# Ellen (1994)

> A Los Angeles bookstore clerk and her circle of friends talk their way through love, work and family.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/251

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 109
- Episode runtime: 22 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Neal Marlens, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Black
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Joely Fisher, David Anthony Higgins, Holly Fulger, Clea Lewis, Jeremy Piven, Maggie Wheeler, Arye Gross
- TMDB rating: 6.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108761/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: breezy, warm, witty, conversational

## What critics say

Audiences found the early seasons of this Los Angeles bookstore sitcom warm and charming, but enthusiasm faded in later seasons, which are rated markedly lower.

## Synopsis

Ellen (1994-1998) is a American network sitcom created by Neal Marlens, Ellen DeGeneres and Carol Black for ABC. Ellen DeGeneres plays Ellen Morgan, a clerk at a Los Angeles bookstore called Buy the Book, and she is surrounded by a close circle of friends played by Joely Fisher as Paige Clark, David Anthony Higgins as Joe Farrell and Clea Lewis as Audrey Penney. Jeremy Piven appears as Spence Kovak. The engine of the show is conversation: the friends talk through lovers, careers and family in the bookstore and over meals, and each episode turns on romantic misadventures and small social missteps. Running five seasons across 109 episodes in a multi-camera format, the series is a light, talky half-hour set in 1990s Los Angeles. Its tone is breezy and warm, with a friendship-driven comedy that grew out of its lead's own coming out. Fans of Friends, Mad About You and Murphy Brown will find resonance in its ensemble banter and single-woman-in-the-city focus.

## Shows like Ellen

- [Just Shoot Me! (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/4355)
- [Cybill (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/2567)
- [Mad About You (1992)](https://ember.film/tv/470)
- [Joey (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/1382)
- [Casual (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/56735)
- [Dharma & Greg (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/3291)
- [The Drew Carey Show (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/85)
- [Will & Grace (1998)](https://ember.film/tv/4235)
- [Men At Work (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/38861)
- [Rules of Engagement (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/2618)

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