Party of Five delivered a number of talented actors into our lives, but none of them captivated us in the quite the same way that Jennifer Love Hewitt did.
JLH arrived as Sarah Reeves, the eventual love interest of Scott Wolf’s Bailey Salinger at the start of Season Two, right when Fox in the midst of their extend run on addictive teen dramas weeknights between 8pm and 10pm. We were in love right away.
She was sexy in a “girl next door” way, if said female who lived next to you had a great smile, musical abilities, flawless skin, and the ability to make you melt without saying a word.
After a couple successful seasons on Party of Five, Hewitt followed the path blazed by so many young television starlets, making the move to film with I Know What You Did Last Summer alongside fellow HSC sorority sister Sarah Michelle Gellar.
More movies (Can’t Hardly Wait, I Still Know What You Did…) and continued seasons of Party of Five followed, as did an ill-fated JLH spin-off Time of Your Life. She also went back to her Kids Incorporated roots, scoring a moderate hit with the single “BareNaked” from the 2002 album of the same name.
After a solid five-year run with Ghost Whisperer, Hewitt is enjoying a successful turn as Riley Parks on the Lifetime series, The Client List.
There has always been a simple, graceful beauty to JLH – it seems effortless and natural, which makes her seem ultra-approachable. Back when we first fell in love with her on Party of Five, she was the kind of dream girl that you would write cheesy pop songs about… and then someone did.
In 1999, the boys in LFO – the guys who gave us “Summer Girls” – delivered “Girl on TV” into our lives, complete with another “Scooby Snacks” lyric, and Hewitt starring in the video of the song she inspired.
You know you’re on a different level of celebrity and crush factor when a song that was written about you cracks the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart.
All these years later, we still bump LFO every summer (RIP Rich Cronin) and we’re still in love with Ms. Love.
