30 September 1998

Show totally unreel to film students A group of New York University film students found little reality in last night's season premiere of a TV show about a student going to an NYU-type school. Watching the WB Network's Felicity in the dorm room of Fred Flores, 20, the four students said the prime-time heroine Felicity Elizabeth Porter is just too naive for the Big Apple. "I'm moving if people like this live in New York," said Lewis Manalo, 20, of Frederick, Md. In other words, said Joe Rice, 20, Felicity is no Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Buffy would kick Felicity's [rear]," said Rice, a senior from Ashland, Ky., referring to the campy, cutting-edge WB horror-drama. "Buffy is just a much better written show." The real-life NYU students said the show's writers don't have a clue about life on the Greenwich Village campus. They picked it apart, finding flaws and inaccuracies just like a cop watching NYPD Blue or an emergency room doctor watching ER. Junior Ilana Urbach, 20, of Los Angeles, had to laugh when she saw Felicity's gigantic dorm room. "There's no drinking, or drug use," said Urbach. "But that will probably come in a special episode." Manalo also had to laugh at how earnestly helpful Felicity's college adviser is. Apparently, the adviser on TV is the exception to the rule. The show's premise has Felicity, played by actress Keri Russell, freaking out her parents by abandoning plans to attend Stanford University and enrolling at the University of New York - a thinly disguised NYU. Some things viewers learned about Felicity: She's a West Coast honors student, who walks around New York like a deer caught in the headlights. She falls in love with a guy named Ben, who signed her yearbook on the last day of high school although she only spoke to him once before. She decides to go to school in New York because that's where Ben is. She sends tape-recorded letters. Said Rice: "I would be one of the people in high school making fun of her." Flores, of Dallas, said the show was okay, but not worth the hype. "There should be a hip minority character," Flores said. "This is New York, and they're not taking advantage of the diversity of the city." Vox Pop Junior Ilana Urbach, 20, of Los Angeles: "She's not likeable. She's very weak and whiny. It is not a positive female character." Junior Fred Flores, 20, of Dallas: "I could see it becoming a guilty pleasure, like the Spice Girls." Senior Lewis Manalo, 20, of Frederick, Md: "The lead character is a wuss. They paint New York way too clean, and I wouldn't be friends with Felicity." Senior Joe Rice, 20, of Ashland, Ky: "It's lily white. I don't want to see this again."

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