Ellen (season 4)
The fourth season of Ellen, an American television series, began September 17, 1996 and ended on May 13, 1997. It aired on ABC. The region 1 DVD was released on September 26, 2006. This season is most famous for "The Puppy Episode" outing the fictional Ellen Morgan, which aired on the same day Ellen DeGeneres came out on Oprah.[1] Almost every episode beforehand contained several hints.
| Ellen | |
|---|---|
| Season 4 | |
 | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 25 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 17, 1996 – May 13, 1997 |
| Season chronology | |
Cast
Main Cast
- Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan
- Joely Fisher as Paige Clark
- David Anthony Higgins as Joe Farrell
- Clea Lewis as Audrey Penney
- Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | 1 | "Give Me Equity or Give Me Death" | Gil Junger | Dava Savel | September 18, 1996 | C364 | 12.70 |
| Ellen complains she can't afford her own home while rejecting offers to sell her bookstore. | |||||||
| 64 | 2 | "A Deer Head for Joe" | Gil Junger | Mark Driscoll | September 25, 1996 | C365 | 12.30 |
| Having sold her bookstore, Ellen has a new boss, Ed, who mounts a deer head on the wall and refuses to take it down. When he fires Joe, Ellen steals the head and blackmails Ed for it. | |||||||
| 65 | 3 | "Splitsville, Man" | Gil Junger | Matt Goldman | October 2, 1996 | C366 | 13.40 |
| At the beginning of the episode, Ellen literally comes out of the closet of a home she's considering purchasing. Ellen's parents decide to separate, and Ellen has more of a problem with it than they do. Ellen calls a family meeting, then runs away from home. | |||||||
| 66 | 4 | "The Parent Trap" | Gil Junger | Jonathan Stark & Tracy Newman | October 16, 1996 | C368 | 12.30 |
| Ellen tries to get her parents back together by recreating their honeymoon. She enlists all of her friends to help, but the plan fails. Meanwhile, Spence gets a job at Paige's office, and causes Barrett to quit. Paige orders Spence to get Barrett back. | |||||||
| 67 | 5 | "Looking Out for Number One" | Gil Junger | David Flebotte | October 23, 1996 | C367 | 11.60 |
| Ellen sees her psychiatrist urinating in a parking lot, causing her not to take her advice seriously. | |||||||
| 68 | 6 | "The Bubble Gum Incident" | Gil Junger | David Walpert | October 30, 1996 | C369 | 11.70 |
| More than twenty-five years later, Ellen still can't tell Paige that she's the one who put bubble gum in her hair at camp. Paige looks forward to the summer camp reunion because she wants revenge on Megan, who she believed had put bubble gum in her hair at summer camp one year. | |||||||
| 69 | 7 | "Harold and Ellen" | Michael Lembeck | Alex Herschlag | November 6, 1996 | C370 | 11.80 |
| When Ellen's father, Harold, injures his back and Ellen accidentally falls off a ladder, injuring her neck, she must spend an entire evening caring for her father, while wearing a neck brace. Meanwhile, Spence gets a wedding invitation from an ex, irritating Paige. | |||||||
| 70 | 8 | "Not So Great Expectations" | Gil Junger | Ellen Idelson & Rob Lotterstein | November 13, 1996 | C372 | 13.10 |
| Ellen's mother, Lois, signs up with a dating agency and meets a man named Vic. Ellen is worried about what Vic is like, but must sign up to the agency herself in order to investigate him. She then follows the two to a Country and Western club to try and break them up. | |||||||
| 71 | 9 | "The Pregnancy Test" | Alan Myerson | Mark Driscoll | November 20, 1996 | C371 | 12.70 |
| To ease Paige's worries about a missed period, Ellen and Audrey take a pregnancy test with her. However, an accidental mix-up and a single positive test means one of the three is pregnant but no-one knows who. Meanwhile, a life saving experience at the hospital causes Spence to rethink his life of being a doctor. | |||||||
| 72 | 10 | "Kiss My Bum" | Gil Junger | David Walpert | November 27, 1996 | C373 | 13.30 |
| Ellen volunteers at a homeless shelter, and invites a man she meets, Perry, to Thanksgiving dinner. All goes well until the guests realise Perry is homeless, and react negatively. | |||||||
| 73 | 11 | "Bowl, Baby, Bowl" | Lorraine Sevre-Richmond | Vance DeGeneres | December 4, 1996 | C374 | 15.90 |
| After a friendly bowling game, Ellen and her boss become very competitive. Ed is a sore loser and takes it out on the rest of staff. In an attempt to make up for his grouchiness, Ed takes Ellen out to dinner and a game of pool, which he wins, and Ellen becomes a sore loser herself. | |||||||
| 74 | 12 | "Fleas Navidad" | Alan Myerson | Jonathan Stark & Tracy Newman | December 18, 1996 | C375 | N/A |
| Ellen tries to find a dog-sitter so she and Paige can go on holiday to Mexico. She sends Paige on ahead while she drops the dog off at a shelter, but finds herself caring for him instead. Ellen Morgan shamelessly plugs Ellen DeGeneres's new comedy CD and wonders "if the rumors about her are true." | |||||||
| 75 | 13 | "Alone Again... Naturally" | Alan Myerson | Mark Wilding | January 8, 1997 | C376 | 17.10 |
| Ellen tries going to a romantic French restaurant all by herself. Meanwhile Spence and Joe house-sit for Paige, but accidentally set her kitchen on fire. | |||||||
| 76 | 14 | "Joe's Kept Secret" | John Tracy | Dava Savel | January 15, 1997 | C377 | 17.40 |
| Joe is being kept by a wealthy woman, Madeleine (Florence Henderson), but after she dumps him, she starts spoiling Ellen with expensive gifts and matching outfits. Ellen goes along with it at first because Madeleine helped Ellen get a building permit to add an extension to her house. | |||||||
| 77 | 15 | "Makin' Whoopie" | Iris Dugow | David Flebotte | January 22, 1997 | C378 | 14.70 |
| Ellen gives blood and then goes to a wine-tasting party held by Spence's boss. Alcohol and blood loss combine to have a strong effect on Ellen's inhibitions. | |||||||
| 78 | 16 | "Ellen Unplugged" | David Owen Trainor | Alex Herschlag | February 5, 1997 | C379 | 15.50 |
| For her birthday, Ellen gets to go to Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp. Her friends tell her she can be anyone she wants: Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, the Indigo Girls... Tina Turner. Ellen wants to leave after a traumatic duet with Bonnie Raitt, but Paige tells her she needs to be bolder. Ellen is inspired to write a song. | |||||||
| 79 | 17 | "Ellen's Deaf Comedy Jam" | Gil Junger | Jennifer Fisher | February 12, 1997 | C380 | 15.60 |
| Audrey falls in love with Brian, a deaf actor in a sign language production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Ellen and Audrey have a fight when Ellen claims Brian made a pass at her in sign language. | |||||||
| 80 | 18 | "Hello, Dalai" | Gil Junger | Ellen Idelson & Rob Lotterstein | February 19, 1997 | C381 | 15.20 |
| Peter and Ellen go to the Dalai's spiritual workshop. There Peter tries to trick Ellen into admitting she's gay. Meanwhile, the book store is robbed, and Audrey, Joe, Spence, and Paige are trapped together. | |||||||
| 81 | 19 | "Secrets & Ellen" | Gil Junger | Peter Tolan | February 26, 1997 | C382 | 14.60 |
| Ellen's grandmother comes to town, and her parents ask her to pretend they're still married, and that Ellen is married to Joe. Meanwhile, Paige takes Spence to Las Vegas, where he develops amnesia. | |||||||
| 82 | 20 | "Reversal of Misfortune" | Gil Junger | Matt Goldman | March 5, 1997 | C383 | N/A |
| Ellen has come to terms with her parents' divorce, so much so that she is pushing them to sign the papers to make it final. But it turns out they want to get back together but Ellen has been getting in the way. | |||||||
| 83 | 21 | "The Clip Show Patient" | Gil Junger | Vance DeGeneres & David Walpert | April 9, 1997 | C384 | N/A |
| Ellen volunteers at a local hospital and gets talking to a patient about how he ended up in hospital. However, her constant interruptions with stories about herself annoy him. (This episode is a clip show: the frame story is Ellen talking to a hospital patient who is bandaged up from head to toe). | |||||||
| 84 85 | 22 23 | "The Puppy Episode" | Gil Junger | Story by : Ellen DeGeneres Teleplay by : Mark Driscoll & Dava Savel & Tracy Newman & Jonathan Stark | April 30, 1997 | C385/C386 | 36.20 |
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A visit from Richard, an old boyfriend, and his female boss, Susan (Laura Dern), makes Ellen gradually realize she's gay. Ellen has dinner with Richard but winds up in a late-night conversation with Susan after being unable to have sex with Richard. Ellen discusses these developments with her new therapist (Oprah Winfrey). Ellen comes out to her friends, who all take it well except Paige, and thinks she is getting closer to Susan. She is disappointed to learn that Susan is in a long-term committed relationship. | |||||||
| 86 | 24 | "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" | Gil Junger | Jan Nash | May 7, 1997 | C387 | 18.00 |
| Ellen takes her parents to dinner and tells them she is gay. Her mother is bewildered and convinced it is a phase, and her father storms out. Lois agrees to attend a support group however, and both parents change their minds when a member abuses Ellen. | |||||||
| 87 | 25 | "Moving On" | Gil Junger | Alex Herschlag & David Flebotte | May 14, 1997 | C388 | 16.40 |
| Ellen comes out to her boss, Ed, who expresses a homophobic attitude and refuses to let her babysit his children because of it, and she quits her job. Paige, however, comes round and accepts Ellen's sexuality. | |||||||
References
- Dow, Bonnie J. "Ellen, Television and the Politics of Gay and Lesbian Visibility" Critical Studies in Media Communication 18.2 (2001): 123 – 141.
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