Ellen (TV series)

Ellen (originally titled These Friends of Mine for the first season) was a U.S. television sitcom which ran on the ABC network from March of 1994 to July of 1998. The theme song is by Scottish band Texas and is called "So called friend".

The title role of Ellen Morgan, played by stand-up comedian Ellen DeGeneres, was a neurotic bookstore owner in her thirties. The series centered around Ellen dealing with her quirky friends, her family and the problems of daily life.

In 1997, Ellen made television history when Ellen the character came out as a lesbian in the famous "Puppy Episode." (DeGeneres herself had come out earlier that year on The Oprah Winfrey Show and in TIME.) To ensure a memorable moment, the coming out scene was made into a gag where, at an airport, Ellen turns and tells Laura Dern "I'm gay!" - only to realize that she had turned right into the intercom microphone, announcing her sexuality to the entire terminal. The studio audience erupted into wild laughter and applause.

The revelation ignited a storm of controversy, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode, although the show was never salacious in nature.

Ellen was a critical and popular success in its earlier seasons, due largely to DeGeneres' comic ability. However, after Ellen came out, the show's ratings began to decline, which many attribute to the show becoming too much of a focus on the gay issues and not enough the comedy, or, perhaps more accurately, the perceived beating into the ground of the gay joke.

The show was canceled in 1998, after 5 seasons. Starting October 4, 2003, during DeGeneres's surge in popularity through her role in Finding Nemo and her new daytime talk show, Lifetime began airing reruns 1:00-2:00 on Sunday mornings, starting with the second season. Before long, it went into the 1:30-2:00 time slot Monday-Friday. The reruns stopped two episodes into the controversial final season. Oxygen then picked up the entire series to air starting October 4, 2004, daily at midnight and noon. As of February 2, 2006, the show continues to air 9:00-10:00 Tuesday-Thursday mornings. Reruns of the show in the UK are currently on ABC1. These are shown everyday, throughout the day, along with other Touchstone Pictures productions.

Episodes

Characters

Note: The first episode of the show featured several characters that disappeared without explanation.

Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres)

Ellen Morgan is the main character of the sitcom. In season one, Ellen works in a bookstore called "Buy the Book". In the second season, she purchases the bookstore from her boss and becomes its owner. Throughout season four, hints were made to her sexuality. Near the end of the season in "The Puppy Episodes" Ellen announced she was a lesbian.

Paige Clark (Joely Fisher)

Appearing only in seasons two through five, Paige is Ellen's somewhat neurotic and promiscuous lifelong best friend. She works in the film industry. Paige planned to tie the knot with her boyfriend Matt, however decided not to, in favour of Spence. When Ellen comes out of the closet, Paige has the hardest time dealing with it, even harder than Ellen's parents. In the fifth season, Paige finally comes to terms with it.

Holly (Holly Fulger)

Appearing only in the first eleven episodes and in two in season five, Holly is Ellen's friend. She's somewhat bashful.

Adam Green (Arye Gross)

Adam is Ellen's roommate and later neighbor. He and Ellen were roommates in college and are best friends. Adam is a constantly between jobs photographer. In season three Adam moves to England to work as a photographer for The Sun Times. He appears in episodes one through 40 and two in season five.

Joe Farrell (David Anthony Higgins)

Joe is a Canadian hired in season one to run the coffee counter in the bookstore. He's somewhat sarcastic and mischievous. Joe appears in several episodes in season one and then as a main character from season 2 onwards.

Audrey Penney (Clea Lewis)

Audrey is Ellen's annoying friend with whom she has a love-hate relationship. Initially, Audrey was known for being negative about everything in an irritatingly nice and positive way. In the latter seasons of the show, she was portrayed as excessively perky and positive, much to Ellen's annoyance. She comes from a well-off family, though she rejected her inheritance so that she could continue being an assistant at Buy The Book. In season one, Ellen refers to Audrey's husband, but he never appears and Audrey later dates several people, including Adam.

Spence Kovak (Jeremy Piven)

Ellen's cousin. He appears from 1995 to 1998. His arrival into Ellen's life coincides with the aftermath of a Los Angeles earthquake. Spence was training as a Doctor, but was sacked from his job. During the series he trains as a lawyer. He and Paige fall in love, even though it borders on a love/hate relationship.

Anita (Maggie Wheeler)

One of Ellen's friends who works in a department store. She appears in season one and then disappears without explanation.

DVD releases

On June 14 2006, tvshowsondvd.com ^* announced that A&E would be releasing Ellen Season 4 on Region 1 DVD on August 29 2006

DVD Name	Region 1	Region 2
Ellen The Complete First Season	September 28 2004	N/A
Ellen The Complete Second Season	February 22 2005	N/A
Ellen The Complete Third Season	February 28 2006	N/A
Ellen The Complete Fourth Season	August 29 2006

External links

Ellen (Fernsehserie) | Ellen

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