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Ellen (TV series)

Ellen
EllenTVlogo.svg
Also known as 'These Friends of Mine'
Created by Neal Marlens
Carol Black
David S. Rosenthal
Starring Ellen DeGeneres
David Anthony Higgins
Clea Lewis
Joely Fisher
Jeremy Piven
Arye Gross
Holly Fulger
Maggie Wheeler
Theme music composer Johnny McElhone
Sharleen Spiteri
Opening theme "So Called Friend", performed by Texas
Composer(s) W.G. Snuffy Walden
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 109 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) The Black/Marlens Company
Touchstone Television
Distributor Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original network ABC
Original release March 29, 1994 – July 22, 1998

Ellen is an American television sitcom that aired on the ABC network from March 29, 1994, to July 22, 1998, consisting of 109 episodes. The title role is Ellen Morgan, played by stand-up comedian Ellen DeGeneres, a neurotic bookstore owner in her thirties. The title of the series was These Friends of Mine for the first season, but it was subsequently changed to avoid confusion with the NBC series Friends, which premiered in September 1994.

The series centered on Ellen's dealing with her quirky friends, her family and the problems of daily life. The series is notable for being one of the first with a main character to come out as gay, which DeGeneres' character did in the 1997 episode "The Puppy Episode", which aired shortly after DeGeneres publicly revealed that she was gay in real life. This event received a great deal of media exposure, ignited controversy, and prompted ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.

The series' theme song (used in Season 3 onwards), "So Called Friend", is by Scottish band Texas. A running gag during the third and fourth seasons was that each episode had a distinct/different opening credits sequence (often with singing and dancing), resulting from Ellen's ongoing search for the perfect opening credits.

In 1997, Ellen made television history when the title character came out as a lesbian in the famous "Puppy Episode" (DeGeneres herself came out concurrent with the episode 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's character "I'm gay!" – only to realize that she had turned right into the public address 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.


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Wikipedia

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