I haven't seen all the episodes of "Ellen". I remember seeing a few in the first season, and then most of season 3, and all of Season 4 and 5. Whatever happened to Holly (played by Holly Fulger) and Anita (played by Maggie Wheeler)? Where'd they go?!
sharehi john,
you saw the 1st season of "ellen," but it really was called, only for that 1st season, "these friends of mine."
after that, it was retooled and renamed "ellen."
Maggie Wheeler--Anita, and Holly Fulger--Holly, were dropped.
Arye Gross--Adam Green, remained as ellen's roomie, but only for another season or two. Alice Hirson and Steven Gilborn remained as her parents.
their shared-apartment set remained the same, and the bookstore did too, but ellen only worked there and she had a bitchy boss.
when the re-tooled show returned, suddenly ellen owned the bookstore, which was kinda weird---where did she get the money--she went from a part-time peon to owner over the summer? hmmm--press the re-set button!
Clea Lewis--Audrey Penney was ellen's annoying cousin in the 1st year but then became her neighbor for the rest of the series, but she was still, thankfully, annoying.
the opening credits originated the "buddies-on-the-couch-outdoors" scenario year before "friends" did....only it was in a rocky canyon somewhere around l.a. and was done in time-lapse and was much more creative.
my wife and i always thought that 1st year was the best of any of the following seasons and when we re-watch the whole series on our home-recorded vhs tapes, that's inevitably the season we watch more than any other year.
i hope that fills in the gap.
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perhaps that is true in the rerun of that 1st season...but to verify what you said, i went back and watched my vhs tapes of "these friends of mine," and i can say that you are incorrect. every ep prior to her purchase of the bookstore was named "tfom".
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perhaps that is the answer to this puzzle. good job. the first season has always been my favorite.
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Help me out here... I was watching the 1st and 2nd episodes on Oxygen today, and Ellen never mentioned Audrey as her cousin... Audrey was an annoying (and oddly very negative) girl who wouldn't go away. "We waited tables together once...you're just supposed to fade away" is how she explained Audrey to Adam... did this change in the rest of the season? Doesn't seem Audrey was ever mentioned as Ellen's cousin, that I can remember...
shareAudrey Penney was ellen's annoying cousin in the 1st year but then became her neighbor for the rest of the series
in a few episodes they say about audreys family and ellen just seems oblivious 2 the facts they r her "aunt" and "uncle" then in the episode when they find out how rich audrey is ellen is shocked but she would have known if they wer fam9ly
they changed the title to ELLEN and dumped the characters of Holly and Anita.
Ellen was truly funny and her show was 1 of the best on tv at that time...rite up until she came out. That episode was funny, and we can allow a couple of others as the character settles into her new life. But then EVERY show was about her gayness. I don't care about some1's orientation 1 way or the other; I still think she's 1 of the funniest comedians around, and even more magically, she never gets dirty. But her show really jumped the shark after the plot of every show after she came out was about her gayness.
My favorite season was the first, atho the best parts of the following ones was her interaction with her nutty parents. I also missed Holly; adorable & funny as well. I only hope Ellen D comes back to tv 1 day, but without making the plot of every episode her lesbianity (lesbianness? lesbianitude?). The Fox station in L.A. is running 5 episodes/day, starting from season 1, and my DVR fills up fast!
*when the re-tooled show returned, suddenly ellen owned the bookstore, which was kinda weird---where did she get the money--she went from a part-time peon to owner over the summer? hmmm--press the re-set button!*
The bookstore was bought by a company (when it was owned by the biotch) and Ellen was told she would become the manager. Ellen stayed the manager for a while then decided to buy the bookstore herself from the company. (Adam pretended to be her lawyer when they went into negotiations with the owners of the company (2 guys reminiscent of Ben & Jerry). She walked out as owner of the bookstore. I don't know which season it was, but they show reruns on Oxygen in the morning and afternoon and this particular episode was on not too long ago.
on abc1 they started in the 3rd series, but the thing bout bein audreys cousin is SOOO weird they shud hav just left it, cos in a few episodes they say about audreys family and ellen just seems oblivious 2 the facts they r her "aunt" and "uncle" then in the episode when they find out how rich audrey is ellen is shocked but she would have known if they wer fam9ly
shareI always thought it was dumb of the writers and/or producers to dump the Holly and Anita characters after the first, truncated season. "These Friends of Mine" was a mid-season replacement that premiered a full six months before "Friends" -- and we all know how successful THAT sitcom became using a very similar, if not the same, format and concept that "These Friends of Mine" used early on. Once it became "Ellen" with the titular star as disgruntled-bookstore-employee-cum-all-of-the-sudden-bookstore-owner (WTF?!) and the Holly and Anita characters MIA in a big way, I stopped watching -- kind of like when "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" became "Saved by the Bell" with an odd location shift to LA and a slew of new characters (P.S. How the hell did Mr. Belding end up principal of Bayside H.S.?) but no explanation of what happened to Miss Bliss or how they ended up there in first place with no recollection of their past lives in Indiana; except in this case, I kept watching because it wasn't prime time so, well, the alternatives weren't so hot, minus reruns of "CHiPs" on TNT.
Anyway, I chalk up "These Friends of Mine" -- especially the episode with Holly and her fake-boobs experiment, which rivals the LOL humor of that "Sex and the City" episode where Carrie farts in front of her boyfriend -- with all of the other underappreciated, unceremoniously-dumped or retooled, could-have-been-great shows (e.g. "All-American Girl," "Men Behaving Badly," and *boo-hoo* "Sports Night") that now languish in the bone gardens of TV history.
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apparantly anita and holly were dropped because they the audience didn't respond well to them. i actually liked thyre interplay, and i thought the first season was hilarious, but it didint bother me to much that they re-tooled, i just wish they had added some explanations 4 the characters leaving
hey, yoda needs to give some better advice, or yoda needs to shut the *beep* up
I watched the pilot on FX, and I was surprised because nowhere did it ever say "These Friends of Mine." Early in the theme song the word "Ellen" appeared on the screen. I guess they changed it for syndication and continuity's sake.
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"The sun is shining...but the ice is slippery."
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