10 Annoying New TV Characters Only Added To Boost Ratings
9. Ricky - The Partridge Family
In its fourth season, once again to boost ratings, The Partridge Family pulled a Cousin Oliver, because that worked out so well the first time. Four year old Ricky was introduced at the beginning of the season, an aggressively adorable and precocious kid that clearly everyone would love and who wouldn't be extremely irritating and unnecessary.
Yeah, just like with The Brady Bunch, Ricky was introduced to inject some youth back into the series, get people to watch it again, and make everyone forget about the fact that actor David Cassidy kept talking publicly about how much he hated the show and how he planned to leave. It was like the network hoping if they waved a cute kid in front of everyone like a pair of keys in front of a dog, they wouldn't pay attention to the behind-the-scenes drama and the show's potential death.
Ricky wasn't nearly as fun to watch as ABC seemed to think, and his singing of a children's song every episode got grating rather quickly. The writers apparently realized this, as Ricky was totally dropped halfway through the season, and then by the end of Season 4, ABC cancelled the show altogether. Once again, bringing in an adorable little kid to save a show only further pushed the audience away and lead to the series' death. Thanks a lot, Ricky.