It’s been four years, four years on the WB. When “Smallville” premiered, I remember seeing the previews for “Everwood” and thought, “What the hell? I’ll give it a shot.” I never really thought it would become a ritual every week. “Everwood”, a casualty of the upcoming merge of the WB and UPN, is proof positive that television executives have no clue what quality programming is. After a long hiatus, and many time slot changes, the executives decided “It’s ratings were too low” (explain the logic behind that) and cut it down from the fall’s schedule. Which is not to say “Everwood” wasn’t sliding. “Everwood” was an excellent show, but became much too bogged down in melodrama and began lacking the spirit and small town quirkiness the first three seasons had.
“Everwood” could have had a chance to break out of it, and, if the CW had given it a chance, could have gone on for at least nine seasons. But, the WB give it a graceful, stylish, and spectacular series finale with a two hour farewell that closed down many storylines that were left lingering and not a single loose end was left open. Though it does fail in the usual finale clichés of montages, it succeeds in compressing the entire season’s storylines into a two hour farewell entitled “Foreverwood”. The CW has shown how moronic they are by letting a gem of a show go forever, and it’s a damn shame. I am a fan. I’ve never been a fan of Treat Williams, but his performance as a despondent estranged dad who moves his children halfway around the world to fulfill a selfish need to run away from his problems has been quite possibly one of the most underrated nuanced performance of primetime television.
His evolution from this estranged man caring only of his own needs, to a mentally unstable doctor, right down to a very involved father was excellent, and his chemistry with Gregory Smith is one of the best father-son dynamics ever written. Smith started off the series very shakily as a somewhat petulant whiny character, but he also evolved into a very realistic individual whose series romance with Amy Abbot became the driving force for the four year run time. But the series ends on a note that really gives the characters a new start without destroying the realism (i.e. Seventh Heaven). Nina leaves for Los Angeles with Jake, and Andy is forced to come to grips with it, and fast as Delia’s Bat Mitzvah comes ever closer. Meanwhile, in one of the most heartbreaking sub-plots, Edna, still mourning the sudden and wrenching death of her husband Irv (a constantly scene-stealing John Beasley), a consistently charming recurring character on the series, starts packing up to move, and Harold is attempting to convince her to stay and grieve as she should.
In a nice touch, we also get to see Harold and Edna make their peace with each other, something that’s been a recurring theme throughout the series. But the Abbots get a surprise at their doorstep one morning that seriously change their lives, and Amy finally realizes she loves Ephram and competes for him with his new girlfriend Stephanie (the yummy Luciana Carro). But, she fears Ephram may already be out of her grasp since Stephanie intends on fighting for him. Also, Bright confesses his love to Hannah, and–in the best storyline–Andy finally takes a chance and proposes to Nina. The romance, performed with such quiet eloquence thanks to Williams and Niznik, is possibly one of the most passionate, and least physical romances on television in which the neighbors exchanged longing glances and physical affection that would spell doom for their own love lives.
Their relationship as friends, confidants, and lovers has been the driving force of the series surpassing even Amy and Ephram’s romance in tension and suspense, and really had its audience on the edge of their seats hoping they’d finally realize that they have to be together. It’s only proper. Though the show went through its ups and downs each season what with the bland plot of Ephram and Madison, and Ephram’s tutoring of a young music prodigy that went nowhere, the writers could have patched all of it up and could have gone on for many more seasons. And it’s a shame we never got to see more of Andy and Nina’s impending wedding, Bright and Hannah’s renewal, Delia’s blossoming into a teenager, Edna’s living arrangements with her family, and the Abbot’s adjusting to the new surprise in their lives.
But through it all, “Everwood” often flourished with a mixture of medical drama, quirky character related comedy, and family motivated drama while thriving on top-notch characterization, engrossing story arcs, and pure inspirational storylines that never became preachy or cheesy. Thanks to spectacular writing, and a cast of utterly talented actors, “Everwood” really did show that the family drama is not an antiquated notion. It has its following, it has its audience, and it’s a shame it never received the support it deserved. It stinks a show like this had to go, but at least it went out with a respectful farewell. Next year’s schedule will be more much desolate without it.