While tasteful, safe, and thoroughly engaging, Fox's Party of Five (1994-2000) never held back on poignant and sometimes startling storylines about the survival of five siblings whose parents were killed in a car accident. The orphaned Salinger family--24-year-old Charlie (Matthew Fox), teens Bailey (Scott Wolf) and Julia (Neve Campbell), 11-year-old Claudia (Lacey Chabert), and baby Owen (played by various youngsters)--cope with ordinary adult hassles (covering the mortgage, etc.) but also exhibit a sad, sometimes desperate gravitas when facing life's usual losses in love, friendship, school, dreams, and ambitions. The 22 episodes from the Golden Globe-winning series' first season, compiled on this five-disc boxed set, don't sugarcoat the Salingers' agonies, but they do reassure us of the strength of family ties--no more so than in the outstanding episode "Thanksgiving," in which the Salingers meet the drunk driver who killed their folks. DVD extras include cast and creator audio commentaries on three episodes, the nine-part hour-long retrospective documentary “Party of Five: A Look Back,” and the 17-minute "Party of Five: A Family Album" featurette about creating the series' pilot. Recommended. (T. Keogh)
Party of Five: The Complete First Season
Columbia TriStar, 5 discs, 960 min., not rated, DVD: $49.95 Volume 19, Issue 4
Party of Five: The Complete First Season
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