Party of Five and cancer

[Anonymous]

Oh, and to the PP, I am really sorry that happened to your mom and your family. I hope my question wasn't too insensitive. My grandfather (who was basically my dad) died of cancer, but he was 80 and went very fast without treatment (six weeks from diagnosis to death). It's obviously not at all the same situation, and (I am learning) is a poor basis for understanding how cancer can impact a younger family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Thanks for the responses. I watched this show obsessively in high school (1st two seasons) and then could only watch it here and there in college because we didn't have TV hook-ups in the dorms. So, seasons 3-6 are mostly new to me.

The cancer storyline is upsetting me because I just really wish Charlie and the rest of them would be nicer to Claudia. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's pretty annoying most of the time, but she's being completely ignored and abandoned by her family.

As for the age gap, when Justin's mom gets pregnant, she mentions that she made fun of the Salinger mom when she got pregnant with Owen. So, I think we are to understand that it was a late-in-life surprise.

Maybe that's why she grew up to be such a Mean Girl.

[Anonymous]

He never achieved star status on Party of Five, but he did thanks to Lost. His stardom went to his head. He cheated on his wife (with a stripper) and was charge don't with DUI (separate unrelated incidents). In the gossip columns for his downward spiral. And his Lost costar Dominic Monaghan publicly accused him of beating women (like it was a pattern).

[Anonymous]

My 12 yo has been binge watching this on Netflix!

[Anonymous]

I started watching it yesterday since I just had surgery. They mentioned that the mom had Owen when she was 44 so she must have had Charlie when she was around 21 or so. Their house is gorgeous! I read it sold for something like $8 million a few yrs ago. I was just starting college when this started airing so I missed most of it. Thanks for starting this thread OP. Like a blast from the past! So many plaid shirts.

[Anonymous]

Party of 5 is probably my favorite family drama show of all time! OP and first two PPs, I wish I knew you in real life. No one else has watched it. I'm so excited that it is on Netflix!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Party of 5 is probably my favorite family drama show of all time! OP and first two PPs, I wish I knew you in real life. No one else has watched it. I'm so excited that it is on Netflix!

I just got a senior associate at my firm to start watching it. So excited all these Party of Five fans are out here. I want to bore a hole to China in Bailey's dimple. (Yes, I know that makes no sense.) I love his friendship with Will.

And I think Justin is the nicest character of them all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the only one binging and reliving the 90s!

Here's something I can't figure out - how is the age gap between the kids possible?

Charlie is 24 at the beginning of the series and Owen is a baby. Unless their mom was a teen parent with Charlie or Owen was a very, very late in life surprise, seems a stretch.

Do they ever explain later in the series?

Let's say that the mom was 21 when she had Charlie. She would have been 44 or so when she had Owen. That is late in life, but not that uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, hindsight being 20-20...I think everyone realizes what a jerk Charlie was (and what a jerk the actor who played him is IRL).
S
[/uote]

Eh, Charlie could definitely be a jerk but he did have to sacrifice a lot in order to become 4 younger siblings' guardian at the age of 24 (while simultaneously mourning the deaths of both his mother & his father!). And then he's diagnosed with cancer just a few years later! When you think about it, it would have been pretty unrealistic for him [/i]not[i] be angry & bitter!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the only one binging and reliving the 90s!

Here's something I can't figure out - how is the age gap between the kids possible?

Charlie is 24 at the beginning of the series and Owen is a baby. Unless their mom was a teen parent with Charlie or Owen was a very, very late in life surprise, seems a stretch.

Do they ever explain later in the series?

Let's say that the mom was 21 when she had Charlie. She would have been 44 or so when she had Owen. That is late in life, but not that uncommon.

+1

I've also read that women who have had several children are more likely to have a (many times suprise) late in life baby so Owen being the mother's fifth child makes her having a him in her mid-40s more realistic, as well.

[Anonymous]

My oldest sibling and youngest sibling have a 23 yr 10 month age gap. First child at 19, last at 43. Total of 7 kids.

[Anonymous]

Can we talk about Julia and Ned? Julia is smart enough to get into Stanford. She seems to have no friends, ever. In high school, she's friends with Justin who she's dating, and Libby, who gets into Harvard and then kills herself. Then she marries Griffin and he is her only friend. Then she goes to Stanford and befriends her roommate Maggie and hooks up with Maggie's boyfriend. Then dumps him. NO FRIENDS.

None of them ever have ANY friends unless that friend is also a romantic interest, except Bailey and Will.

Julia is so smart. I can not figure out what changed her mind about Ned.

Also, I love how sweet and brotherly Griffin becomes to Claudia (who, oops, develops a crush on him).

[Anonymous]

I know what I'm doing my next sick day, Po5 binge!!!

Like many of you, I didn't keep up the 1st time around because I was entering college. I wonder how well the show holds up? I know sometimes when I watch other old shows I get thrown off by little things (beepers, ppl walking their loved one TO THE GATE at airports, lol).

[Anonymous]

I would just like to share that when I lived in San Francisco Po5 filmed outside my work and I saw Charlie and Bailey talking to each other during a break! Even though I had heard Scott Wolf was short he really was surprisingly short.

[Anonymous]

Now I want to rewatch, too. I loved that show. It ended just before my first child.

I've survived cancer since the show was first on, and while I want shows to be realistic (because people randomly get cancer), I don't like it when they throw in cancer or kill off a character just for ratings. I'm not sure that Party of Five exploited Charlie having cancer or not.

I had a 7-year-old when I was undergoing treatment. Some days I had energy for her and sometimes I did not.