Second Noah
Encyclopedia
Second Noah is a television drama that was broadcast in the United States
on ABC
television from February 5, 1996 to June 8, 1997
as Noah Beckett, whose wife Jesse (Betsy Brantley
) was a veterinarian
at Busch Gardens
in Florida
. Noah was a former basketball
coach who was now a writer working on a second book, to be entitled The Ark, after his first effort has sold over 2,000,000 copies. Noah and Jesse had a tendency to take in both stray animals and stray children, having adopted eight.
). He had fathered a child, Ben (Gemini Barnett), when he was fourteen with his girlfriend Kaylie. Noah and Jesse adopted Ben. Kaylie, daughter of a wealthy family, left town during her pregnancy and did not return until after Ben's birth; Kaylie's own father is not aware that she has ever been pregnant or had a child. Ricky and Kaylie were not together for most of the series. Instead, Ricky was with Darby, played by Joey Lauren Adams
.
The series pilot tells the story of how the Becketts came to adopt children #7 and 8, Roxanna and Luis. Starting with the first non-pilot episode of the show, Roxanna and Luis are played by different actors, Erika Page and Jeffrey Licon
respectively. Roxanna is not immediately accepted at her new high school and she and Ricky develop a friendship as he tries to stand up for her. Luis is a chronic liar who tells everyone that Julio Iglesias
is his father.
Ranny and Danny, played by Jon and Jeremy Torgerson, are twins a little younger than Ricky and Roxanna. They have also been adopted by the Becketts for the longest. Ranny is more of a "bad boy" who searches for his birth parents. Danny is quieter and shy.
Bethany (Zelda Harris
- although RuDee Lipscomb played the role of Bethany in the pilot episode) and Hannah (Ashley Gorrell) are the same age but Hannah was adopted later. They are very close to each other and this is highlighted by the fact that Hannah rarely speaks outside of the family and Bethany must speak for her in various situations. Hannah's mother kept her locked in a closet with little human contact prior to her adoption by the Becketts and she continues to seek comfort by hiding in closets during stressful situations. Later in the series, a man is introduced whom Bethany believes to be her father, though the show remains agnostic on the truth of that claim. It is worthwhile to note that Bethany is Black and Hannah is White and racial tensions are often explored around these characters.
In the pilot, the Becketts find a housekeeper, Shirley (Deidre O'Connell), who becomes part of the family. Her son, JoJo, appears in town at some point and we learn that he used to be a drug addict and that Shirley blames him for the death of her other son, Robbie (Russell Breslow). Shirley believed that Robbie got the drugs that killed him from JoJo. There is a romance between Roxanna and Shirley's son in four episodes, "The Big Hurt"; "Faith Hope and Charity"; "Slings and Arrows"; and "The Choice".
In episode 9, "The Big Chief", when Jesse explained to her father why she and Noah had no biological children, she mentioned how, when on a romantic getaway in New Orleans they saw "a newspaper article about two twins whose mother had abandoned them", which means that both Ranny and Danny were the first to be adopted. In episode 7, "Ghost Story", Noah and Jesse reminisce on how they adopted Bethany at "two and a half years old", when they saw her "singing for her supper on the corner of Brighten and Broadway" in Tampa. Since Ranny and Danny are only two years older than Bethany, it is clear that Bethany was adopted second.
It is vague as to when they adopted Ricky and Hannah, because there is no direct quote explaining it. We know that Ricky fathered Ben at fourteen which was some while after he, himself was adopted. As far as Hannah is concerned, we know that she was adopted at least a year or two before her appearance in the pilot, because of her close relationship with Bethany.
After Ben was born, we were told in episode 19 ("Heart Matters") that Jesse and Noah picked him up from the adoption agency in Boston right after he was born. The reason he was born in Boston is because Kaylie was sent there to boarding school. She did not return for four years, namely the episode "Heart Matters." Luis and Roxanna were the last to be adopted. Luis was first, since in the Pilot, Jesse and Noah were still trying to find Roxanna.
Therefore, the adoption order is as follows:
At the news of the pregnancy, several people in the house were upset. Bethany was worried that she would become an outcast because of her skin color. She said to Jesse during a private moment, "It's gonna look like you, isn't it?". Ricky was upset, because he figured Noah and Jesse would begin to treat all of them differently. He knew for himself how it felt to biologically father a child, and he was certain that there would be a rift within the family when the baby was born. Ben was upset, because he was no longer going to be the youngest. He even went as far as opening all the animal pins, one of which he let out a bull, which trampled Jesse in her attempt to rescue Ben from danger. Luis was upset, because, as Ranny and Danny stated, "Luis, have you ever heard of the phrase, 'Last hired, first fired.'?" Since he and Roxanna were the last to be adopted, he worried that they would get rid of them on the arrival of the baby.
Since we never got to see the child born due to the show's cancellation, there is no definite way to know the baby's sex. Yet, in episode 14, "God's Last Laugh", Shirley reveals that she, along with the rest of the household, did the "hang the needle test, and the needle don't lie." The needle test said that the baby was going to be a girl. Earlier in the episode, Jesse had the same hunch when she came home from the hospital. She is quoted as saying, "She's gonna be ok. I know she's gonna be ok..." to which Noah replied, "She?"
In the final episode, Jesse feels the baby kick for the first time.
in a house near Bayshore Boulevard. The city of Tampa received a million dollars from SN's production there. After the show was picked up for season one the location was moved to another Floridian style home on a lake on N. Boulevard in North Tampa where it remained until the series demise.
canceled it due to low ratings.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television from February 5, 1996 to June 8, 1997
Premise
The series starred Daniel Hugh KellyDaniel Hugh Kelly
Daniel Hugh Kelly is an American stage, film and television actor. He may be best known for his role on the 1980s ABC TV series Hardcastle and McCormick from 1983-1986 for which he also wrote and directed...
as Noah Beckett, whose wife Jesse (Betsy Brantley
Betsy Brantley
Betsy Brantley is an American actress.Brantley was born Rutherfordton, North Carolina. She is the older sister of producer/screenwriter Duncan Brantley, and formerly married to Simon Dutton and Steven Soderbergh....
) was a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
at Busch Gardens
Busch Gardens
Busch Gardens is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of Blackstone Group. One of the parks is in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the other is in Tampa, Florida...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Noah was a former basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach who was now a writer working on a second book, to be entitled The Ark, after his first effort has sold over 2,000,000 copies. Noah and Jesse had a tendency to take in both stray animals and stray children, having adopted eight.
Characters
Their oldest adopted child was Ricky (James MarsdenJames Marsden
James Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...
). He had fathered a child, Ben (Gemini Barnett), when he was fourteen with his girlfriend Kaylie. Noah and Jesse adopted Ben. Kaylie, daughter of a wealthy family, left town during her pregnancy and did not return until after Ben's birth; Kaylie's own father is not aware that she has ever been pregnant or had a child. Ricky and Kaylie were not together for most of the series. Instead, Ricky was with Darby, played by Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams is an American actress who has appeared in more than thirty films. She is known for her distinctive, raspy voice and for her roles in View Askewniverse films, particularly Mallrats and Chasing Amy, with the latter giving her a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination.-Career:She...
.
The series pilot tells the story of how the Becketts came to adopt children #7 and 8, Roxanna and Luis. Starting with the first non-pilot episode of the show, Roxanna and Luis are played by different actors, Erika Page and Jeffrey Licon
Jeffrey Licon
Jeffrey 'Jeff' Licon is an American actor most notable for his role as Carlos Garcia on the Nickelodeon show, The Brothers García....
respectively. Roxanna is not immediately accepted at her new high school and she and Ricky develop a friendship as he tries to stand up for her. Luis is a chronic liar who tells everyone that Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva , better known simply as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best selling music artists in history,...
is his father.
Ranny and Danny, played by Jon and Jeremy Torgerson, are twins a little younger than Ricky and Roxanna. They have also been adopted by the Becketts for the longest. Ranny is more of a "bad boy" who searches for his birth parents. Danny is quieter and shy.
Bethany (Zelda Harris
Zelda Harris
Zelda Harris is an American actress.Harris was born in New York City, New York to Karen and Philip Harris. She has a sister, Kenya. She attended Princeton University, where she was a member of the Class of 2007.- Filmography :...
- although RuDee Lipscomb played the role of Bethany in the pilot episode) and Hannah (Ashley Gorrell) are the same age but Hannah was adopted later. They are very close to each other and this is highlighted by the fact that Hannah rarely speaks outside of the family and Bethany must speak for her in various situations. Hannah's mother kept her locked in a closet with little human contact prior to her adoption by the Becketts and she continues to seek comfort by hiding in closets during stressful situations. Later in the series, a man is introduced whom Bethany believes to be her father, though the show remains agnostic on the truth of that claim. It is worthwhile to note that Bethany is Black and Hannah is White and racial tensions are often explored around these characters.
In the pilot, the Becketts find a housekeeper, Shirley (Deidre O'Connell), who becomes part of the family. Her son, JoJo, appears in town at some point and we learn that he used to be a drug addict and that Shirley blames him for the death of her other son, Robbie (Russell Breslow). Shirley believed that Robbie got the drugs that killed him from JoJo. There is a romance between Roxanna and Shirley's son in four episodes, "The Big Hurt"; "Faith Hope and Charity"; "Slings and Arrows"; and "The Choice".
Order of adoption
According to various conversations throughout episodes, the order of the children's adoption is as follows:In episode 9, "The Big Chief", when Jesse explained to her father why she and Noah had no biological children, she mentioned how, when on a romantic getaway in New Orleans they saw "a newspaper article about two twins whose mother had abandoned them", which means that both Ranny and Danny were the first to be adopted. In episode 7, "Ghost Story", Noah and Jesse reminisce on how they adopted Bethany at "two and a half years old", when they saw her "singing for her supper on the corner of Brighten and Broadway" in Tampa. Since Ranny and Danny are only two years older than Bethany, it is clear that Bethany was adopted second.
It is vague as to when they adopted Ricky and Hannah, because there is no direct quote explaining it. We know that Ricky fathered Ben at fourteen which was some while after he, himself was adopted. As far as Hannah is concerned, we know that she was adopted at least a year or two before her appearance in the pilot, because of her close relationship with Bethany.
After Ben was born, we were told in episode 19 ("Heart Matters") that Jesse and Noah picked him up from the adoption agency in Boston right after he was born. The reason he was born in Boston is because Kaylie was sent there to boarding school. She did not return for four years, namely the episode "Heart Matters." Luis and Roxanna were the last to be adopted. Luis was first, since in the Pilot, Jesse and Noah were still trying to find Roxanna.
Therefore, the adoption order is as follows:
- 1. Ranny (Randolph Samson)
- 2. Danny (Daniel Samson) (as told in episode three, "Close Encounters")
- 3. Bethany
- 4. Ricky (or Hannah)
- 5. Hannah (or Ricky)
- 6. Ben
- 7. Luis
- 8. Roxanna
Animals
Many animals have had major roles in various episodes. In episode 2, "Hoops and Dreams", Jesse took care of a monkey named "Caesar" after his mother, "Chloe" had died. In episode 4, "Stormy Weather", an alligator came into the house through a dog door during Hurricane Betsy. There was also another alligator who almost attacked Luis when he was trying to find their pet pig, Homer. In episode 10, an African Gray, a rare bird, was found and Jesse brought it home to be Ben's pet. In episode 11, "A Dog's Life", Ricky saves an abused dog (Buddy) from his owner. In episode 17, "Slings and Arrows", Jesse is concerned about two rhinos who, like herself at one point, had trouble conceiving.Jesse's pregnancy
In episode 14, it was revealed the Jessie, who was suffering from a "mysterious ailment" in the previous episode ("Fly Like a Bird"), was finally pregnant at 41 years of age. She revealed that the conception took place when both she and Noah visited New Orleans in episode 4, "Stormy Weather." This pregnancy was a major change in the series, because the basic premise for why Jesse and Noah adopted so many children was because of her infertility.At the news of the pregnancy, several people in the house were upset. Bethany was worried that she would become an outcast because of her skin color. She said to Jesse during a private moment, "It's gonna look like you, isn't it?". Ricky was upset, because he figured Noah and Jesse would begin to treat all of them differently. He knew for himself how it felt to biologically father a child, and he was certain that there would be a rift within the family when the baby was born. Ben was upset, because he was no longer going to be the youngest. He even went as far as opening all the animal pins, one of which he let out a bull, which trampled Jesse in her attempt to rescue Ben from danger. Luis was upset, because, as Ranny and Danny stated, "Luis, have you ever heard of the phrase, 'Last hired, first fired.'?" Since he and Roxanna were the last to be adopted, he worried that they would get rid of them on the arrival of the baby.
Since we never got to see the child born due to the show's cancellation, there is no definite way to know the baby's sex. Yet, in episode 14, "God's Last Laugh", Shirley reveals that she, along with the rest of the household, did the "hang the needle test, and the needle don't lie." The needle test said that the baby was going to be a girl. Earlier in the episode, Jesse had the same hunch when she came home from the hospital. She is quoted as saying, "She's gonna be ok. I know she's gonna be ok..." to which Noah replied, "She?"
In the final episode, Jesse feels the baby kick for the first time.
Filming location
The series Pilot episode was actually filmed in its setting of Tampa, FloridaTampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
in a house near Bayshore Boulevard. The city of Tampa received a million dollars from SN's production there. After the show was picked up for season one the location was moved to another Floridian style home on a lake on N. Boulevard in North Tampa where it remained until the series demise.
Cancellation
Second Noah was canceled in 1997. ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
canceled it due to low ratings.
Resurrection
In early 1997, Second Noah was cancelled for the first time. After many fan letters to ABC Executives, the show was extended for three weeks (May 25, 1997; June 1, 1997; and June 8, 1997) with three final episodes. All three of these episodes took place at Disney World Resort in Orlando, FloridaOrlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
.