Partridge Family 2200 AD

In 1974, my family and I bought into the idea that "Rock and Roll" was inherently evil. I was 7, so I was easily sold on the idea, but I was typically drawn to the thing I was supposed to be repulsed by, and was always sneaking peeks at The Partridge Family (the live-action show). When I heard about this show - from an ad in a Richie Rich comic book prattling on about the virtues of the new CBS Saturday morning lineup - I was overjoyed in a pre-pubescently naughty way. I knew I could sneak peaks at the show without my family knowing about it, because who cared what I watched on a Saturday morning? No one. My own dirty little secret in waiting. Little did I realize how inherently lame and non-rebellious the 'live' Partridges were, but oh well. When the show actually came on, it was just terrible. So bad that even a seven year old was bored silly by it: there was no explanation as to why the Partridges were suddenly two-and-a-quarter centuries in the future, their world consisted mostly of old backgrounds and incidental music left over from the Jetsons, and it wasn't at all funny. I watched it once or twice, and then drifted away and forgot it even existed. In the early 80s it was briefly syndicated, and I watched about one episode, unable to get through it, and kind of embarrassed to remember how much I looked forward to it. As part of the inexplicable early-70s demi-trend of taking established properties and putting them in space for no good reason, this show ranks a poor second to "Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space".

Same buildings and even the same office as George Jetson. Not sure about the clothing though.

If the original series weren't too cutesy and cartoony enough, Hanna-Barbera had to bring the singing family to the future, in animation form. The Partridges were based on the Cowsills; why weren't both families brought to the future? The animation here is poorly done (but then that's how it was in the OPEC-affected 70s)and the stories are not any better. Not a great way to cash in on the success of the band.

Let's be honest, many of us GenXers view Hanna-Barbera's '70s output through a lens of nostalgia and are willing to overlook that a lot of is objectively bad.

Then there's this show.

The original concept, a sequel to the Jetsons might have been interesting. Unfortunately somehow an animated Partridge Family was forced into that idea and the results are just awful.

Even the title is bad. A. D. Precedes a date (A. D. 2200).

As a five-year-old, I was horrified by the theme song's lyrics "It's the Partridge Family showing us how it's gonna be." No! The future cannot be this nightmare!

Marian the Martian and Veenie the Venusian were annoying, but, sadly, less annoying than the hackneyed scripts, which were about the most unoriginal in Saturday morning history.

I will say one good thing about this show: its existence keeps Filmation's The New Adventures of Gilligan from being the worst animated series derived from a live-action series. That at least had a little charm.

Quite frankly, this has to be the worst cartoon ever and it doesn't deserve to bear the Partridge Family name. Gone are the well-crafted scripts of the original series as well as the strong dynamics between the characters. I mean the Danny/Reuben relationship is all but gone, Keith and Laurie are just cardboard cutouts of the stereotypical teenagers and their voice replacements are terrible. The same with Shirley whose progressive edge that made the character so different from other TV mothers from the same era. Quite frankly, if you haven't seen it, you are definitely not missing anything. Go and do yourself a favor and watch the original series episodes (all four seasons are available on DVD) and try to forget this was ever made.