Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW.^[1] The show follows single mother Lorelai Victoria Gilmore (Graham) and her daughter Lorelai "Rory" Leigh Gilmore (Bledel) living in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, located approximately thirty minutes from Hartford, Connecticut.^[2]

As signalled by its tagline "Life's short. Talk Fast", the show is known for its fast-paced dialogue filled with pop-culture references,^[3][4] which has drawn comparisons with the work of writers like Aaron Sorkin.^[5]

The series explores issues of family, friendship and romance, as well as generational divides and social class. Ambition, education and work also form part of the series' central concerns, telling Lorelai's story from pregnant teen runaway and high school dropout to co-owner and manager of the Dragonfly Inn. Rory's transition from public school to the prestigious preparatory school, Chilton, is similarly followed by the series, exploring her ambition to study at an Ivy League college and to become a foreign correspondent. The show's social commentary manifests most clearly in Lorelai's difficult relationship with her wealthy upper-class parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore, and in the interactions between the students at Chilton, and later, Yale University.

The show placed #32 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list,^[6] and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."^[1]

Production

History

The pilot episode of Gilmore Girls received financial support from the script development fund of the Family Friendly Programming Forum, which includes some of the nation's leading advertisers, making it one of the first network shows to reach the air with such funding.^[7]

The show was not a ratings success initially, airing in the tough Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot dominated by Survivor and Friends in its first season. When Gilmore Girls moved to Tuesday, its rating surpassed its time-slot competitor, popular series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which moved to UPN but retained the same timeslot.. In its fifth season, Gilmore Girls became The WB's second most watched prime time show, with viewer numbers which grew by double digits in all major demographics.^[8] In its syndicated release in the United States, the show airs on the ABC Family Channel, and SOAPnet.

On May 3, 2007, The CW announced that the series would not be renewed.^[9][10] According to Variety, "Money was a key factor in the decision, with the parties involved not able to reach a deal on salaries for the main cast members. Other issues, such as number of episodes and production dates, may have also played a role".^[11] Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has expressed an interest in pursuing a Gilmore Girls movie.^[12][13] Lauren Graham has noted that a lot of fans "were disappointed with how it [the series] ended" and commented on the possibility of a follow-up movie.^[14]

In the United Kingdom Gilmore Girls was initially screened on Nickelodeon from 2003. It remains the only hour long series to air on the channel to date. Only the first three seasons were shown, with episodes edited for content and some, like "The Big One," dropped entirely. The series was subsequently picked up by the Hallmark Channel, which gave UK premieres to seasons four and five, and E4, which continues to show all seven seasons in rotation, however cuts are occasionally made to make the program suitable for its early time slot.

In 2003, the WB planned a spin-off featuring Luke Danes's nephew, Jess Mariano, called Windward Circle, in which he gets to know his estranged father, Jimmy, and is befriended by California skateboarders. However, the network canceled the show before it aired, citing high production costs to shoot on location in Venice Beach.^[15] Gilmore Girls season three episode "Here Comes the Son" was effectively a backdoor pilot for the unaired spin-off.

On September 15, 2010, Lauren Graham told Vanity Fair that a Gilmore Girls movie is a definite possibility: "people with power, people who could actually make it happen, are talking about it."^[16][17]

Cultural references

In addition to the fast-paced dialogue, Gilmore Girls is known for its abundant popular culture references. Much of the dialogue is peppered with references to film, television shows, music, literature, and celebrity culture. The relative obscurity of some of these allusions resulted in the production of "Gilmore-isms" booklets included by the WB in many of the series' DVD sets. Subtitled "The 411 on many of the show's witty and memorable wordplays and pop culture references", the booklets also contain comments from the show creators.

Music

Music plays a large part in the show as a frequent topic of conversation between characters and in its appearance in scenes themselves.^[18] The musical tastes of most of the main and recurring characters are revealed at some point, and the two leads have notoriously eclectic but discriminating tastes: both mother and daughter dislike the "nondescript jazz" played at a babyshower, sculpt a snowman in Bjork's image and proclaim Metallica a "great band".^[19] Lorelai famously likes '80s music including The Bangles, XTC, and The Go-Go's and her old bedroom at her parents' home has Duran Duran posters on the walls. Rory is often shown listening to alternative bands, like Pixies, Sonic Youth, Belle and Sebastian and Franz Ferdinand, and expresses her liking for P J Harvey and distaste for Smashing Pumpkins. Rory also swaps CDs with her mother, and credits her with introducing her to new books and music throughout her life in her address as Chilton's valedictorian.^[20] Lane is a music enthusiast, and her list of musical influences runs to five pages when she writes her "drummer-seeks-rock-band" advertisement, which included the Ramones and Jackson Browne.^[21] Lane eventually forms her own band, Hep Alien, an anagram of the Gilmore Girls producer, Helen Pai's, name. The band plays rock with different influences, and Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row, appears as the band's guitarist, Gil.

Various musical acts made guest appearances on the show, from The Bangles, Sonic Youth and The Shins, to Carole King, who re-recorded her 1971 song "Where You Lead" as a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin for the Gilmore Girls theme song. Grant-Lee Phillips appears in at least one episode per season as Grant, the town troubadour, singing his own songs and covers. Lorelai names her dog after singer Paul Anka, and he later appears in her dream sequence in the season six episode 'The Real Paul Anka'. Though she only appears on-screen in one episode ("Partings", 6.22), much of the non-diegetic score is composed and performed by Sam Phillips. In 2002, a soundtrack to the show was released by Rhino Records, entitled Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls. The CD booklet features anecdotes from show producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino about the large part music has played in their lives.

Cast

The season(s) during which each actor has been included in the main cast are marked in black. When a starring actor has also appeared as a guest star in other seasons, this is marked in gray, with the number of guest appearances noted in italics. A white square indicates the actor does not appear in the season.

Main cast

* In the second episode of Season One ('The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton'), Sean Gunn played a character named "Mick", who worked for a telephone company as a DSL installer. Gunn did not return as Mick, but was given a part as Kirk.

Recurring cast

* In the twenty-first episode of Season Three ('Here Comes the Son'), Sherilyn Fenn played a character named "Sasha", the girlfriend of Jess Mariano's estranged father. Fenn did not return as Sasha, but was given a part as Luke's Daughter's Mother, Anna Nardini in Seasons Six and Seven.^[22]

Episodes

Premise

The pilot of Gilmore Girls sets up the premise of the show and a number of its recurrent themes as the audience learns that Lorelai became pregnant with Rory at sixteen but chose not to marry the father, Christopher Hayden. Instead, she moved to Stars Hollow away from her disappointed parents in Hartford and has had only irregular contact with them ever since. Later episodes reveal Lorelai and the infant Rory were taken in by the owner of the Independence Inn, Mia, where Lorelai progressed from maid to executive manager. In the pilot, Rory, who is about to turn sixteen, is accepted by Chilton Preparatory School in order to pursue her dream of studying at Harvard University. Lorelai, unable to afford Chilton's fees, strikes a bargain with her parents for a loan to cover the tuition in exchange for an agreement that every Friday night she and Rory will share dinner with Emily and Richard.

The tensions between Lorelai and her parents are central to the series, and the closer relationship Rory develops with her grandparents frequently draws attention to the choices Lorelai made at Rory's age to leave the privileged world and follow her own path. Which path Rory chooses and whether she re-enters that world is similarly explored.

Lorelai's romantic life

Lorelai's various romantic entanglements also played a role in the show, which viewers watched from the start. Her first relationship on the series involves Max Medina (Scott Cohen), Rory's Chilton English teacher who becomes briefly engaged to Lorelai. She also has short relationships with a divorcee named Alex (Billy Burke) and her father's business partner Jason Stiles (Chris Eigeman), with whom she breaks up after Jason and her father have a falling out in their business. She also has an on and off relationship with Rory's father Christopher, which becomes even more complicated after he and his girlfriend Sherry have a daughter named Georgia (Gigi).

However, her relationship with local diner owner Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) is a constant throughout the series. They have a playful, close friendship until the fourth season when the two finally become romantically involved. Lorelai's disapproving parents encourage Christopher to win Lorelai back, which results in a brief break-up between Lorelai and Luke. Despite this, at the end of the fifth season, Luke and Lorelai become engaged. The couple splits at the end of the sixth season, after Luke finds that he has a 12-year old daughter named April (Vanessa Marano). After Luke doesn't respond to Lorelai's ultimatum to elope, she spends the night with Christopher. In season seven Lorelai and Christopher impulsively get married on a trip to Paris. But after Christopher jealously sees that Luke and Lorelai still have feelings for one another, they end their marriage. In the last episode of the seventh and final season, Luke and Lorelai kiss and reconcile after Luke organizes a party for the graduating Rory. The last scene of the series mirrors the last scene of the first episode, with Lorelai and Rory eating in the diner and Luke behind the counter.

Rory's romantic life

As with Lorelai, Rory's romantic attractions also run throughout the show.

Rory meets Dean Forrester (Jared Padalecki) in the first episode of the series. The two maintain a relationship for almost two and a half years, with Rory rejecting advances from Chilton classmate Tristan Dugray (Chad Michael Murray). Rory and Dean break up briefly on their three month anniversary date because Rory can't reciprocate Dean's feelings after he professes his love for her.^[23] Dean and Rory get back together in the end of season one.^[24] Rory and Dean break up again after Rory falls for the troubled Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia), Luke Danes's nephew. Although Jess is reviled by most of the town, Rory's deep-seated connection with him is undeniable, and she finds that the two share interests in music and literature and maintain a special understanding of each other throughout the series.

After Jess suddenly leaves town, Rory reunites with a now-married Dean, which ultimately ends Dean's marriage and creates a short-lived rift between her and her mother. Rory and Dean break up when he decides he can't compete with her life at Yale and her new Yale friends including Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), whom Rory eventually starts dating. A negative evaluation from Logan's publisher father on Rory's future as a journalist causes a rift between the couple, causing Rory to temporarily quit Yale, become estranged from her mother and live with her grandparents. At the wedding of Logan's sister, Rory learns that while the two were separated previously Logan slept with most of his sister's bridesmaids and she is disgusted at his shocking behaviour. Rory moves temporarily in with Paris Geller, who goes to Yale and is great friends with Rory. Despite this, Logan convinces Rory to come back to the apartment that they share. For Rory's final year at Yale, the couple is in a long distance relationship due to Logan working for his father's company in London. Eventually Rory graduates Yale, and Logan proposes to her, asking that she move to San Francisco with him. Rory reluctantly refuses his offer because she wants to pursue her journalism career and the two break up, with Logan saying that it is marriage or nothing.

Rory's friends

Rory's friendships with long-time best friend Lane Kim (Keiko Agena), a second-generation Korean American from a strict family, and Paris Geller (Liza Weil), a friend/rival at both Chilton and Yale, are also themes in the show. At the end of the sixth season, Lane marries Hep Alien band-mate Zach van Gerbig (Todd Lowe), a sweet and slightly clumsy rocker. At the beginning of the seventh season, Lane discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant and gives birth to twin boys (Kwan and Steve) later in the season. In the seventh season, Paris is accepted into Harvard Medical School (Harvard is the school she has wanted to go to for years, as her family are all alumni, but was not accepted for the undergraduate program during the third season). In season four, Doyle McMaster (Danny Strong) storms onto the show as the Yale Daily News editor. He and Paris start dating in the fifth season, after Paris's relationship with a much older Professor Asher Fleming (Michael York) ends with his sudden death.

Media

DVD releases

Books

• Four books for young adults, based on episodes from the first and second seasons:
  • Like Mother, Like Daughter by Catherine Clark (2002, ISBN 0-06-051023-4)
  • I Love You, You Idiot by Cathy East Dubowski (2002, ISBN 0-06-050228-2)
  • I Do, Don't I? by Catherine Clark (2002, ISBN 0-06-009757-4)
  • The Other Side Of Summer by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Helen Pai (2002, ISBN 0-06-050916-3)
• Coffee At Luke's: An Unauthorized Gilmore Girls Gab Fest (2007, ISBN 1-933771-17-8)
• The Gilmore Girls Companion by A. S. Berman (2010, ISBN 1-59393-616-8)

Reception

Awards

Gilmore Girls received an American Film Institute Award and two Viewers For Quality Television Awards, and was named New Program of the Year by the Television Critics Association. The show won an Emmy for its only nomination: 2004's Outstanding Makeup for a Series for the episode "The Festival of Living Art". The show's actors have received many awards for their work on the series. Graham won two Family Television Awards and she won Teen Choice Award for Best TV Mom twice as well. Alexis Bledel has won a Young Artist Award and a Family Television Award. The series also won a Family Television Award for New Series, and was named Best Family TV Drama Series by the Young Artist Awards. Gilmore Girls was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."^[1] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Thank you, fast-talking Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, for suggesting moms and teenage daughters really can get along—all it takes is love, patience, and copious quantities of coffee."^[25]

Ratings

The following list details the seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Gilmore Girls in the United States. The show rated first in the 18-25 demographic for women and second for men throughout the first four seasons.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

References

External links

• Official website from WB Studios
• Gilmore Girls at the Internet Movie Database