YMMV / Party of Five (2020)

• Audience-Alienating Premise: The show tried to attract a mix of fans of the original series and new fans, and failed to attract either demographic in significant numbers. Fans of the original series were repulsed by the idea of the beloved franchise being repurposed for a story about undocumented immigrants. Newcomers to the franchise, meanwhile, were turned off by how much the show focused on Emilio's love life and Valentina's emotional problems. That the series waited until more than halfway through the season to reveal its token queer representation did not help things, as most shows on Freeform live or die by the LGBT Fanbase, and by the time those fans got onboard, the series was already on the verge of cancellation.

• Diagnosed by the Audience: It's pretty clear Val has some undiagnosed anxiety issues, including separation anxiety from having her parents taken into ICE custody right in front of her.

• Ensemble Dark Horse: Matthew has developed a lot of fans for being one of the few trans-masc characters on TV.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Among detractors, a common criticism is that it's hard to see the Acostas as innocent victims of a cruel immigration system when every episode seems to reveal yet another small crime that Javier or Gloria committed (like Javier withholding Oscar's overtime pay, or Gloria stealing money from the restaurant, or Javier buying a liquor license from another restaurant).
  • For some fans, Valentina becomes increasingly difficult to sympathize with because while she clearly has genuine issues, she expects her siblings or her parents to fix everything for her, and gets unreasonably angry at them when they fail to live up to her expectations. Particular mention goes towards her giving Lucia a completely undeserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech just because Lucia refuses to be a substitute mother figure.