"Party of Five" (1994)TV series 1994-2000

Creators:

Christopher Keyser
Amy Lippman

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | unknown

Release Date:

12 September 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Five siblings are left to fend their own way in the world when their parents are killed by a drunk driver...

Plot Keywords:

Pretty Girl | Lesbianism | Orphan | Teen | Dead Parent

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 24 nominations

Cast

Scott Wolf	...	Bailey Salinger / ... (143 episodes, 1994-2000)
Neve Campbell	...	Julia Salinger (143 episodes, 1994-2000)
Matthew Fox	...	Charlie Salinger (142 episodes, 1994-2000)
Lacey Chabert	...	Claudia Salinger (142 episodes, 1994-2000)
Jennifer Love Hewitt	...	Sarah Reeves (98 episodes, 1995-1999)
Jeremy London	...	Griffin Holbrook (89 episodes, 1995-2000)
Paula Devicq	...	Kirsten Bennett / ... (89 episodes, 1994-2000)
Scott Grimes	...	Will McCorkle (70 episodes, 1994-2000)

Runtime:

60 min (142 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Television

Trivia:

Canceled on 24 January 2000, just weeks after Neve Campbell announced she was leaving the award-winning show to concentrate on a film career.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Yours, Mine and Ours (2005)

Soundtrack:

Do you Sleep?

Family without a family.

In TV shows as well as in real life, kids always turn to there mom and dad for guidance, protection, and love. Whenever we're in trouble we hope they will give us a solution to our problem. The mom and dad are always in kids eyes considered King and Queen of the Castle, knowing what's best for their people to prosper. But what happens when both the mom and dad are taken out of the equation? Can their children still function and be a family without them? That's the question that revolves around this show.

Basically it's about an ordinary family like anyone else's, the kids get tragic news that their parents got killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. This is a troubling time for the kids since it's now taking place at a most crucial time in their lives. They must make dramatic changes and face the toughest of circumstances in order to function and make their love for one another survive.

This show was rather unique because not just is it a family show without a family but all of the characters including a few minor characters all feel like real people. These people aren't any cheesy stereotypical all smiles family there literally ourselves. All of them have strengths and weaknesses, make good decisions or bad decisions, deal with dilemmas with mixed results, have relations with right or wrong significant others as well as change for better or worse.

Charlie (Matthew Fox) once an irresponsible young man now has to finally take responsibility whether he likes it or not. Baliey (Scott Wolf) and Julia (Neve Cambell) both are your typical teenagers that want to focus on what they want out of life and do teen stuff. But are forced to broaden it. Cladia (Lacey Chabert) strives to keep her childhood normal as much as she plays the violin. Yet, at times she feels slowly but surely childhood is slipping away when reality invades. Finally the baby brother Owen fades in the background but has to grow up without knowing his mom and dad. We emphasize with each of these characters from how unsafe they are dealing with their painful struggles and feelings of loss they feel. Your heart bleeds or you can't help at times to shed a tear whenever they visually and verbally display pain. From hearing them trying to talk about their parents (it almost looks like their just struggling to say mom or dad), looking at themselves in the mirror (as if trying to find a reflection of their own), doing things they normally wouldn't do and don't want to, and dealing with so many burdens they carry so young.

The shows second strength is in character and story development. Throughout each season each of the characters has a dramatic story arc which do affect the other characters or sometimes intersect with one another. In these experiences these characters slowly change and grow gradually. And the problems are not solved immediately, usually in many shows problems have an immediate answer and discarded as fast as anyone would buy and finish a soda from a vending machine. But like the mission in Appacalipse Now it's not the destination that matters, it's about the journey how you get their that counts. And that's what this show is really about it's a coming of age tale.

The arcs were memorable: Charlie who was going to be married to his girlfriend but suddenly run away from his own wedding because he's not ready to commit after all which result is a few bad repercussions. Julia having sex with boyfriend Justin and getting pregnant but then miscarriage; then enduring a year long marriage with new significant other Griffin which doesn't last. But the most memorable arc which ran a couple of seasons was Bailey and his alcholism. It's just painful and frighteningly honest just seeing how Baliey is self destroying his life and pushing and hurting the people he knows and loves in his life. Down to him slowing and painfully putting his life back together. In this we see a memorable love triangle develop with two minor characters involved. Sarah (Jennifer Love Hewitt) closest friend and ex girlfriend is smart, spunky, funny, young, and beautiful who actually became an iconic character in the show. And Annie Mott(Paige Turco), who is a single mom, broke, former alcholic, frustrated, but beautiful, mature, and understanding. You don't really pick sides because you like both women and depending on how things go you want Baliey to be with one of them. Predictably you might already know who gets who in the end but like I said it's the journey that matters.

But soon after season 4 fatigue in the party begin to set in. Season 5 was a pritty decent follow up but you couldn't help but sense fatigue in the writing in some places. And when Season 6 started fatigue finally took it's course. Once Sarah was unnecessarily out of the picture (in a spin off that didn't work) all the characters except Cladia seemed to feel lost in story direction. It felt like the writers were trying to push the reset button in dramatic arcs like getting Baliey into Alcholism again and a new love Holly (who was beautiful but is just no Sarah) which didn't work. We knew the party was over but the show didn't know it. Still it ended on a graceful and emotional note.

Party of Five is a family and journey you not just can see on TV, but also within yourselves.

Rating: 4 stars