This episode/documentary shows a little of the show behind scenes and some reflections of the cast, the writers and others about the story and the hard moments of the series, when almost was canceled. And was good to see them, but I felt it was too short, wasn't deep enough and also, was made at the wrong time. This was made in sep/oct 1998, beginning of season 5, when the Salingers were all divided, the family was somehow "split", so basically, for me, was one of the worst possible moments to film a behind scenes episode. In that moment, Claudia was in the boarding school, 3000 miles away from her family, Julia was living in Stanford, also apart from her family, Bailey was living with Sarah in the loft, and Charlie was in the house, with Daphne, Owen, and a recurring Kirsten during the day. If this would have been made right after That Ends Well, it would have been perfect and really emotional.
Here was showed how the four Salingers siblings were cast, Scott first and Matthew second, and when they met they thought about how curious is that their surnames are Wolf and Fox. Then, Amy and Christopher remarked that they chose Neve because the network wanted someone mature, and well Neve was born in 1973, and Julia Salinger in 1979, so they had someone with enough experience. Lacey was cast from New York, same as Matthew, and she was chosen because her essence, the sunshine in her face. Then, they remembered about the Pilot, how hard was for Neve to handle the baby because he wouldn't stop crying (obviously missed his mother), Scott tried to help her with diapers, but she could alone at the end. They didn't say anything else about the baby, but it would have been nice to see something else, like how Paula felt portraying Owen's nanny (and how she was cast), if she struggled as Neve or not, because she had many scenes with the baby in season 1. Also, what about David Burke? He played the next nanny and held the baby various times too. And then, they could have said something about the Cavarno twins, just something, because they were very important for this series, they played Owen for 3-4 years. Anyway, then Scott and Lacey talked about the dog, Thurber, how they managed, and that the pet had to share many scenes with Lacey. About the house, they filmed the pilot there with some permissions and they had time until night, so they were rushed. I guess that's why they had to film the rest of the scenes of the series in the "house", at the studios in Culver City, and filmed many scenes in the real San Francisco to show the outside of the real Salinger house, the stairs, the porch. Matthew said that they filmed the Pilot in 3 weeks, 3 weeks to make people believe that they were a family. Probably that was one of the hardest parts for the four "siblings".
As for the rest, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Scott, Matthew and Lacey had to answer some trivia questions about their characters. Scott and Jennifer mostly failed, while Matthew and Lacey were so so. Then, each one of them, including Paula talked about some moments of the series, some parts of the story and their characters. All of them recalled how hard was season 1, because the audience was small and loyal, but for this they were almost canceled many times. Campaigns of letters saved the show in season 1, so they remained on air. Matthew said he was a bit frustrated for the lack of audience, and I agree, still now in 2021 I don't understand why this show is so short in votes and reviews. Besides, season 1 was the best without doubt, the most natural, pure and real of all the seasons. Lacey and Paula talked a little about the Thanksgiving, Lacey admitting it was the first really dramatic episode of the many they did (I'm glad she recognized that the series is overly dramatic) and Paula saying it was one of her favourite episodes (frankly, many people agree that is one of the best of the series, me too) and that the characters got out wiser afterwards. Then, Jennifer LH talked about how she was cast, recognizing she was younger than the rest (and well, 10-11 years younger than Scott), but their chemistry and knowing each other from a previous job helped them. Topolsky said he saw her talent and hired her for a longer period than 9 episodes. Then, Scott said that The Wedding episode was beautiful and praised Matthew's job, and I have to believe that he sees it from inside, because frankly, for me and many fans/viewers, is one of the most depressing episodes of the series, so it's not beautiful, it's sad. Matthew said that Charlie learned a lot with Kirsten in their relationship, which is truth, and I saw in other interviews that for him was hard to play the character in that episode. Paula said it was good as an actress to play Kirsten there, but it was hard too to say, or to feel, that her character couldn't marry Charlie and that she had to leave the family. She also said that she believes in happily ever after and that she wants Charlie and Kirsten to be together, as many fans who crossed her and many others do. The next thing, is that they talk about winning the Golden Globe, how it helped to gain viewers, Jennifer LH watched on TV, Lacey jumped in her chair, and then with Scott, Neve, Matthew, Paula, Christopher and Amy went to stage. Later, they showed a bit of the house-backyard set with Jeremy and Jennifer Aspen. Jeremy joked about having fun with Jennifer, upsetting her as she had a boyfriend and was scared of rumours. Then, Jennifer said that for her was funny, good to play Daphne, a free spirit woman, sometimes dorky. That's because in sep 1998 didn't film the most dramatic side for Daphne yet. Scott praised his storyline with the alcohol and the work of guest/recurrent actors as love interests. Jennifer LH also praised some moments of The Intervention and Bailey's anger. Then, Amy said that they wanted to show a disease in a specific way for the family, referring to cancer. Matthew said that Charlie always thought he had all the odds against him, how a middle night call would always mean bad news and that after finding out he was going to live, he thought he had a second chance (the truth). Then, Lacey talked a little about how was growing up in the series, recalling moments of 2x02 and 2x10. Paula recognized that she would have never done that being 13, which explains a lot, of why she has always been a low profile person, especially in the last 13 years. Of the main cast, unlike the others, she didn't have much fame after Party of Five, only a few small roles in TV and no big movies. Many persons don't ask to be famous, prefer a quiet private family life and that's very good. Lacey, Scott are in social media, they had a lot of TV work in the last 20 years but they are not very big stars and have their private lives, their own families too. Matthew gained a lot of fame with Lost, but probably tired of it, he basically disappeared during the last decade to be with his family, which is great, family always will be the most important in life (yet casually now in september I found out that in 2022 he'll return TV with a mini series, "casually" directed by Dennie Gordon, who directed 3 episodes of Party of Five in season 3). Neve and Jennifer LH are pretty famous, so I guess is harder for them to keep their privacy. Leaving that brief comment of the cast aside, this documentary ends with them thanking to the fans for watching and saving the show. To finish, I felt that the documentary lacked more reflection on the themes of last seasons. Would have been good to show how the writers and cast thought and dealed with such dramatic themes as depression (Kirsten), alcoholism (Bailey), cancer (Charlie) and relationships (Julia). They explained almost nothing here and they gave many scenes of episodes, but that was needless, I already saw that, I came here to know details about the inside of the series. That's what I hoped to see. I saw a video from the reunion between Christopher, Scott, Lacey, Paula, Wilson Cruz in the AT & T festival in 2013, and they gave some interesting information, not showed here. Anyway, would have been nice to see some behind scenes in outside locations, like the "snowy Tahoe" in 4x19, the "snowy Chicago" in 3x12 or at the beach in seasons 2-3 premieres.
Here was showed how the four Salingers siblings were cast, Scott first and Matthew second, and when they met they thought about how curious is that their surnames are Wolf and Fox. Then, Amy and Christopher remarked that they chose Neve because the network wanted someone mature, and well Neve was born in 1973, and Julia Salinger in 1979, so they had someone with enough experience. Lacey was cast from New York, same as Matthew, and she was chosen because her essence, the sunshine in her face. Then, they remembered about the Pilot, how hard was for Neve to handle the baby because he wouldn't stop crying (obviously missed his mother), Scott tried to help her with diapers, but she could alone at the end. They didn't say anything else about the baby, but it would have been nice to see something else, like how Paula felt portraying Owen's nanny (and how she was cast), if she struggled as Neve or not, because she had many scenes with the baby in season 1. Also, what about David Burke? He played the next nanny and held the baby various times too. And then, they could have said something about the Cavarno twins, just something, because they were very important for this series, they played Owen for 3-4 years. Anyway, then Scott and Lacey talked about the dog, Thurber, how they managed, and that the pet had to share many scenes with Lacey. About the house, they filmed the pilot there with some permissions and they had time until night, so they were rushed. I guess that's why they had to film the rest of the scenes of the series in the "house", at the studios in Culver City, and filmed many scenes in the real San Francisco to show the outside of the real Salinger house, the stairs, the porch. Matthew said that they filmed the Pilot in 3 weeks, 3 weeks to make people believe that they were a family. Probably that was one of the hardest parts for the four "siblings".
As for the rest, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Scott, Matthew and Lacey had to answer some trivia questions about their characters. Scott and Jennifer mostly failed, while Matthew and Lacey were so so. Then, each one of them, including Paula talked about some moments of the series, some parts of the story and their characters. All of them recalled how hard was season 1, because the audience was small and loyal, but for this they were almost canceled many times. Campaigns of letters saved the show in season 1, so they remained on air. Matthew said he was a bit frustrated for the lack of audience, and I agree, still now in 2021 I don't understand why this show is so short in votes and reviews. Besides, season 1 was the best without doubt, the most natural, pure and real of all the seasons. Lacey and Paula talked a little about the Thanksgiving, Lacey admitting it was the first really dramatic episode of the many they did (I'm glad she recognized that the series is overly dramatic) and Paula saying it was one of her favourite episodes (frankly, many people agree that is one of the best of the series, me too) and that the characters got out wiser afterwards. Then, Jennifer LH talked about how she was cast, recognizing she was younger than the rest (and well, 10-11 years younger than Scott), but their chemistry and knowing each other from a previous job helped them. Topolsky said he saw her talent and hired her for a longer period than 9 episodes. Then, Scott said that The Wedding episode was beautiful and praised Matthew's job, and I have to believe that he sees it from inside, because frankly, for me and many fans/viewers, is one of the most depressing episodes of the series, so it's not beautiful, it's sad. Matthew said that Charlie learned a lot with Kirsten in their relationship, which is truth, and I saw in other interviews that for him was hard to play the character in that episode. Paula said it was good as an actress to play Kirsten there, but it was hard too to say, or to feel, that her character couldn't marry Charlie and that she had to leave the family. She also said that she believes in happily ever after and that she wants Charlie and Kirsten to be together, as many fans who crossed her and many others do. The next thing, is that they talk about winning the Golden Globe, how it helped to gain viewers, Jennifer LH watched on TV, Lacey jumped in her chair, and then with Scott, Neve, Matthew, Paula, Christopher and Amy went to stage. Later, they showed a bit of the house-backyard set with Jeremy and Jennifer Aspen. Jeremy joked about having fun with Jennifer, upsetting her as she had a boyfriend and was scared of rumours. Then, Jennifer said that for her was funny, good to play Daphne, a free spirit woman, sometimes dorky. That's because in sep 1998 didn't film the most dramatic side for Daphne yet. Scott praised his storyline with the alcohol and the work of guest/recurrent actors as love interests. Jennifer LH also praised some moments of The Intervention and Bailey's anger. Then, Amy said that they wanted to show a disease in a specific way for the family, referring to cancer. Matthew said that Charlie always thought he had all the odds against him, how a middle night call would always mean bad news and that after finding out he was going to live, he thought he had a second chance (the truth). Then, Lacey talked a little about how was growing up in the series, recalling moments of 2x02 and 2x10. Paula recognized that she would have never done that being 13, which explains a lot, of why she has always been a low profile person, especially in the last 13 years. Of the main cast, unlike the others, she didn't have much fame after Party of Five, only a few small roles in TV and no big movies. Many persons don't ask to be famous, prefer a quiet private family life and that's very good. Lacey, Scott are in social media, they had a lot of TV work in the last 20 years but they are not very big stars and have their private lives, their own families too. Matthew gained a lot of fame with Lost, but probably tired of it, he basically disappeared during the last decade to be with his family, which is great, family always will be the most important in life (yet casually now in september I found out that in 2022 he'll return TV with a mini series, "casually" directed by Dennie Gordon, who directed 3 episodes of Party of Five in season 3). Neve and Jennifer LH are pretty famous, so I guess is harder for them to keep their privacy. Leaving that brief comment of the cast aside, this documentary ends with them thanking to the fans for watching and saving the show. To finish, I felt that the documentary lacked more reflection on the themes of last seasons. Would have been good to show how the writers and cast thought and dealed with such dramatic themes as depression (Kirsten), alcoholism (Bailey), cancer (Charlie) and relationships (Julia). They explained almost nothing here and they gave many scenes of episodes, but that was needless, I already saw that, I came here to know details about the inside of the series. That's what I hoped to see. I saw a video from the reunion between Christopher, Scott, Lacey, Paula, Wilson Cruz in the AT & T festival in 2013, and they gave some interesting information, not showed here. Anyway, would have been nice to see some behind scenes in outside locations, like the "snowy Tahoe" in 4x19, the "snowy Chicago" in 3x12 or at the beach in seasons 2-3 premieres.