Felicity: The Complete First Season

"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever," says Felicity in the pilot episode of this fervently loved series. Not that impulsively defying your parents, ditching plans to go to Stanford Medical School, and moving 3,000 miles to New York to follow an unrequited high school crush who doesn't even remember your name is a small decision. But it does indeed change our winsome heroine's life forever. Golden Globe-winner Keri Russell lights up the screen in her star-is-born role as the luxuriantly-maned Felicity. For its audience demographic, Felicity's freshman outing is as compellingly watchable as the early years of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Dawson's Creek. Propelling the first--and best--22-episode season, compiled on this six-disc set, is the triangle between Felicity, the charismatic Ben (Scott Speedman) and charming doofus Noel (Scott Foley). But at the heart of the series is Felicity's realistic struggle to forge a life for herself independent of her disapproving, but ultimately supportive parents. Her sardonic, now-you-see-her-now-you-don't roommate Megan doesn't think Felicity will last the year. "This might all be a colossal mistake," Felicity admits early on (no, that would be her ill-advised haircut in season two). Felicity's ensemble cast includes former pink Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson as Julie (Felicity's best friend and later rival for Ben's affections), whose own personal travails include searching for her birth mother (Malcolm in the Middle's Jane Kaczmarek). Look for a pre-Alias Jennifer Garner as Noel's old girlfriend Hannah in the episode "Thanksgiving," and listen for Janeane Garafalo (uncredited) as the voice of the unseen Sally, with whom Felicity shares audiocassettes relating her coming-of-age experiences and hard-earned life lessons. Featuring little in the way of extras beyond an opening and closing episode screen-specific commentary, this sure-to-be-popular set is, nevertheless, highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)