Surprise! I bet no one saw this post coming. Timely, too, as Netflix just revealed it was in very early talks with show runners about the possibility of producing more episodes as a follow up to last fall's "A Year in the Life." Let's just say the news has me cautiously optimistic, considering I liked but didn't love the Netflix limited series but thought it showed promise. The original Gilmore Girls series that ran on network television from 2000-2007, on the other hand, is one I absolutely adore.
For the uninitiated, Gilmore Girls follows the story of single-mom Lorelei Gilmore and her daughter, Rory, in the fictional yet enchantingly quirky small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. When the series starts, Rory learns she's been accepted to Chilton, a private New England school that all but assures her Ivy League college dreams will come true. Faced with the high rate of Chilton's tuition and a lack of money, Lorelei turns to her rich, socialite parents, Emily and Richard, for financial assistance. Asking for help proves difficult for Lorelei, as the relationship between her and her parents is rocky at best. Still, she swallows her pride to improve Rory's future and agrees to a loan requiring Lorelei and Rory to attend weekly Friday night dinners with Emily and Richard until which time the loan is paid off. Over the ensuing seven seasons, Lorelei and Rory attend many lively Friday night dinners, exchange quick-fire banter laced with obscure pop culture references, fall in and out of love numerous times, and exceed and fall short of their own expectations as well as those placed on them by others. Throughout the entire time, the Gilmore girls traverse the tricky waters of high school, starting a business, and going to college, all while surrounded and supported by a bevy of eccentric townspeople. As much as I adore Gilmore Girls, I cannot honestly say it led to some revelation about my sense of self or my life's journey. I simply love the show and consider it a close second in all-time rank behind The Wonder Years. What became clear as I embarked on my Countdown to 40 quest, however, was just how much Gilmore Girls really serves as a conglomeration of all the best qualities of the other shows I've written posts about. (Save Game of Thrones, that is. I got nothing on similarities with that series, though I'm sure Lorelei and Rory talked about it during the revival episodes.) I think I started realizing the similarities between Gilmore Girls and other shows when I wrote about Northern Exposure earlier in the project. Like that show and Pushing Daisies, Gilmore Girls takes place in a small town populated by some of the quirkiest characters and stories on television. In many ways, Gilmore Girls is also a coming-of-age tale like The Wonder Years, though the process is not limited to Rory navigating late adolescence. Lorelei, Emily, Richard, and several additional supporting characters undergo significant growth, too. One likeness I often used when the show originally aired was to Will & Grace. The endless one-liners and lightning-fast repartee exchanged between Gilmore Girls characters echo those traded between Will, Grace, Jack, and Karen, pop-culture references included. On that note, the whip-smart scripts and their flawless delivery by the actors similarly liken Gilmore Girls to The West Wing, too. And, at its heart, Gilmore Girls offers a very clear message similar to the one practically introduced by The Mary Tyler Moore Show and reproduced by Sex and the City: The outdated paradigm of defining women through men no longer applies to characters like Lorelei and Rory Gilmore. They represent strong, intelligent women who work hard and achieve their goals independent of men. Sure, they have men in their lives, but their lives are not singularly focused on those men. Nor do they succeed solely because of men. In fact, anything the men of Stars Hollow can do, I'm confident Lorelei and Rory can do better. So, Gilmore Girls reigns as one of my favorite shows by being all of my favorite shows at once, wrapped into sometimes neat, sometimes messy, 45-minute packages.
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I am a self-proclaimed pop culture geek and list enthusiast who is celebrating the big four-zero by counting down the most important, influential, and favorite music, movies, television shows, books, and video games of my life so far. Categories
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