Paige came in season 2 with no explanation to where she had been. From that first episode, she's already one of the gang and has known Ellen for many years. I pretend like she did know Ellen but then moved away. In the summer of 1994, she moved back to town and over the summer hiatus got situated. That way in the season 2 premiere, she was already hanging out with Ellen and Adam.

Audrey's first episode is number 5. She is negative and married. When she comes back in season 2, she wears pink and is so happy and positive and unmarried. My theory is that she got divorced and it was her marriage that was keeping her so down and negative. Now that she's single again, she's much happier and prefers to wear pink.

The unexplained loss of 1 season characters Anita and Holly has always bugged me. Holly could just simply have moved away over the Summer. That or she didn't like Paige and just quit hanging out with Ellen and Adam. Although something like that should be explained.

Anybody have any ideas?

I have a pretty ridiculously funny thought on Anita. In her very last episode she's sees her parents having sex and passes out. It fades to black as Ellen says "I think she's dead"
Well there ya go. The shock was too much for her heart:p And maybe Holly just liked that Biker Bar they were at in her last episode that she still hasn't returned.

did they take a hiatus between episode 7 and 8? Suddenly in season 8, Ellen and Adam have shorter hair. Plus, Anita is gone, Joe joins the cast and more importantly, "Buy The Book" became one of the focal sets of the show, whereas in episodes 1-7, the bookstore is referenced, but never seen. The second half of season 1 is the Ellen we knew and loved from later seasons.

This is how I see it Paige had always been there even in season 1. She just was never in any scenes.

I feel the same way about Audrey she was married in season 1 and she just had a really bad marriage that was ending and that was why she wasn't always so happy. and then in season 2 when she becomes a regular she is so happy because she loves to be single and decides she needed that change.

Anita, I would just say after seeing that tape of her parents just freaked out and decided to move back home so she could keep an eye on her freakish parents.

Holly, I would say got a big job promotion over the summer and the promotion was in New York so she had to move away.

The cast changes were good though, it made the show much more funny. I loved the whole Paige thing, cause here character is so funny. and her and Ellen make great best friends. The Joe character is just as hilarious.

Having Audrey as a regular was great to. Someone who is that annoying makes great comedy. Then adding cousin Pence to the mix made it even better.

What exactly do we know about Anita? I mean we know that Ellen and Holly went to high school together. We know that Ellen and Adam (and Paige) went to college together. Ellen and Adam have been roomates since their college days. But Anita was just sort of there. Did she live in the same apartment building as Ellen and Adam? And I forget, what was her job? Did she work at an appliance store?

Seriously, what all is told about Anita?

Originally posted by TVAdam
What exactly do we know about Anita? I mean we know that Ellen and Holly went to high school together. We know that Ellen and Adam (and Paige) went to college together. Ellen and Adam have been roomates since their college days. But Anita was just sort of there. Did she live in the same apartment building as Ellen and Adam? And I forget, what was her job? Did she work at an appliance store?

Seriously, what all is told about Anita?

she leaves LA and moves to NY, adopting a Fran Drescher accent, and annoys the hell out of Chandler Bing, lol

she leaves LA and moves to NY, adopting a Fran Drescher accent, and annoys the hell out of Chandler Bing, lol

haha

I have a pretty ridiculously funny thought on Anita. In her very last episode she's sees her parents having sex and passes out. It fades to black as Ellen says "I think she's dead"
Well there ya go. The shock was too much for her heart:p And maybe Holly just liked that Biker Bar they were at in her last episode that she still hasn't returned.

That is brilliant. It's pretty eerie that the last things said about Anita was 'I think she's dead' if you think about it, hehe.

I think I agree with pretty much everything else. Paige was out of LA during Season 1, then came back and acted like nothing had changed. Holly got a job offer or something and left. Which is too bad because I liked Holly a lot. I guess she and Maggie Wheeler left because the show became *Ellen* rather than the ensemble they'd signed on for. I was hoping for some info on the commentary track but they're non-specific.

Maggie went on to do Friends.... which, although only a recurring guest star -- gave her more exposure than Ellen ever could.

Maggie went on to do Friends.... which, although only a recurring guest star -- gave her more exposure than Ellen ever could.

True. Even though she was an actual cast member for "Ellen" she only appeared in the first seven episodes.

As for Holly, I've noticed that she's very insecure. Since Ellen is supposed to be the insecure one, maybe that's why they got rid of Holly. Ellen seemed to get even more insecure once Holly left.

Just for fun, since Barwars mentioned Maggie Wheeler being on "Friends", both Arye Gross and Clea Lewis have made guest appearances on "Friends" as well. Boy, that really was fun!

Yeah although I wonder if Maggie left before or after the Janice thing. And would she give up a regular gig on TFOM just for a one-shot thing on Friends, bearing in mind that Friends wasn't the huge thing it would be later [she appeared in the *fifth* episode] and that she was brought back on the strength of that first appearance, it wasn't part of the character originally that she'd be recurring. Just hypothetical questions, we'll probably never know, hehe.

Those are good points about Holly and her not being enough of a contrast to Ellen.