ATX Television Festival: Welcome Back to Everwood!
By Kerensa CadenasWhile ATX Television Festival didn’t provide a ferris wheel or snowcapped mountains, they did get together, after eight years, the cast of the beloved WB series Everwood. A mainstay of the network (now The CW), the show followed the widowed Dr. Andy Brown (Treat Williams) with his two children, the angsty Ephram (Gregory Smith) and the younger Delia (Vivien Cardone) as they moved to the small, quirky town in Utah. Running from 2002-2006, for four seasons, the show gained a feverish following as viewers discussed real life issues like abortion and health care as well as becoming deeply invested in the romance between Ephram and Amy (Emily VanCamp).
As the cast stepped out for the panel, their immediate closeness was apparent especially when Debra Mooney (Edna) and John Beasley (Irv) gushed about one another—Mooney refers to Beasley as her “second husband” and Beasley to Mooney as one of the “loves of his life.” And the love fest didn’t end there. Cast members Tom Amandes (Dr. Harold Abbott), Stephanie Niznik (Nina Feeney), Sara Drew (Hannah Rodgers) and Brenda Strong (Julia Brown) joined Smith and Cardone on the panel. Creator Greg Berlanti with producer Jordan Levin, writer/producers Rina Mimoun and David Hudgins alongside composer Blake Neely were also in attendance.
While sadly, Emily VanCamp (Amy), Chris Pratt (Bright), Scott Wolf (Dr. Jake Hartman) and Williams couldn’t make the panel they all sent their greetings to the audience and cast. For VanCamp, in her video, Everwood became her family and where she grew as an actress, saying: “I knew that this show was special when the show was cancelled and a big group of fans got together to rent a Ferris wheel — it was just a reminder of our amazing fans that kept us going for four years.” Wolf and Williams expressed similar sentiments in their video messages, although a surprising reason kept Williams from attending. He had to take his daughter to a One Direction concert!
It was a surprise for fans when Pratt FaceTimed in. However, the poor reception left most of Pratt’s video message as garbled swear words amongst his praise for the show. His absence did leave his fellow cast members ready to tell stories about his questionable living quarters and penchant for hunting while they lived in Utah.
The attending cast marveled over filming the show and their time together in Utah—many of the cast members even bought homes in the area. Smith mentioned that while filming, much of the show echoed what he had been dealing with as a teen, including jokingly “premature ejaculation.” After a bottle of tequila was introduced and shots poured after Cardone’s age was verified, an embarrassing story unfolded that Cardone (who was nine at the time) was told a prop vibrator was actually a “foot massager” which she later used as a microphone.
During the press conference, more fond stories were told—Sarah Drew and Emily VanCamp danced backstage together, Williams flew cast members on his plane (even after Berlanti’s disapproval), the Abbott “family” went Christmas caroling, Mooney had the ladies over game nights and Cardone started a swear jar (Williams put the most cash in).
During the panel, Berlanti, mentioned that Everwood almost never came to be. At the time, procedurals were what was popular. In the initial meeting, Berlanti was told about the Everwood pitch wouldn’t sell. “That will never sell — people do not want to watch a character-based show anymore, they’re really into procedurals.” His subsequent procedural pitch went nowhere but luckily for us, Everwood did and won our hearts.
Photo courtesy of ATX Television Festival