If I'm not mistaken, it's Presidents' Day down in the States while up here in Canada, we're celebrating Family Day. Wherever you are, I hope you are having a good day.
Of course, being a holiday today means that we've got a special Reminiscings of Youth article and in keeping with the family theme, I've opted to go with another one of my fondly remembered TV show themes. I'm not sure if I have remembered this correctly but at one point on the ABC Friday night lineup, it was the sitcom trio of "The Partridge Family", "Bewitched" and "The Odd Couple" that kept my eyes on the screen.
Probably out of the three shows, "The Partridge Family" was the one that has filled me with the most nostalgia because the plot did involve a family-based band led by Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) and their brand of pop-rock music along with the fashion of those times (bell-bottom pants, flimsy vests and wide lapels). Of course, the theme song, the gently rock-n'-rollin' "Come On Get Happy" by Wes Farrell and Danny Janssen has been the song from "The Partridge Family" to stick with me all these decades.
In fact, "Come On Get Happy" is so iconic in my brain that I was surprised to find out that Early Installment Weirdness (coined as a trope in "TV Tropes") had also settled into "The Partridge Family" starting with the September 1970 pilot episode when "Together (Havin' A Ball)" was used while the clan was actually performing it.
And then for the rest of the first season, "When We're Singin'" was used as the main theme. If it sounds familiar, it is because the Farrell melody would be used for "Come On Get Happy" but the original Diane Hildebrand lyrics would be replaced by Janssen's words. The theme I've always known would be used from the second season forward from September 1971 until the show's cancellation in 1974.
Well, why don't we go with what was on the Oricon chart on September 27th 1971? I've got Nos. 1, 5 and 6.
1. Rumiko Koyanagi -- Watashi no Joukamachi (わたしの城下町）
5. Miki Hirayama -- Manatsu no Dekigoto (真夏の出来事）
6. Saori Minami -- Juu-nana Sai （１７才）
The only song on today's list I knew or had heard was Saori Minami's Juu-nana Sai （１７才）. I had not even heard "The Partridge Family"'s theme song either. I don't think I ever had the chance to watch the show; I vaguely remember hearing the name of the show before.
ReplyDelete"Bewitched" has been the beloved American sitcom in Japan but I read that "The Partridge Family" got to Japan via TV Tokyo in those early 1970s and it apparently had a run on Super! drama TV.
DeleteWow, TV Tokyo and Super! drama TV broadcast "The Partridge Family??!! I wonder if it came with Japanese subtitles or if it was dubbed?
DeleteBy the way back in the states (or at least in the state I was in) in 1980's reruns of "Bewitched" seemed to be more popular or common than of "I dream of Jeannie" and I do not remember seeing reruns of the "Partridge Family" at all. Oh, reruns of "I love Lucy" and "Andy Griffith show" were also quite common.
I'm not sure whether "The Partridge Family" was dubbed or subtitled, although back in the early days, I can imagine it was the former. "Bewitched" was indeed very popular in Japan; Elizabeth Montgomery even did some commercials there. "I Love Lucy" is an absolute legend of a sitcom.
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