Rocky Mountain High

One of those people was Williams. ''If I had turned back to the front page [of the script] and seen the words 'Written by Frank Capra,' I wouldn't have been surprised,'' says the actor over lunch at a cafe near his rented home in Park City, Utah. Williams secured his role shortly after meeting with Berlanti and Liddell last fall. Smith, however, needed a makeover before he could close the deal on Ephram.

''The note I got [from the producers] was that I wasn't the 'WB type,''' says Smith, a lean and wiry teen with slightly askew good looks. ''I'm kind of like a slob, I guess. My hair was all long and messed up, my face was all broken out, and I was wearing, like, a dirty T-shirt and ripped jeans. They gave me a hard time for that, so I had to clean up for the last audition.''

Beyond styling secrets, it's difficult to tease future plot developments out of this bunch, which is probably for the best; ''Everwood'' has demonstrated a tendency for twisty character revelations, like the recent episode where Delia's bullying buddy Magilla is revealed to have been born a hermaphrodite. (The gender politics of this story line are a bit lost on 9-year-old Cardone: ''He's a boy and he plays with dolls secretly. First I see the bad side of him, but the more I get to know him, I see the good side to him. So...well, that's it.'')

Berlanti says he has a multiyear master plan for ''Everwood,'' including a juicy town secret that will start being teased toward the end of the season. ''I'd give you a clever hint that would be interesting but wouldn't give it away,'' says Berlanti, ''but I'm not smart enough.''

Back on the set, in between takes of his cheesy tête-à-tête with Smith, Williams mulls the appeal of his hit show. ''I think there's a yearning for places that are clean, pure, innocent,'' he says. ''I know I feel that. And I think that's what people see in 'Everwood.''' Later, Smith offers his own, slightly less ''Our Town''-ish thoughts on the drama's success. ''I remember after the pilot aired, all my friends called me,'' says Smith. ''I had worked really hard on that show. Had a big fight scene at school, had these intense arguments with Treat. But all they could say is, 'Ha-ha. Nice wet dream, Greg!' That's all my friends took away from it.''

WHO'S WHO IN EVERWOOD

AMY ABBOTT (Emily VanCamp) The girl of Ephram's linen-soiling dreams. She befriended him hoping his dad would fix her comatose boyfriend; now she digs him.

DR. HAROLD ABBOTT (Tom Amandes) Filled with Dr. Brown envy, which dates back to medical school. Still, he's a great dad to Amy and Bright.

EDNA HARPER (Debra Mooney) Dr. Abbott's chopper-ridin' Vietnam-vet mom. That she's Dr. Brown's nurse only fuels Abbott's resentment toward her. (See: Irv)

IRV HARPER (John Beasley) ''Everwood'''s mysterious, writerly narrator. Also drives the school bus. He and Edna married just weeks after Abbott's father died.

BRIGHT ABBOTT (Chris Pratt) Amy's dim-witted jock brother; Everwood's No. 1 Ephram hater. Suspected source of the ''gonorrhea of the throat'' outbreak.

COLIN, A.K.A. ''COMABOYFRIEND'' (Mike Erwin) He and Bright were hanging out the night of his car accident. (What isn't Bright telling?) Will he awaken?