David Cassidy on the Web
ON THE TUBE: Cassidy brothers duel on ABC Family's 'Ruby & the Rockits'
July 19, 2009
By WILL GLOVER
Day City Editor
www.newsherald.com
From left, Patrick and David Cassidy star in "Ruby & the Rockits," premiering Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CDT on ABC Family.
(Danny Feld / ABC Family)
If you had three viewing choices - a show centered on whether "love is blind" is a true statement; a TV movie starring a pregnant Lindsay Lohan; or a series that's a blend of "Full House," "My Two Dads" and "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" - which would you choose?
I chose the latter, a family comedy called "Ruby & the Rockits" that premieres Tuesday on ABC Family. I'm not yet sure whether I chose the best of the three, but it wasn't a waste of time. "Ruby & the Rockits" is a decent family comedy whose biggest appeal is the stars of the show: two Cassidy brothers and those are the two you see on camera).
"Ruby & the Rockits" stars David Cassidy ("The Partridge Family") as a well-past-his-prime rock star, David Gallagher, whose daughter, Ruby (Alexa Vega, "Spy Kids") appears one day out of the blue. The irresponsible father seeks help from his brother Patrick (David Cassidy's half-brother Patrick Cassidy, "Smallville"), who dropped out of the band to raise a family.
Seeing an opportunity to right some of the wrongs of her family (fighting amongst siblings, mostly), wife Audie (Katie Amanda Keane, "Eli Stone") is happy to have Ruby join the clan, who live in a house reminscent of many '80s staples such as "Full House" and "Family Matters."
In fact, "Ruby & the Rockits" feels a lot like those sitcoms, which had those annoying moments toward the end, filled with corny music and a simple message of the week (which were not much more intelligent than Jerry Springer's "final thoughts" segment on his "talk show"). "Ruby" leaves that out, but does try to have a point every week, something that a family could discuss (and we're not talking birds and bees-type talk).
The most interesting aspect of the show is the chemistry between the Cassidy brothers. With Shaun Cassidy (the former heart-throb) producing and doing some writing on the show, and another brother, Ryan, the production designer. On-screen, however, the odd dynamics between Patrick and David Cassidy are apparent, but that can work in the show's favor because one of the big points is that sibling rivalry can be passed down from generation to generation.
Alexa Vega (who resembles and emulates '80s star Staci Keanan) doesn't seem to know exactly what to do with her character, but the relationship she develops with Audie masks that weakness a bit (and you can thank Keane for that).
"Ruby & the Rockits" has some funny moments in its first two episodes, but there could be more, one of the show's biggest drawbacks. Still, it's simple enough for the kids and entertaining enough for the adults, and that's really all that matters in this case.
Tune in
- "Ruby & the Rockits" premieres Tuesday (July 21) at 7:30 p.m. CDT on ABC Family
