The Partridge Family was better.
I really got into the Partridge Family more than the Brady Bunch. The music was great, especially to an 8 year old. Had the Partridge Family lunchbox to take to school as well and the PF was cool in second grade so I didn't get hassled at all by my classmates. My mom would pack peanut butter sandwiches in it along with a banana or apple and an individually wrapped Twinkie. The thermos was filled with milk or chocolate milk.
I wasn't yet into girls at the time but Susan Partridge really appealed to me. I saw her as more of a mother figure than a romantic one. Susan would have been the perfect mother to me at that time. Shirley looked more like a grandmother!
The show didn't last too many years but around 1973, when I was about 11, I actually got up the nerve to pen a letter to Reuben Kincaid, the manager. Yes, in my naive little brain, I actually thought Partridge Family was an actual real life band and not just a TV creation with studio musicians doing most of the recordings.
In that letter, I mentioned that I had some drumming skills and in fact fancied myself a better drummer than Chris, and that I really wanted to join the band. I gave out my address and for the next few weeks, I fantasized about the psychedelic Partridge Family pulling up to my house and whisking me on board to become a member of the band. In which I could scheme practical jokes with Danny Partridge and have Susan, my fantasy mother, make me sandwiches and spank me when I was bad.
Instead, I ended up receiving a form letter as a response, with an invitation to join the Partridge Family fan club. As insult to injury, I also received a 8 x 10 glossy of Keith Partridge. Yuck. I handed the photo over to my sister, who was infatuated with Keith, and went on with my life a little more cynical. Just like the kid from "Christmas Story" who got a commercial message on his decoder ring.