New to the show

I also grew up with a loved Dawson's Creek.

Although Party of Five and DC are different, I think that any one who enjoys dramas such as that (and likes Matthew Fox!) will enjoy Po5.

It's different from DC in the sense that DC was much more about teenage life, romance, heartbreak, etc. With Party of Five, especially in the first season, you should expect much more family-oriented "drama". The first few episodes of the series (for me) were real tear jerkers.

The series begins right after 5 kids lose both of their parents (who were in a car accident). The oldest brother (Matthew Fox - who I believe plays a 25 year old) becomes the legal guardian of his brothers and sisters (he did so in a decision to keep the family together rather than have everyone spread about in foster care).

The first season deals a lot with Charlie (Matthew Fox) giving up the "20's life" to be a "dad". A 15 year old girl just coming into herself (Neve Campbell), a young girl dealing with the loss of her parents (Lacey Chabert)... It also stars Scott Wolf who is extremely loveable and really takes a leadership role in keeping the family together and happy. The 5th sibling is a baby (I think less than a year old).

I've heard a lot of people say that the first season is their least favorite. I enjoy it very much.... But it IS true that the series gets much better as it goes on. Season 4 (I THINK) was when the show reached a tipping point and was no longer on the brink of being axed (the first few seasons they nearly got cancelled). If you DO get bored at the begining... Keep going. It does get better, I promise.

If you're a bird, I'm a bird

Lots of Drama.

I'm on my 6th season (via Youtube). It's insane, how much you'll love and hate and then love and then probably hate the characters again. Great show though. It should be up there. Granted, I would have to say one of the huge cons would be that the characters seem to continually make the same mistake- to the point of annoyance and straight irritation HOWEVER when you think in retrospect, they also strayed true to themselves, how they are, how they started and even how they react as a family. We all know that a lot of how we come to be are from our environment- so they (the characters, I should stress) are the way they are because of each other. Hope that makes sense. To me that also covers and gives (the writers) that grace that continued the drama with the Salingers... because they're drama queens. ;) Enjoy!

Regards,
Mary

It ain't whatcha write, it's the way atcha write it. - KerouacJack

TheIdleSoul31, You are in for a great show. I too watched DC when I was younger and watched Po5 on and off. I'm a big Matthew Fox fan so I decided to watched all the seasons in order-I'm in the middle of season 3 now. It's like Dawson's Creek in the sense that the characters are horribly flawed. Personally, I'm liking season 1 the best so far. Every episode of that season is flawless. Season three has its up and downs. The first part of the season steps away from the family drama aspect and focuses a bit on Neve Campell, Scott Wolf and Jennifer Love Hewitt's characters and high school dramas. It gets better in the middle.