I was still a teenager when this show was on in France and I'm not even sure I'd seen the whole thing at this time but I remember I'd really liked it. I was a big fan of "Party of Five" and JLH's character then and maybe I was not really objective. Rewatching the first episode, I realize now that it's fine but not really realistic. The girl arrives in New York and bam, in one episode, she finds a place where to live by crashing in Jennifer Garner's apartment as if it was normal, finding people to help her right away or listen to her story and a boyfriend. OK, she lost her luggage but what a day! Those things do not happen in real life. It's like a Christmas movie but worse because you don't expect it. I know it's just a show but I was pretty disappointed. I guess I'm just too much of an old lady and a killjoy now (LOL).
18 Reviews
raison d'être
SnoopyStyle12 May 2019
Sarah Reeves Merrin (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is in New York searching for her birth father with only a name. She goes to her late birth mother's apartment from twenty years ago. After paying moneygrubbing building super Cecilia Wiznarski (Pauley Perrette), she finds the apartment occupied by starving actress Romy Sullivan (Jennifer Garner). Her search hits a dead end with Broadway impresario Archer Fitzwith but she decides to stay. Archer directs her to work for the Halloways and the arrogant rich guy Spencer Halloway. John Maguire works at a nearby record shop. Sullivan likes hottie ladies' man neighbor J.B. Maguire, his friend Jocelyn House, and Merrin all work in a nearby bar.
The show starts out with a compelling personal premise and then almost immediately drops it like a hot potato. It's a brutal start when the show essentially starts again with a much less compelling premise of finding herself. By the time it returns to the father issue, the show has already been canceled and the episodes do not get aired. The young cast are charismatic. It's easy to see their future stardom. It's really the only reason to watch this. Love is arguably the top star coming out of Party of Five. This star vehicle simply sputtered until it stalled. On the other hand, the characters are not always appealing. I still root for them but they are so dumb. They talk too much and say the wrong things. They often do stupid things for no reason. It would be fine for a sitcom but for a drama, it makes the characters look like idiots. The Cyrano DMs are cringeworthy but at least, it's kind of funny. It's a lot. By the time we get to the pyramid scheme and the temp agency stories, I have about enough of the idiocy. The more infuriating aspect is that Merrin's singing and Maguire's guitar playing sets up the show with a long running premise. Maybe, it would be the driving premise in future seasons. Overall, the writing is bad. I love the actors but not always the characters. The basic premise is problematic when the starting premise is so compelling. Merrin doesn't even make a list of her mother's friends at the time.
The show starts out with a compelling personal premise and then almost immediately drops it like a hot potato. It's a brutal start when the show essentially starts again with a much less compelling premise of finding herself. By the time it returns to the father issue, the show has already been canceled and the episodes do not get aired. The young cast are charismatic. It's easy to see their future stardom. It's really the only reason to watch this. Love is arguably the top star coming out of Party of Five. This star vehicle simply sputtered until it stalled. On the other hand, the characters are not always appealing. I still root for them but they are so dumb. They talk too much and say the wrong things. They often do stupid things for no reason. It would be fine for a sitcom but for a drama, it makes the characters look like idiots. The Cyrano DMs are cringeworthy but at least, it's kind of funny. It's a lot. By the time we get to the pyramid scheme and the temp agency stories, I have about enough of the idiocy. The more infuriating aspect is that Merrin's singing and Maguire's guitar playing sets up the show with a long running premise. Maybe, it would be the driving premise in future seasons. Overall, the writing is bad. I love the actors but not always the characters. The basic premise is problematic when the starting premise is so compelling. Merrin doesn't even make a list of her mother's friends at the time.
NYC 400 - #398 "Time Of Your Life"
DeanNYC18 April 2024
Note: This is one of my list of the 400 Most Notable TV Shows Set in New York City, in honor of the 400th Anniversary of the founding of NYC - the full explanation and list of titles can be found by clicking my username (DeanNYC) and looking for the list on my Profile Page.
Reviews of each show are being posted under their respective titles.
//
The series "Party of Five" was a big deal in its first couple of seasons. It was intriguing because the Salinger family of San Francisco, essentially kids (though granted most of the actors were playing a lot younger than their actual ages), were orphans and trying to both put food on the table (quite literally, as they ran a restaurant), and get through their scholastics while holding their tenuous family circumstances together.
It had elements of a soap opera to it with the drama of Child Protective Services possibly coming in to end it all if eldest sibling Charlie wasn't living up to their requisite expectations, in addition to all of the standard teen issues you would expect with junior high and high schoolers under normal conditions.
Eventually younger brother Bailey, played by Scott Wolf, got into a relationship with a girl named Sarah, and it looked like they might be headed to an engagement. But it broke off. And Sarah, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, did something drastic. She left San Francisco for New York.
We were told that the reason why she left was because she was in pursuit of information about her birth parents, who were New Yorkers - she was chasing her roots.
There also was a question about whether this might have been an "absence makes the heart grow fonder" situation. After all, we were told this was only going to be a temporary exploration and Sarah seemed to want to get back with Bailey.
To be sure, there were a few episodes where that search for parental facts was the focus. But it seemed like that took a back seat to most of the actual stories we got.
For the late 1990s early 2000s, maybe Sarah wasn't completely prepared for the culture shock the move she made would create. More importantly, neither were the writers of this series. Sarah fell into a bohemian lifestyle with an apartment, new friends, new co-workers at her waitressing job just down the block from her dwelling, her attempts to become a recording artist (which may have been a nod to Hewitt's actual, and mostly unsuccessful, attempts to get her own singing career going in the US) a few love interests and all of the elements of randomness, oddities and potential trouble that come with life in The City.
Part of the problem was that Sarah wasn't particularly well-developed... as a CHARACTER, so she wasn't really an ideal candidate to be the star of this show. No offense to Ms. Hewitt, who has had a pretty decent career and can currently be seen on "9-1-1" (after Fox canceled it, the Alphabet Network snapped it up). But her acting at the time was not of the same level as "Felicity" star, Keri Russell, and that hurt the program, certainly by comparison.
It also didn't help that a couple of co-stars, Jennifer Garner, who was actually playing an aspiring actress, and Pauley Perrette, who was an up-and-coming model on the series, were very poorly used. But, don't worry about them too much; they both found better opportunities relatively soon after this series.
New York played a part because of the flavor of the city, that sense that anything could happen, the connections of wealth and fame, seemingly just within your reach and the compromises one is willing to make to be able to be there.
Ultimately though, "Time of Your Life" was a case of a central character not having a central focus and without that, it was like a boat without a rudder. That's really why this didn't work out.
Reviews of each show are being posted under their respective titles.
//
The series "Party of Five" was a big deal in its first couple of seasons. It was intriguing because the Salinger family of San Francisco, essentially kids (though granted most of the actors were playing a lot younger than their actual ages), were orphans and trying to both put food on the table (quite literally, as they ran a restaurant), and get through their scholastics while holding their tenuous family circumstances together.
It had elements of a soap opera to it with the drama of Child Protective Services possibly coming in to end it all if eldest sibling Charlie wasn't living up to their requisite expectations, in addition to all of the standard teen issues you would expect with junior high and high schoolers under normal conditions.
Eventually younger brother Bailey, played by Scott Wolf, got into a relationship with a girl named Sarah, and it looked like they might be headed to an engagement. But it broke off. And Sarah, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, did something drastic. She left San Francisco for New York.
We were told that the reason why she left was because she was in pursuit of information about her birth parents, who were New Yorkers - she was chasing her roots.
There also was a question about whether this might have been an "absence makes the heart grow fonder" situation. After all, we were told this was only going to be a temporary exploration and Sarah seemed to want to get back with Bailey.
To be sure, there were a few episodes where that search for parental facts was the focus. But it seemed like that took a back seat to most of the actual stories we got.
For the late 1990s early 2000s, maybe Sarah wasn't completely prepared for the culture shock the move she made would create. More importantly, neither were the writers of this series. Sarah fell into a bohemian lifestyle with an apartment, new friends, new co-workers at her waitressing job just down the block from her dwelling, her attempts to become a recording artist (which may have been a nod to Hewitt's actual, and mostly unsuccessful, attempts to get her own singing career going in the US) a few love interests and all of the elements of randomness, oddities and potential trouble that come with life in The City.
Part of the problem was that Sarah wasn't particularly well-developed... as a CHARACTER, so she wasn't really an ideal candidate to be the star of this show. No offense to Ms. Hewitt, who has had a pretty decent career and can currently be seen on "9-1-1" (after Fox canceled it, the Alphabet Network snapped it up). But her acting at the time was not of the same level as "Felicity" star, Keri Russell, and that hurt the program, certainly by comparison.
It also didn't help that a couple of co-stars, Jennifer Garner, who was actually playing an aspiring actress, and Pauley Perrette, who was an up-and-coming model on the series, were very poorly used. But, don't worry about them too much; they both found better opportunities relatively soon after this series.
New York played a part because of the flavor of the city, that sense that anything could happen, the connections of wealth and fame, seemingly just within your reach and the compromises one is willing to make to be able to be there.
Ultimately though, "Time of Your Life" was a case of a central character not having a central focus and without that, it was like a boat without a rudder. That's really why this didn't work out.
Time to say goodbye...
stefanhoeffllin10 April 2001
Sarah (Jennifer Love Hewitt) leaves San Francisco and the Salinger family to find her real father in New York. It´s the first time she stands on her own feet. "It´s the end of the world as we know it" - an old R.E.M. title - Sarah sang at the end of the pilot-episode. The song fits! "Time of your life" didn´t survive a long time. Why?! It was full of interesting characters!
Maybe I´m in the minority, but I don´t think that the focus of the show wasn´t too much on Sarah. There was enough space for the other characters to develop their own stories. Romy (Jennifer Garner), an actress who tries to find work, Maguire (Jonathon Schaech), the guy from the record-shop, who falls in love with Sarah, J.B. (Diego Serrano), a hairdresser who works at the edge of legality sometimes and falls in love with Romy, etc - they all try to find luck on their own way. I can especially remember episode 12 "The time everything changed" when Molly, a girlfriend of Romy died. I guess it was the most dramatic episode! Besides in Germany - where the show was called "New York life" - all 19 episodes were aired. So the american TV-audience will never know who Sarah´s real father is. It was a real touching moment when she met him....
"Time of your life" would have been a great alternative for "Party of five"-fans. Why didn´t they give the show a second chance?! It really had the potential for success! I can remember that "Party of five" was also a missuccess in the first season! It´s a shame that it was cancelled so soon!
Another great show on television that I will miss...
Maybe I´m in the minority, but I don´t think that the focus of the show wasn´t too much on Sarah. There was enough space for the other characters to develop their own stories. Romy (Jennifer Garner), an actress who tries to find work, Maguire (Jonathon Schaech), the guy from the record-shop, who falls in love with Sarah, J.B. (Diego Serrano), a hairdresser who works at the edge of legality sometimes and falls in love with Romy, etc - they all try to find luck on their own way. I can especially remember episode 12 "The time everything changed" when Molly, a girlfriend of Romy died. I guess it was the most dramatic episode! Besides in Germany - where the show was called "New York life" - all 19 episodes were aired. So the american TV-audience will never know who Sarah´s real father is. It was a real touching moment when she met him....
"Time of your life" would have been a great alternative for "Party of five"-fans. Why didn´t they give the show a second chance?! It really had the potential for success! I can remember that "Party of five" was also a missuccess in the first season! It´s a shame that it was cancelled so soon!
Another great show on television that I will miss...
Incredibly disappointing JLH spin off from Party of Five
redricoseoul29 May 2017
I have to say I hate this show. Not because of its content but for what it represents. They took a beautifully drawn character from Party of Five and ruined it, absolutely ruined it. And that is a crime for all of us fans of Party of Five, which was a much much much better show.
In the final season of Party of Five just as we're aching to see whether Sarah and Bailey will finally find lasting happiness, Sarah's character is ripped out of the show and sent off to New York in the 3rd episode without warning, never to return. This not only aborted one of the central romances of the show that had developed over 4 wonderful seasons, it also robbed us of Sarah's character just as she was really beginning to blossom and develop her independence and her own identity at the end of season 5. Yes, "Time of your life" was meant to continue her story arc, but the writing was just not nearly as good and Sarah/JLH was much better as part of an ensemble cast rather than trying to lead her own show (at least at that stage of he career).
I think a lot of us PoF fans feel like we were cheated out of 20 further episodes of this character in the final season. JLH was so wonderfully talented and beautiful and PoF is the best thing she ever did. Why do they always have to ruin something good?
In the final season of Party of Five just as we're aching to see whether Sarah and Bailey will finally find lasting happiness, Sarah's character is ripped out of the show and sent off to New York in the 3rd episode without warning, never to return. This not only aborted one of the central romances of the show that had developed over 4 wonderful seasons, it also robbed us of Sarah's character just as she was really beginning to blossom and develop her independence and her own identity at the end of season 5. Yes, "Time of your life" was meant to continue her story arc, but the writing was just not nearly as good and Sarah/JLH was much better as part of an ensemble cast rather than trying to lead her own show (at least at that stage of he career).
I think a lot of us PoF fans feel like we were cheated out of 20 further episodes of this character in the final season. JLH was so wonderfully talented and beautiful and PoF is the best thing she ever did. Why do they always have to ruin something good?
Needs a dvd release
lawntechmccall22 February 2019
For fans of Jennifer Love Hewitt.
m-4782610 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The network put too much emphasis on this, I thought. It was like her mini one woman show, where she was only pretending to be her Party of Five character. The tone was all wrong too. So girly and light, it made all the heavy storylines, look out of place and unfitted for the show. Like most reviewers, I was in my teens the first time I discovered it on TV. And binge watching the show after all these years, made all it flaws pop in a very distracting way. I hated half of the characters and those I liked, were given awful storylines. Had they kept the same balance between intense drama, comic reliefs and romance, like they did on Party of Five. I'm sure the show would've been given at least one more chance. Unfortunately it was trying too hard to be its own independent self, it made too many unforgivable mistakes. Just like the heroine herself... I liked the finale episode, though. It brought a sense of closure to her NYC adventures, that can now be seen as a mini-series, instead of a failed spin-off.
Amazing show!
bzxkvjvw9 March 2023
Loved this show! I really liked this show! I really wish it would've been more seasons! I love how it told Sarah's story! When she left party of five to do this. I just love anything to do with New York! So that is another reason that I liked this! Because it was them in New York. The story's to all the episodes I really enjoyed and also the cast I think the cast was amazing from Jennifer loves Hewitt to Jennifer garner and people like Elizabeth Mitchell man I love them all! Over all I say this show was incredible! Only downside is it only had 19 episodes so I felt like it was over way to fast. But give it a watch!
The end?
diablotine13 February 2001
Hello,
I know I'm late, but I'm a french TOYL fan (called "Sarah" in France), which is almost unknown in here because you can only watch it on a small cable channel; and you can still watch it on this moment. I've just seen this week episode, and I worry about it to be the last one, as I heard the series is over in USA. In this episode, JB is going to jail, Sarah is about to leave New-York (but doesn't) and Maguire actually does. All the characters seems to be depressed and it sounds and look like the end of something. So what, was it the last episode? Or the last episode is it about to arrive?
I hope my english is not too bad and someone will answer my questions. I'm sad anyway the series will end, and I'm mad about the TV channels worrying so much about audience results, because here in France if americans don't like something we just don't get to see it, without any right to make a choice!!
Thanks for reading me...
I know I'm late, but I'm a french TOYL fan (called "Sarah" in France), which is almost unknown in here because you can only watch it on a small cable channel; and you can still watch it on this moment. I've just seen this week episode, and I worry about it to be the last one, as I heard the series is over in USA. In this episode, JB is going to jail, Sarah is about to leave New-York (but doesn't) and Maguire actually does. All the characters seems to be depressed and it sounds and look like the end of something. So what, was it the last episode? Or the last episode is it about to arrive?
I hope my english is not too bad and someone will answer my questions. I'm sad anyway the series will end, and I'm mad about the TV channels worrying so much about audience results, because here in France if americans don't like something we just don't get to see it, without any right to make a choice!!
Thanks for reading me...
Time of your Life review
mikhalt22 August 2006
Time of your life a series that stopped airing on the Fox network in 2000 was a show I really enjoyed and thought that it was going to run for at least one more season, but I guess the network thought otherwise, maybe its ratings wasn't high enough I am no sure. I was just a fan of it and watched it every Wednesday on fox for that whole year until they cut it. There were 19 episodes that were done, and was a unique series. I sure do hope they put it on DVD if there is high demand for it. Not that Jennifer Love would go back into it anyways, I mean she is a big movie star now. I am sure if she was interviewed about the show she would say that it was a good show and she enjoyed working on it and what party of five was the time of her life. This show was awesome.
Good Show, but JLH talks to much
hammer_pants25 October 1999
The show is good, its a spin off of Party of Five. The dialogue is good, the only bad thing is, Jeniffer Love Hewitt talks way too much. I think that the writers should give a chance to the other characters to speak. This is actually a great show with witty characters and great dialogue, but it shouldn't all go to JLH.
Should have been called "Worst Mistake Of Your Life!"
rorystevens3 May 2004
I was such a huge fan of Jennifer Love Hewitt back in the late 90's.
But this show was so slow! It had boring plotlines. Nothing exciting ever happened.
On "Party Of Five," Jennifer Love Hewitt had a character named Sarah. Although this show was supposed to be a spin-off about Sarah, it seemed like this show was all about Jennifer Love Hewitt rather than her character Sarah.
It's a shame because Jennifer Love Hewitt totally ruled the late 90's. However, the most popular teen icon does not make up for crappy writing and slow plotlines.
Jennifer Garner also co-starred in this show. Who would have ever thought that she'd become the big screen queen she is today?
But this show was so slow! It had boring plotlines. Nothing exciting ever happened.
On "Party Of Five," Jennifer Love Hewitt had a character named Sarah. Although this show was supposed to be a spin-off about Sarah, it seemed like this show was all about Jennifer Love Hewitt rather than her character Sarah.
It's a shame because Jennifer Love Hewitt totally ruled the late 90's. However, the most popular teen icon does not make up for crappy writing and slow plotlines.
Jennifer Garner also co-starred in this show. Who would have ever thought that she'd become the big screen queen she is today?
Very good but Sarah should shut up sometimes
Artêmis29 November 1999
As a fan of "Party Of Five", I had to watch "Time Of Your Life" more as an obligation than for pleasure. "T of Y L" is for sure a hundred times worse than "Party of Five" and sometimes it's unbelievable and strange. And the problem is Sarah, Jennifer's character. She was almost married with Bailey, was dating him for years, lived in his house and then, in her second day in NY she decided to stay there!
Well, let's look at the beginning: Sarah was living with Bailey and decided to make a trip to New York to find her father. She would come back in five days. In the first night in NY she lost her baggage and money and found her mother's house. In the same night she was already living there. The next day she found a job in the bar, met 2 persons that could be her father, and one of the two was a very rich man. One night after it, she went to jail for not paying to the subway, and this rich man paid the surety and more than this, found her a very good job. Less than two days after it, she resigned the job because she was is NY for fun (poor Bailey)! No problem, she's will work in the bar (her 1st job, remember?). It's strange that they didn't put other person to work there, as she was already working in the job found by the rich man. Then, in the night, she just fight and scream with the rich man that was helping her a lot. Oh, and only after all those things she decided to phone Bailey! There is only one thing I know about Sarah: she's the most SELFISH person in the world. What a boring girl! And what a fast girl!
But Sarah is not the unique character there, although she appears during 90% of the time. And all these things doesn't mean that Time Of Your Life is bad and don't even mean that Sarah is bad. All the others are convincing and their stories are too much better. It's just ridiculous to give an entire TV-series for Jennifer Love Hewitt. She's cool, nice, fun but not famous (and talented) enough to have her own.
Well, let's look at the beginning: Sarah was living with Bailey and decided to make a trip to New York to find her father. She would come back in five days. In the first night in NY she lost her baggage and money and found her mother's house. In the same night she was already living there. The next day she found a job in the bar, met 2 persons that could be her father, and one of the two was a very rich man. One night after it, she went to jail for not paying to the subway, and this rich man paid the surety and more than this, found her a very good job. Less than two days after it, she resigned the job because she was is NY for fun (poor Bailey)! No problem, she's will work in the bar (her 1st job, remember?). It's strange that they didn't put other person to work there, as she was already working in the job found by the rich man. Then, in the night, she just fight and scream with the rich man that was helping her a lot. Oh, and only after all those things she decided to phone Bailey! There is only one thing I know about Sarah: she's the most SELFISH person in the world. What a boring girl! And what a fast girl!
But Sarah is not the unique character there, although she appears during 90% of the time. And all these things doesn't mean that Time Of Your Life is bad and don't even mean that Sarah is bad. All the others are convincing and their stories are too much better. It's just ridiculous to give an entire TV-series for Jennifer Love Hewitt. She's cool, nice, fun but not famous (and talented) enough to have her own.
A Great Take Off Of Party of Five!!!!!!!
grampa-325 October 1999
Jennifer Love Hewitt Stars in this amazing series called "The Time Of Your Life" It's about a girl who goes to New Your to find her father. And she's in a new town know's no one. This is an Excellent series I like it alot and i just have to say that this series is just Excellent. I give it 10 Stars **********
Party of Five spin-off
Petey-1010 September 2001
In this spin off from Party of Five Sarah Reeves Merrin (Hewitt) leaves the Salingers in San Francisco and goes to New York to find her birth-father.There she meets lots of interesting people.Time of Your Life lasted only for one season from 1999 to 2000.This drama series was nothing special but it is always nice to watch Jennifer Love Hewitt.She can make the worst show worth watching.But this wasn't such a bad show.It still kept me interested during those 19 episodes.I recommend Time of Your Life for every fan of miss Love or who just wants to see fairly good drama.
So Annoying
Turtle-716 November 1999
I'm a fan of Party of Five and all I can say is Jennifer Love Hewitt you made a bad choice. Except for the fact that she now gets to hang out with Johnathon Schaech. That was pretty much the only reason I watched the one episode I did turn on. I could not believe how annoying the Romy character was. Maybe that's the reason I disliked it so much, but it just hurt to watch.
Waste of Your Time
White Dolphin2 January 2001
First of all Jennifer Love Hewitt can't act. If it weren't for her looks she'd be telling people about the weekly specials. And I don't even find her to be very attractive. She also doesn't seem to have a very intelligent mind- things were going great for her on Party of Five, but nooooo-- she has to have her own series.
And the other characters aren't that great too. Jonathan Schaech (does he expect us to pronounce that?!) is highly annoying. He's been in some good movies in which he was annoying too. Then there's Diego Serrano, who plays JB. He's even more annoying than Jonathan Schaech. And there's Gina Ravera who plays, Joss- also annoying.
Jennifer Garner plays Romy Sullivan, notice how she too has good looks. Of course she's a zillion times prettier than Jennie Love. She's ok, I can bear her but she can sometimes get on my nerves. And- Pauley Perrette, who is a much better actress than all the former. There's just something about her character which I like. And finally- Patrick Fabien, who is relatively ok.
But, I was not surprised when Time of Your Life got cancelled, I hope Jennifer Love learned something from it.
And the other characters aren't that great too. Jonathan Schaech (does he expect us to pronounce that?!) is highly annoying. He's been in some good movies in which he was annoying too. Then there's Diego Serrano, who plays JB. He's even more annoying than Jonathan Schaech. And there's Gina Ravera who plays, Joss- also annoying.
Jennifer Garner plays Romy Sullivan, notice how she too has good looks. Of course she's a zillion times prettier than Jennie Love. She's ok, I can bear her but she can sometimes get on my nerves. And- Pauley Perrette, who is a much better actress than all the former. There's just something about her character which I like. And finally- Patrick Fabien, who is relatively ok.
But, I was not surprised when Time of Your Life got cancelled, I hope Jennifer Love learned something from it.
See also
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