I’m not bitter. I firmly believe it was time. The Gilmore Girls had a great run. I know there are some that were not happy with the last two seasons. I can’t say that I didn’t have my own criticisms, but overall, I believe the series finale worked quite well, despite the fact that it wasn’t intended to be a series finale. I’m of the opinion that it very nicely brought the series full circle – the ending echoing the final moments of the pilot.
That’s not to say that I won’t be happy if the much rumored reunion movie actually happens in a few years. I would love to see how Amy Sherman-Palladino envisioned the series ending and I would love to hear Rory or Lorelai utter the much guessed at final few words that ASP has been keeping under lock and key. But if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be okay with that.
Gilmore Girls is one of those WB shows that I started watching by myself and eventually coerced Jim into watching. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he’d had a thing for Lauren Graham ever since he first saw her on the failed series Townies. If I remember correctly, that also starred Jenna Elfman and Molly Ringwald and it wasn’t very good.
Graham, however, found the perfect part in Lorelai Gilmore. The fast, witty, pop culture reference laden dialogue seemed to come so easily to her. And man, can the woman act. She spoke volumes of dialogue in each episode, literally, but she could also speak volumes with just a glance or glare or even just a smile. Sometimes, she’d glance, glare and smile at the same time — and you not only knew what she was feeling at the moment, but what she was going to be feeling later on, as well.
I know that the Lorelai/Rory relationship was the basis for the show – and it was wonderfully written (at least for most of the show’s run) and fabulously acted by both Graham and Alexis Bledel – but I think my favorite relationship was Lorelai’s relationship with her mother, Emily. I savored every moment that Kelly Bishop and Lauren Graham shared on screen.
Let’s face it, Kelly Bishop was just amazing and she was more than up to the challenge of going toe-to-toe with Graham. Bishop took Emily from being a stock villian — the blue-blood mom who didn’t understand her bohemian daughter — into something else, entirely. You could see her not liking the fact she didn’t really understand her daughter even as she was being coldly dismissive of Lorelai’s eccentricities.
It’s very rare to see a television show that revolves around three generations of strong, smart, opinionated women, let alone one that was so well written and acted. I’ll miss the Friday night dinners and I’ll miss the coffee at Luke’s. And even though the quirky neighbors could occasionally test my patience, I enjoyed my weekly visits to Stars Hollow.
And the best thing is — thanks to the magic of the DVDs — I can go back and visit any time. But for now, goodbye, Gilmore Girls, TV is going to be a lot less witty without you.
I remember when “Townies” was first on, more than one critic hated the show but loved this new actress Jenna Elfman. I watched the show once, and I thought Lauren Graham was great, and I thought, “They’re right. This show sucks, but this ‘Jenna Elfman’ is going to be a star. I’ll remember that name. ‘Jenna Elfman’.”