(Gilmore Girls fan site)The big news this week, via the Hollywood Reporter, is that Amy Sherman-Palladino is creating a new dramedy for HBO (which has no official title yet), about three adult sisters, all struggling writers, plus their domineering mother, who is a writing maven and who likes their good-for-nothing brother better than them.
“It’s a story of love, hate, family — and finding the perfect opening line,” Amy said. (Ba dum bum.)
Since this series involves “mother-daughter relationships” (as though you could pigeonhole the relationship between any mother and daughter into a simple category like that), some bloggers are already calling it “Gilmore Girls 2.0.” God, I hope not! And don’t you believe it. That’s just a marketing gimmick. I obviously love Gilmore Girls, but I also love Amy Sherman-Palladino’s originality and her ability to weave a story. This is a whole new cast of characters, with their own personalities and problems, and I’m looking forward and hoping that I’ll have an opportunity to enjoy immersing myself in this new story.
… as Sarah Braverman, a single mom with two teenaged kids who moves back in with her parents in Northern California, on NBC’s new series Parenthood, which will begin airing mid-season, after the Winter Olympics.
The show was originally supposed to be airing now, but Maura Tierney, who was originally cast for the role, had a medical issue that interfered with her ability to star in the show. At first, NBC held back the details of her condition, but then Maura herself revealed in July that she is fighting breast cancer. Still, everyone had hoped that she would be able to begin filming in November, but such was not to be. Maura Tierney and her doctors have a positive outlook for her cancer treatments, but she simply was unable to star in Parenthood at this time.
As I understand the story, executive producer Jason Katims (of Roswell and Friday Night Lights) began talking with Helen Hunt, as a possible star for the role, but they couldn’t come to a final deal. And that’s how Lauren Graham got the role. Whether Lauren was their first choice or their third, I frankly don’t care. I’m looking forward to seeing her on TV again, and I hope the role suits her.
Also starring Peter Krause, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepard, Bonnie Bedelia, Monica Potter, Erika Christensen and Sarah Ramos, Parenthood (the TV series) is supposedly based on the 1989 comedy movie of the same name. But really, the TV show has nothing to do with Parenthood (the movie), except that it’s about being part of a family. It’s about four adult siblings and their extended family. They could potentially have called it Brothers and Sisters, except that I think that name is already taken.
The title is LIfe as We Know It. The story is about two single friends, who become caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual best friends die in an accident. The planned release is around Christmas of 2010.
This is actually old news, but I finally got around to watching ABC’s Eastwick (online at Hulu). And yes, it is actually filmed in what used to be Stars Hollow. And it feels kinda like Stars Hollow, too, in some ways.
The show feels like Gilmore Girls meets Desperate Housewives meets Wonderfalls, with a little bit of Six Feet Under and The X-Files thrown in for good measure. Probably worth checking out, at least if you’re anything like I am. But I’m concerned that they may be relying too much on plot-based (procedural) elements for the serialized, continuing story, which ultimately chilled me on Desperate Housewives, instead of the deep character conflict that drove me to watch Gilmore Girls week after week.
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