"It's pleasant and innocuous, but don't you think it's a little simple?" - Keith's girlfriend, assessing the aesthetic worth of The Partridge Family music.

Hello, world, hear the song that we're singin',
Come on, get happy!
A whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringin',
We'll make you happy!
We had a dream we'd go travelin' together,
And spread a little lovin' then we'd keep movin' on.
Somethin' always happens whenever we're together,
We get a happy feelin' when we're singin' a song.
Travelin' along there's a song that we're singin',
Come on, get happy!
A whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringin',
We'll make you happy!
We'll make you happy!
We'll make you happy!

Ricky sings! And as the crickets chirp, Ricky leaves the auditorium, post-haste! Sony has released The Partridge Family - The Fourth and Final Season, containing all 22 episodes, on three slimcase discs, of the 1973-1974 season. A still-potent ratings hit in its previous third season, this last go-around for the studio-manufactured Partridges proved deadly due to a critical timeslot move...as well as the inevitable fact that tweens and teens grow up, and who and what they think are cool one minute, fades away the next, just as quickly as the blemishes on their faces.

I've written before about The Partridge Family (you can read my review of The Partridge Family - The Third Season here), so I won't go into a lot of background detail on the show. The series' basic premise continues right where Season Three left off. Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones), the widowed mother of five, heads up The Partridge Family, a AOR-friendly pop/rock/Top 40 musical group consisting of, who else, herself and her talented brood. Preening peacock/surprisingly dorky Keith (David Cassidy) is the band's idol-status lead singer and guitarist (who offstage faces the double burden of getting through his awkward teen years as a famous rock star). Gorgeous high-schooler Laurie (Susan Dey) plays piano for the band, and serves as one of Keith's comedic foils. Little troll Danny Partridge (Danny Bonaduce) plays the band's bass (badly); he's the family's class-clown and financial schemer. And non-entities Tracy and Chris Partridge (Suzanne Crough and Brian Forster) play tambourine and drums for the band...and have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any episodes, yet again, in this final season. Rounding out the family band is cynical, put-upon band manager Reuben Kincaid (Dave Madden) who use to spar with Danny all the time over money matters, and who now simply acts as a slow-burn foil within the various sitcom frameworks.

For TV kids of the 70s, certainly the arrival of Ricky Segall as nauseatingly cute next-door-neighbor Ricky is analogous to other notorious bone-head sitcom plays such as Oliver's arrival at the Bradys' residence, or the sudden, unexplained "Durweed switch" of Dick Sargent for Dick York over on Morning Glory Circle. We may have experienced these shows in their prime-time runs or in syndication in the privacy of our own homes, but collectively, those original fictional TV characters became as familiar to our generation as our own family members (and for some of us, a damn sight more welcome). So the arrival of an "interloper" like Ricky to the Partridge Family mix was met with disdain by loyal viewers; for many young TV watchers, the obviousness of such a casting move like Ricky's was the first sinking realization that TV really was fake ("I know it's just a show, but cripes...did they have to push that kid on us? Switch the channel to Bowling for Dollars.").

And besides, Ricky really was horrid. Now I like precocious kid performers just as much as the next person (in other words, I loathe them), but Ricky, the four-year-old neighbor of the Partridges who has an addle-pated "cheer me up!" song for just about every occasion, stretches the limits of even the most even-tempered viewers' patience. Initially appearing with a mother and sister (poor Nita Talbot and Ronne Troup get 86'd right after the first episode - with no later mention of where they went), Ricky soon becomes an inevitability, inexplicably showing up at the house, or on the bus (he travels with them?) for a couple of one-liners during a story, before ending each episode with a song. And what songs they are! With titles like If I Were a Monkey, When I Grow Up, and The Bicycle Song, little Ricky grimaces and mugs his way through these plinky piano-and-xylophone ditties with a grim determination to make us love him that borders on the unhinged.

Why the producers thought the inclusion of Ricky was a good move, is anybody's guess. Of course, the producers knew that David Cassidy had tired of playing Keith Partridge at least two season before, and his constant touring on shooting weekends, as well as during his hiatus period, was seriously burning out the singer. So the inclusion of any singer at this point in the show meant that Cassidy didn't have to do so many numbers for the show. But why did The Partridge Family creators think a four-year-old kid was a good match to "replace," in essence, Keith (and frankly, how insulting to the other two little kids in the cast who were virtually ignored for four years)? It's bad enough that the character makes no logical sense within the show's framework (why is he traveling with them on the bus? Where's the mom? Why is he over at their house all the time - particularly when there's no one his own age over there?), but his singing "talents" also clash badly with the stated aims of the series: to create teeny-bopper, pop idol chart-toppers. How do Ricky's icky little songs fit in with I Think I Love You? If the series couldn't make break-out characters of younger siblings Christopher and Tracy Partridge, why would the producers think they could plug in an even younger kid - with no connection to the Partridge brand - to do the job? Perhaps Ricky's inclusion was the result of The Partridge Family singing group's inevitable chart decline: since David Cassidy and his studio sessionmen hadn't delivered a sizeable hit in some time, maybe little kids were all that were left of The Partridge Family's TV audience. As I wrote in my earlier review, with a show like The Partridge Family that was crafted first and foremost as a marketable product that could be cross-promoted, record sales drove Nielsen ratings and vice versa. Without Billboard hits, The Partridge Family was just another innocuous family sitcom keeping little kids amused on Friday nights.

Only this season, ABC moved the show right into the oncoming path of ratings juggernaut, TV's number-one rated show, All in the Family, on Saturday nights at 8:00pm - a move akin to having Bambi wage war against Godzilla. Breaking up the first popular incarnation of what would later be dubbed "TGIF" programming on ABC, the departure of The Partridge Family from the The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple, Room 222 and Love, American Style Friday night line-up (to be replaced by misfit non-starter Adam's Rib) broke up that demographically successful block of programming, while killing off what had been a declining but still respectable 19th place Nielsen showing for The Partridge Family the year before. Did ABC move the show with the genuine belief that it could serve the kids on Saturday night who weren't allowed to watch that "dirty" adult show, All in the Family? Or was it a cynical move on part of the network, safely and quietly killing off a fad show they knew was dying due to increasingly poor album sales, slipping ratings, and Cassidy's stated intention to bail on Keith Partridge? Who knows (it was probably a little bit of both). But clearly, little Ricky added nothing to the mix, disappearing midway through the season without so much as a word of explanation.

Which leaves us with the rest of the fourth season of The Partridge Family, and what squeaked by as a passable season the year before, now looks decidedly tired with these rote episodes. It's difficult not to enjoy certain aspects of this fourth season - particularly when the talented cast has a moment here or there where they get a chance to actually be funny (there's a great throwaway gag in Double Trouble where Keith thoughtlessly puts on his mother's coat. It's not explained, nor commented on, and Susan Dey's expression is priceless - too bad there aren't more moments like this this season). But too often, the plots are tired and obvious, or even fail to make sense. In The Strike-Out King, Shirley, Keith and Laurie want Danny to play baseball because they're worried he can't find kids his own age anywhere else (...how about at school). In Beethoven, Brahms and Partridge, the entire moral of the story seems to be that Keith's songs make people happy, so he has no need to write heavy classical music (...so why does the ultimate proof of this moral come with Keith singing a Herman's Hermits song?). The few episodes that remain overtly political (ABC's safe politicizing of the suburban Partridges increasing took a back seat to standard sitcom hijinks as the show aged) are laughably inept. In Queen for a Minute, Laurie rejects the ideals embodied in being the Homecoming Queen...without telling us what those ideals are, and why she objects to them. And most amusingly, in Morning Becomes Electric, the Partridges, in an early effort to be green during the 1973 oil crisis, give us the true picture of what conscientious energy conservation does for a family: it makes them suffer (I love the Partridges sigh of relief when they get enough power to actually go back and enjoy their appliances).

One or two episodes amuse on their own (sometimes unwittingly, such as Two For the Show, where the supremely creepy Williams Twins declare their love for Laurie, made all the more unnerving with their fey manner and disturbingly deep voices), but for the most part, the adventures of the Partridges are surprisingly mundane this go-around. A lack of catchy songs doesn't help, either (they really push the okay I'll Never Get Over You, which is featured in at least three or four episodes). Only in Keith and Lauriebelle, where Keith "dates" Laurie to make his girlfriend jealous, lies the possibility for a truly interesting episode. Reminding me of those seemingly endless discussions about the various sexual permutations of the cast members of The Brady Bunch (come on, don't be so shocked - just watch Barry and Maureen: they can barely keep their hands off each other), Keith and Lauriebelle at first looks like it might actually mine some of the warped sitcom sexuality that always seemed to be bubbling beneath the surface of shows like The Partridge Family (check out that weird scene where Keith puts his hands all over Laurie). But just when it gets interesting, the show bails on its perverted promise, delivering nary an innocuous double-entendre before slipping away into mediocrity - much like most of The Partridge Family - The Fourth and Final Season. The final shot of the series, where Shirley looks out hopefully from her door after George Chakiris, an old love of hers, leaves with a promise of continuing their relationship, seems to indicate that perhaps the producers were holding out that the show could come back for a fifth season. But no such luck. The Partridge Family strummed their last fake chord on March 23rd, 1974, before settling down into seemingly endless syndicated re-runs.

Here are the 22, one-half hour episodes of the three-disc set, The Partridge Family - The Fourth and Final Season, as described on the DVD slimcases:

DISC ONE

Hate Thy Neighbor
The Partridges meet their new neighbor, Ricky Stevens, a four-year-old who wants to be a singer! The problem is his mother hates show business, and especially show people.

None But the Lonely
Keith's scheme to meet a cute newcomer using Laurie's newspaper advice column backfires.

Beethoven, Brahms and Partridge
Keith is encouraged by a new girlfriend to stop writing popular songs and start writing classical music, much to the chagrin of his family.

The Strike-Out King
At Shirley's urging, Danny reluctantly joins a little league baseball team - and surprisingly becomes a strike-out king! But the pressure of having to win the upcoming championship becomes more than Danny can handle.

Reuben Kincaid Lives
When the Partridges start demonstrating their appreciation to Reuben - including a surprise birthday party and visit from his mother - Reuben thinks he's going to kick the bucket.

Double Trouble
When Keith makes two dates for the same beach party, his scheme to get out of one backfires, leaving him dateless on a Saturday night.

The Last of Howard
Keith and Danny are convinced that Laurie's rich shipboard suitor is not what he pretends to be! Filmed entirely aboard the S.S. Fairsea.

The Diplomat
Shirley Partridge is pursued by Presidential Ambassador Howard Lipton - who can't seem to leave his work, or his entourage, at the office.

DISC TWO

Heartbreak Keith
Keith falls for an older college student and is convinced she's fallen for him, too - only to find out that she's married.

A Day of Honesty
A day of honesty for the entire Partridge family is the cure when Danny is caught sneaking into a movie theater.

Al in the Family
Reuben's insecure nephew, Alan, is a total failure at everything he tries. But the family encourages his aspirations to become a stand-up comic.

Maid in San Pueblo
Shirley's parents are battling again and this time Grandma decides to go to work - as the Partridge family's maid! When the family takes sides, it pits the males against the females.

Art for Mom's Sake
Shirley's art teacher thinks her paintings are masterpieces, but the family thinks they're disasters and schemes to keep them from being shown in an art show.

Two for the Show
Reuben's new clients are 14-year-old identical twins - who develop a crush on Laurie that threatens to break up their act.

Danny Drops Out
A lesson in child psychology backfires when Shirley allows Danny to drop out of school.

DISC THREE

Queen for a Minute
When Laurie's girlfriend tries out for the basketball team and is discriminated against because of her sex, the girls plan to use the homecoming queen contest as a means of revenge.

Danny Converts
Danny weaves a tangled web when he's smitten with a rabbi's daughter and tells her he is of her faith.

Miss Partridge, Teacher
When Laurie gets a job as a student teacher in Danny's English class, she's especially hard on him and threatens to fail him - jeopardizing the family's European summer tour.

Keith and Lauriebelle
To make a girl jealous, Keith convinces Laurie to pose as his date, a southern belle name "Lauriebelle Culpepper."

Morning Becomes Electric
The Partridges become the "model family" in an effort to show the public how easy it is to conserve energy. But Danny reads the meters wrong - forcing his family to live without electricity for two whole days.

Pin It On Danny
Danny finds a diamond brooch and gives it to Shirley for her birthday - then discovers it was lost by his English teacher.

...---... (S.O.S.)
When Shirley dates her high school sweetheart, now a dashing Navy Captain, a suspicious Keith and Danny are in hot pursuit in the family bus - all the way to Muldune's Point.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full-screen, 1.33:1 video transfers for The Partridge Family - The Fourth and Final Season look quite good, even though I did spot the occasional scratch or dirt speck. Colors for the most part are strong and saturated, although the picture could be a tad soft at times. No compression issues to speak of, either.

The Audio:
Unfortunately, all we have for the audio tracks for The Partridge Family - The Fourth and Final Season are original English mono -- a definite let-down for those fans who'd like to hear their fun songs in stereo arrangements. Close-captions are included, as well.

The Extras:
There are no extras for The Partridge Family - The Fourth and Final Season.

Final Thoughts:
"Ricky." You don't need to say much more than that to sum up this final go-around for The Partridge Family. It's clear that David Cassidy is bored to tears playing Keith Partridge (even his face is trying to break out from under dorky Keith), and most of the episodes feel as tired as he looks. This isn't exactly "ending on a high note." A buy, obviously, for the serious Partridge fan (as well as Ricky and The Williams Twins freaks), but everyone else can safely skip it, and check out the better, earlier seasons.