CULVER CITY, Calif., Sept. 22, 2000 — It’s Friday, and Episode Five of “Felicity” is about to commence.
Scott Speedman is carting around a basketball in the parking lot when co-star Keri Russell pulls up in a silver Jeep. The onscreen (and offscreen) couple exchange some private words (hidden by tinted windows, of course) before they head onto the set, where Tangi Miller and new cast member Sarah-Jane Potts are giddily trying on new denim jackets, a gift to the cast from the Gap.
Scott Foley is running late from a movie set, and when he finally arrives he’s greeted with hugs and ribbings.
It’s pretty chipper for a show which, despite critical raves its first year, has found itself in a do-or-die situation. Starting Oct. 4, the college drama, which barely escaped cancellation in the spring, will air its entire third season within the first half of the year before the fledgling “Jack & Jill” takes over the same time slot in the spring.
And henceforth cometh the verdict: Will we live to see Felicity’s senior year?
The cast doesn’t know, and at least for that day, they don’t care. But they’re also not kidding themselves; Jokes about the ratings surface at every opportunity, and, as cast jester Greg Grunberg points out, “‘Jack & Jill’ actually premieres at the same time as the new ‘Survivor’ does, so good luck to them!”
“I always liked [low ratings]; I always thought it made us kind of cool,” adds Russell, who — yes, we know you’re dying to find out — is growing back her much-discussed corkscrew mane. “‘Ooh, we never had a good audience; there’s just a cool group of people who watch us. We’re not mainstream.”
But they also understand the daunting task ahead of them.
So this time, “Felicity” is taking its central situation — a sheltered girl (Russell) who followed Ben (Speedman), a boy she had a distant crush on in high school, to college in New York City — and broadening its scope. Plotlines will revolve more on the strong ensemble cast and less on Felicity herself. Also adding to the mix is a new roommate, British free spirit Molly (Potts), who will buddy up with the girls and clash with polar opposite Meghan.
It’s even entering reality series territory, as Felicity’s taped monologues to hometown friend Sally (voiced by Janeane Garofalo, never seen) will cease, and Sean’s documentary series will force more on-camera confessions by the pack of friends.
“It’s a great vehicle for telling stories on our show, with the limitations that we have. We can improv stuff, and it’s just a great time. And I shoot a lot of the stuff, too,” Grunberg says.
Straight from the cast members and creators themselves, here’s Hollywood.com’s guide to what you can expect this season from your favorite characters on “Felicity.” (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
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| Keri Russell as Felicity Porter |
Character: Felicity Porter, wide-eyed, curly haired college student.
Played By: Keri Russell, curly haired ex-Mouseketeer.
When We Left Her: Felicity finally got her man — again. After a brief dating period and a long separation, the two lovebirds were reunited, only to be torn apart (briefly) when Felicity accepted an art history internship to stay in New York for the summer.
What’s Next: In the season premiere, Felicity gets the bright idea to move into a little apartment with her new boyfriend, an idea that goes sour — fast. “She’s had this fantasy image of what this person is and now she’s finally in a relationship with him, and that entails much bigger issues,” Russell says. A future episode involving Felicity’s behavior at a frat party (too many Jell-O shots put her in a compromising position) will jeopardize the relationship. But most episodes will be less Felicity-centric, which Russell welcomes. “It makes it more an ensemble feeling,” she says. “It’s a little more fun vs. me crying all the time.”
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| Scott Speedman as Ben Covington |
Character: Ben Covington, aw-shucks hunk and Felicity’s longtime goal turned boyfriend.
Played By: Scott Speedman, aw-shucks hunk (“Duets“).
When We Left Him: Felicity picked Ben over Noel in the second-season opener, but Ben’s commitment phobia killed the fledgling romance. Then he came around, only to have to watch Felicity in the arms of another man. Finally, love was declared, the damsel was wooed, and Ben got his girl.
What’s Next: “Old scenes, all the things we kind of got into but never dealt with [will be addressed],” Speedman says. One to take note: Ben’s estranged father (played by John Ritter) will make a few appearances this season. Speedman isn’t worried that, in the tradition of “Moonlighting” and other romantic-tension-filled series, the Felicity-Ben romance will kill the show’s ratings. “I don’t think they could drop that much farther,” Speedman says meekly.
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| Scott Foley as Noel Crane |
Character: Noel Crane, ex-dorm adviser, Felicity’s ex, former all-around nice, responsible guy.
Played By: Scott Foley, all-around nice guy, ex-“Dawson’s Creek” guest star, (“Scream 3”).
When We Left Him: After his pregnant (not his child) girlfriend Ruby (Amy Smart) left to live with her folks, a glum Noel bumps into wild-child Natalie (Ali Landry, aka The Doritos Girl) at a wedding and decides he needs a personality makeover. By the season finale, he had disappeared with her.
What’s Next: The search for Noel is on, and when the gang finds him, he’s shacked up with Natalie, sporting blond tips and — are you ready? — possibly married, with no plans to return for his senior year. Is it a phase? Will he return to the Noel everyone knows and loves? Will he get rid of Natalie? “No more Doritos girl? We don’t know,” says Foley, who also gets to romance supermodel Tyra Banks this season. “Noel becomes this great anti-Noel and has spent the summer exploring different sides of his personality.” But the real Noel will soon return, back to school and living with Ben and Sean in the loft. Does he miss the hair? “I didn’t mind it, people dug it, chicks dug it.”
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| Tangi Miller as Elena Tyler |
Character: Elena Tyler, hard-shelled pre-med student and resident control freak.
Played By: Tangi Miller, warm, beautiful actress and laid-back dancer.
When We Left Her: Elena met her romantic and intellectual match last season with Tracy (Donald Faison), but it was later revealed that he wants to remain a virgin until marriage.
What’s Next: “She’s got some serious issues that will go down with Tracy,” Miller says, and front and center will be sex, or lack thereof. Creator J.J. Abrams adds, “We really don’t want to give the impression that if you’re a virgin you’ll lose your girlfriend, or vice versa. So we had to do a story where Elena possibly cheats on Tracy without it being that, so you have to make it very clear that the reason this thing happens isn’t because she’s not getting sex from him. It has to be a bigger issue. So that kind of stuff is important for men as well.” He pauses. “For the six young men who watch.” See, we warned you about the ratings jokes.
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| Amy Jo Johnson as Julie Emrick |
Character: Julie Emrick, aspiring musician and supporting friend.
Played By: Amy Jo Johnson, aspiring musician (she sings on the soundtrack) and ex-Power Ranger.
When We Left Her: After meeting her birth mother, who didn’t give her the warm welcome she expected, by season’s end Julie had to decide whether to get tested for her ailing father’s kidney transplant, even though her mother refused to tell her father that he had a daughter.
What’s Next: Julie reveals that she did decide to be tested, and her father soon passes away, but not before a brief but joyous father-daughter reunion. However, with the logistics of the girls’ living situation (four beds, five women — somebody has to go) and Julie’s diminishing presence, rumors are flying that Johnson might not be around much longer. The actress, who was on a film shoot, wasn’t around for comment, but Abrams says, “The story [with Julie] plays out in a really cool dramatic way. We don’t want to ruin anything, but we can say it’s a pretty good story and we’re still working with Amy Jo.” But Reeves mysteriously slips, “It’s not like she’s not going to be on the show; she’s not going to be a regular all the way through.” Stay tuned.
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| Greg Grunberg as Sean Blumberg |
Character: Sean Blumberg, inventor-turned-shoulder-turned-filmmaker.
Played By: Greg Grunberg, inventor turned actor (a longtime friend of the creators, Sean is mostly based on Grunberg).
When We Left Him: After Sean’s long-suffering love for Julie was rebuffed when he caught her kissing Noel, he quickly rebounded by sleeping with resident Wicca Meghan, a result of her special “smart cookies.” The morning after, however, the two found that they had an improbable chemistry, he gave her a skull necklace, and they spent the summer at her parent’s home in Tuscany. He also gets a deal with the Independent Film Channel to film a documentary series and uses his friends as the subjects.
What’s Next: The Sean-Meghan romance will be one to watch this season, which might warrant some changes in their characters. “I hope that I become a warlock or something, because, you know, ‘Charmed’ does so well and we need some sort of magic for this show,” Grunberg jokes. “It would be nice to see Sean dress more funky and take more chances with some things.” Sean will also be going through his first serious plotline, a “health crisis” of some kind, and he and Julie might yet cross paths (which would be scary, since Meghan could always put a curse on him).
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| Amanda Foreman as Meghan Rotundi |
Character: Meghan Rotundi, Felicity’s sarcastic, Goth-chic roommate.
Played By: Amanda Foreman, who wears considerably less eye makeup than her character.
When We Left Her: See Sean update.
What’s Next: Meghan, in a housing bind, moves in with the other girls, opening the door for some entertaining interaction. “I have more to do instead of coming in, saying something mean and walking out, which is good,” Foreman says. As for her romance with Sean, “It’s the best. I’m the luckiest cause he’s the funniest,” she says. “You’ll see a little more of a vulnerable and open side than you did the other two years.” But our burning question is: What is in the black box Meghan guarded so viciously the last two seasons? “I asked about it the other day, saying, ‘I don’t know where the box is, it’s not in my new room,'” Foreman laughs. “And they said, ‘It’ll show up.'”
