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withered-rose-with-thorns · 6 days ago

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secret girlfriends™

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daenerys-stormborn · 11 months ago

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Seasmoke claiming Addam House of the Dragon | 2.06 "Smallfolk"

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selfieignite · 8 days ago

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Selfie (2014) - Easter eggs & trivia

Selfie (2014), starring Karen Gillan and John Cho, is a modern adaptation of My Fair Lady (musical film) / Pygmalion (play).

Eliza Dooley = Eliza Doolittle

Henry Higgs = Henry Higgins

Freddy = Freddy Eynsford-Hill

Doctor Who connections

Karen Gillan was in Doctor Who with two different roles. In 2008, she played Mira the Soothsayer in the episode, "The Fires of Pompeii" and in 2013-2015, she was Amy Pond, a companion to the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith.

David Harewood also appeared in Doctor Who as Joshua Naismith in 2009.

Karen is Scottish and David is English, but both use American accents in Selfie.

Two Prues

There are two actresses for Prue. The first image is from the pilot, which was shot separately from the rest of the series. Prue #1 was played by Genevieve Geoghan who was also a production assistant.

In the following episodes, Prue #2 was played by Kelsey Ford/Ledgin (second image) who became a permanent part of the book club.

Fan shout-out

During the broadcast, fans were entered in a drawing if they live tweeted about the show. Some lucky winners were featured in episode 7: “Here’s This Guy.” (not all pictured) The cast was live tweeting too!

Also, if you see a Doctor Who reference, it’s most likely a fan’s screen name. I also recognized the costume designer’s handle towards the end of the episode, so there might be more crew members listed.

Real life details

Charmonique's actress, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, also went to Yale University in real life and that detail was mentioned in episode 4, "Nugget of Wisdom."

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Episode: Nugget of Wisdom

A Red Dalek toy was featured in the background, which is a villain character on Doctor Who.

Episode: Never Block Cookies

John Cho's real life wife, Kerri Higuchi, was featured in this episode. She played Michelle, the fill-in barista who was flirting with Henry Higgs.

In the same episode, co-workers assume Henry has trouble with intimacy or dating. He reads The Counterlife by Philip Roth, which has a character also named Henry who is impotent because of his heart medication. Both have the same name and intimacy issues.

Episode: Perestroika

There is a reference to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Eliza Dooley mirrors Holly Golightly as she opens the door. Audrey Hepburn plays Holly and also Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. The book club in the next scene shows that they were having a Breakfast at Tiffany's birthday theme party for Bryn.

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Karen Gillan wore a wig on Selfie. Since she had to shave her head for the role of Nebula on Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Marvel had the Star Wars costume department make a wig for Karen using her real hair.

In the Selfie pilot, she wore two wigs: one wig before the makeunder scene and another wig with her real hair after the makeunder. Karen used her personal wig for the rest of the show.

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Chinese fandom

The show got more popular on Chinese social media around 2021. Better known as 再造淑女 (Remaking a Lady or Reinvented Lady). Fans created video edits, fan art, and even English study guides using episode scripts. Selfie is somewhat similar to Korean and Chinese dramas, where the romance is more of a slow burn.

There's a Chinese meme (山猪吃不了细糠) that literally translates to "A wild boar can't eat fine bran." It means that someone who is rough or unrefined (like a wild boar) doesn't appreciate or can't handle something delicate or refined (like fine bran). This suggests that a person is not suited for something subtle or sophisticated, or that they can’t appreciate finer things.

A similar English phrase would be "Don't cast your pearls before swine." It's more or less implying that we should not waste good things on people who will not appreciate them or that people who didn't appreciate the show did not have good taste. Many Chinese fans are still sad that there isn't a second season or real ending to Selfie.

Representation matters

Keli Lee was the executive vice president of Talent and Casting at ABC who helped cast John Cho in Flashforward (2009) and Selfie (2014). She also helped find projects for Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy), and more actors.

She also found David Harewood for the character Sam Saperstein, which was originally written as a white Jewish man, but Harewood gave a brilliant and funny performance.

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John Cho is the first romantic Asian male lead in a U.S. romcom series.

Selfie executive producer/director Julie Anne Robinson also had to fight to cast John Cho. She also worked on Bridgerton and Doctor Who.

Julie Anne Robinson: I cast John Cho in Selfie. So that role was imagined as a white upper class Englishman like Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. And it took a really long time to persuade top to bottom of everybody in that chain that John Cho is a perfect choice. And I still love that show and John Cho was the perfect choice, but it’s, you know, it’s sometimes, it’s hard to- If you have a very clear idea of how something should be, it’s hard to kind of get past that.

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@the_doolio jewelry

Different necklace designs of Eliza's username were featured in the show.

Social media

The character Eliza Dooley was on Twitter and Instagram while interacting with fans. Cast members were also active and live-tweeted during episodes. Sometimes either the official show's Twitter account SelfieABC or Karen Gillan would hold contests and give away prizes. At one point, I think they also had a Vine account.

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Two pilots

There are two alternate pilot endings as well as openings. The original version was on ABC and the alternate version was on Hulu. Before the show aired, they posted the full pilot episode of the alternate version (if I remember correctly) on Twitter, which was rare at the time.

New skills

It was John Cho's first time riding a horse.

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