Although the show is set at the fictional 'University of New York' modeled on New York University, NYU actually refused to let the show use its real name, saying the negatives outweighed the positives of free product placement.

A young writer for the show, Riley Weston, was revealed in 1999 to be a fraud: at 32 years old she had marketed herself as a 19-year-old recent high school graduate and even passed off her husband as her older brother, before being hired by the WB and later offered a six-figure screenwriting deal with Disney.

After filming the first season, star Keri Russell sent producers a joke photo of herself wearing a short-haired wig, which initially panicked them before they realized it was a prank, but it led producers to suggest she actually change her hairstyle.

Russell's subsequent haircut became infamous and was widely (though she argued incorrectly) blamed for the show's ratings decline, even earning a spot at No. 19 on TV Guide Network's list of the '25 Biggest TV Blunders' in 2010.

The real cause of the ratings drop was more likely the show's move from Tuesday 9pm to Sunday 8pm (the WB's weakest night) for its second season, a shift that reportedly cost the show a third of its viewers even before the haircut.

Despite the controversy over the haircut and ratings decline, Felicity continued for two more seasons after the change.

Felicity was named one of Time magazine's 'All-Time 100 Best TV Shows' in 2007, and in 2010 Entertainment Weekly listed Felicity Porter among its '100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years'.