Felicity (TV series)
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Felicity |
| Original title | Felicity |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1998 - 2002 |
| length | 42 minutes |
| Episodes | 84 in 4 seasons |
| genre | Drama , youth series |
| idea |
JJ Abrams Matt Reeves |
| music | Andrew Jarecki Amy Jo Johnson Larry Klein |
| First broadcast | September 29, 1998 ( USA ) |
| German-language first broadcast |
January 13, 2001 |
| occupation | |
Felicity ( English : Bliss) is an American television series that described the college days of the young student Felicity Porter in four seasons from 1998 to 2002 . The series was broadcast in the US on The WB . Due to her intensive examination of the issues of growing up, she received a lot of critical praise. However, despite the initial enthusiasm, it was not a great success with the audience, even if it was able to win over a loyal fan base.
action
The ambitious high school student Felicity Porter ( Keri Russell ) led a sheltered life until she graduated from high school. Her future is clearly mapped out: to continue to live with her parents and to study medicine at a nearby college. At her graduation party, however, she has a fateful encounter with her secret crush Ben ( Scott Speedman ). After he wrote a seemingly personal comment in the yearbook, Felicity begins to reconsider her situation.
Without further ado, she decides to follow Ben to New York to study. When they arrive in New York, however, they expect several problems: Felicity's parents are annoyed by their daughter's sudden change of heart, Felicity has to finance part of her studies, her roommate Mehgan turns out to be a difficult Goth to deal with and Ben is - surprisingly for Felicity - she does not recognize any feelings for her at first. But Felicity makes other friends at college: Julie ( Amy Jo Johnson ) has come to New York to find her birth mother; Noel ( Scott Foley ), the tutor at her dormitory, is a steadfast friend at first but soon develops feelings for Felicity; the proud student Elena ( Tangi Miller ) has chosen the same subject as Felicity and thus completes her environment.
After initial doubts, Felicity decides to continue her studies in New York.
occupation
main actor
- Keri Russell - Felicity Porter
- Scott Speedman - Ben Covington
- Scott Foley - Noel Crane
- Tangi Miller - Elena Tyler
- Amy Jo Johnson - Julie Emrick (1998-2000)
supporting cast
- Amanda Foreman - Meghan Rotundi
- Greg Grunberg - Sean Blumberg
- Ian Gomez - Javier Clemente Quintata
- Donald Faison - Tracy
Voice actor
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Felicity Porter | Keri Russell | Viktoria Voigt |
| Ben Covington | Scott Speedman | Stefan Günther |
| Noel Crane | Scott Foley | Oliver Field |
| Sean Blumberg | Greg Grunberg | Ole Pfennig |
| Hannah Bibb | Jennifer Garner | Natascha Schaff |
| Ruby | Amy Smart | Stephanie waiter |
Charisma
In the USA, the series ran continuously on The WB . Four seasons with a total of 84 episodes were produced.
As the fourth season progressed, it became clear that Felicity was unlikely to be renewed for a fifth season. Since initially only 17 episodes had been ordered by the broadcaster, those responsible decided to complete the main plot (Felicity's four-year college education) in this context. When the broadcaster finally ordered the remaining episodes for the traditional full season (with 22 episodes), a story arc was added that was widely criticized.
In Germany, the series was first broadcast on RTL on Saturday afternoon in a youth-friendly environment . The series could not prevail due to several interruptions and was initially canceled after 18 episodes. In 2004, RTL II began broadcasting again, but at an irregular rhythm, at night between Saturday and Sunday around 5 a.m. Due to the unfavorable broadcasting slot, the broadcast was canceled at the beginning of the second season.
The series was also released in full on DVD in the USA. In 2015 the first season was released on DVD in Germany.
Awards
Keri Russell won the Golden Globe Award in 1999 , and Felicity was nominated for Best Series for the Golden Globe in the same year . The series won an Emmy Award in 1999 for directing one of the episodes (Todd Mulcahy) , and in 2000 it was nominated for an Emmy Award for music.
The series was nominated several times for the Teen Choice Award (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002), in 1999 Keri Russell won this award.
Remarks
The series Felicity was conceived in the USA for a broadcaster that focuses on the age group between 14 and 29 as viewers. As a result, the series rarely features people beyond education. It is mostly focused on the issues of growing up and self-discovery in the stories. Therefore, the series is commonly referred to as the teen series.
Felicity was one of the first series to use a soundtrack of contemporary pop music throughout. In the run-up to the DVD release in the USA, this led to licensing (cost) problems that delayed the release for a long time. Finally, parts of the soundtrack were exchanged.
A stylistic device used mainly in the first few episodes was for Felicity to dictate her new experience as an audio letter to an older friend named Sally . Sally was a teacher at Felicity's High School with whom she got along well. Sally had also undergone a major change after her fiancé was killed in an accident.
As the plot of the episode unfolded, Felicity's voice was partially heard as the voice-over speaking the letter. Often times the episode would end with Sally's answer, which contained a moral for what had happened. In the English original, Sally was spoken by Janeane Garofalo .
Pop culture meaning
Felicity has found its way into pop culture through two places :
- The character Felicity Porter was still a virgin at the beginning of the series . The episode in which this changed was promoted accordingly by The WB and became one of the more prominent moments in US television history.
- When the actress Keri Russell, in response to a development in the life of her series character Felicity, decided to cut off her characteristic curly long hair and henceforth to wear her hair shorter, there was angry protests from viewers. At the same time, the ratings for the series fell noticeably. However, at that time the series was also moved to a different slot. A connection between Felicity's new hairstyle and the drop in ratings has never been proven, but the assumption persisted.
The process raised awareness in the television industry of the change in appearance mainly of actresses.
Even today, in American pop culture, when switching from long to short hair, an allusion to Felicity is often used .
References to the series
- In Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Xander comments on the strange occurrences caused by Poltergeister in the 18th episode of the fourth season (including a girl cutting her long, curly hair): Anya, look around! There's ghosts and shaking, and people are going all Felicity with their hair… .
- The group Goldfinger referred to the series in their 2002 song Spokesman with the lines "and who the fuck is Felicity, 'cause I got problems of my own" .