The Partridge Family – The Complete Third Season

The Partridge Family The Complete Third Season
Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, Susan Dey
Danny Bonaduce, Dave Madden
3 DVD 25 episodes
Originally Aired 1972-73
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2008

No seventies TV sitcom collection should be without a Partridge Family DVD box set. Although the most famous and bizarre Partridge Family episode, where Partridges throw a fundraiser for the TV version of the Black Panthers, is Soul Club in season one, The Partridge Family The Complete Third Season is as good a box set as any.  It is after all, hard to tell one partridge from another.

The Partridge Family has not quite aged gracefully, and not only because of the clothes. There is a definite quaint quality to the show and this very white bread, innocent America TV family. There are occasionally a few specs here and there in the picture and sometimes the overall color seems to lighten or darken a bit during a sequence.

Our review The Partridge Family the Fourth and Final Season

All these are minor and take nothing away from enjoying this family situation comedy.

I am not quite sure what today’s kids will make of this show but, then again, the Partridge Family DVD sets are geared towards those of us who grew up watching the show in its original or first few syndicated runs.

The better shows in The Partridge Family are those where Danny played a major part or where Danny and Reuben butted heads. Season three features a battle of wills between Danny, who is on a diet, and Reuben, who is trying to quit smoking and Danny being treated as an adult: Each Dawn I Diet and You’re Only Young Twice on DVD 1.

Quite enjoyable is Me and My Shadow on DVD 3. The Partridge family has to hide from a mystery writer if they want to make $25,000 for charity. The disc also contains the episode where Shirley battles a store computer.

Look for Jodie Foster as Danny’s love interest in The Eleven Year Itch (disc 3)

Other good shows in The Partridge Family season three include the first episode, a battle of the sexes between Keith (David Cassidy) and Laurie (Susan Dey, the best air keyboard player ever), and Whatever Happened to Keith Partridge (DVD 2) where Keith prepares for a screen test.

Lesser shows include the return of Snake (Stuart Margolin), Swiss Family Robinson where the Partridge family gets stranded in a cabin without a decent script, and For Sale By Owner (DVD 2 of The Partridge Family The Complete Third Season) where Shirley has second thoughts about selling the house.

There are no really memorable songs in season 3 of The Partridge Family.

Look for Charlotte Rae, The Facts of Life, as a school counselor. Vic Tayback, of Alice, plays a bill collector.

Related Posts