-old Danny, they find a manager, Reuben Kincaid, who helps make the song a Top 40 hit.

They acquire an old school bus, a 1957 Chevrolet[1] Series 6800 Superior, for touring, paint it with Mondrian-inspired patterns, and head to Las Vegas, Nevada, for their first live gig at Caesars Palace.

The Partridge Family was created for television by Bernard Slade, and the series' executive producer was Bob Claver.

In the midst of his rise to fame, Cassidy soon felt stifled by the show and trapped by the mass hysteria surrounding his every move.

[5] Shortly after the series ended, the scriptwriter Roberta Tatum launched a lawsuit against Screen Gems concerning the creation of the show.

Initially, all of the actors pretended to sing while listening to recordings by session musicians, who provided the real vocal and instrumental music attributed to the Partridge Family.

However, after Cassidy demonstrated to the series music producer, Wes Farrell, that he could sing, he was allowed to record his own vocal parts.

The future Charlie's Angels stars Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett and Cheryl Ladd all made guest appearances on separate episodes.

Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench appeared in a cameo role as a Kings Island Inn poolside waiter in "I Left My Heart in Cincinnati," a Season 3 episode which first aired on January 26, 1973.

This episode led into a short-lived spin-off series on ABC, Getting Together, starring Sherman and Wes Stern as Conway's business partner Lionel Poindexter.

Music recorded for the pilot episode was produced by Shorty Rogers, a jazz musician and arranger who worked with the Monkees.

Cassidy was originally to lip sync to dubbed vocals with the rest of the cast but convinced Farrell that he could sing, and was allowed to join the studio ensemble as the lead singer.

Somethin' always happens whenever we're together; We get a happy feelin' when we're singing a song..." (from "C'mon Get Happy") For its final season, ABC moved the show from its 8:30 p.m. Friday slot (where it rated first in its slot) to Saturday at 8 p.m. (opposite CBS' top-rated All in the Family and NBC's medical drama Emergency!, against which it lost more than half of its audience from the previous season).

When the digital subchannel Antenna TV began in January 2011, The Partridge Family was one of its offerings through the network's distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television (parent company and successor of series producer Screen Gems).

In April 1995 following the successful release of The Brady Bunch Movie, it was announced Warner Bros. had made a deal with Bernard Slade and Witt/Thomas Productions to develop a feature length adaptation.

Cassidy began touring with his own group of musicians, performing Partridge songs, as well as hits from his own albums, to thousands of screaming teenagers in major stadiums across the US, the UK, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The Partridge Family remain best known for their 1970 smash debut single "I Think I Love You", written by Tony Romeo, who had penned the big 1968 hit "Indian Lake" (and other records) by the Cowsills.

It sold more than five million copies, outselling the Beatles' "Let It Be", was awarded a gold disc, and made the group the third fictional artist to have a number one hit (after the Chipmunks and the Archies).

[24] Record sales success was replicated internationally, with both the Partridge Family group and Cassidy as a solo singer achieving huge hits in Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

[25][26] Though Bonaduce was credited as lead singer on all songs, he insists that he had a weak voice and that Bruce Roberts provided most of the vocals on the album.

In fall 2010, Cassidy dared Bonaduce to learn how to play the bass guitar lines for the songs the Partridge Family performed.

Jones and Cassidy did not voice their animated characters and Susan Dey and Dave Madden had very limited involvement with this cartoon.

Released in 1971 by Milton Bradley, The Partridge Family Game offers a glimpse of what life on the road was like for one of TV's favorite fictional pop bands.

The various authors included Michael Avallone, Vic Crume, Lee Hays, Paul Fairman, Vance Stanton and Edward Fenton.

In 2004, VH1 produced a pilot for a syndicated The New Partridge Family, starring Suzanne Sole as Shirley, Leland Grant as Keith, Emma Stone (in her first role) as Laurie, Spencer Tuskowski as Danny, and French Stewart as Reuben Kincaid.

On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the home video rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library including The Partridge Family.

[37] On September 22, 2015, Mill Creek re-released Partridge Family – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 with the original Screen Gems logo reinstated at the end of the credits.