Felicity

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Felicity
Felicity intertitle
Format	Drama
Created by	J. J. Abrams Matt Reeves
Starring	Keri Russell Scott Speedman Tangi Miller Scott Foley Amanda Foreman Greg Grunberg Amy Jo Johnson
Opening theme	"Felicity Theme" by Judith Owen
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	84
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brian Grazer Ron Howard Tony Krantz
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	approx. 45 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	The WB
Original run	September 29, 1998 – May 22, 2002
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Felicity is a Golden Globe-winning American primetime television drama produced by Touchstone Television and Imagine Television for The WB network. The series revolved around the fictional college experiences of the title character, Felicity Porter (played by Keri Russell), as she attended the "University of New York", based on New York University, across the country from her home of Palo Alto, California. The show ran for four seasons from 1998 to 2002, with each season corresponding to the traditional freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years students attend at universities. The series was created by J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. Notable guest directors included Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.

A recurring episode opener of the show was a stark camera shot of Felicity sitting in a dorm room or apartment holding a tape recorder, recalling events in order to make a cassette tape to send to an old friend named Sally Reardon (voiced by Janeane Garofalo). This occasionally provided a method for Felicity to narrate an entire episode. At the end of episodes like this, Felicity would often be shown listening to a tape Sally sent in reply.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Regular 2.2 Recurring 3 Main crew 4 Controversies 4.1 Writer's age 4.2 Ratings 4.3 Time travel episodes 5 Trivia 6 DVD releases 7 References 8 Outside the U.S. 9 External links

[edit] Plot

The story of the series begins at Felicity's high school graduation where she asks Ben Covington (played by Scott Speedman), a classmate whom she has a crush on, to sign her yearbook. Moved by his comment that he wished he had gotten to know her, she changes her education plans completely, deciding to follow Ben to New York rather than attend Stanford University for pre-med. Felicity's overbearing parents, concerned about Felicity's seemingly rash decision, come to New York to try to convince her to return home and 'get back on track.' Felicity has second thoughts about her decision, but soon realizes that she came, not only to follow Ben, but to find herself.

While Felicity works to sort out her emotions, she continues the basic motions of student life and moves into her dorm. There, she meets the resident advisor Noel Crane (Scott Foley). Eventually, romance ensues, and the relationships between Felicity, Ben, and Noel form the basic dramatic conflicts in the show throughout the series.

A number of other characters appear and play large roles in Felicity's life. Her roommate for the first two years is Meghan Rotundi (Amanda Foreman), a goth Wiccan who occasionally casts spells on Felicity and others. Julie Emrick (Amy Jo Johnson) is one of Felicity's best friends, as is Elena Tyler (Tangi Miller), who often takes classes with Felicity. Felicity also has male friends, including Sean Blumberg (Greg Grunberg), who is always trying to produce new off-kilter inventions, and Javier Quintata (Ian Gomez), who manages the coffee house Dean & DeLuca where Felicity works for most of her college career.

[edit] Cast

Main article: List of characters from Felicity

Felicity maintained an ensemble cast, keeping most of its characters for its entire four season run. Numerous secondary characters, including friends and love interests for these characters, appeared intermittently to complement storylines that generally revolved around this core group.

[edit] Regular

Character	Actor/Actress	Duration
Felicity Porter	Keri Russell	84 episodes, 1998-2002
Noel Crane	Scott Foley	84 episodes, 1998-2002
Ben Covington	Scott Speedman	67 episodes, 1998-2002
Elena Tyler	Tangi Miller	65 episodes, 1998-2002
Meghan Rotundi	Amanda Foreman	61 episodes, 1998-2002
Sean Blumberg	Greg Grunberg	61 episodes, 1998-2002
Julie Emrick	Amy Jo Johnson	50 episodes, 1998-2002
Javier Clemente Quintata	Ian Gomez	39 episodes, 1998-2002

[edit] Recurring

Richard Coad	Rob Benedict	36 episodes, 1998-2002
Tracy	Donald Faison	23 episodes, 2000-2002
Ruby	Amy Smart	16 episodes, 1999-2001
Molly	Sarah-Jane Potts	14 episodes, 2000-2001
Sally Reardon	Janeane Garofalo	14 episodes, 1998-2000
Dr. Toni Pavone	Amy Aquino	10 episodes, 2000-2002
Dr. Edward Porter	Erich Anderson	9 episodes, 1998-2002
Greg Stenson	Chris William Martin	9 episodes, 2000
Trevor O'Donnell	Christopher Gorham	8 episodes, 2001-2002
Zoe Webb	Sarah Jane Morris	8 episodes, 2001-2002
Lynn McKennan	Dash Mihok	7 episodes, 1999
Professor Bill Hodges	Jim Ortlieb	7 episodes, 2001-2002
Guy	Brian Klugman	7 episodes, 1998-1999
Barbara Porter/Hunter	Eve Gordon	7 episodes, 1998-2002
Mr. Andrew Covington	John Ritter	7 episodes, 2000-2002
Dr. Peter McGrath	Chris Sarandon	6 episodes, 1999
Lauren	Lisa Edelstein	6 episodes, 2001-2002
Blair	Shan Omar Huey	6 episodes, 1998-1999
Zach	Devon Gummersall	5 episodes, 1998
David Sherman	Henri Lubatti	5 episodes, 1999
Maggie Sherwood	Teri Polo	5 episodes, 1999
Mr. Norman	Bob Clendenin	5 episodes, 1998-2002
Brian Burke/ "Burky"	Michael Peña	5 episodes, 1999-2000
Dominic Webb	Christopher Allport	5 episodes, 2001-2002
Carol Anderson	Jane Kaczmarek	5 episodes, 1999-2000
Carl	L.B. Fisher	5 episodes, 1999
Professor Annie Sherman	Sally Kirkland	4 episodes, 1999
Eli	Simon Rex	4 episodes, 1999
DeForrest Ingram	Kenan Thompson	4 episodes, 2001
Jeremy Cavallo	Rick Worthy	4 episodes, 2001
Avery Swanson	Kristin Lehman	4 episodes, 2001
Lewis	Jan Schweiterman	4 episodes, 1998-1999
Finn	Chris Engen	4 episodes, 2000
Natalie	Ali Landry	4 episodes, 2000
John Papaleno	Darnell Williams	3 episodes, 1998-1999
Hannah Bibb	Jennifer Garner	3 episodes, 1998-2002
Rita	Bitty Schram	3 episodes, 2001-2002
Faye Rotundi	Nancy Lenehan	3 episodes, 1999-2001
Danny	Curtis Armstrong	3 episodes, 1999
Walter Rotundi	Paul Vincent O'Connor	3 episodes, 1999-2001
Swim Coach	Drew Pillsbury	3 episodes, 1999-2000
Erik Kidd	Adam Rodriguez	3 episodes, 1999-2000
Mr. Rogalsky	William Monaghan	3 episodes, 1998
Daryl	Jarrod Crawford	3 episodes, 1998-1999
Tina	Susan Dalian	3 episodes, 1999
Leila Foster	Keiko Agena	3 episodes, 2000
Jane Scott	Tyra Banks	3 episodes, 2000
James	Eddie Cahill	3 episodes, 2000
Randy	James Carpinello	3 episodes, 2000
Professor Mary Morton	Elaine Kagan	3 episodes, 2000
Al-Anon Leader	Nicki Micheaux	3 episodes, 2000
Casey	David Smigelski	3 episodes, 2000
Lloyd	Kevin Sutherland	3 episodes, 2000
Samuel	Austin Tichenor	3 episodes, 2000

[edit] Main crew

• Lawrence Trilling
• Harry Winer
• Keith Samples
• Matt Reeves
• Ken Olin
• J. J. Abrams
• David Graziano
• Jennifer Levin
• Josh Reims
• Andrea Newman

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Writer's age

In 1999, a publicly hyped young writer for the show, Riley Weston, was disclosed as a fraud for claiming to be much younger than she truly was. At the age of 32, she began marketing herself to television studios as a recent high school graduate. (She claimed that her husband was her older brother.) She was soon hired by the WB Network as a writer for Felicity. Hailed as a child prodigy and "wunderkind," she was featured on Entertainment Weekly's October 1998 "it list" of the "100 Most Creative People in Entertainment," which described her as an up-and-coming 19-year-old. Shortly thereafter, she was offered a half-million dollar screenwriting deal with Disney. Her real identity and age were exposed after a Felicity producer checked her social security number. Soon after, her contract with WB expired and was not renewed, and her deal with Disney fell through.

[edit] Ratings

The show's ratings declined in the 1999-2000 season. The popular press blamed this partly on a new hairstyle by the show's star[1]. Known for long and curly locks, Russell went along with the producers' idea that she snip her hair short early on in the second year after her character had a rough breakup with Ben. The ratings drop also coincided with the show's move to Sunday night, so it is unclear exactly how much effect the hairstyle change actually had.

• Season 1 (1998-1999): 4.4 ^[1]
• Season 2 (1999-2000): 2.9 ^[2]
• Season 3 (2000-2001): 3.9
• Season 4 (2001-2002): 3.2 ^[3]

[edit] Time travel episodes

The last five episodes of the series involve a mystical "what if" storyline in which Meghan casts one of her spells, sending Felicity back one year prior to the very moment when she slept with Noel on the roof. The reason for this was due to the fact that the WB originally ordered only 17 episodes for the final season. The final episode, "Graduation," was then written and the show was to end with Felicity and Ben in Palo Alto together. But The WB quickly ordered five more episodes and writers were stuck with the dilemma of how to keep the show going when Felicity and her friends were supposed to be done with college. After scrambling for ideas, including a silly "Summer Spanish Class" storyline, the writers decided to go with the time travel theme and play with the idea of what would've happened had Felicity chosen Noel.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

• Scott Foley, who originally auditioned for Noel, was cast as Ben. However, when producers found Scott Speedman, they asked Foley to switch back to the role of Noel.

• During one episode, Felicity is attempting to complete a crossword puzzle and asks Ben what "Twelve letters, really bad TV show" could refer to. This is commonly believed to be a reference to lead-in WB show Dawson's Creek [2].

• Noel discusses a website with Felicity during the show called www.noelcrane.com. This was an actual website that included a dorm calendar, dorm party photos, samples from Noel's portfolio, and other details related to Noel's life. The site was updated a few times. The site's ownership has since changed hands and the content has been revised. However, it still looks like Noel's life. The computer script that "runs" at the beginning is a set of instructions for how to be Noel.

• For the second season, star Keri Russell cut her long hair short, and the network moved the show to Sunday nights. Ratings declined. The network blamed it on Russell's hair, not the move to Sundays, and required the rest of the cast not to cut their hair. On both sets of DVDs recently released by the WB, it is mentioned numerous times that Felicity cutting her hair was written into the script by Abrams and Reeves. Keri Russell did not do it on her own.

• Keri Russell and Scott Foley offer commentary on the episode "The Graduate" on the season 4 DVD set. They make a comment about Felicity and Noel never sleeping with each other when in fact, they DID have sex in season 4. They slept together on the loft roof in the episode "The Declaration." Eventually Noel lets it slip to Ben that he slept with Felicity which results in Felicity and Ben breaking up in season 4.

• According to Amy Jo Johnson, Julie's departure from the show in 2000 was a result of the actress' need to grieve for her mother whom she had lost two years earlier. She explained that she had been unable to do so properly, due to the show's heavy workload. However, producers have said that the WB network wanted her to leave the show because her story lines were too 'depressing.'

• During the time traveling episodes in the final season, Tangi Miller's character of Elena was said to have been killed in the present day. When Felicity finally returns from the past, Elena is mysteriously resurrected and present at Noel's wedding, seemingly creating an error in the show's continuity. Producers have since explained the error as a problem in editing, as a scene in which Felicity left Elena a note on her last night in the past, telling Elena not to go to Columbia in order to avoid her fatal car accident was cut from the final episode due to length. These scenes have been restored on the fourth season DVD set to relieve confusion for fans.

• In commentary for the fourth season DVD, creator J. J. Abrams says the idea for Alias, which starred Scott Foley's then wife and Felicity guest star Jennifer Garner was derived from a half-joking story plot for an episode of Felicity. Abrams said that by the fourth season, it became difficult for the writers to think up new storylines for Felicity. Abrams said that he half-jokingly suggested an idea where Felicity was a secret agent, while still trying to balance her affections for Ben and Noel, and her school life.

• Jennifer Garner is not the only major player from Felicity to have later moved on to Alias. Greg Grunberg and Amanda Foreman also became regular cast members of that series after Felicity ended its run.

• One Mad TV parody with Keri Russell appears on the Felicity DVDs, but there was also another one featuring Nicole Sullivan as Felicity and called "Intensity."

• At the end of the second season, Megan tells Elena about how she dated a guy named Chad Savage. Chad Savage is a producer on the show.

• Ed Redlich, the producer and writer of some episodes, also appeared in one episode as a character.

[edit] DVD releases

The DVDs were released over a period of four years by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Because of high music licensing costs, many of the songs from the original broadcast episodes were replaced with songs by artists from the independent label Rescue Records. Among them were Blaire Woods Reinhard ("Over and Over" and "Can't Let Go"), Mike Schmidt ("Just Wave Goodbye"), and Beth Thornley ("Mr. Lovely"). On a technical level, some episodes did not have proper telecine encoding, so viewers using HDTVs could sometimes see interlacing artifacts (though this problem can be mitigated in a few ways). The yearly sets are listed below with their American release dates.

Felicity: Freshman Year Collection (The Complete First Season)
Set Details			Special Features
22 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Subtitles: English Languages: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)			Audio Commentary on "Pilot" J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves (Co-Creators, and Executive Producers)
Release Dates
United States	Australia
November 5, 2002	November 4, 2003

Felicity: Sophomore Year Collection (The Complete Second Season)
Set Details			Special Features
23 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Subtitles: English Languages: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Spanish			5 Audio Commentaries: Cast and Fimmakers Never-Before-Seen Network Pilot Episode Keri Russell's Audition Felicity "Emmy Parody" Spoof (Produced for the Emmy Broadcast)
Release Dates
United States	Australia
July 22, 2003	Withdrawn

Felicity: Junior Year Collection (The Complete Third Season)
Set Details			Special Features
17 Episodes 5-Disc Set 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Subtitles: English Languages: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Spanish			Audio Commentaries: Cast and Crew "Docuventary: A Look Back at Season 3 With Greg Grunberg" Mad TV Parody
Release Dates
United States	Australia
September 21, 2004	Withdrawn

Felicity: Senior Year Collection (The Complete Fourth Season)
Set Details			Special Features
22 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Subtitles: English Languages: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround) Spanish			Audio Commentaries: Cast and Crew "The Lost Elena Scenes" - This Exclusive, Never-Before-Seen Footage provides the long-awaited answer to Felicity fans' Biggest Question! "Fade Out" - Behind-the-scenes Reflections with Keri Russell and the show's creators Creating Characters - Q&A with J. J. Abrams, Keri Russell, Matt Reeves & Jennifer Garner
Release Dates
United States	Australia
March 8, 2005	Withdrawn

[edit] References

• Julie Keller (January 18, 2000). E! Online.
• Goldfinger (band) asks about Felicity in the song "Spokesman" from the album Open Your Eyes (Goldfinger album)

[edit] Outside the U.S.

• In Australia, the show was shown on the Seven Network.
• In Brazil, the show was shown on Sony Entertainment Television and SBT.
• In Bosnia, the show was shown on OBN.
• In Bulgaria, the show was shown on Kanal 1.
• In Canada, the shown was shown on CTV television network, and is shown on W Network.
• In Croatia, the show was shown on HRT.
• In Cyprus, the show was shown on Ant1.
• In Denmark, the show was shown on Kanal 5
• In Estonia, the show was shown on TV3.
• In Finland, the show was shown on Nelonen.
• In France, the show was shown on TF1.
• In Germany, the show was shown on RTL.
• In Hong Kong, the show was shown on TVBPearl.
• In Ireland, the show was shown on RTÉ Two.
• In Israel, the show was shown on Channel 2 and later on Channel 3 of HOT.
• In Italy, the show was shown on Rai Due.
• In most of Latin America, the show was shown on Sony Entertainment Television.
• In Latvia,the show was shown on TV3 Latvia.
• In Lebanon,the show was shown on Future Television.
• In Malaysia, the show was shown on TV2
• In Mexico, the show was shown on Sony Entertainment Television
• In New Zealand, the show was shown on TV3 and has begun airing the series on Vibe Channel
• In Norway, the show was shown on TV3.
• In the Philippines, the show aired in RPN 9.
• In Poland, the show was on TVP2 and currently on TVP3
• In Portugal, the show was aired on RTP1.
• In the Republic of Macedonia, the show was shown on MTV Macedonian National Television
• In Romania, the show was shown on TVR 1.
• In Serbia and Montenegro,the show was shown on RTS ,national TV.
• In Slovakia, the show was shown on TV Markiza.
• In Spain, the show was shown on Telecinco, Localia, CosmoTV and ClanTV.
• In Sweden , the show was shown on TV3 and on TV4 as a rerun.
• In Turkey, the show was shown on DiziMax and later on, on S'nek.
• In the United Kingdom, the show was shown on ITV2.

[edit] External links

• TV.com: Felicity – includes full episode guide
• Felicity at the Internet Movie Database
• NoelCrane.com – site that was referenced several times in the show; it was updated during the show's run as if Noel Crane were a real person