Felicity - Freshman Year Collection (1998)

Emotionally available....

I grew up during the golden age of television in the '50s and I would have to say that Felicity is one of the finest crafted series I've ever seen. Being a fan of Keri Russell's more recent work in the films Waitress and August Rush I decided to backtrack and checked out the first season DVD from the local library. Well, needless to say it was a revelation and I'm totally hooked. [I hadn't watched the show when it originally came out on the WB channel as I don't like commercial interruption.] My wife is an actress with a fair amount of stage and film experience (e.g.studied method acting with Lee Strasberg) and she is hopelessly addicted, too.

Yes, the acting, writing, direction, camera work, and editing are superb. But what really grabs me is the emotional availability of the characters. At the finish of just about every episode, one or more of them has captured my heart. I've laughed, felt love, experienced pain, and shed tears watching season one. It brings up a lot of older memories for me....for example, that initial sweet, wonderful feeling of falling in love as well as the wrenching sense of loss following the breakup of a relationship. Just about everyone can relate to that.

Well, no matter what happens in the storyline the love always does seem to persist doesn't it? Like energy it can't be destroyed but just changes form. November 9, 2008

Eh

I should start by saying how much I loved Felicity in late high school/early college. I was only a year younger than Felicity, so I was able to relate pretty well. But, I stopped watching the show about mid-way through the second season. Looking back, I assumed that it was because I was actually in college now and too busy to watch it. So, I saw it on Netflix this year and decided that I was going to watch the series again - start to finish. Once again, I got as far as the middle of the second season and stopped. Now I remember why:

The first season really gets you into the show. Felicity is totally adorable - pretty, quirky, smart. Ben is gorgeous and Noel is the sweetest guy alive. The friends are all unique and have interesting story lines. It adequately describes so much of what I went through in college. So, at this point, I have finished the first season, pleased with what I saw and ready to jump into season 2. Then, I decided to read an episode by episode breakdown of all the episodes. I was floored - in a bad way. The plots got worse and worse - and more and more unreal. You start to see that Ben really is a shmuck and wonder how Felicity can't get past it to be with Noel, who was so good for her. Julie becomes pathetic and you stop feeling sorry for her. Ben's roommate (the inventor guy) just becomes a loser instead of unique and amusing.

So, I stopped watching. It didn't hold my interest because nothing was coming together. The characters simply stopped being lovable. That's my two cents. October 31, 2008

Arguably the best series about college life ever made

For some reason American television has struggled when it comes to college. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, which portrayed high school life so vividly and powerfully, faltered somewhat as Buffy and Willow made the transition to UC-Sunnydale. And the show that perhaps emulated BUFFY's high school formula best, VERONICA MARS, also was less compelling once the scene shifted to undergraduate life (though in large part this might have been because of multiple restrictions the CW placed on Rob Thomas and Co., especially in making the series focus more on standalone episodes rather than very long arcs). I've only recently gone back and started watching FELICITY. I can confidently say that no show has ever depicted college life as convincingly or as well as it. I think THE GILMORE GIRLS comes a strong second, but most other shows either fail (A DIFFERENT WORLD) or use it as take off for other purposes (e.g., the funny but not particularly realistic UNDECLARED). [For the record, I have not seen GREEK.]

As is well known, FELICITY tells the story of Felicity Porter impulsively following Ben Covington, an unrequited high school crush, to NYU instead of Stanford after he writes a long entry into her high school annual. [I'm not certain that they ever actually state that the school is NYU. I am certain that they don't refer to it by name in the second half of Season One, but because I Netflixed this I don't have the early season discs to verify this one way or another. But it is clearly a major university set directly on Washington Square, which fits the bill.] I personally detested that initial premise, but it quickly moved on to transcend it by developing a strong cast of characters and exploring their life at college together. Much of the series revolves around Felicity's interaction with Ben, with whom she develops a close friendship (though the initial romantic underpinnings remain a subtext throughout Season One), and her increasing attraction to and complex relationship with her resident assistant Noel.

What I like about the show in Season One is how it -- for the most part -- avoids cliché in exploring college life. The last season arc dealing with Ben's gambling problem seemed forced and artificial, but otherwise most of the arcs seemed natural and organic with the rest of the narratives. There is also very real and believable character development throughout the season. Felicity and Ben and Noel and Julie and the others are different characters at the end of the season, which is always the mark of a good show (just as a lack of character development is the mark of a bad one). And most of the narratives are compelling and interesting, rarely resorting to melodrama. The show continually pulls you into its stories, so that by the end of the year you feel quite invested as Felicity sits in the taxi as it comes to an end, deciding whether she is going to take a road trip across America with one guy or fly to Berlin with another.

Any show whose title consists of a character's name sinks or swims depending on how well that character is portrayed. Luckily, the producers hit a home run in casting Keri Russell in the central role. She manages to play Felicity as both enormously likable if often believingly flawed. She often makes mistakes, but they are the kinds of mistakes that feel all too familiar. She is too surreally beautiful to be completely believable as someone who would experience unrequited love, but once you allow yourself to accept that initial premise, she is a wonderfully loveable yet vulnerable character. And has anyone in the history of TV had more beautiful hair than Keri Russell in Season One? Her cutting her hair in Season Two often shows up on lists with titles like, "Worst Mistakes in TV History."

I'm sorry that I didn't catch this when it first was aired, but at least we have the DVDs. I anxiously await viewing the rest of the series. July 20, 2008

Felicity - Freshman Year

I was always curious about this show but resisted watching it during its initial airing because I did not feel that I'd be able to relate to the characters. I just watched the last episode and can only say "wow" - the Felicity character and her experiences drew me in and caused me to reflect on my own freshman year experiences.

Kerry Russell shines in the leading role and deservedly won many accolades for her portrayal of a young girl who alters her life to follow an unknown path all in the belief that she has a chance to build a relationship with her high school crush. The supporting actors, Scott Foley, Scott Speedman, Tangi Miller & Amy Jo Johnson were excellent foils for not only Felicity's experiences but their own trials & tribulations as university students.

I'd recommend it for its intelligent & engaging storytelling, honest portrayals and exceptional acting.

December 27, 2007

When I'm bored

I love to watch this show when I am bored. It is such an easy show to get hooked on. I even got my male companion interested in this series after he saw a few episodes while I was watching it. This series is great for those lazy days when you have nothing to do. October 18, 2007

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