Ellen | |
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Also known as | These Friends of Mine (season 1) |
Created by | |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | |
Opening theme | "So Called Friend", performed by Texas (seasons 3–5) |
Composer | W. G. Snuffy Walden |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 109 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | March 29, 1994 – July 22, 1998 [1] |
Related | |
The Ellen Show (2001–2002) |
Ellen is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from March 29, 1994, to July 22, 1998, consisting of 109 episodes. Ellen DeGeneres stars as the title character of Ellen Morgan, a neurotic bookstore owner in her thirties. The title of the series was These Friends of Mine for the first season, but it was subsequently changed to avoid confusion with the NBC series Friends , which premiered in September 1994.
The series centered on Ellen's dealing with her quirky friends, her family, and the problems of daily life, set in Los Angeles. The series was one of the first in the US with a main character to come out as gay, which DeGeneres' character did in the 1997 episode "The Puppy Episode", which aired shortly after DeGeneres publicly revealed that she was gay in real life. This event received a great deal of media exposure, ignited controversy, and prompted ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.
The series' theme song (used in season 3 onwards) is a version of "So Called Friend" by Scottish band Texas with altered lyrics. A running gag during the third and fourth seasons was that each episode had a distinct/different opening credits sequence (often with singing and dancing and featuring popular celebrities as guest stars), resulting from Ellen's ongoing search for the perfect opening credits.
Character | Portrayed by | Appearances | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
Ellen Morgan | Ellen DeGeneres | Main | ||||
Joe Farrell | David Anthony Higgins | Recurring | Main | |||
Paige Clarke | Joely Fisher | Main | ||||
Audrey Penney | Clea Lewis | Guest | Recurring | Main | ||
Spence Kovak | Jeremy Piven | Main | ||||
Adam Green | Arye Gross | Main | ||||
Holly Jamison | Holly Fulger | Main | ||||
Anita Warwell | Maggie Wheeler | Main |
Note: Between seasons one and two, there was not only a title change from These Friends of Mine to Ellen, but two main characters disappeared without explanation.
Season | Episodes | Season Premiere | Season Finale | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1993–94 | 13 [a] | March 29, 1994 | August 30, 1994 | N/A [2] | N/A [2] |
2 | 1994–95 | 24 | September 21, 1994 | May 17, 1995 | #13[ citation needed ] | 21.05[ citation needed ] |
3 | 1995–96 | 25 | September 13, 1995 | May 21, 1996 | #39[ citation needed ] | 16.59[ citation needed ] |
4 | 1996–97 | 25 [a] | September 18, 1996 | May 13, 1997 | #30[ citation needed ] | 16.79[ citation needed ] |
5 | 1997–98 | 22 | September 24, 1997 | July 22, 1998 | #42 [3] | 12.4 [3] |
In 1997, Ellen made television history when the title character came out as a lesbian in the famous "Puppy Episode" (DeGeneres herself came out concurrent with the episode 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's character "I'm gay!" – only to realize that she had turned right into the public address microphone, announcing her sexuality to the entire terminal. Ellen DeGeneres's mother Betty can briefly be seen as one of the people in the terminal with a shocked reaction to the announcement. [4]
The episode was ranked No. 46 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. [5]
The revelation ignited a storm of controversy, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.
Ellen was successful enough in its early seasons to warrant annual renewal, due largely to DeGeneres's perceived appeal and comic ability, but only with Ellen's coming out did the show make its way into the wide public consciousness and hit a critical plateau. After the initial coming out frenzy, however, the show's ratings declined, and ABC began feeling the pain of a backlash regarding the "gay content" being exhibited. The final episodes of Ellen were criticized for focusing too much on gay issues. [6] Eventually, even some members of the LGBT community, including Chaz Bono (who at the time was the media director for GLAAD), began to criticize the show's serious new tone as well. [7] ABC cancelled the show in May 1998 after five seasons.
The episode "Secrets & Ellen" is part of a crossover with Grace Under Fire , Coach , and The Drew Carey Show set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly and Drew Carey as himself.
A&E Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1. These DVDs do not have captioning or subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.
DVD Name | Ep # | Release date |
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Season One | 13 | September 28, 2004 |
Season Two | 24 | February 22, 2005 |
Season Three | 25 | February 28, 2006 |
Season Four | 25 | September 26, 2006 |
Season Five | 22 | November 28, 2006 |
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