Party of Five: Season 04 (1997)

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The most daunting development in Party of Five's fourth season centers around 28-year-old Charlie Salinger (Matthew Fox), the legal guardian of his four orphaned siblings. After being the family's primary breadwinner since the deaths of his parents, Charlie is suddenly stopped in his tracks when he is diagnosed with Hodkin's disease. It now falls to Charlie's 19-year-old brother Bailey (Scott Wolf), the family's treasurer and chief problem-solver, to care for Charlie in the same selfless manner that Charlie has so long cared for him. This requires Bailey to drop out of college and assume ownership of the family's San Francisco restaurant; unfortunately, the pressures of his new responsibilities drives Bailey to drink. . .and drink. . .and drink. Ending up in Alcoholics Anonymous, Charlie meets and falls in love with the much-older Annie Mott (Paige Turco), who has a daughter named Natalie (Allison Bertolini). Eventually Annie will return to her boozing and run out on both Bailey and her daughter, whereupon Bailey's onetime girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to take charge of Natalie. And by the time the season has ended and Bailey has become fulltime manager of Salinger's, he and Sarah are sweethearts again. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Julia Salinger (Neve Campbell) likewise gives up college in order to support her new husband Griffin (Jeremy London) when his business goes belly-up; before long Julia and Griffin have moved back in with her siblings, and ultimately Julia is able to resume her education at Stanford. And elsewhere on the matrimonial front, the family's former nanny--and Charlie's former fiancée--Kirsten Bennett (Paul Devicq) returns to San Francisco with her new husband, Dr. Paul Thomas (Tim Dekay), in tow. The good news at season's end is that Charlie has been cured of his disease. The bad news is that his current girlfriend, the troublesome Daphne Jablonski (Jennifer Aspen), is pregnant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi