She is obsessed with the idea of achieving fame through the use of social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter, where she regularly posts selfies.

She begins to worry that "friending" people online is not a substitute for real friendship, and she seeks help from co-worker Henry Higgs, a marketing image guru.

Emily Kapnek explained, “We kind of came into the 'Pygmalion' element from behind.” She continued, "We started off talking about relationships, shows and potentially romantic comedies, and what the modern obstacles are.

The presence of the ever-present phone and laptop and tablets at dinner tables and bedrooms and every sort of occasion… We learned that there was inherently a Pygmalion aspect, and we embraced it.”[43] It was reported on February 18, 2014 that Karen Gillan would star as Eliza Dooley.

The creator, Emily Kapnek said, "We looked at tons of different actors, and really once we kind of opened our minds and said let’s get off of what we think Henry is supposed to be and just talk about who is, we just need a brilliant actor—and John [Cho]’s name came up."

[51][52] Julie Anne Robinson, one of the directors and executive producers who later worked on Bridgerton, advocated casting Cho[53] and had to persuade "top to bottom of everybody in that chain" that he was the perfect choice for the role, which took a long time to consider.

[58] Since Karen Gillan was filming Guardians of the Galaxy at the time, she had to shave her head for the role of Nebula and then wear a wig as Eliza on Selfie.

[62] In the sixth episode, "Never Block Cookies" written by Brian Rubenstein and aired before the cancellation was announced, the writer described the behind the scenes with Gillan and Cho's characters, Eliza and Henry, having an intimate moment, which lead to an almost kiss.

Just the chemistry between those two was really cool to watch; it felt that way on set.”[63] After the show was canceled, a fan campaign was created and the remaining six filmed episodes of Selfie were released on the ABC website and Hulu on November 25, 2014 until May 2015.

I can’t speak to the business side of things recovering or ratings growing or whatever that is, but it does suck that we are on such a short leash—and we all do feel it, but at the same time there’s nothing we can do about it.”[63] Rubenstein was surprised Selfie was still being brought up even long after the show was finished.

[67] The studio created character social media profiles for Eliza Dooley under the handle @The_Doolio on Twitter and Instagram to promote the show and encourage fan engagement.

She also tweeted a picture of herself with her boyfriend using the same pose as actors on the show depicting a similar relationship as a White-American woman and Asian-American man highlighting that representation in media is important.

On that same day, Guy Aoki, founder of Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), pitched in to help with the cause by contacting ABC President Paul Lee and diversity head Tim McNeal inquiring what could be done to save the show.

"[81] However, in the following year he favored and renewed other shows with declining ratings such as Marvel’s Agent Carter, Galavant and American Crime giving them more time to grow their audience instead.

[82] Aoki noted that Selfie series trended on Twitter in the Los Angeles area peaking at #5 with 50,000 tweets about the show in a month.

After Johnson attended a meeting with MANAA, she attempted to contact the Warner Brothers president at the time, Peter Roth, since the show was produced by the same company.

However, persistent efforts from the fans helped push the online release of the remaining episodes sooner than normally expected, which was about two weeks after the cancellation.

[8] And in another case, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, also previously canceled by the same network, it took about four months to release its remaining episodes after the show left the air.

"[87] Vanity Fair remarked, "Selfie was cancelled just when it was getting great..The fizz-pop chemistry between Karen Gillan and John Cho is not to be missed.

[100][77] In December 2019, Megan Vick from TV Guide stated, "Selfie remains the best turnaround of the decade, that we started to appreciate too late.

"[12] In September 2020, Kirby Beaton of BuzzFeed published an article titled "Selfie Was The Millennial Show We All Needed And I Miss It Every Damn Day.

"[102] In August 2021, Elizabeth Logan of Glamour reviewed a romantic comedy film, He's All That, but also brought up Selfie stating its premise was perhaps ahead of its time.

"[103] In January 2022, Lyvie Scott of Slash Film commented, "A 'Selfie' reprisal would have plenty to play with — and it wouldn't hurt to see Gillan and Cho pick up their fantastic rapport once more.

[104][105] When the cancellation was announced, dedicated fans attempted to revive the show by displaying their support on social media with hashtag #SaveSelfie,[71] email messages, phone calls,[11] $1000 donation to UNICEF on Crowdrise,[77][76][78] and a change.org petition with over 65,000 signatures.

[109] In July 2015 at a Nerd HQ event, actor Alan Tudyk recommended Selfie to the audience and highly praised Gillan by saying, "I don't know what goes on with ABC and all the Warner Brothers.

"[110][111] In January 2018, in an interview with John Cho on one of NPR's podcasts, Pop Culture Happy Hour, Linda Holmes said, "People still really miss and talk about Selfie.

[113] In a January 2019 Bustle interview, Gillan also supported the thought of making a movie version so that Henry and Eliza's story could have closure.

She also noted that the more she meets fans of the show, she realized how important having John Cho as a romantic Asian male lead on American television and was proud of that achievement.

[126] Actress and producer Liu Yuxin from Stars Collective[136] posted an image of the main actors, Karen Gillan and John Cho on March 17, 2023.

[140] In January 2024, Liu was asked if there's a chance for Selfie to return, she replied that Warner Brothers will not release the copyright, but she will try her best to communicate with the original cast and crew to create another story.