11 oktober 2000

When talking about Felicity, it's obvious the first other show that comes to mind is ... The Sopranos. All right, if you don't buy that one. How about Felicity and Oz? Fine, fine - Felicity has as much in common with those HBO dramas as Babe does with Silence of the Lambs. But there is a link, at least this season, between those bloodfests and the WB's coming-of-age college saga. The WB, with two dramas but only one open slot on its schedule, implemented a time-share agreement between Felicity and Jack & Jill that they admit is modeled on the HBO premise (borrowed from the British) of quick-hit, short-run series. A season of the mob hit The Sopranos lasts only 13 episodes; it's a short burst of brilliance. Oz, the gritty prison drama, aired for eight episodes this summer before going on hiatus until January, when another eight episodes will air. Felicity, the drama starring Keri Russell, is in the middle of an 11-episode run; when it ends in December, the show gives up its time slot (9 p.m. Wednesdays, WEWB Ch. 45) for 13 weeks of Jack & Jill, another returning WB drama. After those 13 weeks end, Felicity is slated to return for the final 11 episodes of the season. "We're sort of looking at it as two 11-episode seasons," said Felicity executive producer J.J. Abrams. "Any time you psychologically have less to bite off, it lets you manage the work better." The dual premises: Shows are stronger if they have a shorter run; and it's a way to stretch the season (from 22 to 35 weeks) without reruns. "If it works, you'll probably see us doing it again and others (in broadcast television) doing it," WB spokesman Brad Turrell said. In the course of the standard 22 episodes (sans reruns), even the best of dramas can go off course, bogged down mid-season in plot lines or character developments. For a wayward show, this kind of drift can ruin the season altogether. "Personally, I look at The Sopranos and say, 'Wow, that's fantastic,' " Abrams said. "They do 13 (episodes a season) total. That's a manageable amount. At some point, any person can carry (only) so much stuff." In addition, cutting down on the number of episodes requires a show's writers to be more disciplined. "The reality of doing TV shows is you have 22 hours to come up with," Abrams said. "You want to plan ahead, but you can't plan too far ahead - because then you become inflexible. You're not letting the stories tell themselves." Few shows on television have gone through roller-coaster rides as wild as the ups and downs of Felicity. Critically hailed when it debuted in the fall of 1998, the show has suffered through anemic ratings and questions of whether - like the rest of the laughless WB lineup - it became too dark. Abrams said the show is different this year: Russell, and angst in general, won't be the sole focus. Levity, he argues, was present last year even if a lot of people didn't see it. "The key to this year is it's a far more balanced show than it's ever been," he said.