Freeform has picked up a Party of Five TV show reboot. Party of Five was a TV drama series, which ran on Fox for six years beginning in 1994, and it had a pretty great hook: a family of five siblings coming together following the death of their parents in a car accident. The series gave its start to such perennial actors of the ensuing years like Matthew Fox, Scott Wolf, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neve Campbell, and Lacey Chabert.
Party of Five was a frequently emotional, dramatic series, which often delved into Very Special Episode territory, although it remained a quality show for most of its long run. And now, we may be getting more of the Salinger family, or perhaps another family like it.
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A reboot of Party of Five, from the series’ original creators Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman, has received a pilot order from Freeform, The Wrap reported Thursday. The new version of the series will have an “immigration twist,” and it’s unclear if any of the original cast will be taking part in the new version. Reports last September indicated that such an idea was “in the works,” focused on “a first-generation Latino family.”
Freeform, the network formerly known as ABC Family, changed its name about a year ago, and recently announced plans to expand to original programming on a fourth night of the week. The network has, in its brief existence, established an identity as the home of savvy, solid dramatic series, many of them about large, non-traditional families. Switched at Birth and The Fosters are both Freeform shows that fit that template, but with Switched at Birth having ended last year and The Fosters nearing the finish line, a new Party of Five would potentially fill that void, along with an announced Fosters spinoff, and Grown-ish, the Black-ish spinoff that debuted on the network this month. The network has also begun to greenlight such genre shows as Siren and Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger.
Much as Party of Five was associated with the ‘90s, it’s really a concept that’s relatively timeless, and one that will also likely be new to Freeform’s younger core audience. There is, after all, much popularity these days for shows about large families, tears and grief; the popularity of This is Us likely played a big part in the decision to revive Party of Five. Maybe the new series will also emulate This is Us and keep how the parents died a secret for multiple seasons.
Keyser and Lippman haven’t created a major series in awhile - not since the Party of Five spinoff Time of Your Life in 2000 - though both have written for other series over the years. There's no word yet on the status of the Party of Five pilot, but stay tuned at Screen Rant for updates.
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Source: The Wrap