Trivia / Felicity

• Career Resurrection: Amy Jo Johnson left Power Rangers in the hopes of diversifying her career, but still struggled to be seen as anyone besides the Pink Ranger (even coming back to reprise her role in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie). Getting cast on Felicity helped her out massively, later also being part of Flashpoint.
• Dawson Casting: Riley Weston, one of the writers, claimed she was 19 (and called a "teenage prodigy"). However, reports came out that she was actually 32, thus she was terminated.
• Enforced Method Acting: To elicit real emotion from the rest of the cast during the filming of the final scene, in which Sean is offering a toast to Noel, Sean's actor spoke largely out-of-character, expressing his regards for his co-stars.
• Executive Meddling: Most probably, the sudden and completely ridiculous switch from Noel/Felicity to Ben/Felicity (having Ben fall in love with Felicity because of a spell?). Also, the time-travel storyline at the end of Season 4.
• Friday Night Death Slot: Fell victim to this in season 2 onwards, which was a far more likely cause for the show's falling ratings as opposed to the infamous haircut, for which Keri Russell and everyone at the network was unfairly Mis-blamed. The show's timeslot changed from Tuesdays at 9 after Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which was in the midst of their highest-rated season) where it had no real competition, to Sundays at 8, after reruns of the first season of 7th Heaven (called 7th Heaven Beginnings; talk about a mismatch), now having to go up against much higher rated shows like Malcolm in the Middle and Touched by an Angel.
• Friendship on the Set: Keri Russell and Amanda Foreman became fast and close friends, in contrast to their characters' mutual dislike.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: One of the first shows to fall victim to the issue of music copyrights; the music used in syndication and on the DVD is mostly different from the music used in its original broadcast, with only a few exceptions.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Felicity's Important Haircut was not down to Keri Russell's choice, as is usual with this trope. She recalls joking around with the wardrobe department, where they found a little boy's wig and she tried it on; sending a picture to JJ Abrams claiming to have cut her hair. He later called her up and asked if she would do it for real. Despite the backlash to the haircut, Keri declined pressure to wear a wig or extensions and grew her hair out naturally for the remainder of the series' run.
• Referenced by...:
  • Dawson's Creek: In a Season 3 episode (#303), in one of what was common references between The WB shows, Eve is watching Felicity and Dawson can't see the appeal. He proceeds to analyse the protagonist in somewhat of a pan and Eve declares in response that Felicity is Dawson.
  • MADtv (1995) has a sketch called Intensity with "Intensity" as a psychotic Stalker with a Crush against whom Ben obtains a restraining order. It also satirises the hype the show got before its first season.
• Romance on the Set: Keri Russell and Scott Speedman dated during the show. Scott Foley met and later married guest star Jennifer Garner.
• Self-Parody: For the 1999 Emmys, the cast did a spoof where they change the show into NYPD Blue, The X-Files, and ER, as those iterations would be more likely to get Emmy nominations. In the first, Felicity is questioned by Detective Elena and her colleague, Richard; In the second, Felicity and Noel are Mulder & Scully, complete with Unresolved Sexual Tension; in the final one, Felicity and Ben prepare to operate on a confused Julie and Felicity starts making a tape for Sally in the busy OR.
• What Could Have Been:
  • J.J. Abrams' original ending for Felicity was always for her to end up happy with Ben. But when the show was picked up for five additional episodes after that ending was filmed and completed, the time travel plot was conceived to try and draw out five more episodes' worth of tension and uncertainty.
  • At one point, feeling the show had gotten stale, they came up with the idea, Abrams thought up the idea that Felicity had actually been a CIA agent the entire time. Though this idea never went forwards, Abrams used it as the basis for his next series, Alias.