Scott Foley was cast as Ben on the show, but the producers could not find anyone to play Noel, so they asked him to take that role while they found a different actor for Ben.
In one episode, Noel tells Felicity that he's working on his website, www.noelcrane.com. This was an actual website that included a dorm calendar, dorm party photos, samples from Noel's portfolio, and other details related to Noel's life. The site was updated a few times. The site's ownership has since changed hands and the content has been revised. However, it still looks like Noel's life. The computer script that "runs" at the beginning is a set of instructions for how to be Noel.
For the second season, star Keri Russell cut her long hair short, and the network moved the show to Sunday nights. Ratings declined. The network blamed it on Russell's hair, not the move to Sundays, and required the rest of the cast not to cut their hair. On both sets of DVDs recently released by the WB, it is mentioned numerous times that Felicity cutting her hair was written into the script by Abrams and Reeves. Keri Russell did not do it on her own.
In 1999, a publicly hyped young writer for the show, Riley Weston, was revealed as a deceiver because she claimed to be much younger than she really was. At the age of 32, she began to market herself to TV studios as a recent high school graduate, posing her husband as her older brother. She was soon hired by the WB Network as a writer for Felicity. Praised as a young writer, she appeared on Entertainment Weekly in the 1998 list of "100 Most Creative People in Entertainment," which described her as an up-and-coming nineteen-year-old. Shortly thereafter, she was offered a six-figure scenario writing arrangement with Disney. Her real identity and age became visible after a Felicity producer checked her social security number. Shortly thereafter her contract with WB expired and was not renewed, and her deal with Disney fell through.
In season one, episode 5 (Spooked), Felicity sees Ben kissing a girl in a pink Power Ranger costume at the Halloween party. Amy Jo Johnson (Julie) previously played the pink Power Ranger in the Power Ranger series and movies.