Trivia / Ellen

• Actor-Shared Background: Besides being lesbians, both Ellen DeGeneres and Ellen Morgan hail from Louisiana.
• Banned Episode: "The Puppy Episode" was preempted by WBMA in Birmingham, Alabama (known locally as "ABC 33/40"^note in reference to the channel assignments of its former repeater stations in the nearby cities of Tuscaloosa and Anniston, WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV, which were both separated from the low-powered WBMA in 2014, in order for Sinclair Broadcast Group to alleviate an ownership conflict with its CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates in that market. Despite this, WBMA's Tuscaloosa repeater being moved to a subchannel of WDBB, a repeater of its CW sister staton WTTO and WJSU now only running WBMA's programming on a subchannel under a channel-lease agreement with the former's parent, Howard Stirk Holdings, the brand is still used for consistency), because of concerns that the storyline centering on Ellen's coming out as a lesbian would upset conservatives in the evangelical community (who typically look down on homosexuality) in Central Alabama. Gay rights and civil libertarian activists criticized the preemption^note which came after ABC rebuffed WBMA's request to air it in a tape-delayed, late night slot as censoring the presence of LGB community. GLAAD and locally based gay rights organization Birmingham Pride Alabama asked ABC for permission to provide a satellite feed of the episode to a 1,000-person (predominantly gay, lesbian and LG ally) audience at a downtown Birmingham auditorium, while some area cable providers fed the episode through adjacent ABC affiliates like Atlanta's WSB-TV. Later subverted as WBMA allowed a rerun to air later that same season.
• Corpsing: Sometimes Ellen can't hold it in and starts laughing.
  • Ellen started laughing with Janeane Garofalo in "Two Mammograms and a Wedding".
  • In the slumber party in "Go Girlz".
  • In "When the Vow Breaks" (Part 1) when she's trying to get Paige's passed out mother on her feet.
  • In "The Parent Trap" when Ellen is doing the interpretive dance to her parents.
  • In "Secrets & Ellen", Ellen laughs twice when she dodges Joe's kiss (and then Audrey's).
• Creator Backlash:
  • Maggie Wheeler had a great time doing the show...until she was abruptly fired after seven episodes. Wheeler was understandably devastated, calling the incident “unthinkable,” but later credited her disappointment with aiding her Friends audition for Janice. Had she not had to “go through fire” first, she might not have been so fearless and gone all out with Janice’s signature nasal voice.
  • Arye Gross was initially very upset about his departure. Despite media reports which claimed he left the show of his own accord, Gross later revealed this was not so - shortly before production commenced on season three, he was notified that Adam was being written out several episodes in. This news came after he'd received assurance that the character was going to continue for the entire season. Gross eventually said he would've stuck around for the rest of the series had he been asked, and was so embittered by the experience that he refused to watch the show afterwards. Co-stars Joely Fisher and David Anthony Higgins have also expressed disappointment at how Gross was treated.
  • Ellen DeGeneres was understandably hurt by how ABC essentially abandoned her and the show after the coming out episode. After its cancellation, she tended to distance herself from the series and refused to participate in any special features produced for the DVD sets. She seems to have become more comfortable looking back on the show in recent years, however, and devoted an entire episode of her talk show in April, 2017, to reflect on the 20th anniversary of "The Puppy Episode."
  • Co-stars Joely Fisher and Jeremy Piven weren't happy that the final season largely dispensed with the supporting cast, with many episodes not featuring them at all. Piven likened the experience to being dropped off at the wrong summer camp, while Fisher found the silver lining by admitting they had more time to pursue their own projects.
  • Defied by Laura Dern, who endured years of backlash for "The Puppy Episode", but has said she'd do it all over again.
  • DeGeneres was not happy with the overall creative direction early first season episodes took, everything from the long opening sequence to most of the scripts. She was especially uncomfortable with the numerous sexual references, something she largely avoided in her stand-up routines. DeGeneres later summed up her feelings on those initial episodes: "It's like having a photo of you that you hate and the whole world is out there looking at it going, 'God, that's hideous.' And you think, 'I know it is; so why are you looking at it?'"
  • Jeremy Piven rarely acknowledges his time on the show, but what little he has said hasn’t been positive, especially in regards to the “coming out” story arc (dismissing it as “The Big Gay Show”). Notably, he was conspicuously absent when cast members from both Entourage and this series appeared on Ellen’s talk show.
  • Elinor Donahue, who appeared as Anita's mother in "The Tape," was very embarrassed by the ending, which had Anita's parents record a sex tape which winds up in their daughter's hands. Donahue enjoyed working with DeGeneres but felt her performance suffered due to being uncomfortable with the material. DeGeneres also had problems with the episode and ultimately had ABC pull it from the schedule (see Missing Episode).
• The Danza: Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan.
• Edited for Syndication: The opening titles for season 1 were changed from the original title These Friends of Mine to Ellen, and this was retained for the home video and streaming releases. This change appears to have been made when the two holdover episodes from season 1 were aired during season 3, and then were simply applied to all the rest of them when they went into syndication.
• Hostility on the Set: Kathy Griffin, who made a guest appearance during the third season, has written about how tense the atmosphere was at the table read. Griffin claimed that DeGeneres seemed to run the room with an iron fist and nobody would laugh unless she did, providing Griffin with evidence of how the star truly sets the tone for the show. Griffin’s comments came years before others made similar allegations about DeGeneres’ controlling workplace behavior.
• Missing Episode: Two episodes produced for the first season - "The Mugging" and "The Tape" - were not shown in 1994 along with the other 11. This was due to DeGeneres disliking them and personally requesting they not be aired. They were eventually broadcast in 1996 at the end of the third season, and have subsequently appeared on the DVD, iTunes and streaming releases.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Lesbian Ellen DeGeneres as lesbian Ellen Morgan, of course!
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Betty DeGeneres, Ellen's mother, appeared with her daughter in one of the third season opening titles, and turned up several times as a background extra, most notably in "The Puppy Episode" during the famous airport scene.
  • Vance DeGeneres, Ellen's brother, made two guest appearances and wrote several episodes.
  • Paige Clark's unseen mother was voiced by Connie Stevens, Joely Fisher's actual mother.
  • Carrie Fisher, Joely's half-sister, appeared in "The Movie Show." The following season, their father Eddie Fisher made a guest appearance in "The Parent Trap."
• Real Song Theme Tune: "So-Called Friend" by Texas, used in seasons 3-5.
• Star-Derailing Role: Laura Dern admitted that she faced a lot of backlash for her role in "The Puppy Episode", and didn't work for a full year afterwards. It took until the 2010s and appearing in films like The Master, The Fault in Our Stars and Wild (which got her an Oscar nomination) that she fully rebounded.
• Streisand Effect: ABC faced heavy pressure from right-wing organizations and advertisers not to air "The Puppy Episode," where Ellen came out as gay. The episode wound up being a massive phenomenon, giving the show its biggest ratings and winning multiple awards.
• Technology Marches On: Video tapes and answering machines instigate the plot of a few episodes.
• Troubled Production: Shooting the first season opening titles, with the four friends cavorting in the desert, was a "hellacious" experience, according to DeGeneres. Co-stars Arye Gross and Holly Fulger revealed that the Winnebago transporting them broke down and caught fire on the freeway. Not only was the shoot unpleasant, but Ellen also felt the concept was ridiculous: "Everyone hated that...I don't know where that came from, I have no idea."
• Written by Cast Member: Ellen DeGeneres received story credit for the famous coming out episode. It was her only writing credit whatsoever for the series.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Patrick Warburton played the masseur in "The Spa" and later returned as the cop Audrey dates.
  • Kathy Najimy played Adam's friend Theresa in "So Funny," and returned the following season as Paige's boss, Lorna Irons, in "Go Girlz." She was also visible amongst the crowd in the lesbian coffee house scene during "The Puppy Episode."
  • Vance DeGeneres first played Book Chat moderator Erik Matthew Marshall in "Ellen's Choice." The following season, he appeared as an auditioning guitar player in "Ellen Unplugged."
  • Anne Heche made an uncredited cameo in "All Ellen, All the Time" before guest-starring as Karen in "Hospital." However, there’s nothing to suggest she couldn’t be the same character in both episodes.

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