Cupid (1998 TV series)

Cupid is a 1998–1999 American comedy-drama series created by Rob Thomas, which featured Paula Marshall as Dr. Claire Allen, a Chicago psychologist who is given charge of a man named Trevor Hale (Jeremy Piven). Hale believes he is Cupid, sent down from Mt. Olympus by Zeus to connect 100 couples without his powers, as a punishment for his arrogance.

Originally broadcast on ABC on Saturday evenings at 10 p.m. EST, the show lasted one season.

Plot

Trevor Hale is attractive, witty, uncommonly intelligent—and he may be Cupid, the Greco-Roman god of erotic love. Probably not, but he thinks so. Trevor's insistence that he is Cupid lands him in a mental hospital, where he meets psychologist Claire Allen, a renowned authority on romance. Trevor tells Claire that he has been stripped of his godly powers by Zeus, and exiled from Mount Olympus as a punishment for arrogance. To win his way back among the gods, Trevor must unite 100 couples in everlasting love, without his bow and arrows. Claire does not believe in Cupid, but she risks her career by releasing Trevor from the hospital, assuming responsibility for his behavior. Trevor finds work as a bartender, and regularly disrupts Claire's group therapy sessions. All the while, he plots his campaign to promote romance, and earn his way back to Olympus. While encouraging sexual abandon in others, Trevor remains celibate; he believes sex with a mortal will confine him to Earth forever.^[1]

Cast

Regular cast

• Jeremy Piven – Cupid/Trevor Hale
• Paula Marshall – Dr. Claire Allen
• Jeffrey D. Sams – Champ Terrace

Recurring cast

• Paul Adelstein – Mike
• Noelle Bou-Sliman – Tina
• Daniel Bryant – Laurence
• Melanie Deanne Moore – Jaclyn
• Jeffrey Vincent Parise – Nick
• Geryll Robinson – Chris

Recurring guests

• Kevin Scott Greer – Single Guy (4 episodes)
• Joe Flanigan – Alex (4 episodes)
• Hollis Resnik – Linda (3 episodes)

Guest stars

• Connie Britton
• Laura Leighton
• Lisa Loeb
• Tiffani Thiessen

Staff

• Rob Thomas – Creator, executive producer, supervising producer
• Scott Winant – Executive producer, director
• Joe Voci – Executive producer
• Scott Sanders – Executive producer
• Jeff Reno – Executive producer
• Ron Osborn – Executive producer
• Hart Hanson – Co-Executive Producer
• W.G. "Snuffy" Walden – Composer

Writers

• Michael Green
• Ron Osborn
• Jeff Reno
• Rob Thomas
• Elle Triedman

Directors

• Michael Engler
• Michael Fields
• Tucker Gates
• Michael Katleman
• Elodie Keene
• Patrick Norris
• Peter O'Fallon
• David Petrarca
• Scott Winant
• Deran Sarafian

Episodes

Reviews and articles

• E! Online named Cupid as #4 on its "Top Ten Shows Cancelled Before Their Time".
• Two 1998 articles from Tim Goodman San Francisco Examiner and Alan Sepinwall New Jersey Star-Ledger as listed on Rob Thomas’s Site.

Production notes

• Cupid was produced by Columbia TriStar Television and Mandalay Productions.
• Cupid was filmed on location in Chicago, due to Piven’s love for the city.

Show revival

ABC and Rob Thomas brought Cupid back to the airwaves with an October 2007 deal^[2] for which scripts and production were approved in March 2008.^[3] The series was relocated to New York City and cast Bobby Cannavale as Trevor and Sarah Paulson as Claire. Only six episodes of the series aired, from March 31 – May 19, 2009.

Notes and trivia

• "The Children's Hour", the last episode broadcast before the show's cancellation in the U.S., aired shortly before Valentine's Day 1999; it features Trevor's ruminations on why the holiday should instead be "Cupid's Day".
• In a December 24, 2004, Entertainment Weekly article, creator Rob Thomas mentions that the show would have ended with Trevor and Claire becoming Trevor's 100th match—and without revealing whether Trevor really was Cupid.
• Series stars Paula Marshall and Jeffrey D. Sams both had recurring roles on Rob Thomas's more recent series, Veronica Mars. Thomas stated that, given the opportunity, he would have written an episode featuring both of their characters, as well as their Cupid co-star Jeremy Piven. Additionally, an episode featured a brief glance at a website of high school basketball statistics, with a high school named "Trevor Hale".
• The name "Trevor Hale" is an anagram for "Lover Hater" and "Heart Lover."
• Trevor says "Let's hug it out, you little freaks!" in one episode. Jeremy Piven would later portray Ari Gold on Entourage with a famous catchphrase, "Let's hug it out bitch", which was originally ad-libbed by Piven himself.
• Anna Chlumsky was in both the 1998 TV series as Jill, and the 2009 version as Josie.

See also

• List of Cupid episodes

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Cupid

• Cupid at the Internet Movie Database
• Cupid at TV.com
• Creator Rob Thomas’s site, including show synopsis, reviews and scripts for unaired episodes.
• Entry on epguides.com
• Variety story" "ABC to give 'Cupid' another shot"
• CUPID fansite
• The Hollywood Reporter Article ABC greenlights Thomas' 'Cupid'