As Woody Allen said, the heart wants what it wants. So, why are you here?

Party of Five: Season Two

More because I am an obsessive viewer of our narrative television culture than anything else, I Netflixed the first disc or two of "Party of Five," Season One, a few months back. I enjoyed it, sure, but I felt that it was still too new and uncertain for me to keep following along too closely. I decided I'd skip ahead and take out the first couple discs of the Season Two, instead, because that's when Jennifer Love Hewitt showed up for her star-making performance, and also because I had a vague sort of hope that everyone might stop pouting in the meantime.

A couple weeks ago the first of those discs arrived in the mail. I took it out and put it next to my DVD player for "when I had time." Naturally, it sat on my TV for a couple weeks, before finally I simply ran out of all other options and I put it in.

I'm now a couple episodes in, and I figured it was time - and I know you agree - for a couple random observations:

A Couple Random Observations about Party Of Five, Season Two (so far):

1. It's just a glaring plot hole - how are we to believe that Scott Wolf does not notice the desperate affection of Jennifer Love Hewitt? It's Jennifer Love Hewitt. He continues to chase girls that could generously be said to resemble a poor man's Molly Ringwald, and continues to be surprised whenever Hewitt appears at his side saying things like "are you taking anyone to the bonfire?" and "where've you been? I called your house three times last night." It's like watching a romantic comedy starring the guy from Memento.

2. The pout-o-meter is still firmly in the red. My favorite is still Scott Wolf's-pining-for-dead-
girlfriend story, which the writers ditch for the first 90% of every episode so he can be charming and flirt with the mediocre girl-of-the-week, then bring back right at the end so the show can end on a downer. Way to show off why the critics gave you that Best Drama Emmy, guys.

3. It's fun to watch Matthew Fox's career backwards. All that vein-popping intensity of "we need to band together to survive!" we see every week on "Lost?" Oh, it's all here, except he's yelling at his little sisters about detentions and breaking curfew. He's about 3 notches too heavy on "Lost" and about 47 notches to heavy here. Great fun.

4. Scott Wolf's Hair, Season One - The "Fluffy Ryan O'Neil"
Appropriateness To The Era: 8
Attractiveness: 2
Comedic Value: 6
Scott Wolf's Hair, Season Two - The "Ex-Military Man"
Appropriateness To The Era: 7
Attractiveness: 5
Comedic Value: 2

5. Matthew Fox's Hair, Season One - The "Eddie Vedder with Conditioner"
Appropriateness to the Era: 9
Attractiveness: 7
Comedic Value: 5
Matthew Fox's Hair, Season Two - The "90's Mullet"
Appropriateness to the Era: 0
Attractiveness: 0
Comedic Value: 10

I'll update you as more observations surface.

I keep meaning to do a "What To Watch This TV Season" post sometime, remind me to do so if you see me. Or, subscribe to TV Guide, which would probably be more helpful.

Labels: party of five, season two

posted by Ben Wyman @ 1:51 AM