Hypable’s Fandom Flashbacks returns as we look back to the days of Everwood!

Fandom Flashbacks are a weekly Hypable feature that takes a look back at old shows (classic, vintage, and freshly dead) and takes our readers onto memory lane as we express our favorite moments, characters, and plots.

A NEW DOC IN TOWN: Everwood is the story of Dr. Andy Brown and his two kids, Ephram and Delia. Andy uproots his family and leaves his job as a neurosurgeon in Manhattan behind for Everwood, Colorado. His wife recently passed away and in an attempt to reestablish a relationship with his kids, particularly Ephram, he makes the drastic decision and changes all of their lives for good.

“YOU’RE TALKING FASTER THAN MY BRAIN PROCESSES LANGUAGE.”

EVERWOOD ‘s RESIDENTS: When the Brown family arrives in Everwood, CO, Andy quickly learns that setting up a practice in a small town that already has an established doctor will be no small feat. He meets the other doctor, Dr. Harold Abbott, and the two are immediately at odds. Throughout the series, the push and pull of Andy’s upbeat demeanor and Dr. Abbott’s cranky attitude make them a good pair, but not without their struggles.

Everwood is a show all about family dynamics, growing up, and learning to slug through the difficult situations that life throws your way. The situations in this show may be a bit more intense than your typical, run of the mill problems, but that’s just TV drama in a nutshell.

The people of Everwood are what made the show the heartbreaking success that we know and love. The Abbotts and the Browns are just the tip of the iceberg. When you consider all of the amazing characters that populate the world that revolves around Ephram, Amy, Dr. Brown, and Bright, it’s hard to imagine the show without them.

	DR. ANDREW BROWN The Brown family patriarch, Andy, is father to Ephram and Delia. His consistent, upbeat demeanor makes him easy to love, even when he is doing his best to topple his world down on top of himself.		DR. HAROLD ABBOTT Dr. Harold Abbott is the snarky, sardonic captain of the U.S.S. Everwood. That is, he brings heart and soul to each and every scene he appears in, and everyone seems to come to him when they need advice.
	EPHRAM BROWN Ephram is the emotionally unstable son of Andrew that falls for Amy Abbott after being dragged across the country by his father. Ephram struggles to do the right thing throughout Everwood‘s 4 seasons despite usually choosing wrong.		AMY ABBOTT Amy Abbott functions as the lynchpin that holds this show together. She begins as a vulnerable teen whose boyfriend is in a coma, and by the end of the show’s four season run doles out advice and wise words like the father she spent time rebelling against.
	DELIA BROWN Ephram’s younger sister plays an important role in the Brown family. She balances out Ephram’s highs and lows by keeping her father anchored in reality.		BRIGHT ABBOTT The name Bright could not more aptly describe this character’s role in Everwood, both the show and town. He may not do everything right, but he always does his very best to leave the world a little brighter than he found it.
	HANNAH ROGERS Hannah Rogers is perhaps the only character that could handle the beautiful disaster that is Bright Abbott. Her function on the show is more than just Bright’s love interest, but her incredible ability to balance Bright’s optimistic lunkhead attitude is her crowning achievement.		NINA FEENEY Nina Feeney brings a wonderful energy to the Brown family storyline, especially since she was always a force in their lives, even after she found love outside their walls.

THE JOCK WITH A HEART OF GOLD-PLATED NON-PRECIOUS METAL: There are a lot of characters on Everwood that are nothing but stellar, especially with the complexities and care with which they were written so adeptly, but we have a special place in our hearts for Bright Abbott. In one of his first roles, Chris Pratt brought the charming jock to life in a way that oozed with sincerity. No matter what trouble Bright was getting himself into, you couldn’t help but find yourself pulling for him.

Whether he was breaking your heart in the first season regarding all the craziness of the situation with Colin and the part that he played in all of that, or cracking you up as he tries to lighten the dreary mood of whichever character has had a particularly horrible day, Bright Abbott is one of the best parts of Everwood.

When you stop to consider the impact that Bright had on the lives of each and every main character on the show, it’s hard to deny that he changed the course of all of their lives. He doled out relationship advice and distracted people from whatever horrifying thing had just happened to them, and he always did it with a smile on his face.

Two season finales for season 4 were filmed: One to function as a series finale, and one that would lead on to a 5th season which included the return of Sarah Lancaster as Madison.

When you choose a character like Bright to be your best character, you can’t leave out his other half, Hannah. From the moment she appeared in his life, he started to change, and for the better, but her awesomeness is clear and apparent all on her own merits.

Her quirks, her incredible smarts, and her unbelievable ability to see the good in everyone make her a character you can’t help but love. If it weren’t for Bright, she definitely would have taken the best character role, and that is saying something.

On Page 2: The funniest moment, the most emotional moment, and vote for your favorite character!

We could wrap this section up by just listing 20 of our favorite Bright moments, or 15 of our favorite Hannah lines, but that would just be too easy. Besides, Bright and Hannah aren’t the only funny characters on Everwood. Amy and Ephram have their share of laugh-worthy lines, and Dr. Brown is known to have a lapse in seriousness from time to time. Despite that admission, our favorite funny moments have at least something to do with Bright and Hannah.

One of our most favorite funny moments is between Amy and Bright in season 3. Amy had just found out that Bright had a crush on Hannah, and after Hannah had just ended her relationship, Amy couldn’t help but razz Bright about it. The witty repartee between Amy and Bright is a series highlight, but this particular moment stands out due to its sensitive nature. Bright says “I’m not even sure how I feel. It might be a crush, it might be gas,” and if you don’t lose whatever control you’ve been holding onto, we don’t want to know you.

“YOU CAN’T OBJECT. I JUST BROKE UP. YOU NEED TO DO THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY.”

So much of what makes Everwood the amazing show we all know and love are the dramatic and emotional moments, but looking back, the funniest and most charming moments happen in the everyday sparring between many of the characters. Whether Ephram is teasing his father about being old and wearing flannel, Amy is reminding Bright of just how much of an idiot he truly is, or Andy is trying to make a joke and the moment crashes like a trainwreck, the funny charm of this show happen in the downtime, so it’s hard to choose specific moments.

A show like Everwood is chock full of dramatic moments. The show began with Ephram and his father at odds over a multitude of things, then there was the incredibly dramatic chain of events that was Colin, Amy, and Ephram in seasons 1 and 2, but nothing seems to quite match up to Ephram’s discovery of his father’s betrayal in season 3.

The end of season 2 came in the form of Ephram’s then girlfriend finding out she was pregnant and going to Andrew Brown for help. He tried to pay her to keep quiet (which, to her credit, she refused), and then asked her to leave town. All of this leads to a monstrous blow up in season 3, but it’s the scene before Ephram’s life falls apart that had us buried in a heap of tissues.

The scene we cannot get out of our heads takes place on a rooftop overlooking New York City and involves Ephram and Andy having a beautiful father-son moment. The subtext is what takes this scene to an emotionally disturbing place. Andy knows that Ephram is about to discover the one thing that he himself is most disappointed about.

Treat Williams was the only actor to appear in every episode of the series.

Ephram starts rambling on about the future and invites his father to return to NYC with him if he gets into Juilliard for college. He is so excited about all the progress they have made in their relationship and the possibilities that are just peeking over the horizon, meanwhile Dr. Brown knows the trouble that lies ahead. He is wishing and hoping that somehow his son will find a way not to hate him at the end of the day, but he knows better. He knows that Ephram will never look at him the same way again, and that horrible truth hangs over the lovely scene taking place on screen. If that’s not enough to bring you to a blubbering mess, we don’t know what to tell you.

WHERE TO WATCH NOW: For those that just can’t wait to start the rewatch, you can currently find all four seasons on DVD most places where DVDs are sold, especially Amazon.com. If you are even more anxious and just can’t wait another second, be sure to check iTunes and Amazon Instant Video where you can purchase single episodes or entire seasons. It’s not currently available on Netflix or Hulu, but it’s always good to check back, as that could change in a flash.

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