Real Cassidy family reunions must be more entertaining than the one that Shaun, David and Patrick have cooked up for TV — a sitcom that has little appeal to anyone who knows who they are.
"Ruby & the Rockits"(9:30 p.m., ABC Family) is the sort of dopey-but-harmless sitcom the kids are watching on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Kids whose parents aren't old enough to remember when David was on "The Partridge Family" (1970-74) or even when Shaun was on "The Hardy Boys" (1977-79).
Executive produced by Shaun ("American Gothic," "Roar," "Invasion"), "Ruby" features his half-brother David as (what else?) a washed-up pop star. Though he's now reduced to playing low-budget casinos, he's still an obnoxious prima donna.
Enter Ruby (Alexa Vega, "Spy Kids"), the teenage daughter he seemingly didn't know he had. David isn't exactly the fatherly type, so he tries to dump Ruby on his brother/former bandmate, Patrick. (He's Shaun's brother/David's half-brother.)
Patrick is now a successful businessman with a nice wife (Katie Amanda Keane) and two sons (Austin Butler and Kurt Doss.) And Patrick doesn't much care for David.
"Ruby & the Rockits" is, once again, the sort of sophomoric comedy cable Nick and Disney have popularized with tweens. The acting is broad, to put it mildly, and most of the humor is of the pun and/or slapstick school of comedy. And parents looking foolish to the embarrassment of their children — a sure winner with the kids.
There's some singing as well. Although the best number comes not from one of the Cassidys, but from Vega and Butler.
"Ruby" is harmless fluff, although it seems an odd match with the much more intelligently written "10 Things I Hate About You," which precedes it on ABC Family.
Not as odd as putting David Cassidy in a show aimed at kids who have no idea who he is, however.