Ever After (character bible)

For the challenge: create, cast, and write 5000 words of an original TV show.

Show title: Ever After

Premise: How do you actually live happily ever after? A new gay couple and their friends deal with kids, aging, dating, new relationships, old ones—how to keep a relationship going once its begun. A family drama.

Episode titles and themes reference fairy tale themes and ideas (white knights, princesses in towers, coming to someone’s rescue, being pure in heart.) Episodes sometimes have cameos from writers (for instance, a pivotal episode will involve Neil Gaiman reading “Instructions.”)

Main Characters
Joseph York | David Hewlett
Benedict Crawford | Matt Rippy
Ethan Crawford | Rob Benedict
Madeline Crawford | Ellen Page
Dylan Griffiths | Gareth David-Lloyd

Supporting Characters
Auburn Todd | Amy Sedaris
Gage McCoy | Jonathon Young
Harrison Underwood | Wallace Shawn
Nora Underwood | Amber Benson
Julie Cho | Sandra Oh
Sullivan Tate | Omar Epps

Reoccuring Characters
Cecilia York | Jean Smart
Anna York | Kate Hewlett
Tucker Hughes | Kevin Smith

Character Bios

Joseph York is an English professor at a small but respected liberal arts university (modeled after Dr. Henry Jenkins), who specializes folklore, particularly fairy tales and their reinterpretations in pop culture.

Ben is the love of his life, which he finds a bit terrifying even though he’s happier than he’s ever been. He worries that his study of stories has warped his view of relationships, and he tries to view his personal “happily ever after” with an objective eye.

Ben Crawford is in love with Joseph and is ready to make a life with him. He finds Joseph’s worries about expecting too much of a fairy tale amusing, though he also wonders if they can really have a long-term relationship in the modern world. He spends a lot of time worrying about his sister Madeline and his brother Ethan: he’s been their parental figure for several years.

Ethan is Ben and Madeline’s middle sibling. He’s searching for his identity in many ways: what he wants to do for a living and what he wants in a lover.

Madeline Crawford Griffiths is the youngest sister of the family. Independent and creative, and probably the most mature person in the cast.

Dylan Griffiths came to America to make it as a musician, but somehow ended up with a young wife and a baby on the way.

Auburn Todd is Joseph’s best friend and a department secretary at the university. She tells herself she’s jaded, but she’s still got a romantic streak and wants a happily ever after of her own.

A fellow professor at Joseph’s university.

Joseph’s department head and mentor. He considers himself living proof that life is no less confusing at 60 than it is at 20. He and Madeline have a surprisingly close relationship as well.

Harrison’s daughter, a PhD candidate who only feels at home in front of a classroom.

A fellow professor at the university. She and Ethan have an ongoing flirtation, but she wants to be more than anyone’s bit on the side.

A fellow professor at the university. He is courting Auburn so subtly she doesn’t realize it.

Joseph’s mother. She and Harrison have periodic flings when she visits Joseph.

Joseph’s sister. Sweet but scattered, she causes upheaval when she visits the York-Crawford household.

Tucker runs a local comics shop. He’s Joseph’s favorite sounding board about both pop culture and relationship advice.