jediwands

Decades later, I still haven't found anything that comes close to the brilliance that is Everwood. Everwood had all the key components. Some shows have a couple key components but not all of them. Everwood truly did have it all... writing, directing, producing, acting, cast chemistry, music (even the music told a story). In addition, the show tackled issues no other show touched. When I think about all the topics this precious series tackled flawlessly back in a time period that it simply never happened as a rule, I continue to be amazed.

This show had it all. I feel sorry for people who haven't tuned in (or watched an episode and for whatever reason, stopped watching) and never discovered Everwood. They are truly missing out.

Have you guys watched anything close to Everwood's brilliance? What do you think? I am just so proud of this show and how special it is. I know it's "just a show" technically, but as Everwood fans know, there's a spiritual component that is indescribable as well as the strong desire to put it in a special league of its own.

Jerry D

I completely agree with you Michelle.

I can honestly say that Everwood never disappointed me, and I was so happy that the quality standards of this show were so high, and stayed so high, throughout all four seasons. I found the stories to be engaging and captivating, and I was very happy that the show gave equal air time to all of the characters, and that real issues were dealt with and addressed over the years. So many television shows only focus on “fluff” storylines, but Everwood never did that, and the acting and the writing were consistently top notch.

I feel like I really got to know all of these characters, and I enjoyed watching them grow and change over the years, and I enjoyed seeing so many relationships on this show grow and evolve, but most of all I truly grew to love each character, and it was important to me to see how they would all turn out, and I’m very grateful that we got such a wonderful Series Finale that accomplished just that.

I’ve never had a show affect me on an emotional level like Everwood did, and I don’t feel that I’ll ever see a show as wonderful and well crafted as Everwood was ever again, but I’m so happy that I got to experience the perfection that was the hallmark of this show, and I’m so happy that we still have this forum to discuss this absolute gem of a show.

jediwands

What other show have you watched would you say is second in line to Everwood? Not as good but pretty good overall?

I remember first watching Everwood and feeling like I wasn’t just watching the series behind a small screen. No, I literally felt like I was INSIDE the town of Everwood following the characters around watching their interaction. Berlanti literally TAKES you to the town of Everwood. It feels so real! The only other time I’ve felt this way before is while reading Rowling’s Harry Potter Series.

So basically, I attend Hogwart’s and my hometown is Everwood, Colorado.

Jerry D

Thanks!

I would say The Wonder Years. It wasn't as good a show as Everwood, but it was a great coming of age show seen through the eyes of a character I could relate to a lot, Kevin Arnold, played by Fred Savage.

I know. I never connected with a show like I connected with Everwood.

LOL!

jediwands

Oh, good answer! I loved the show. I still wish Kevin and Winnie would have ended up together ( ) but the show was outstanding.



I can’t even think of a second show other than The Wonder Years. I like a lot of other shows (Lost, Friends, The Golden Girls, The Andy Griffith Show). I’m thinking The Wonder Years and The Andy Griffith Show. The Andy Griffith show makes me both cry and laugh at the same time and I love how pro-women the show was. For that time in history, Andy certainly made sure you understood his political thoughts. PS: He was a diehard Registered Democrat. LOL.



Did Teresa watch Everwood?

My mom loved Everwood so much. We watched it together.

How do you think your parents would have liked Everwood?

Jerry D

It really was a great show.

It really was. I wish that it had one more season because the ending felt rushed, but it really was a wonderful show. I had mixed feelings about Kevin and Winnie as there were times when they really didn't treat each other right, but they were everything that Dawson and Joey should have been. What I really liked about the show was the way that the adult Kevin would look back on everything the adolescent Kevin was going through and he gave some really good insights into what he was experiencing at the time.

The Andy Griffith show was a really good show and it was revolutionary for its time. I always liked Andy Griffith. It was so funny when he guest starred on Dawson's Creek as the friend of Mr. Brooks who stole Mr. Brooks' girl away from him. I never expected that! I also liked him on Matlock.

Yes we used to watch it together back when the show was airing. She really liked it.

That's wonderful.

I think that they would have liked it, and my father really liked Treat Williams, so that would have gotten him interested like it did me.

jediwands

I think because I was so young when The Wonders Years aired, I viewed it from a slightly more immature perspective. I was pretty devastated when Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together. I remember reading that the showrunner deliberately went there because he thought it was realistic. I remember some of the reviewers thought he was a full of it, lol, and wanted Kevin and Winnie together in the end.

That said, now that I think about the episodes in the present, I can totally see what you mean about their story maybe even pointing towards it being way better that they didn't end up together. I also thought Paul was a great character.

That's wonderful.

I am just so thankful that Berlanti constructed Everwood in a way that there was no doubt he was giving a happy ending in the series finale. I think he knew this in Season 1. He wouldn't have written those "fairytale" type of moments via Irv as Narrator otherwise.

jediwands

Just finished Vegetative State for our rewatch.

Two things I want to bring over:

1. Everwood wasn't fully recognized for its humor (probably since the drama was so mesmerizing), which is ridiculous since it created pure comedy. And more times than not, better than actual comedies. The mixture of drama and comedy is something I’ve never seen on any other TV show. Anyone who has watched Everwood understands what I mean. You don’t see this on any other show.

2. Seriously... does anyone do it better than Greg and Emily together? Anyone? Not even close. Greg and Emily are AS ONE together on the screen and it’s something I’ve never seen anywhere else. It’s these two... that’s it. That’s the answer. GREG & EMILY.

A Gem... Everwood is a GEM.

everwoodfan52

Michelle...what a great idea for a thread!! Absolutely right...there is no gem that comes close to Everwood, but we keep looking! For me it's obvious....this was my show. This is the only show that I truly mourn. This is the only show that I can watch over and over and quote scenes and think of scenes and feel the scenes long after the show ended. This is the only show that brought me (in my old age) to a fan forum...something that had be foreign to me! What would account for such long term success for the Everwood board if not for the fact that this show is a true gem that we can't let go?

I have to add that Everwood is not for Everyone...not for the shallow or superficial. It's not for a "teeny bopper" mentality. Hence...we who appreciated the value of this Show...were deprived of a longer span of episodes which is a real tragedy. Costume jewelry was picked over a true gem.

everwoodfan52

Friday Night Lights & Parenthood.

I loved these shows and would say that they were similar in their depiction of family relationships/Love/conflict/and resolution. They came pretty close to Everwood in my heart...but not all the way.

jediwands

SUCH a brilliant point. You are absolutely right here. I never realized this until you recently pointed it out. Helps my brain comprehend how someone wouldn’t be capable of enjoying the series.

jediwands

Oh right, FNL! Totally forgot about FNL. You are right, it is close to the category of Everwood.

Parenthood, I never watched but heard it’s really good.

jediwands

I can’t explain how energized I feel after watching an Everwood episode. It’s like the same feeling I get when one of my favorite sports teams wins a big game. That sort of feeling.

Only Everwood.

Abomasum

Ooo, I love this topic!

I agree with you, Michelle! Everwood definitely managed to get every variable just right - acting, writing, soundtrack, any- and everything else. It was all spot-on. It's incredible how such a large group of people came together, many of whom were only starting out in their careers, and every single one of them turned out to be outstanding. I'm sure it's no coincidence as Berlanti had a big hand in selecting them, and he would have been meticulous, but it's still an incredible accomplishment to gather a group of people like that. And the outcome was just about flawless, certainly to a point where it would take an equally outstanding group of people to match it. Which seems infinitely unlikely, yet not impossible.

But I think even then it would take another ingredient: Sometimes, when I hear the writers, actors, everybody involved talk about it, I think that Everwood turned out the way it did most of all because the people who made it loved it so much more than any other show has ever been loved by its makers. You can just hear it in the words they use, in the tone of their voices, that they poured their hearts into this show. Every single one of them. And you can't just see that on an intellectual level when you watch the show, you can feel it. As with so many things that were made with love, it has a quality to it that transcends explanation. It's a kind of magic that makes it feel like it's had life breathed into it, like it has a pulse and a soul... like it is an autonomous entity. That's what Everwood feels like to me, and I cannot explain how that works, exactly, but it takes my breath away.

You would be absolutely right to say it's not just a show.


Everwood absolutely had the best sense of humor! And it used it with such subtlety that it didn't, not even in a single instance, feel forced or out of place - which is an art form in its own right. It simply aimed to capture the natural humor in life; the quirks that make a person unique, the hilarious misunderstandings between clashing personalities, the ridiculous flaws that seem universal across all of mankind... Everwood picked them up and randomly put them on display without trying too hard to direct our attention towards it, which is what makes it all the better. Even on my tenth and twentieth rewatch, I'd still find myself stumbling over an Easter egg I hadn't noticed before. And that's the way to do it, in my opinion, because that's the way life works. There's no signposting in real life, you either see the humor in things, or you don't.

It also, strangely enough, seems to me that this is an example of the incredibly respectful way the makers of this show interacted with their audience... they didn't try to explain themselves, nor did they try to be cryptic, we were simply deemed equals, capable of figuring the show out on our own.


You're so right about this, Betty! And, conversely, I can say that there is a list of characteristics that all Everwood fans I have ever met have had in common, without exception. High intelligence and an appreciation for art would easily top that list. Everwood wasn't average, and thus it isn't surprising that the average person would fail to recognize that. Devastating as it is.


I have never seen a show that matched Everwood, not even close. But I do have to admit that I have not seen a single one of the shows you all mentioned. I tried finding something worthwhile after Everwood, but the show pretty much spoiled me for television. There's a me before and after Everwood. The me before picked up a couple of shows that I still enjoy simply because I was willing to give them a chance back in the day. The me after couldn't help but compare anything to Everwood and decide it's not good enough. I don't think I've managed to follow many shows beyond the first couple of episodes since... unless they were more entertainment to me than anything (e.g. pure comedy, mystery, crime), which means they cannot compare to Everwood by default.

I want to say that, recently, I stumbled across something that has caught me off guard, though. It definitely has its flaws and could never match Everwood, but it might be the closest thing yet. It's a very new show, so it would be too early for me to pass any form of definitive judgment, but tentatively, I must say that I'm impressed by it and captivated in a way that I think I may not have been at all since Everwood. And I don't know what it is - it may just be the novelty of it, or that I have been less critical out of sheer lockdown boredom. Or it may be that, in a crooked way, it's reminding me a whole lot of Everwood. It may not even be as good as I think it is at this point, but somehow it spoke to me and I've found myself eagerly awaiting the next episode every single week for the past two months, which never happens to me. Not since Everwood.

And I really cannot believe I'm saying this about a Syfy show centered around a rude alien stranded on Earth, but I guess I am. It's called "Resident Alien" and I only started watching it because Alan Tudyk's in it, who I think might just be the funniest man on the planet, so I thought it'd be good for a laugh. I mean, it was... the first episode has been hilarious, but since then it's just developed this insightfulness and depth that's stunned me at times. It's making incredibly valid observations about what it means to be human, and what a beautiful species we are with all our quirks and flaws, and it's really helped remind me that there is so much good in people. It's kind of beautiful, but in a really odd way. It reminds me of Everwood in that it's set in a small town in Colorado and unabashedly celebrates the humor in small town dynamics... and the alien's name is Harry and he's the town doctor. (Of course he is.) It's a science fiction show only to the extent that it has to be, given its premise of a stranded alien, other than that it follows the somewhat sad stories of a bunch of unusual characters as they figure out a way to cope with their lives, which has really spoken to me. And all the main characters are in their thirties or older (aside from the alien's 9-year-old nemesis), and the story doesn't really focus on romance at all, instead highlighting the value of friendship and family, which I find incredibly refreshing.

So, yeah... clearly, I'm more than a little unsure and confused about this. I'm not sure if I'm simply losing my mind or if there's really something there. So, if any of you ever end up having a peek at this show... I'd really appreciate a heads up.

jediwands

I had a feeling you would!



100%. The realness is so strong you are captivated. This show was so grounded, you could’ve help but relate to what was going on. Berlanti went out of his way to make his show relatable by respecting the audience at all times.

Oh, so true. Everyone involved with Everwood never talked down to the audience, never once treated us like we were stupid or incapable of comprehending depth and layers. It was a mutual respect. The writing allowed us to understand everything presented to us and not in a way where our time was wasted on things being spelled out either. It was such a perfect formula.

Interesting! I had never heard of this show before until right now. I’m going to research it! I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never seen the actor in much either (even if I know he’s extremely talented!) but I don’t get out much. I have a lot of research to do now.