It was just a beautiful pilot.
The year was 2001.
There was this whole boys movement, recalls then programming-exec Jordan Levin.
Credit: Warner Bros./Getty Images
I remember talking about how there was no honest portrayal of a teenage boy on the air.
For the leads, Williams was their first stop.
GREG BERLANTI (Creator):Its not like Treat read for it or anything.
The WB / Chris Large
He was Treat Williams, so we were lucky to get him on the WB.
We didnt talk about the show.
I showed pictures of my family.
Isabella Vosmikova/Warner Bros TV
I told them about airplanes I fly, the garden I was growing.
There was a great feeling of trust that started right away.
BERLANTI:For Ephram, I wanted the male version of Claire Danes inMy So-Called Life.
Jack Plunkett
I was full of vinegar.
I was like, Im an actor!
My face and my hair should be a blank canvas!
Greg and Mickey helped me pick out an outfit and style my hair before my final audition.
People project perfection on me a lot.
I guess maybe that helped me get the role.
VIVIEN CARDONE (Delia Brown, Andys daughter):I was only 9.
My father couldnt come to Utah so it was just my mom and three siblings.
Im away from my family too, so Ill make you a deal.
If you promise to be my part-time daughter, Ill be your part-time father.
EMILY VANCAMP (Amy Abbott, Ephrams future girlfriend):I had just finished the showGlory Days.
I was still very new to the business and didnt really know what signing onto a series truly entailed.
CHRIS PRATT (Bright Abbott, Amys brother):I went in there last minute.
I was seriously one day away from leaving L.A.
I had no time to read a script.
I just decided Ive got to pretend I am this character.
They said, Do you have any questions?
And they said, Yes.
Thats what I did.
JOHN BEASLEY (Irv Harper, Amys step-grandfather):They were interested in me narrating the show.
Irv was kind of earthy, the caretaker of the people.
He had been around for a while so he was telling the story of Everwood.
I tell Andy Im going out and my husband pulls up in a bus.
He gets out and we kiss one another.
I think we must have been one of the first mixed couples on television.
The following season, we got James Earl Jones, Beau Bridges, Betty White.
BERLANTI:We had Kristen Bell play a young teenager who wanted breast enhancements!
J.K. Simmons played an auto mechanic who could see your future but he didnt want the gift.
I definitely spoke the shows language.
I was designed to be an irritant.
One of the hallmarks ofEverwoodwas its honest portrayal of social issues.
But some of the plot points didnt always sit well with the morality police.
BERLANTI:Since we were on after7th Heaven, people were expecting it to be like that.
Ephram had a wet dream about Amy in the pilot episode!
It made certain people uncomfortable.
VANCAMP:I remember being a little bit shy about that.
The only way they would allow it was if I dropped the T when she said it.
But dont make it the central idea of the series.
MIMOUN:First they said no.
Then they said, Okay, but Dr. Andy Brown cant be the one who does it.
But at the time it was a heavy lift.
BERLANTI:It became about who is going to make the switch to the CW.
WILLIAMS:I was in the middle of renovating a very large house.
I was in the middle of it and the show got canceled.
MIMOUN:We created two endings because we werent sure whether we were coming back.
The one that aired had Amy [revealing her feelings to Ephram].
We were going to play it out with the return of Sarah Lancaster.
VANCAMP:It would have been really disappointing for the fans had Ephram and Amy not ended up together.
MOONEY:I had that RV.
I always thought that Edna should just take that and set out and go around the country.
We could have done a new series calledEdna on the Road.
PRATT:Everwoodchanged my life.
It was the first time I ever made money.
MIMOUN:There is no good-God reason why this show isnt on Netflix by now.
BERLANTI:It was so magical, what happened every step of the process.
Ive never really quite had the same kind of experience since on any of the shows Ive worked on.
