MovieChat Forums > Party of Five (1994) Discussion > Most selfish human ever

Most selfish human ever

posted 10 years ago by catwild99
18 replies | jump to latest

Julia Sallinger.
I am watching this show on stream. And this person Julia Sallinger is the most selfish narcissistic all about me character ever.

For example.
She likes a boy but chooses to just be friends. That's fine.
Later, when the boy is dating her best friend, she decides she then wants the boy.
Thus basically fudging over her best friend.
Her best friend the did commit suicide after Julia did that.

Next, phase she thenn dates that boy for a while.
Then breaks up with him and gets back together with him no less than four times in two years. All at her convenienvce.
She. Never seems to take into avount the other people that are involed. There feelings .
Hurting about seven people emotionally along the way.
While she giggles.

I skip ahead.

Then.
She gets married to a guy tst she has already cheated on.
She then gets a job while married.
The Job is a volunteer job with no pay as a docent at a museum in the greater San frascisvo bay area.

Her husband who she dated and broke up with four times prior is making all the money for two people and supporting the non paid very importanypt docent. (sarcasm)

Now her husbands name is griffen and he is having hard luck at his job that supports Julia the slag.

One day she comes home with five new dresses and griffin says you perhaps only need one new dress for your unpaid docent job.

Well Julia goes offfffffffffffff on him claiming that he is horrible and all that I can't go into.

Julia is the most selfish character that I have eve seen on television.

[–] toulidengal 10 years ago

I love you for this post.
Party of Five is on Netflix so I decided to watch the over again because the last time I had watched this show, was when it originally aired on TV and I was much younger then.
My opinions have changed DRASTICALLY now that I'm old enough to really understand.

So to get back to the original post made... I HATEEEEEE Julia Salinger. You are exactly right. I have never seen such an awful character on a television series when they were meant to be "good." Either it was terrible writing, or she was meant to be hated because Godddddd she is so damn awful.

I just finished watching the series finale and this was an actual comment that came out of my mouth early in the episode: "This girl is selfish till the BITTER END!"
The fact that she had the nerve to ask Bailey to not go to college made me sick. She is disgusting. And prior to the finale when sweet, amazing, lovable Justin actually wanted her back [ew], she had the audacity to turn HIM down? are you kidding me?
She doesn't deserve him!!!!! arg.

The only reason I wanted them to end up together was because I loved Justin from day 1. He is the only person who could make her somewhat tolerable. God knows why he loved her, but he did. So for that alone, I'm glad they ended up together.

If it weren't for Julia Salinger, I'd have rated this show a 10. All the other Salingers have made mistakes, learned from them and grown. All of them were completely selfless, whereas she's been consistently awful since mid season 1. I haven't liked a single one of her storylines unless they involved Justin. Her school, her job, her writing, her relationships, her careers... BORING. The worst character on television EVER.

ahhhhh. That felt soooo good! Since I forgot how the show ended and who was endgame, I didn't want to come here and be spoiled, but I've been dyinggggg to rant about her for so long!!!! I'm so glad I'm not the only person who hates her.

[–] byor 10 years ago

Yeah she was a total b-witch so often!

[–] daveakame 10 years ago

I just started watching this show and I find bailey to be the Ross of party of five . there are a lot of Jewish side characters

[–] smoko 10 years ago

@catwild99 She likes a boy but chooses to just be friends. That's fine.
Later, when the boy is dating her best friend, she decides she then wants the boy.
People want what they can't have.

[–] ricky_says_hi 10 years ago

It always bothered me how often there was a plot where Julia would end up falling for a guy already in a relationship and then stealing him for herself. She didn't want Justin until he was with Libby. And after she split them up, the show just forgot about it and she never shows any remorse for it. She's even laughing by the end of the episode where it happens. And again in S5 she does the same with Ned. Not to mention the whole thing with Griffin got started while she herself was with Justin - AND she had the nerve to get jealous about him possibly cheating on her with Allie

I'd find Bailey pretty selfish too. He and Julia are two of the most annoying brats ever written. Sometimes I actually do feel sorry for Julia, since the above relationships all end badly - so it feels as if the universe is giving her some form of comeuppance. But I really struggle to find any sympathy for Bailey, given how much of a colossal dick he is

I'm gonna die of long hair!

[–] eileen-guthrie555 9 years ago

I'm re-watching the series. I was a original viewer from S3 but by S5 I was so sick of the games Julia was playing and really grew tired of the constant Julia melodrama. She's a teenage girl and yes, teenage girls are melodramatic but it became boring and too repetitive after a while and I stopped watching the series altogether. He was young to be caring for 4 siblings, especially a one year old baby.

Julia was my least favorite character. Charlie was next... I really hated the things he did to Kirsten. They were the two most unlikable characters and far too selfish for me. Although Charlie had more redeeming qualities. Taking charge of his younger siblings and the struggle to find some normalcy in their lives.

I love Kirsten, Claudia and Bailey. I loved Claudia and felt sorry for her the most. She was being ignored by her older siblings, she was always forgotten and dismissed by them. I liked Bailey in the beginning but he became a huge jerk as the series continued. I watched his drinking episodes just yesterday and I still cannot find a "true" reason as to why he even started drinking. But, I wasn't a fan of him drinking at such an early age of 16. The character of Sarah wasn't a favorite for me either, she was too clinging and needy.

I was originally attracted to the story because, my cousins lost their two parents in a car accident on Memorial weekend by a car filled with drunk teenagers when they were about 10-13 years of age and my older aunt and uncle took them in and raised the as their own.

[–] willywonka35 8 years ago

I liked Bailey in the beginning but he became a huge jerk as the series continued."

Agreed. I didn't like the "switcheroo" they would do with this character. One minute he's the responsible one who "fixes everything", the next he's a raging drunk, then back to the fixer upper, then he's banging every girl in sight. Not consistent at all but its the writers fault.

The last season is really bad. They were just out of ideas at that point.

"I watched his drinking episodes just yesterday and I still cannot find a "true" reason as to why he even started drinking."

I thought this storyline was handled well but you're right...he has no reason to become an alcoholic. Even the writers know this so they wind up tying it in with his father(who was supposedly a drunk).

" The character of Sarah wasn't a favorite for me either, she was too clinging and needy. " The funny thing about it is Sarah was initially only supposed to be in a few episodes but they wound up making her a major part of the series. She was supposed to be a girl he's with while getting over Jill. Look what happened instead.

[–] justanicknamed 8 years ago

I thought this storyline was handled well but you're right...he has no reason to become an alcoholic. Even the writers know this so they wind up tying it in with his father(who was supposedly a drunk).

Being born to an alcoholic parent increases a person's risk of becoming an alcoholic as well. It is still the person's responsibility, but it takes less for them to become addicted.

And, there was no "supposedly" about the father being a drunk. That was discussed fully - Joe quite often had to drive him home.

The reason for Bailey becoming a drunk was a basic one that happens all of the time. He got out on his own and had no one to keep him on the straight and narrow. He also lived with an enabler.

[–] willywonka35 8 years ago

The reason I used the word "supposedly" is because up until that episode, the parents were basically considered saints who died in a tragic accident. Then as a reason to explain away Bailey's drinking problem in season 3, all of a sudden their father was a drunk as well.

[–] justanicknamed 8 years ago

Good point.

[–] molly-452-275131 9 years ago

They are all amazingly seif involved and selfish. Claudia is annoying, but I always felt bad for her for being stuck with the rest of them. Her living in a tent in the living room because Julia is to good to share a room is a good example. Meanwhile Baily shares a room with a baby. I remember the episode when they are all staying up late to help Charlie because his power sander died. Bailey asks him if he ever had trouble getting a girl to sleep with him, Charlie says nope all proud. Then later in the series when he finds out Julia is sleeping with Justin, a boy she's known basically her whole life and has real feelings for he acts SO disappointed in her. After he's acted like a total man whore since his teenage years (but of course that's different, he's a guy so he's allowed right). The way Bailey treated Sara was really bad. And Julia was such a self centered flake, she was really hard to like. Sara was a lot more likable, I was actually half rooting for her and Justin to get together and ditch the Sallingers. Claudia was still a kid when their parents died, not a teenager with a foot out the door or an adult already like Charlie. She still needed a parent, but all three of her older siblings were so self involved. It was hard finding someone to really like on that show, but I atlas felt bad for her.

[–] Downtothewire_90 9 years ago

what's a docent??

The worst for Julia in my opinion was when Charlie got sick and he hadn't told her yet. Claudia told Julia thinking she already knew. Then Julia ignores Charlie, doesn't even show up for his first treatment like the others did and then yells at Charlie because "he didn't tell her first and she feels like she's not even part of his life". SERIOUSLY? get over yourself. She also pulled the same crap when returning from Europe, threw a fit because they didn't meet her at the airport. Come on. You came back after 2 months, not 2 years. She's a selfish brat.

[–] summer_of_41 9 years ago

This thread makes me laugh because it's all true!

A "docent" is a tour guide who educates the museum guests of the historical and cultural significance for each work on display. They are more often shown on TV leading a group throughout an art gallery.

[–] justanicknamed 9 years ago

Julia is the most selfish character that I have eve seen on television.

I only watched the show a bit when it was on and don't remember lots. For sure I never realized how much of *beep* Julia was.

I can certainly appreciate the difficulties of going through your teen years with no good, positive role models. But, at the same time, she went from a sweet, caring, straight A student to a total b!tch in 5 seconds flat.

Maybe once a season she wasn't horrible, but usually there was enough attitude and stupidity in each episode to make me shake my head and wonder how someone didn't just smash her face in.

All of them had problems, but Julia just made me go, "Wow! What a selfish, heartless b!tch." She didn't care who she lied to or hurt, it was just all about her.

The way I saw it (through the first few seasons) was that the parents knew Charlie was an immature horn dog. They knew he had skills with his carpentry, and were hoping he could grow up and/or find a woman who could help him grow up before he wasted his life chasing women or such.

He wasn't much of a role model for the rest of the family, especially Bailey. Not that Charlie had to be a saint, but the way he was wasn't much to look up to.

Bailey, not having a smart or "decent" brother to look up to was kind of set up for failure. It was surprising that Bailey had a good relationship with Kate, but that was mostly her doing of forcing him to have a relationship and not just sex. But, while Charlie had skills in carpentry, Bailey liked sports. Unfortunately, sports were never got to take him anywhere. I think his parents should have realized that and pushed him harder on school. He wasn't going to be able to use sports to support himself the way Charlie could with carpentry.

And, I think he was totally stupid with "running away" from home. I never understood how they went from almost being split up to never being around and risking the younger ones getting taken from them. Especially when Charlie was running the restaurant and they were depending up on the money from there to pay the bills. I get wanting independence, but I think he should have manned up and realized that Charlie gave up lots more than he ever did and should have just lived at home.

Claudia didn't bother me as she was 10. There was a reason for her to be snotty, and that was because she was 10. Not that all 10 year olds are snotty, but without a responsible adult or decent siblings to explain things to her, it makes sense she could be selfish. Especially when her female role-model was a lying, manipulating, cheating b!tch like Julia.

As I said, I can appreciate them losing their parents and not having proper guidance. But at the same time I still wonder how the eff they could be so stupidly selfish when they knew they had more to lose than most other people their age.

[–] svellis-96785 9 years ago

I kind of liked that the Salinger's were not perfect. I liked the fact that they were all selfish and self involved, and jerky and unreasonable, because it made them more realistic. I think they just went way too far.
Most shows go too far in the opposite direction, making characters more likable and reasonable than they likely would be as teenagers with siblings, but this show showed people struggling and often not getting along. It's realistic that siblings in this situation *would* struggle, *would* argue, and *would* be selfish with each other. It would, hopefully be something they outgrow, as most siblings do. Julia's character was the worst because she was all those things with everyone, not just her siblings.
I think the show just needed to add some more redeeming qualities to the characters.