Family Band: The Cowsills Story

The Partridge Family was loosely based on the true life story of the Cowsills, who were a family rock group in the late 1960s. The father and manager of the group, Bob Cowsill, forced the young brothers and sisters to let the mother, Barbara, into the group, much to the kids' consternation. It worked as a publicity gimmick but the kids in the group reportedly hated singing hard rock songs like "Hair" with their mom; and hated the goody-two-shoes image the group got as a result of that; since they were trying to earn their cred as a legit acid/ alternative type band along the lines of Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills Nash or The Byrds. This is a far cry from the TV show scenario where the kids drag the mom into the group and she reluctantly agrees. Also; originally in the Partridge Family pilot script the mother's first name was Barbara; like Barbara Cowsill; but Shirley Jones' people demanded that it be changed to Shirley. And ABC's insistence to the Cowsills that Shirley Jones star as their mother is part of why they refused to participate in the TV show; and why the title was changed from "The Cowsills" to "The Partridge Family".

Near the end of the music credits at the end of the film, in the credits for the songs "Wawona Evening" and "Wawona Night", the word "written" is misspelled as "wrtitten".