I read all the reviews here - but I disagree with them. In my opinion, it's not the actors (I thought they were great!), and it's not the writing that made this version of The Partridge Family a Fail. It's the camera work and the reality show format.. but especially the camera work (which is why I didn't rate more stars).
Hand-held camera cinematography is the worst! It makes one feel physically ill, and makes everything on the screen look shaky... makes you feel like you want to pop a xanax. One of the things I liked most about the original is the still camera sitcom format. It was relaxing, and it drew you into the subject's world. Hand held? You know you're watching something from afar.. you're not temporarily suspending your reality and entering the Partridge Family world.
The reality show format was also a bad idea, pretty much for the same reason .. it does not draw you in. If this show had been filmed with still cameras and done in a sitcom (not reality show) format, I believe that viewers would have liked it and accepted it. True, it's not exactly the same. The actors are different. The time is different. But the story is very similar and entertaining. My favorite is the new Danny Partridge - that's some good casting. I also loved seeing Danny Bonaduce enter the scene. Not too crazy about making him gay though.. there was no purpose for that twist.
Some reviewers found French Stewart too "mean" as Reuben Kincaid. I did not. Sure, they made him out to be a real a-hole initially (as the impetus to cost him his job and insert him as manager to the Partridge Family), but before the 20 minutes were up he greatly softened, having typical Reuben-type repartee with Danny while lying on a bunk bed like one of the kids. That's very "Reubenesque".
I actually never heard of this remake until today (in 2022), but if I had seen it, and if it had excluded the hand held camera style and reality show format, I would have loved it.. and I think many other viewers would have loved it as well. We want to relax with family shows like this - not feel like we've had 5 cups of coffee!
