Back in 1998, ‘Felicity’ premiered on The WB. Felicity was created by Matt Reeves and an unknown JJ Abrams who up until that point had written a few screenplays, including some blockbusters such as ‘Armageddon’and ‘JoyRide’ but Felicity was the first time he produced a series for television.
Felicity’s star was the wonderful Keri Russell (one of a few women I would love to sleep with), Scott Foley and the soft spoken Scott Speedman. (The DVD commentaries have lots of mentions of his ‘whisper acting’).
The show ran for 4 seasons on the WB going off the air in 2002. Most of the cast has continued to work steadily on film and on television. Like most shows (for some reason particularly with the WB) I watched not one second of the show when it aired.
A couple of years ago I saw season 1 on sale in a bargin bin and picked it up for ten bucks. The show began with the interesting premise of Felicity at her graduation from high school. After the ceremony, Felicity speaks for the first time to the guy she has crushed over for years. Ben (Speedman) speaks to her as if they are closer than they are and writes something in Felicity’s yearbook that turns her life into a totally different direction.
Without family support, Felicity changes her plans for university and follows Ben to school in New York. When the two meet in New York he has no idea what brought her to the city and how much of an impact she is going to have on his life.
As last year approached I began going through my DVD’s and books and decided to sell some on Ebay or give away. All 4 seasons of ‘Felicity’ was put into my sell pile. I decided to stick in season 1 to watch one more time before I sold it and currently am wrapped up in the love triangle of Felicity, Ben and Noel (Foley) all over again.
If you have not seen it, are a lover of good television and a sucker for a somewhat soapy drama I encourage you to give ‘Felicity’ a shot. As season 3 and 4 went on the show became more like the other mainstream WB teen dramas, but in it’s first couple of years it was uniquely different. Felicity, either due to budget constraints or because of a creative decision did not use much of the manipulation techniques most shows used. There was music, very good music, but it does not blare over scenes and does not get louder to create drama. The music for the most part is subtle and in fact it is almost shocking how much silence the show was able to air. Awkward moments are awkwardly silent and none of the characters are let off the hook by music cues.
Below: Ian Gomez
Below: Amanda Foreman
With the exception of a few New York location shots, the sets are not elaborate. A few classrooms, a few dorm rooms are the setting for most of the story. The wardrobe (unlike say a Gossip Girl) is done for story, meaning you barely notice or care what the characters are wearing. The characters parents for the most part make enough money to send them to school, but there are no kids here sliding through life on a trust fund. They work, they study they work their way through life.
‘Felicity’ was cast exceptionally well. Russell is a beauty for sure, but this cast is a group of actors. You can almost see them wincing when they have to say the odd line that is out of sinc with the story. Scott Foley and Scott Speedman are perfectly cast as the men in her life, and given the three are involved in a triangle for much of the shows run, it is a testament to the writers that I , like Felicity struggled to decide who I thought she should be with. Ultimately I joined camp Noel, but it was a tough race.
As for the supporting cast, Greg Grunberg and Amanda Foreman were certainly my favorites and stood out as the wonderfully written Meagan and Sean. It is quite something to watch Foreman in season 1 knowing how much her character grows as the show went further. Amy Jo Johnson and Tangi Miller are well suited for their roles but the writers seemed to struggle maintaining their strength and both female characters suffered over the course of the show. Ian Gomez (currently on Cougar Town) and Rob Benedict are also wonderful in their roles.
Given that J.J Abrams (from Lost, Alias and of course last years Star Trek) is behind the scenes, you can bet the show has an originally you might not have first expected.
