buffyannAlex

'Tos

You know, I'm really mixed with the narrations. In some way, I think we idealize them in some ways. Some of them are so terrible and such a stretch to connect to the episodes and are really cheesy. Yet, some of them are incredible, and often, when they weren't there, the episode didn't have that extra punch.

Saying that, season four, even without the narration, I still felt was one of the best, and instead of a narration you would often have a fade out at the Brown house with Ephram and Andy talking and bonding, and I don't know how many narrations could top those moments for me. So, while in some eps I missed them, in others, like all those episodes ending with Ephram/Andy, maybe it was for the best? Sometimes it felt right for the characters to end the episode, instead of the narration.

Most of the ones in season one, they really add to the magic feel of the show. And I think as some of that magic went away, and instead the show got into some darker places with Amy's depression, and Ephram's baby drama drama, maybe it wasn't always needed? I think it was definitely needed in the first season, and I still enjoyed it beyond that, but I don't really hate that it went away, because while I missed it in the third season, I didn't much at all in the fourth. I'm a big fan of the concept, but I wouldn't have wanted the narrations to be kept if a lot of care wasn't going to be given to them, and if they were going to be rushed, or if the writers felt they "had" to put them in, and I think that would have occurred once Vanessa Taylor left, who, at least in the commentaries, is credited as the best narration writer.

And I actually like that the series didn't end with one, but I wouldn't have minded one in the beginning of the ep.

One of my favourites was the one in "Home", summing up the season, it was incredible. The pilot one was fantastic too.

Oy, this was very general. I'm definitely going to be back to talk about some of the specific narrations (the ones I disliked and liked).

Great post idea!

Amont

Hey, saving the thread from the edge of page one
Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I loved the idea of this topic from the very beginning but until now never found time to reply. I am very much enthralled by the narrations of Everwood and feel like they're still a huge part of the show There were many favourites.. like the one in Last Looks and the one about being young and in love.. They were all just so good! I used to check every now and then on the everwoodmusic.com website to read them and find something of depth, but now discovered that the whole site is down Does anyone know whether there is a similar collection of the narration quotes up anywhere?

buffyannAlex

Everwoodmusic is down ? There's always the everwood transcripts that contains the quotes but otherwise, some at tv.com is all I can think of.

I would love to get back for some quotes here, I have some of them. This is a very busy time for me at the moment but I promise to come back for some more comments and quotes and I want to reply to you guys too

ETA: Actually, I have most transcripts on my computer so here's the one from Last Looks 2x18:

'Tos

Sucks about everwoodmusic. I went on the Web Archive, and here's all the narrations that Everwood Music had: http://web.archive.org/web/200606190...hp?ep=narrator

I don't know if that's allowed, but it looks like the only way to get them. They're all there at least. Maybe we could copy and paste them into our Quote thread just to have them there for fans, with credit given to everwoodmusic for doing them or something?

Amont

Saved them all to a .doc file - thanks for coming up with this link Now I can start searching there. Perhaps we can do something like, every day one of us writes a 'narration review' for everyone else to read, and we'd go just like the episodes. And we don't have to really discuss this, it can just be like.. someone takes episode 1 beginning and writes what they think it means, next person will take the ending quote and give his/her insight - what do you think? This way, we can also add the missing narrations to the 'list' (a little bit of transcription needed probably)

'Tos

I'm game. Neat idea. I think you should start, whenever you have time of course, just to give us all an example, but I think it sounds great.

buffyannAlex

That's actually a great idea I want to participate. I'm extremmely busy right now, sorry about that, but I'll do my best to post as well.

Amont

I wasn't there the day Dr. Andrew Brown's life changed forever. But like most folks in Everwood, I've heard the story enough times to be able to tell it. It begins where many stories begin, in the city of New York, where Dr. Brown lived comfortably with his wife and two children...Night fell and a nasty storm rolled in...In his usual fashion, Dr. Brown worked late again. So late he was still at the hospital when he received the news...There had been, it seemed, an accident. Sadly, Andy's wife never made it from home to their son's recital that night. Instead, a life was taken tragically on the icy highway inbetween...Oh, sure the Browns did the best they could to get by after that. Pretending as though nothing had changed, knowing that everything had...As expected, Dr. Brown wasted no time going back to work. What wasn't expected was what happened once he got there...And those were Andy Brown's final words as a big-city doctor...As it turns out, Andy's leaving caused quite a stir in the medical community. Time magazine even wrote an article about it, calling Andrew Brown's departure from neurosurgery, "one of the great losses of modern medicine." Like a lot of people, you might think they were exaggerating but then, you probably don't know Dr. Brown.
Everwood, Colorado. Population, just over nine thousand and growing. Founded in 1853, this jewel of the centennial state is home to one of the country's first opera houses, oldest gold mines, third largest chili cook-off, and even the occasional world famous brain surgeon.´

I personally think this is an extraordinary introduction to a show like this. And I've always thought Irv's voice was the best one for the narrations, so they really made a good choice with him. I like that this particular narration is simple, yet effective as it accompanies the music and scenes that we see. And its feel, even though it describes quite tragic events, is similar to that of the fairytales we heard from our parents while we were still young. Of course, it doesn't start with 'Once upon a time..', but while watching this intro and fancying that I wouldn't be able to see any pictures, I could very easily 'see' Irv reading this to a group of young children listening avidly. So all in all a well-written intro which conjures up a lot of beautiful pictures and really left me wanting for more

buffyannAlex

I agree. I loved how it set the spirit of the show right away.
if you read that out of context, you might think it's a bit cheesy. Cause the words aren't that special. but it's the combo of Irv's being a great and the images of Everwood and the acting being it. I guess.

It's true like Tos said a few post back, that we somehow idealized some of the narration. Some were contrived and not so good. They didn't apply to every episode so well. But in the case of the pilot, and a few very emotionnal episode, it was just a part of what made everwood so "special" to us, the spirit of the show, it's simplicity and poetic vibe.

Amont

Yeah, anyone is free to take the ending narration of episode 1 now and analyze that

'Tos

Awesome thoughts, Amont. I'll definitely try one out tomorrow when I have a bit more time, either the ending of the first ep or the beginning of the second if someone beats me to the first.

'Tos

Okay, so tomorrow turned into a couple weeks. That's a bad habit of mine. I totally haven't forgotten to do this, and (seriously this time) tomorrow! I really like this idea, I just gots to find the time to do it.

buffyannAlex

Tos, we're so disappointed in you !!!! Just kidding.
Take your time. we're not going anywhere

'Tos

And there they sat, father and son. Like they were sitting together for the first time. No, I wasn't there the day Dr. Brown's life changed forever. But I was around for many days thereafter. When he and his family would call Everwood, their home.


I really love this conclusion to the pilot. Not only does it set up the events of what's to come in the series between Andy and Ephram, one of the major cores of the show, but it also sets the tone for the narrations to come. Simple, as Amont has already mentioned. But it also concludes the episode and gives it sort of an ending feelings, but it also gives us something more to look forward to. I guess another way of saying it is that the narration here closes the chapter to this episode, while beginning to open the other chapter.

Another element I really like is that Irv says when he and his family would call Everwood, their home". This, to me, foreshadows Ephram literally calling Everwood his home in the finale. Delia and Andy accept it very early on, but not Ephram. That it takes him a year to accept it, he still calls it his home right as Irv tells us here in the very first episode.