Ruby and the Rockits Hits Close to Home

Last Thursday, I, along with a group of other writers, were given the chance to visit the set of Ruby and the Rockits, a new ABC Family series featuring the very talented Cassidy boys (David and Patrick star in this show about two brothers, Shaun is Executive Producer, and Ryan is a set dresser.)

David Cassidy and Alex Meneses film a scene for Ruby and the Rockits / copyright ABC Family

Filmed before a live audience on Fridays, we were all given the chance to watch some rehearsals for the final show, as well as a few scenes that can’t be seen by the studio audience. When the cast wasn’t busy working on a scene, we were given a chance to ask them all about working on the show and how it came about.

Shaun Cassidy, who has previously worked on Invasion and American Gothic, came to this project through a development deal with ABC Disney, where he came up with the concept of two brothers who had worked together in the past, but didn’t get along currently. While ABC couldn’t see the show on the network, Shaun was told to pitch it to ABC Family, which has developed a slate of shows much like the family comedies of the 1980s and earlier.

From there, the show was pitched with David and Patrick in mind, though their specific roles on the show were switched early on—David was originally set to play the brother who had moved on from the business while Patrick was going to be the one still reliving the good old days. As soon as the network saw the brothers, however, their roles were switched (when you watch the show, hopefully you’ll agree that it’s hard to imagine David playing a father happy to run a car dealership).

While we spent plenty of time talking about the show and how it was to work with your family day in and day out (all of the brothers agree it’s a good experience, and that they all have different roles on the show than off the show) there was still the sense that the family dynamic exists outside of the relationships on set. During our interview with Patrick, Shaun kept thrown mints towards his brother.

Shaun also relayed the story of how he, Patrick and Ryan were introduced to Katie, David’s daughter. He told it like this:

Katie Cassidy we met when she was fifteen. David takes us out to dinner. “Hey, let’s all meet for dinner.” We go out to dinner and there’s this beautiful fifteen-year-old girl with him, which we were a little, like, creeped out by. And literally, like, as he’s ordering he says, “Oh, and by the way, this is my daughter, I’ll have the chopped chicken liver and the—.” Like, just like that. And Patrick and I and Ryan look at each other, “What? What?” “Oh, yeah, so a few years ago, there was this thing, did I not mention?” “No!” And she’s become part of our family and she’s a lovely girl, but, you know, David is a character and so that aspect of it is pulled from life.

Needless to say, much of the show is rooted in the Cassidy history.

The Cassidy boys / copyright ABC Family

One aspect of the show that will have everyone laughing are the ’80s music videos that David and Patrick perform. The songs are riffs on many popular songs, with titles such as “Chunnel of Love”, complete with the matching video concepts from the early days of MTV. After watching the pilot, the first video is funny enough, but the video for “Chunnel of Love” will have everyone laughing—either from the lyrics or the choreography.

The family dynamic is central to the show, but those not in the actual family love the dynamic brought to set by the brothers. Kurt Doss, who plays the youngest of Patrick’s boys, easily jokes about some of the audience members each week, while Austin Butler and Alexa Vega each acknowledge the way in which the family works with the show.

Despite most of the cast not being related, it’s clear that the family dynamic the Cassidys share off screen has found a new outlet on screen with Ruby and the Rockits.

Ruby and the Rockits premieres tonight 8:30/7:30c on ABC Family.