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Ellen

Comedy Series

About This Show

Ellen (originally titled These Friends of Mine for season one) is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.

The theme song, "So-Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas. An ongoing gag was that each episode had a distinct opening credits sequence, resulting from Ellen's ongoing search for the perfect opening credits.

The title role of Ellen Morgan, played by stand-up comedian Ellen DeGeneres, was a neurotic bookstore owner in her thirties. The series centered around Ellen dealing with her quirky friends, her family and the problems of daily life.

The show was not connected to The Ellen Show, DeGeneres' second sitcom which ran from 2001-2002.

In 1997, Ellen made television history when the title character came out as a lesbian in the famous "Puppy Episode." (DeGeneres herself had come out earlier that year on The Oprah Winfrey Show and in TIME.) To ensure a memorable moment, the coming out scene was made into a gag where, at an airport, Ellen turns and tells Laura Dern "I'm gay!" - only to realize that she had turned right into the intercom microphone, announcing her sexuality to the entire terminal. Ellen DeGeneres' mother Betty can briefly be seen as one of the people in the terminal with a shocked reaction to the announcement. The revelation ignited a storm of controversy, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.

Starring

Ellen DeGeneres

Joely Fisher

Jeremy Piven

David Anthony Higgins

Clea Lewis

Arye Gross

Holly Fulger

Maggie Wheeler

Opening theme So Called Friend

Country of origin United States

No. of seasons 5

No. of episodes 109

Production

Camera setup Multi-camera

Running time Approximately 22 minutes

Broadcast

Original channel ABC

Original run March 29, 1994 – July 22, 1998

More from Wikipedia....

People Who Talked About This Show

  • Army Archerd
  • Dean Valentine
  • Mary Tyler Moore
  • Michael Eisner
  • Tim Conway
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People Talking About This Show

  • Army Archerd
    • Army Archerd on appearing as a guest star on Ellen (00m 26s)
  • Tim Conway
    • Tim Conway on his guest appearances on Ellen (00m 31s)
  • Michael Eisner
    • Michael Eisner on how Ellen DeGeneres approached him about coming out on television; and how he pushed her to define what more the  Ellen  series would be about
  • Mary Tyler Moore
    • Mary Tyler Moore on guest starring as herself on the Ellen episode about animal activism,  "Lobster Diary" (airdate: February 20, 1996) (01m 16s)
  • Dean Valentine
    • Executive Dean Valentine on the development of Ellen and the series' later major milestone of the actress and character coming out as a lesbian
      (16m 38s)
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