Written by Dale McRaven
Produced by Larry Rosen
Directed by Bob Claver
Original Air Date: February 23, 1973
America's "heartthrob", Keith Partridge, is failing his sex
education course at school. When the family hears about this they find it hard
to stifle their laughter, until they realize that if he does fail, he won't
graduate. He can make it up in summer school, but that would mean canceling
the Partridge Family summer tour, their biggest yet.
When Shirley tries to find out why Keith is failing, Keith tells her it must
be because Mr. Grisbee, his teacher, doesn't like him. He feels his work is
better than that of others in his class, but he gets lower grades. Shirley
goes to the school to talk to Mr. Grisbee and learn if he really is being
unfair to Keith, but Mr. Grisbee is in a rush and curtly dismisses her.
Keith decides that he will get an 'A' on the final exam and make it impossible
for Grisbee to fail him. He studies night and day, getting very little sleep.
The day of the test he goes to school early to get in every minute of studying
possible. He falls asleep under a tree and misses the test. Convincing Mr.
Grisbee to let him make the test up, Keith is sure he failed when the teacher
asks him and Shirley to come up to school.
Grisbee announces that Keith got an 'A' on the exam and the reason he had been
so hard on Keith was because he did not feel Keith was doing as well as he
could. He had done just enough work to get by with, but had proved by passing
the final that if he really tried he could be an excellent student.
Song:
"It Means I'm In Love With You," music and lyrics by Tony Romeo and
Ralph Landis (On Crossword Puzzle)
Guest Cast:
Mr. Grisbee -------------------------------------- Ramon Bieri
Tube Trivia:
- Dale McRaven was the Story Editor for "The Partridge Family."
He wrote 16 episodes for The Partridge Family. He went on to produce and
co-create such shows as "Mork & Mindy," "Laverne &
Shirley," and "Perfect Strangers."
- This is one of 7 episodes directed by Executive Producer Bob Claver. He also
directed episodes 6, 46, 54, 63, 66, 69, and 96.
- David Cassidy's third solo album, "Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than
Wishes" is in stores as this episode aired. After cutting a deal with
Bell Records president, Larry Uttal, David paid-off Wes Farrell, who was
contracted to produce all Cassidy material released by Bell, and brought in
his own producers and studio musicians for this album, including Michael
McDonald (Doobie Bros.) and Kim Carnes. The album hit No. 1 in England.
