David Cassidy on the Web
Art Echoes Life In The Cassidy Brothers' New Sitcom
Cassidy brothers' sitcom reprises 1970s glory
August 4, 2009
By Scott Collins Tribune Newspapers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
www.sun-sentinel.com
LOS ANGELES - -Nepotism is not unknown in the TV business, but with his latest project, Shaun Cassidy has taken family ties to a new extreme.
Cassidy is the 1970s teen idol who has spent the last 15 years as a television writer-producer of cult dramas with a sci-fi bent ("American Gothic," "Invasion"). Now he's turned his attention to musical comedy with ABC Family's "Ruby & the Rockits," about two middle-age brothers, former rock gods who get reacquainted after the long-lost daughter of one of them re-enters the picture.
For the cast, Cassidy stayed close to home. One of the leads is his half-brother, David, who had his own heartthrob stint on "The Partridge Family," the early '70s sitcom about a family of rock singers that "Ruby" deliberately echoes. The other is stage actor Patrick Cassidy, the younger brother (47) whom Shaun freely admits torturing endlessly during childhood. Ryan, the youngest Cassidy brother, works behind the scenes as the show's lead set dresser. (The title character, David's 15-year-old daughter, is played by former "Spy Kids" star Alexa Vega.)
Is it all too self-referential? As the writer in the family, Shaun Cassidy is aware of the dangers.
"The double-edged sword of working with family is it can be the most fulfilling experience you've ever had," Cassidy, 50, said during a recent interview. "But the flip side is it can also be the most tortuous and most stressful, because it's your family and the lines can get blurry.
The brothers are all sons of Jack Cassidy, the prolific comic actor whose presence continues to hang over the family nearly 33 years after his death. David is the son of Cassidy and Evelyn Ward; Jack Cassidy later married actress Shirley Jones, the mother of Shaun, Patrick and Ryan.
According to Shaun, his father's personality, on-screen and off, inspired the character of David Gallagher, the narcissistic performer whom David Cassidy plays on "Ruby."
Even today, his sons seem to wrestle with ambivalent feelings toward their father. David has described Jack as an alcoholic, a sufferer of bipolar disorder and a closet bisexual who broke his heart by abandoning him.
But for this story, David, 59, offered a balancing perspective: "If you put all my brothers together, we would add up to all the talent that was in my father."
The burden of spinning laughter out of this tangled family history fell to Shaun. The key, he realized early, was to satirize the pop-music stardom he learned in his first brush with fame during the days of white disco suits and shag hairdos.
The premise has David and Patrick Gallagher, hitmaking brothers behind the '80s group the Rockits, finding their lives upturned after David's daughter Ruby re-enters the picture. Patrick has settled down as a car dealer and family man; David is chasing a comeback.
Shaun is trying hard to keep a critical perspective on the family's latest business.
"It's not about a famous family," he said. "It's about a real family that happens to have music and some show business just in the wallpaper. It's just part of the fabric of the environment. Which, again, is how we grew up."
