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I was eight years old when The Partridge Family first aired in September 1970. I still remember that it came on Friday nights right after The Brady Bunch (that was already in its second season). Like you, I did not have the happiest childhood so I found both shows appealing as "substitute families."

In fact, I very naively penned a letter to Reuben Kincaid, Manager of the Partridge Family, volunteering to join the band as a drummer, stating that I could learn to "drum better than Chris."

So for a few weeks, I fantasized about the Partridge Family bus pulling up to my house and whisking me away. But that illusion was shattered when "Mr. Kincaid's" response came, n the form of an invitation to join The Partridge Family Fan Club, along with a 8x10 glossy of Keith Partridge!

How's that for a slap in the face. I handed the Keith Partridge glossy to my sister and became a little more cynical and wise to the ways of the world around me.

Getting back to the Brady Bunch, I believe their "jump the shark" moment came when Mike Brady's architecture firm sent him on a business trip to Hawaii and told him he could take the whole family with him, including even Alice the housekeeper!

C'mon, even to a child, that scenario was just not plausible.

As for Partridge Family, I don't remember a jump the shark moment for them. That was just a solid show all around and it was cancelled way too soon. Danny Partridge was my role model. The music on that show was great too, I don't care what the others say. Songs like "Point Me In The Direction Of Albuquerque", "Echo Valley 2-6809" and "Summer Days" are pure 1970s sunshine pop classics.

Yeah, I watched partridge family in daily syndicated reruns too.

The music was indeed good every episode. The show was lucky in that they had a very talented songwriting team of the time writing up their music, Boyce and Hart. If the music sucked, it wouldn’t have been believable that the partridge family was a successful band.

Though I didn’t watch the partridge family for the music. I didn’t care about the music. I watched for the comedy and I liked to look at the interior of their house (even if it was a fake set). Much like the brady’s, they had a beautiful, nice house I would have loved to own and live in.

My family lived in an old, run down, cockroach infested apartment in the city. The partridges and the bradys had a private house to call their own out in the suburbs, with grassy front and back yards to play in. I didnt.

They had wall to wall carpeting. I didn’t. We had bare wooden floors or linoleum that was in dire need of replacing.

They had second floors for their bedrooms which provided more privacy for the bedroom area. I didnt.

They had fireplaces. I didnt. Etc, etc.

One thing that was a real turnoff for me regarding the partridge family was that the kids were being raised by a single mother like I was. Didn’t matter to me that shirley partridge was a sweet, kind, loving woman who never did and never would abuse her children. No screaming. No yelling. No hitting. No cursing like my mother.