The BEST episodes of The Partridge Family
Every episode of The Partridge Family ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Partridge Family!
In 1970, the Partridge Family was among the top-selling recording acts, not to mention one of the top-rated TV shows of its time. Either way, it made David Cassidy a successful teen idol until the show's cancellation in 1974. The Partridge Family consisted of Shirley Partridge (keyboards, vocals) and her five kids: Keith (lead vocalist and guitar), Laurie (keyboards, vocals), Danny (bass guitar, vocals), Chris (drums), and Tracy (tambourine). Rounding out the cast was their manager, Reuben Kincaid.
#1 - Guess Who's Coming to Drive?
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/10/1971
Reuben sets up an aggressive summer tour schedule. Shirley does not want to go on tour as it is tiring to drive all day and sing all night, so they hire a bus driver. But Danny is suspicious when they find out that he's an ex-con.
#2 - Who is Max Ledbetter and Why is He Saying All Those Terrible Things?
Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/17/1972
The Partridges hire a psychic performer for Tracy's birthday party. Keith and Danny keep asking for predictions about their lives, so the psychic asks them to help his failing business from a foreclosure.
#3 - Home is Where the Heart Was
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/7/1972
After being scolded from a mess, Chris and Tracy decided to run away from home but, ended up at Ruben's apartment causing mayhem.
#4 - Hel-l-l-p
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/11/1972
It's a battle of the sexes as Shirley and Laurie prove to their male chauvinist counterparts to be better able to handle the wilderness.
#5 - This Male Chauvinist Piggy Went to Market
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1972
Its role reversal time in the Partridge household as Keith takes home economics and Laurie takes auto shop. Keith's struggles with cooking make him the target of barbs from the school bully, and things really heat up when Laurie gives the tough a Judo flip. Keith is then challenged to a fight, and must face up to the bully even if it means getting his face turned to hamburger.
#6 - Swiss Family Partridge
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/10/1972
The Partridge Family perform at a ski resort. After their two week tour, they head for a vacation at a secluded rustic cabin in the mountains. Their days of relaxation turns into mud slides, constant rain, and gloom.
#7 - Trial of the Partridge One
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/19/1973
Classmate Cindy gives Laurie an envelope to give to a teacher. When Laurie does, the teacher says it is the stolen exam answers for math and blames Laurie for taking them. Laurie hopes that Cindy will confess it was her that took them.
#8 - The Last of Howard
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/27/1973
The Partridges are on a cruise ship. Laurie meets a handsome, charming man who seems to have an interest in her. He say he is a rich heir, but his actions are not of a rich man. Keith thinks he is a jewel thief.
#9 - Al in the Family
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/24/1973
While Ruben is out of town, his nephew takes over managing the Partridges. He is not cut out for the job.
#10 - A Man Called Snake
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/1/1971
Keith gave an interview for a magazine and revealed that Laurie has a crush on a classmate, Harry Murphy. Laurie is upset and says it is the wrong name anyway. A motorcyclist, Harry Murphy, comes to visit Laurie to see who she is as a joke.
#11 - Where Do Mermaids Go?
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/31/1971
Driving home after a tour, the Partridges stop for a picnic on a country road and meet a young woman who likes to travel alone and enjoy her freedom. After hours together, she stays at their home, leaves, and gives them a million dollars.
#12 - My Heart Belongs to a Two-Car Garage
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/4/1972
Chris and Tracy invite a street worker into their home. He says he is a world-class Russian painter and says he can paint a work of art on their garage door. The completed picture is a nude woman that all the neighbors complain about.
#13 - M is for the Many Things
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/22/1972
Shirley is awarded Mother of the Year by a magazine. The family travel by bus to Sacramento to accept the award. Taking the back road leads them to wrong turns, lost wallet, traffic tickets, and other annoyances.
#14 - Waiting for Bolero
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/21/1972
Keith wants his own apartment so he can have some peace and quiet to write music. Shirley reluctantly agrees to let him move into a room in the house next door. Having his own place is not what he expects.
#15 - Whatever Happened to Moby Dick?
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/22/1971
Danny is interested in the whales singing and tells the family they need to include whales in their act to show their support of ecology.
#16 - Forty-Year Itch
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/19/1971
Shirley's father visits and announces he left home and plans to go to Big Sur. Minutes later, her mother shows up and says she ran away. Both parents are determined to split up. The Partridges must find a way to bring them together again.
#17 - All's War In Love and Fairs
Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/10/1972
As the Partridges start their vacation, the bus breaks down in a small town. The locals want them to do a benefit show to help Native Americans build a school. The mechanic finds ways to delay fixing the bus until the day of the show.
#18 - I Left My Heart in Cincinnati
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/26/1973
While the Partridges perform several days at an amusement park, Keith meets the public relations host. Keith has a crush on her.
#19 - What? And Get Out of Show Business?
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/25/1970
Recently widowed mother, Shirley Partridge who's struggling to raise her five children who are playing in a band and, Shirley works a bank teller. Older brother and sister Keith (Lead vocals and guitar) and Laurie (Keyboards). Younger brothers and sister Danny (Bass guitar), Chris (Drums) and, Tracy (Tamborine and percussion) are playing in a band called "The Partridge Family". Ruben Kincaid, a kid hater was signed as their manager. Finally, the kids asked their mother to join the band. Reluctantly, she agreed but, for a single condition: if she faints the kids have to assist her.
#20 - A Knight in Shining Armor
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/19/1971
The Partridges meet Bobby Conway, a composer who plays beautiful music and who is looking for a lyricist. They introduce him to Lionel Poindexter, whose poetry could provide excellent lyrics for Bobby's music but Lionel's many eccentricities may drive Bobby away instead.
#21 - Whatever Happened to Keith Partridge?
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/24/1972
A talent agent sees Keith and offers him a screen test for a Hollywood movie. He practices his scene and drives to the studio with the whole family. Keith is offered the part, and as he packs, he finds out he lost the part just that fast.
#22 - This is My Song
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/4/1970
When Keith is worried that he may not be able to write songs anymore because he's "written out", Danny decides that it's time for him to become the group's songwriter.
#23 - A Partridge Up a Pear Tree
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/19/1971
Keith has a new, albeit junk, car. He keeps putting money into restoring the car and make car payments. Out of money, Keith turns to Danny for help. Danny puts Keith on a tight budget so he can have money for the car and to go to the prom. Shirley suggests that Keith get a job to make extra money. He first becomes a trainee to a plumber, but can't quite get the knack of plumbing. Then he tries to learn to become a salesman of a vegetable slicer, but ends up buying the slicer for his mother. His attempt at a newspaper route ends disastrously when he sees a beautiful girl walk by.
#24 - Anatomy of a Tonsil
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/1971
Danny's sore throat is diagnosed as tonsillitis and he has to have his tonsils removed. He is nervous about the operation, and when it is over, he is nervous about losing his voice.
#25 - They Shoot Managers, Don't They?
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/12/1971
Ruben meets a woman and it seems like love. They talk of marriage, but she wants Ruben to stop managing the band. Shirley tells him the Partridges can find another manager and to follow his heart. Then the Partridges realize they need Ruben.