THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 27, 1995 TAG: 9511250015
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
THIS COLUMN is for Audrea Kessler in Virginia Beach, Misty Powers in Chesapeake and all you other readers who rang me up on Infoline to praise the Fox drama ``Party of Five.''
And to ask if it will be on the schedule next year.
Andrea, who is 14, has seen her favorite show, ``My So-Called Life,'' canceled by heartless ABC. Now, she frets about the future of ``Party of Five,'' which is also about the trials of adolescence.
``I like `Party of Five' because it shows what kids my age are really going through,'' Audrea said. Same goes for Powers, who is 18 and not long out of high school.
Three of the actors in ``Party of Five'' - Neve Campbell, Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf - play characters in their teens, about to enter their teens or on the verge of leaving their teens. Matthew Fox is their big brother.
The cast is wonderful. The show is wonderful - too good for Fox, the we-appeal-to-the-lowest-common-denominator network.
Audrea and Misty can relax. ``Party of Five'' will continue to be seen Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in 1996. Fox said last week it was ordering seven more episodes.
After talking to the show's executive producers in Los Angeles, I got the impression there was never any doubt the series would be picked up for a full season.
``We were never really teetering on the brink of cancellation,'' said Amy Lippman, who produces the show in partnership with Christopher Keyser. ``The press seized on the angle that the show might be canceled. But we never got any phone calls from the network that this week or this month was a do-or-die ratings situation. But I will admit there were some hairy moments last summer when we waited to hear if we were coming back.''
Here is the dilemma: While ``Party of Five'' has been well received by the critics, won some prestigious awards and has a loyal following, the overall ratings are not good.
Early during the crucial November sweeps, the ratings for ``Party of Five'' were about half those of the series that precedes it, ``Beverly Hills 90210.'' That show is No. 37 overall. ``Party of Five'' is No. 82.
If ``Party of Five'' were any other show, it would have been long gone by now. Networks hate shows that loose large chunks of the audience delivered on a silver platter by a strong lead-in.
But Fox network boss John Matoian says he will stick with the show. ``It has a stamp of real quality,'' he told TV writers.
(There is another good show with not-so-good ratings on another network, ``American Gothic'' on CBS, that has also generated a buzz among readers of this column. Will it survive? I'll deal with that later this week.)
Getting back to ``Party of Five,'' the producers didn't like it when the TV press suggested that the network was turning up the heat to save the show - asking Lippman and Keyser to put more sex in the scripts.
The Matthew Fox character and his fiance are sleeping together. Campbell and Wolf play teens whose hormones are raging.
``We do not portray them having sex or not having sex just for the titillation value,'' Keyser said. ``There is no pressure to sex up the show. We try to show what happens naturally to 16- and 17-year-olds. The issue of dealing with boys will soon enter Claudia's life, too.''
Chabert plays Claudia, the violin virtuoso who lives in a tent in the family's living room to preserve her privacy. She'll be 11 soon. She's grown two inches this year.
While the producers haven't ``sexed up'' the show, they have gone along with the network campaign to promote Fox and Wolf as sex symbols. Is there a 12-year-old girl who doesn't have a crush on Wolf?
Don't you just love his dimples? Campbell doesn't mind if ``Party of Five'' is perceived as hunk TV. ``It's fantastic to see the guys' faces all over magazine covers,'' he said. MEMO: You can reach me at Infoline by calling 640-5555, category 3333.
by CNB