''Cupid'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Rob Thomas that aired on ABC from September 26, 1998 to February 11, 1999 and which featured

Paula Marshall Paula Marshall (born June 12, 1964) is an American actress. Career In 1990, Marshall had a guest role as Iris West, the love interest of Flash (Barry Allen) in the pilot episode on the short-lived '' Flash''. In 1991, she guest-starred on ''Supe ...

as Dr. Claire Allen, a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

psychologist who is given charge of a man named Trevor Hale (

Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series '' Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the Britis ...

). Hale believes he is Cupid, sent down from

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

to connect 100 couples without using his powers, as a punishment for his arrogance. Originally broadcast on ABC on Saturday evenings at 10 p.m. EST, the show lasted one season.

Plot

Trevor Hale is attractive, witty, uncommonly intelligent—and he may be Cupid, the Greco-Roman god of erotic love. Probably not, but he thinks so. Trevor's insistence that he is Cupid lands him in a mental hospital, where he meets psychologist Claire Allen, a renowned authority on romance. Trevor tells Claire that he has been stripped of his godly powers by Zeus, and exiled from Mount Olympus as a punishment for arrogance. To win his way back among the gods, Trevor must unite 100 couples in everlasting love, without his bow and arrows. Claire does not believe in Cupid, but she risks her career by releasing Trevor from the hospital, assuming responsibility for his behavior. Trevor finds work as a bartender, and regularly disrupts Claire's group therapy sessions. All the while, he plots his campaign to promote romance, and earn his way back to Olympus. While encouraging sexual abandon in others, Trevor remains chaste; he believes sex with a mortal will confine him to Earth forever.

Cast

Main

as Cupid / Trevor Hale *

as Dr. Claire Allen * Jeffrey D. Sams as Champ Terrace

Recurring

Paul Adelstein Paul Adelstein (born April 29, 1969) is an American actor and writer, known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the ABC medical drama '' Private Prac ...

as Mike * Noelle Bou-Sliman as Tina * Daniel Bryant as Laurence * Melanie Deanne Moore as Jaclyn *

Jeffrey Vincent Parise Jeffrey Vincent Parise is an American actor and artist. Some of his more notable roles include Asmodeus in ''Supernatural'', Carlos Rivera and Carlos' twin brother Joe Rivera on the ABC soap opera ''General Hospital,'' and Wayne in Anna Bille ...

as Nick * Geryll Robinson as Chris

Notable guest stars

Joe Flanigan Joe Flanigan (born January 5, 1967) is an American writer and actor best known for his portrayal of the character John Sheppard (Stargate), Major/Lt. Colonel John Sheppard in ''Stargate Atlantis''. Early life Flanigan was born Joseph Dunnigan II ...

as Alex *

Hollis Resnik Hollis Resnik (1955 – April 17, 2022) was an American singer and actress, especially in stage musicals. Biography Raised in Euclid, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), as a young girl she studied piano and took voice lessons and performed with the Cl ...

as Linda *

Tim DeKay Timothy Robert DeKay (born June 12, 1963) is an American actor. He starred in the USA Network series '' White Collar'' (2009–2014) Early life Tim DeKay was born June 12, 1963, to Jim DeKay and Jill Vaughn in Lansing, New York, where he and ...

Connie Britton Constance Elaine Britton ( Womack; born March 6, 1967) is an American actress. Britton made her feature film debut in the independent comedy-drama film '' The Brothers McMullen'' (1995), and the following year, she was cast as Nikki Faber on th ...

Laura Leighton Laura Diane Leighton is an American actress. She played Sydney Andrews on the television series '' Melrose Place'' (1993–1997) and its continuation (2009–2010), and Ashley Marin on Freeform's series ''Pretty Little Liars'' (2010–2017). ...

Lisa Loeb Lisa Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with the number 1 hit song "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites,'' the first number 1 single for an artist ...

Tiffani Thiessen Tiffani Amber Thiessen (born January 23, 1974) is an American actress who starred as Kelly Kapowski on NBC's ''Saved by the Bell'' (1989–1993), as Valerie Malone on Fox's ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1994–98), and as Lori on Netflix's ''Alexa ...

Episodes

Fifteen episodes were produced, and fourteen episodes were aired. Two additional episodes titled "Company Pier" and "Chapter Six" were scripted, but were never filmed.

Production

In an ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' article from December 2004, creator Rob Thomas mentions that the show would have ended with Trevor and Claire becoming Trevor's 100th match—and without revealing whether Trevor really was Cupid.

Staff

* Rob Thomas – Creator, executive producer, supervising producer *

Scott Winant Scott Winant is an American television director and producer. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television prod ...

– Executive producer, director * Joe Voci – Executive producer * Scott Sanders – Executive producer * Jeff Reno – Executive producer * Ron Osborn – Executive producer *

Hart Hanson Hart Hanson (born July 26, 1957) is an American-born television writer and producer, as well as an author. His family moved to Canada when he was a child. He received a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a MFA from the University of Britis ...

– Co-Executive Producer * W.G. "Snuffy" Walden – Composer

Reception

E! Online named Cupid as #4 on its "Top Ten Shows Cancelled Before Their Time".

Show revival

ABC and Rob Thomas brought ''Cupid'' back to the airwaves with an October 2007 deal for which scripts and production were approved in March 2008. The series was relocated to New York City and cast Bobby Cannavale">Rob Thomas’s Site - need the original sources... -->

Show revival

ABC and Rob Thomas brought ''Cupid'' back to the airwaves with an October 2007 deal for which scripts and production were approved in March 2008. The series was relocated to New York City and cast Bobby Cannavale
as Trevor and Sarah Paulson as Claire. Only seven episodes of the revival series aired, from March 31 – June 16, 2009.

References

External links

* *
Creator Rob Thomas’s site
including show synopsis, reviews and scripts for unaired episodes.
CUPID
fansite {{DEFAULTSORT:Cupid (1998 Tv Series) American Broadcasting Company original programming 1990s American comedy-drama television series 1998 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Chicago