Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane

1 9 9 9 – 2 0 0 0 (USA)
26 x 30 minute episodes

This teenage variation of Friends focused on the social lives of four upper-middle-class kids who attended Fielding Mellish Prep, a private high school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Zoe (Selma Blair) was earnest, sincere, and something of a dreamer; curly-haired Duncan (David Moscow) had a temper, was uptight, and couldn’t find girls to date; and cool Jack (Michael Rosenbaum) and “plain” Jane (Azura Skye) were twins –  although he was self-assured, she sarcastic and insecure.

Jane and Zoe confided in each other about everything –  boys, food, clothes, school, etc

The four of them hung out in a Greenwich Village coffeehouse called Café N after school. They were also frequently seen in subway stations around Manhattan, and in between scenes, viewers were shown a subway map indicating their movements from home to school to their hang-out in the Village.

When the show returned for its second season in January 2000, the title was shortened to Zoe…; the traditional subway map scenes were gone, and events had moved on three years from the first series.

Zoe and her friends – except for Duncan – were now in college, and all had moved out of their family homes. Jane was Zoe’s roommate, and Jack was Duncan’s.

Zoe worked part-time as a hostess at The Shanghai Chinese restaurant where Jane waited tables and Doug, an aspiring playwright, was the bartender. Duncan worked for a company designing Internet home pages for businesses.

At the end of February, the guys got a fancy apartment at a low rent by working as the building supers – but it didn’t work out. In the spring, Zoe started dating Duncan’s boss, Andy (Hamilton Von Watts), and the three dots were dropped from the title.

Zoe Bean
Selma Blair
Duncan Milch
David Moscow
Jack Cooper
Michael Rosenbaum
Jane Cooper
Azura Skye
Iris Bean
Mary Page Keller
Breeny Kennedy
Sara Rue
Doug McArthur Anderson
Omar Gooding
Andy
Hamilton Von Watts