FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS (04/26/19) - THE DUCE!

"Oh my God!

Is that Danny Bonaduce?”

Joan Clayton

‘Girlfriends’

For our last April addition to the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, we have another real joker – Danny Bonaduce.

Rusty Williams of ‘Make Room For Daddy’, a previous member of the TVXOHOF, may have been the first to excel at playing the wisecracking kid in a sitcom.  But Danny Partridge elevated that status to an art form.  And that’s why I dubbed that television trope as “Bonaduce Syndrome” in my Toobworld adventures.

From Wikipedia:

Dante Daniel "Danny" Bonaduce (born August 13, 1959) is an American radio/television personality, comedian, professional wrestler, and former child actor. Born in Broomall, Pennsylvania, Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer/producer Joseph Bonaduce (The Dick Van Dyke Show, One Day at a Time, and others).

The younger Bonaduce became famous as a child actor of the 1970s on the TV sitcom 'The Partridge Family'. He co-starred as Danny Partridge, the wisecracking, redheaded middle son of the singing family band (headed by Shirley Jones). He and Shirley Jones were the only Partridge cast members whose actual first names were also that of the character each portrayed on screen. Danny was the fictional pop group's bass guitar player. Co-starring on the show was Jones's former stepson, David Cassidy; Cassidy and Bonaduce remained close friends until Cassidy's death on November 21, 2017. On January 20, 2018, Bonaduce attended David Cassidy's memorial service in Los Angeles.

Since then, Bonaduce has starred in several other TV series, including the VH1 reality show 'Breaking Bonaduce' in 2005, radio shows in Los Angeles and Philadelphia and has been hosting a morning talk/music show at Seattle radio station KZOK-FM since November 14, 2011.

If you feel inclined to look at Toobworld from outside the box, then you might know that on a technicality, this is Bonaduce's second induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  When David Cassidy died, I "honored" his memory with memberships for all the members of the Partridge Family.  (Reuben Kinkaid was inducted back in January.)  But this time, Bonaduce is entering the TVXOHOF as a member of the League of Themselves.

There is no Zonk in this.  In a world where everybody has the potential to have a TV show made about them, the Partridge Family would have been a natural to be featured in one such series.  Whether it was a docu-drama or bio-sitcom, or maybe even a reality show, we don’t know.  But we do know that it would have been different from the one we know in the Real World.  That’s because of an episode (perhaps a very special episode) entitled “The Partridge Family Gets Shot”, as mentioned in “

Here's a look at his televersion.
(All summaries are from the IMDb.)

The Ben Stiller Show 
- With Dennis Miller (1992) 

Special guest star DENNIS MILLER ("Saturday Night Live") joins the cast to introduce several comedy sketches. Sketches include: Three Men and an Old Man with Stiller as Steve Guttenberg; "Manson" TV Show;

Come On, Get Happy:
The Partridge Family Story 

The behind the scenes story of "The Partridge Family" TV show, told from the point of view of young Danny Bonaduce. Problems include Danny's jealous father, David Cassidy's overnight fame, and even conflicts with the Brady Bunch! 

NARRATOR:

It could have been a lot worse. 

At least I wasn't a Brady. 

Bonaduce served as the narrator.  And since he spoke in the first person, who else could he be but himself?

FAUX DANNY BONADUCE
AS DANNY PARTRIDGE

So having all of the characters in this TV movie be recastaways doesn’t cause any Zonks.  What we’re seeing are Bonaduce’s memories of his co-stars.  (And after the life he’s led, his memory would probably be questionable.)
This may be what the televersions of the actors actually looked like in Toobworld when they were younger.  The characters we see in the TV show would be the actual Partridges!

And we can use that excuse of a “Swiss Cheese Memory” to cover up the Zonks which did appear in the plot:

From the IMDb:
1]  When Danny's family watches the first episode of the Partridge Family on TV, it opens with the theme song "Come On Get Happy." For the first season of the Partridge Family, the theme song was "When We're Singin'", not "Come On Get Happy."

2]  In the scene where Danny's mother is talking on the phone with his father, the television in the background is showing news footage of President Nixon leaving the White House after resigning from office. In this scene, "The Partridge Family" was still in production. Nixon left office in August 1974. The final episode of "The Partridge Family" aired in March 1974.

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch 
- Sabrina, Nipping at Your Nose (1999) 

SABRINA:

Oh, Salem, it says here, 

your first 12-Days-of-Christmas present
is about to arrive. 

SALEM: 

Danny Bonaduce? 

This is the best Partridge in a pear tree I could ask for. 

BONADUCE:

Happy holidays, everyone. 

Cool, eggnog. You got any ham? 

AUNT ZELDA:

Back in the tree, Bonaduce. 

BONADUCE:

I've gotta get a better agent.

Girlfriends 
- Taming of the Realtess (2002) 

O’Bservation:
Bonaduce became Shelby Girard’s client.  She considered him a has-been.  (Bonaduce: “I heard that!)  He was looking for a ranch in Santa Ynez because he likes horses.

Monk 
- Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy (2003) 

Monk suspects the owner of a notorious playboy magazine is responsible for the death of his CFO, who died alone in a locked room of an apparent accident. So, how did he do it? 

Danny Bonaduce would be mentioned in Monk: Mr. Monk and the Paperboy (2004) (#2.10). Kevin Dorfman talks to him on the telephone.

DEXTER LARSON:

Sharona Fleming, this is Shawn Clemmons.
Won the Calico Beach Classic last week
in Santa Barbara. 

SHARONA FLEMING:

Hi. 

LARSON:

And this is Danny Bonaduce. 

BONADUCE:

Yeah. 

This is a dream come true for you. 

Am I right? 

SHARONA:

Uh, yeah.

Later, Larson used his friendship with Danny to establish his alibi, but Mr. Monk was able to figure it out.

ADRIAN MONK:
With your background in electronics, building a device like this was child's play. You needed a car battery. You borrowed one from your own Mercedes the night before the murder. You couldn't risk driving one of your own cars, so you took Mr. Bonaduce's keys and borrowed his.

Rock Me, Baby 
- A Pain in the Aspen (2003) 

When they head to a D.J. convention, Carl rekindles an old rivalry with Dr. Dre while Danny Bonaduce seeks vengeance for one of Jimmy's pranks. 

The existence of Bonaduce’s televersion is also affirmed in a couple of TV shows in which he doesn’t even appear.

The Kids Are Alright 
- Low Expectations (2019) 
... Boris / Danny Partridge (archive footage)

Timmy enters a contest to appear on a TV show and takes matters into his own hands when he doesn't hear back.

Bonaduce appeared in a recent episode of ‘The Kids Are Alright’ which dealt with the filming of the TV show ‘The Partridge Family’.  But of course he wasn’t playing himself; he was playing the studio guard back then.  

O’Bservation:
It’s the practice of Toobworld Central to assign the age of the actor to the character, unless otherwise stated in the script.  Therefore that character of Boris the security guard would be dead now.  If he was alive, he would have been 107 years old.

BORIS:

They're replacing one of the kids.

And word on the fake New York street is 

they're replacing Danny Bonaduce, "The Duce." 

TIMMY CLEARY:

"The Duce"? 

BORIS:

Oh, that's what we're contractually required to call him.

But I believe they've had enough of his reign of terror! 

You know, that guy once threw apple juice at me.

And the invocation of his name may have become code for the type of behavior which gave Bonaduce his bad boy reputation….

Gilmore Girls - I'm OK, You're OK (2006)

UNKNOWN:

Go away, Logan.

No one invited you in.

Get out right now
before I go bonaduce on your ass.

O’Bservation:
I don’t know which character said that.  I’m thinking it’s more likely Rory than it is Lorelei.

Here’s one last one…..

Queer As Folk 
- I Love You (2005)

Lewis recounted his experience at a Partridge Family reunion show.

“See, when I was a kid, the Partridge Family reunion came to town, and, uh…. I wanted Danny Bonaduce's autograph so bad. So, I waited in line for four hours, and then finally, there they were, dressed in those white jumpsuits. Anyway, there was a stampede. I got trampled.” 

“Bored now.”

Danny Bonaduce

‘Girlfriends’

Okay, then….  Well, that about wraps it up for this week’s edition of the Friday Hall of Famers.  Welcome to the Hall, Danny!