Let’s face it: although we are now in 2023, and recent years have produced real serial masterpieces, the TV series of the nineties still have a certain fascination, especially for the generation that grew up with them and dreamed. The troubled love story between Dylan and Brenda in Beverly Hills 90210the existential delusions of Dawson Leery, the familiar friendship of the protagonists of Friends they never go out of fashion and indeed, over the years they take on one increasingly nostalgic connotation which leads us to see them and talk about them with even more pleasure. We have seen and reviewed these series so many times that we now know the plot by heart, but there are backgrounds, anecdotes, behind-the-scenes curiosities which maybe someone missed.
And so, more than twenty years later, the right time seems to me to recover them.
1 – Katie Holmes’ first kiss
Let’s start this list by talking about one of the most popular 90s TV series ever: Dawson’s Creek. The Capeside Boys kept us company for six seasons, from 1998 to 2003, and we accompanied them in transition from adolescence to adulthood, living with them all the dramas and experiences of the case. The first kiss, the first time, the detachment from one’s origins are just some of the crucial events that we have faced with Dawson, Pacey, Joey, Jen and the others, but many still don’t know that for some of these the stories of the characters they weren’t all that different from those of the interpreters. This is the case of Katie Holmes – whose face is now inextricably associated with that of Joey Potter – who shares with her historical character none other than the first kiss. During the first season of Dawson’s CreekIn fact, Joey knows a boy to whom he tells a lot of lies to seem more interesting and impress. Mission accomplished, because it is to him that she gives her first kiss, and so does the eighteen-year-old Katie Holmes, who said she remembers that moment as extremely embarrassing.
2 – How old is Gabrielle Carteris?
Let’s go back to 1990, the year in which he made his debut Beverly Hills 90210. What today is a product that pays the price of its years as regards the treatment of some themes included in the narration, was at the time a pioneer of a different way of doing teenage seriality, putting on the plate issues that were difficult to deal with at the time. One of these, the question of motherhood at a young age treated through the character of Andrea Zuckerman. Played by Gabrielle Carteris, Andrea’s storyline takes this turn to justify the pregnancy of the actress, thirty-three at the time. Between Gabrielle and her character there are several years of difference: at the beginning of Beverly Hills 90210 the protagonists are high school students but she he was already twenty-nine. However, the actress had no intention of allowing this age gap to take away her role, and to resolve the matter he just lied. In fact, Gabrielle Carteris declared, also on the contract with which she was engaged, that she was several years younger than her actual age, however consulting a lawyer before her for fear of being prosecuted. The truth only came to light later, when by then she Andrea had already entered the hearts of all the teenagers of the nineties.
3 – Where is Ursula Buffay from?
The die-hard fans will surely remember it, for the less loyal ones, however, perhaps it will be a surprise: there is a crossover between Friends and another tv series, Crazy in love. In particular, this concerns Ursula Buffay, twin sister of the more famous Phoebe. The character of Ursula, who in order not to miss anything at a certain point also has a brief relationship with Joeywas born well before the beginning of Friends as a waitress at Riff’s restaurant and a supporting character in Crazy in love. The performance of Lisa Kudrov in the series especially struck the authors of Friendswhich for this very reason were more attracted to give her the part of Phoebe. But her love for Ursula did even more: he managed to get her out of her narrative universe to forcefully enter that of her cult with Jennifer Aniston. In the sixteenth episode of the first season of Friendstwo characters from Crazy in love enter Central Perk and confuse Phoebe for Ursula, starting a crossover that, paradoxically, will allow the character to be much more developed than it was in its original series.
4 – A different face for Phoebe Halliwell
Ma Friends it’s not the only series to have its own Phoebe. We know well the power of Three and I think that no fan of the nineties TV series can think of the protagonists of Witches without having in mind the faces of their interpreters: Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and later Rose McGowan. Yet, however absurd it may seem today, the role of Phoebe Halliwell it hasn’t always been Alyssa Milano’s. In the first version of the pilot episode of WitchesLori Rom played the younger sister of the Trio: however, the actress left the production immediately after shooting the episode and even before it was aired, apparently for reasons relating to the fact that her religious beliefs did not marry too much with the contents of the series. Soon after Lory Rom’s departure, Alyssa Milano was cast in the series and all the scenes in which Phoebe’s character appeared were reshot, giving life to the episode The Book of Shadows as we know it. Well, in hindsight it couldn’t have gone better so.
5 – Francesca Cacace is not Italian (and her name is not even Francesca)
Who among you has never seen an episode of At Dad’s? The series that made Fran Drescher famous around the world was a real cult and we Italians also felt quite a bit proud of the fact that her protagonist – Francesca Cacace – had its roots right in our country. What perhaps not everyone knows, however, is that it’s all a bluff: no Italian name, no Ciociaria, no aunt Assunta and uncle Antonio, nothing at all. In the original version de At Dad’sindeed, Francesca’s name is Fran Fine, is Jewish, what we know as her uncles are her parents and wonderful Aunt Yetta is actually her grandmother. The decision to make these changes in the Italian translation of the series derives from the need to create situations and gags understandable even in our context national, thus using stereotypes that we too could have known. In addition to names, entire dialogues they have been changed to make the protagonist Italian and allow us to fully understand her origins. And the job was done quite well, even if finding out was – at least as far as I’m concerned – a real trauma.
6 – Alyson Hannigan doesn’t like to sing
Here we enter a trend that made us dream and cringe at the same time between the 1990s and 2000s: the musical episodes of TV series. One of the most beautiful is to Buffi the Vampire Slayer: in episode 6×07 a demon leads the inhabitants of Sunnydale to singing and dancing until you get to burn. Songs that came out of this episode were more than catchy, one of all my favorite I’m under your spell, sung by the very in love and very sweet Tara and Willow. But it seems that Alyson Hannigan, Willow’s own interpreter, didn’t like filming the episode. From stories from the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in fact, it seems that the actress has asked the production to sing as little as possible, and her verses can in fact be counted on the fingers of one hand. A similar request was also made by Michelle Trachtenberg, interpreter of Dawn, who preferred to dance. As for the protagonist Sarah Michelle Gellar, she too hated filming this episode and had even expressed the idea of dub the sung parts. Idea set aside because it is singing that Buffy makes one of the main revelations of the season, and her interpreter did not want such an important moment to be interpreted by someone else’s voice.
7 – The relationship between Xena and Gabrielle
Must of (not only) my mornings of influence at the time of elementary school, Xena – Warrior Princess is a series that has remained in the hearts of all those who were children or teenagers between the end of the nineties and the beginning of the 2000s. It was not only the protagonist who made inroads in the spectators but also his shoulder Olympias, Gabrielle in the original version. Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship evolves over the seasons: at first they are simply pupil and teacher, but over time Olympia grows up and so does the feeling that binds her to the warrior princess. They become inseparable friends and on more than one occasion, especially towards the end of the series, it seems that between the two there is something more than a friendly affection or familiar. And it seems that this ambiguity was also well considered by the authors, aware of the turn he could have taken. From the statements made over the years by the authors themselves and by the protagonists of the series, the possibility was taken into consideration during the creation process that between Xena and Olimpia a love story real. However, this was not made a reality – or at least not explicitly – due to the bad eye placed on the thing by the studios, and the desire to keep the dynamics at play between Xena and Mars. But we, that between the warrior princess and Gabrielle was true love, we have always known.
8 – Lots of titles for Friends
Did you think that with Friends did it end here? But no, a series like this can only be given a particular importance in this article. And so let’s go back to its origins with a curiosity relating to the creative phase: the title that the series has assumed and with which it has made itself famous all over the world is not the one originally conceived. Several titles have been evaluated before to choose what turned out to be perfect: from the excessively complex Once upon a time in the West Village moderate at best Insomnia Coffee (which we would never trade for the Central Perk), passing through Six of One e Across the Hall. The one that comes closest to the final version is Friends like uswhich it was though simplified further. In the end, simplicity prevailed, and the title of this cult could not have better represented the story we are so passionate about. Friends, just friendsand it doesn’t get any better.
9 – Pacey Witter deve ringraziare Joshua Jackson
We end this list exactly as we started it. The ending of Dawson’s Creek it is a poignant episode and also puts an end to the doubt that the series has been carrying on for most of its seasons: Joey will choose Dawson or Pacey? We all know the answer, Team Pacey won. Still, we came very close to seeing Dawson triumph. Specifically, as recently told in an interview by Joshua Jackson, it seems that the creator of the series Kevin Williamson had from the beginning the idea of concluding the series with the relationship stabilization between Joey and his best friend. It would have been a conversation with Pacey’s interpreter to make him reassess the situation, making him understand that the development experienced by the characters over the seasons went the other way compared to the original idea. Joshua Jackson said he worked hard to bring Williamson to him, and he was very happy to have succeeded. And thank goodness, I might add.
