AllMovie

Johnny Cash makes a cameo appearance in the premiere episode of The Partridge Family. Told in flashback, the episode details how an ordinary family from Ohio managed to become a popular singing group performing at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Things begin percolating when attractive widow Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) discovers that her five kids--Keith (David Cassidy), Laurie (Susan Dey, Danny (Danny Bonaduce), Chris (Jeremy Gelbwaks) and Tracy (Suzanne Crough)--have organized a garage band, with neighborhood youngster Gloria Steinman (Debra Pearce) sitting in as lead vocalist and drummer. When it turns out that Gloria is unable to sing, the Partridge kids get an inspiration: "Waitaminute! Why don't we let Mom sing Gloria's part?" From here on in, all the familiar pieces fall in place, including the acquisition of a "psychedelic" school bus to transport the Partridges from one gig to another, and the entrepreneurial Danny's engagement of kid-hating Reuben Kincaid (Dave Madden) as the family band's manager. Songs in this inaugural episode include "Together", "Let the Good Times In", and the first-season theme tune "When We're Singin'" (which in time would be rewritten as the more familiar "Come On, Get Happy".