"Hello," I nervously whispered into the receiver.
"Kate, you won't believe what's happened!" an agitated female voice cried.
It took me a minute to realize that the caller was my friend Lisa who goes to school several states away.
"What's wrong?" I asked assuming that she'd just broken up with the most recent love of her life.
"What's the worst thing that could possibly happen?" she replied.
"David broke up with you?"
"No, something even worse than that."
"You wrecked your car."
"Worse."
I was getting exasperated. "Just tell me, and it better be good for you to wake me up so early."
"They canceled 'Party of Five!'"
"What?" I cried out in confusion.
"I was just listening to the radio and they announced that "Party of Five" and "90210" have both been canceled."
Now I understood the audible pain in her voice. Our favorite show, the last remaining vestige of our TV watching youth, was soon to be no more.
"How can they do this!"
I kept repeating over and over, feeling personally oppressed by network executives.
Eventually, I hung up the phone and crawled back into bed weighed down by the knowledge that the Salinger family would soon be a part of TV history. My roommate, realizing that something was bothering me gently, asked, "Is everything okay?"
Wanting to spare her the pain of my jarring news I told her everything was fine.
"Are you sure? You can tell me what's wrong. I won't tell anyone, if you don't want."
I took a deep breath, "They canceled 'Party of Five.'"
She blanched, "Why? Why would they do this? How am I supposed to see Griffin? I love him. Where am I going to see Griffin?"
For the moment her pain was more acute than mine, so I tried to be as supportive of her loss as possible. For the rest of the morning I felt strangely numb. I convinced myself that there was no possible way my favorite show could go off the air. It was too great a program to end so soon. There's no way this could be the last season for such an entertaining hour.
Denial was good for a while, but then the reality of it all returned and depression set in. One of my apartment mates noticed my lethargic behavior and pensive mood, and inquired as to the reason I was so forlorn.
"They canceled 'Party of Five,'" I informed her, waiting for the sympathy and support to which I had become accustomed.
"So," she responded blankly.
"So, it's my favorite show. I've been watching it since high school. It's the only show I watch every week. I feel like I'm a part of the family. It's really traumatic to hear that without warning it's being yanked away from me."
She started to laugh.
"Don't you think it's a little sad that a stupid TV show has you so upset. I mean, really, it's just a depressing show about a family with bad luck and even worse judgement. It doesn't even get good ratings, it probably should have been canceled a long time ago. It's been on borrowed time for years."
I began to protest her unfeeling speech, but she cut me off.
"Get over it!"
Angry at her insensitivity I decided to hit her where it hurts.
"They canceled '90210,' too."
"What?" The shock registered on her face. "How can they cancel '90210?' I've been watching it since the fifth grade. Everyone loves that show. What am I going to do?" she pleaded.
"Get over it."
"Party of Five" and "90210," though glorified soap operas, have amassed loyal followings over the years. They've both gained a kind of cult status, and they helped Fox woo younger viewers before the advent of the WB.
For 10 years the characters that people enjoy on "Beverly Hills, 90210" have been bed-hopping and getting involved in every imaginable nefarious activity. Viewers love to watch as the group as a whole fights, makes up, fights again, makes up -- all the while hanging out at a '50s style diner.
Thirty-something's initially portraying teenagers and aging to 22 or so have proved to be the stuff of popular (not to mention lucrative) television. It made "90210" the most famous zip code in America.
"Party of Five" meanwhile has proven that showcasing the lives of a family with rotten luck isn't necessarily a losing formula for TV. For six years audiences have watched as the Salinger's dealt with death, teenage pregnancy, sexual assault, alcoholism, mental illness, domestic abuse and cancer. In years past when the show's future was in jeopardy, viewers inundated the Fox network with letters of protest, and managed to successfully keep the show on the air. This year, though, with numbers for the show dropping dramatically and with the immanent departures of key characters, letters likely won't do the trick. Ditto for "90210." An era is truly ending.
A few nights later I was at my sorority house clustered in front of the television with several other sisters, watching "90210."
They chattered on about the show's storylines and reruns they'd recently seen on the FX channel, and just generally enjoyed their hour together bonding over a mutual love of the program. I didn't have the heart to tell them that after this year all they'd have is reruns. The news was just too devastating.
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