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Famous
From Famous Wiki
Famous | |
---|---|
Creator | piperjr |
Genre | Soap opera Mystery Serial drama |
Starring | Laura Vandervoort Jenna Dewan Alex Frnka Robbie Amell Gaius Charles Hilary Duff Dave Franco Cam Gigandet Chase Rice Brittany Snow Karl Urban Tracey E. Bregman Jesse Bradford Jamie Chung Eric Close Nestor Carbonell Eva Longoria Kellie Pickler Henri Esteve Chyler Leigh Josh Duhamel Bryan Callen Brando Eaton Meghan Markle Hayden Panettiere Teyana Taylor Kenny Johnson Shad Moss Gilland Jones Lauren German Lynn Whitfield Max Schneider |
No. of Seasons | 15 |
No. of Episodes | 345 (List of episodes) |
Release | |
Original Channel | DBC |
Original Release | March 2, 2006 - May 28, 2020 |
Famous is an American prime time television drama that aired on DBC from March 2, 2006 to May 28, 2020. The series revolves around a group of people trying to gain media attention, fame, and fortune through acting and modeling. The series is set in Los Angeles, California and is originally set with 14 main cast members. As the series progresses, several people come and go, while four of them remain on the show until its final, fifteenth season.
The show was famous for its cliffhangers, including the Emily or Sarah? mystery. The 2006 season four premiere remains the highest rated DBC episode ever.
The show has a relatively ensemble cast, with three girls as the center point. Laura Vandevoort stars as rising actress Jaclyn McGraw, actress and dancer Jenna Dewan Tatum as model and socialite Olivia Spencer and Alex Frnka as snappy barista turned actress Jessica Costello. The series has won several awards and has had high ratings for all of its seasons.
Original Premise[edit | edit source]
Famous debuted on March 2, 2006, as a thirteen episode trial run. Producers were hopeful for it to be picked up and due to the show's popularity, it was subsequently turned into a regular series and was broadcast for 14 additional seasons, starting from October 19, 2006.
The show is known for its portrayal of fame, fortune, lust, scheming plots, and power struggles. Throughout the series, the main premise is the struggle to have fame and fortune anyway possible and the people do not care who they step over to get there.
The show begins with Jaclyn McGraw (Laura Vandervoort) and her then boyfriend David (Matt Lauria) settling in to their apartment in Los Angeles and Jaclyn leaving for an audition for a big commercial. She meets hot-shot model Olivia Spencer (Jenna Dewan Tatum), along with several rising actors: Evan Foster (Dave Franco), Darrell Roberts (Gaius Charles), Melanie Nguyen (Jamie Chung), Ed Blackwell (Karl Urban), Wes Foster (Cam Gigandet), Brian Sparks (Robbie Amell), and Emily Callahan (Hilary Duff). She also meets head of DR Studios Danny Randall (Jesse Bradford), who takes a particular liking to her abilities. Following her audition, she returns home only to find her boyfriend cheating on her with another girl. She gathers her things and is seen crying on the side of the road. Danny drives by her and offers her a ride. She agrees and gets in his car only to have paparazzi take a picture and publish it in the LA Daily Magazine.
While everyone is at their audition, unenthusiastic barista Jessica Costello (Alex Frnka) is working at Cindy's Cafe along with peppy rising singer Lindsey Marks (Brittany Snow) and owner and former soap opera star Cindy Warner (Tracey E. Bregman). Cindy is later revealed to be Danny's ex-wife who recently lost everything in a bitter court battle. Just as she is about to close the cafe, Jessica encounters celebrity country singer Jeff Vincent (Chase Rice), who she takes a dislike to. He tries to help the cafe by buying a lot of the pastries, but Jessica accuses him of being fake in order to get good publicity and she kicks him out.
As the first season progresses, some of the rising actors find their strides and get big breaks, while others have their dreams crushed. At the end of the first season, the commercial stars get together leading Olivia to reveal a shocking secret about Jaclyn faking her father's death in order to steal his inheritance. Jaclyn tries to defend herself until her presumed dead father, Bobby (Eric Close) enters, with Jaclyn in such shock and disbelief.
Through the next fourteen years, Jaclyn and her friends and enemies continue to grow their careers as actors, models, or singers. Also, Danny emerges as the show's main antagonist with his devious plots and murders are revealed at the end of season six. At the end of season twelve, everyone testifies against Danny in order to send him to prison. Just as the jury is about to reveal the verdict, the season ends.
Most of the seasons ended with ratings-grabbing cliffhangers, the most notable being the season three finale "The Ball", which launched the suspenseful "Emily or Sarah?" storyline. Other season finale cliffhangers include the interview with the commercial stars, leading to the entrance of Jaclyn's thought-to-be dead father (season one); all of Danny's devious plans revealed (season six); a building collapse (season eight); a tearful exit from Amanda, forcing Jaclyn to exact revenge (season nine); and the sentencing of Danny Randall (season twelve).
Cast and Characters[edit | edit source]
Main article: List of Famous cast members
Main cast[edit | edit source]
For the original thirteen-episode trial run – season 1 – thirteen actors received the star billing: Laura Vandevoort as Jaclyn McGraw, Jenna Dewan as Olivia Spencer, Alex Frnka as Jessica Costello, Gaius Charles as Darrell Roberts, Chase Rice as Jeff Vincent, Dave Franco as Evan Foster, Cam Gigandet as Wes Foster, Robbie Amell as Brian Sparks, Hilary Duff as Emily Callahan, Brittany Snow as Lindsey Marks, Karl Urban as Ed Blackwell, Tracey E. Bregman as Cindy Warner, and Jesse Bradford as Danny Randall.
Eric Close as Bobby McGraw, Jaclyn's presumed-dead father, made a guest appearance in the final episode of season one and became a recurring cast member during the second season. Matt Lauria made a guest appearance in the first episode as David Windsor, Jaclyn's at-the-time boyfriend, and later returned in the eighth and ninth season. Also joining in the second season were singer Kellie Pickler as Sarah King; actress Eva Longoria as mother to Brian, Diana Garcia; and Nestor Carbonell as Cyrus Rasheed. As well as these additions, Karl Urban departed from the show following the first season, however, made a guest appearance in season nine before becoming a regular again from season ten to the present season. After season two, Brittany Snow departed from the show as well as Chase Rice, who wished to focus on his music career. Eric Close joined the cast as a regular as well as actor Henri Esteve as Zach Delgado. At the end of the third season, the infamous Indigo Ball was held, which led to the shootings of both Emily and Sarah as well as the return of Chase Rice.
Following the third season, the public was kept in the dark about which girl was being killed off (Emily or Sarah), sparking the "Emily or Sarah?" storyline. Chase Rice returned as a series regular once again as well as actress and frequent singer Chyler Leigh as Amanda Phillips. In the season four premiere, it was revealed that Hilary Duff's character Emily had been killed off and she departed the series. After season four, all of the main cast members returned for the fifth season along with newcomer Josh Duhamel as Tom Price. A much anticipated entrance from Brian's abusive father and Diana's abusive husband, Eddie Sandoval, made several appearances in the fifth season with actor and comedian Bryan Callen filling the position. After the fifth season, Cam Gigandet departed, saying his character had "run his course". Jamie Chung, who made frequent appearances on the first five seasons of the show, joined the main cast. Bryan Callen did not appear on the show until the season finale. Also in the season finale, Jamie Chung and Eric Close's characters were killed off following the reveal of Danny Randall's shocking and diabolical plans.
After season six, Bryan Callen joined the main cast, as Eddie tried to mend his relationship with Brian. Brando Eaton joined the cast as a flirtatious actor Ian Duncan. All sixteen of the main cast members from season seven returned for season eight, along with Matt Lauria on a recurring status. Meghan Markle made a guest appearance as Layla Amadi in the season finale. Also in the season finale, the DR Records building collapsed with a majority of the main cast members inside with their fate hanging in the balance.
In the season nine premiere, most of the cast got out of the collapsed building, however, Chase Rice's character, Jeff, perished as the building collapsed in him, following a tearful video chat goodbye to his wife Alex Frnka's character, Jessica. Along with Rice, Eva Longoria departed from the show at the end of the eighth season and Bryan Callen made a guest appearance in the season nine premiere and then left as well. Karl Urban, who was originally on the show in season one, returned to help rescue some of the victims of the building collapse as a medical student. Matt Lauria and Meghan Markle both joined the main cast after being minor characters in the previous season as well as the premiere of Hayden Panettiere as Claire Russell. In the middle of season nine, Robbie Amell departed after nine seasons on the show, but returned in the season finale to win back his former girlfriend Hayden Panettiere's character.
Following the ninth season, both Robbie Amell and Hayden Panettiere officially departed from the show as well as Matt Lauria and Chyler Leigh. Teyana Taylor, who had made a few appearances in the previous season, joined the main cast as Jasmine White, as well as Kenny Johnson as Will Mitchell. Rapper Shad Moss joined the cast on a recurring status as Darrell's former best friend JJ Jones. Gilland Jones joined the cast in the third episode on a recurring status, but eventually joined as a series regular in the ninth. After season ten, Shad Moss departed from the show as well as Dave Franco, following a ten season stint on the show. Actress Lauren German joined the cast as Katie Jordan. Veteran actress Lynn Whitfield made a guest appearance in the season finale as Jasmine's estranged mother, Joyce White.
After season eleven, Gilland Jones departed as well as Tracey E. Bregman, following her eleven seasons on the show. In the season eleven finale, Bregman's character had a tear-jerking end when she left her cafe to her best friend Jessica, and faced her ex-husband Danny Randall before being shot and killed by him. In season twelve, Shad Moss returned as a main cast member to stir up trouble and Lynn Whitfield became a series regular as well. In the season twelve finale, before Danny's trial, Dave Franco, Robbie Amell, and Chyler Leigh all returned as special guests to testify against Danny. At the end of the season twelve, Danny's fate was hanging in the balance as the jury came to a decision about his sentence, but the season ended before the verdict was read.
Supporting cast[edit | edit source]
Throughout its twelve seasons, Famous saw several actors appearing in supporting roles. Among the most notable are Kristina and Karissa Shannon (seasons 1-8) as Sydney and Stephanie Sparks, who are Brian Sparks' sisters, Diana Garcia and Eddie Sandoval's daughters, and Olivia Spencer's rivals; Barry Navidi (seasons 1-2) as Farhad Rasheed, who is Cyrus' father and is eventually killed by the Iranian mob because Cyrus owed them money; Chloë Sevigny (seasons 1-5) as Dr. Rachel Wagner, who attends to most of the main cast members who attend the hospital for any reason; Robert Gant (seasons 4, 6-8, and 12) as Doug Christian, who originally defended Jeff Vincent as his trial, but later became one of Danny Randall's henchmen and his attorney during his trial; Jess Glynne (seasons 6–present) as singer Danielle Travis, who works with Sarah King, Amanda Phillips, Jeff Vincent, Jasmine White, and JJ Jones throughout her time on the show; actress Lisa Rinna (seasons 6, 10-12) as Lydia Spencer, Olivia's estranged mother; Kate Mara (seasons 7-10) as Julie Hendricks, who is one of Danny's minions who is later disposed of after her feud with Layla Amadi was too much; Catherine Oxenberg (seasons 9-12) as Vicky McGraw, Jaclyn's deceased mother who appears only in flashbacks and visions; Trevor Torseth (seasons 11-12) as Katie Jordan's love interest and one of Will's henchmen, Ricky Anderson; and Jessica and Jeff's son Joey (seasons 4-present).
Episodes[edit | edit source]
Ratings[edit | edit source]
Season | Episodes | Originally Aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First Aired | Last Aired | |||
1 | 13 | March 2, 2006 | May 25, 2006 | |
2 | 22 | October 19, 2006 | May 10, 2007 | |
3 | 18 | October 18, 2007 | May 8, 2008 | |
4 | 22 | October 16, 2008 | May 7, 2009 | |
5 | 24 | September 24, 2009 | May 6, 2010 | |
6 | 24 | September 23, 2010 | May 5, 2011 | |
7 | 25 | September 29, 2011 | May 3, 2012 | |
8 | 24 | September 27, 2012 | May 9, 2013 | |
9 | 25 | September 26, 2013 | May 8, 2014 | |
10 | 24 | September 25, 2014 | May 7, 2015 | |
11 | 24 | September 24, 2015 | May 5, 2016 | |
12 | 24 | September 29, 2016 | May 4, 2017 | |
13 | 25 | September 28, 2017 | May 3, 2018 | |
14 | 23 | September 27, 2018 | May 2, 2019 | |
15 | 28 | September 26, 2019 | May 28, 2020 |
Famous aired on Thursday nights from its inception.
Cliffhangers[edit | edit source]
Throughout its run, Famous had several cliffhangers. At the end of almost every season, there was some sort of cliffhanger.
Season One Cliffhanger: Jaclyn, Olivia, Melanie, Emily, Brian, Evan, Darrell, and Wes all took place in an interview for their new commercial for Danny Randall Studios. As the interview progressed, Olivia became hostile toward Jaclyn and threw subtle digs at her. When the interviewer asked Olivia a question, she took the opportunity to out Jaclyn. Olivia explained that Jaclyn had faked her father's death and stole his inheritance. When Jaclyn tried to shoot down the accusations, Olivia stood strong and brought out a special guest. The guest was Jaclyn's presumed dead father, Bobby McGraw. Just as the season ended, Jaclyn, in shock and disbelief, says, "Dad?"