The Virginian Pilot (2000)

THE PARTY’S OVER FOR FOX’S QUINTET

After six years of more clouds than sunshine, Fox’s five orphans leave prime time tonight at 8, not with a bang but with a quiet little send-off that takes two hours.

‘Bye, Bay, Claud and Jule.

Matthew Fox hints that he’s glad to be rid of his character - the bearded, brooding, at times unlikable leader of the pack, Charlie Salinger.

“We’ve had meaty, challenging, very dramatic material that was hard to do. It’s a show that’s been all-consuming.”

No longer. The party’s over.

I’ll not spill details of what the Fox network is calling “the final farewell,” but I suggest you prepare for the breaking up of this tight little family.

“We’ve taken care of each other, and now the time has come to take care of ourselves,” Charlie tells the gang. Time to jump out of the lifeboat, he says.

And so, off goes Claudia to . . . I’ll stop right here.

I’ll not be the one to leak details. To tease. To totally describe the finish - “the last little snapshots,” to quote Lacey Chabert as Claudia - except to say that Charlie and Kristen learn their baby is a boy.

It’s a melancholy group to the very end.

“If the Salingers were happy, there’d be no point to doing this show,” said Fox. “We’ve seen happiness, some joy, but mostly the show has been about our characters getting slammed. It’s been conflict. Drama.”

I’ll say.

A drunk driver kills their parents, leaving the Salinger kids, ages 1 to 24, to make it on their own.

Julia (Neve Campbell) gets pregnant, has a miscarriage.

Bailey (Scott Wolf) develops a serious drinking problem.

Charlie is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease.

Julia’s college boyfriend, Ned, slaps her around.

And there was the fire in the Salingers’ restaurant, the deep depression of Kirsten (Paula Devicq).

Daphne (Richmond-born Jennifer Aspen) got pregnant by Charlie. Julia’s marriage to Griffin (Jeremy London) crumbled. Bailey had an up-and-down relationship with Sarah, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is not seen in the finale.

“The heart of `Party of Five’ lies in having people to help you stand up when you fall down,” said Wolf. “Our audience has found something deeply personal in this show. We’ve touched their lives.”

The essence of “Party of Five” is in the show’s theme.

“Everybody wants to be closer to me. . . . ”

Ever wonder what these actors think of each other after spending six years together on a series that all but sucks the life out of you?

Fox on Campbell: “She’s a sweetheart. Very professional. We’re happy for her success in films, which hasn’t changed her at all.”

Fox on Wolf: “He’s like a brother to me. Very honest. Very loyal. Very down to earth. His head’s on straight. He has it together.”

“Party of Five” premiered on Sept. 12, 1994, and almost immediately made their faces recognizable coast to coast. At first, Fox and Wolf were on the magazine covers.

Then it was Campbell and Hewitt. “It’s a terrifying thing to realize that almost instantly you’ve become a role model, that young women are watching you and saying to themselves, `I should be doing what Julia is doing,’ ” said Campbell.

Instant fame, said Wolf, means that a trip to the shopping mall isn’t what it used to be. “It’s terribly flattering to realize that millions of people suddenly know who you are.”

The millions may have trouble recognizing Fox these days. True to his promise, he shaved his stubble and the hair on his head as filming wrapped. “After looking in the mirror day after day and seeing me as Charlie, it’s nice to be able to change that.”

And what’s in his future?

“There are things I want to do with my life other than spend it on a TV or movie set. But I will read scripts, looking for that one nugget I want to spend months working on.”

We gave Fox, Wolf and the others six years of our lives, watching as Chabert grew from the kid who lived in a tent in the Salingers’ living room to the stunning 17-year-old she is today. We stuck with the characters through romances with people named Grace, Callie, Justin and Ned.

We wondered what actor this year would be playing little Owen - there were so many, starting with year-old twins.

We loved where the Salingers lived, in that large, soaring, handsome Victorian house with a view of San Francisco Bay, the house that tonight . . .

Whoa! I’ve already told you enough about the “final farewell.”