(Gilmore Girls fan site)Celine Dion? Oh, please. Don’t make me do that. Yeah, I know, “My Heart Will Go On” was Chin Chin’s favorite song. But how about “Tears in Heaven.” That’s a wicked song. Or “I Will Always Love You.” I mean, it’s got the cheese factor, but it’s still at least a legitimate—
In the beginning, the story goes, there was Amy Sherman-Palladino. And she was in a room with a bunch of TV executives. And she had 4 idea pitches planned out. And she pitched her ideas, and the executives’ eyes glazed over and they kept glancing at their watches and it was almost lunchtime. And Amy became desperate, because she knew none of her ideas had captured the interest of the TV executives.
Then Amy said, “And… I also have this last idea… It’s kinda like… You know, it’s like a mother and daughter, but they’re more like friends than mother and daughter.” And the TV executives beamed with excitement. And they shouted, “Yes! That’s what we want!” And so was born the finest television program ever to grace the airwaves.
(Amy Sherman-Palladino tells this story herself, better than I just did, in this classic interview she did for NPR. The story is at about 15 minutes into the interview.)
Something like 8 years later, now the Gilmore Girls story is coming to an end. Sarah Metz sums up what makes this show special:
I am someone who always has a show to obsess over… However, no show has influenced my life like “Gilmore.” There are a number of books I wouldn’t have read, music I wouldn’t have discovered and movies I wouldn’t have watched were it not for the show’s trademark pop culture references. Not to mention, it has given me countless phrases to work into every day conversation, such as, “It’s repetitive. And redundant. It’s repetitive. And redundant,” and “Oy with the poodles already.” …
I made it my mission to introduce as many people to the wonderful world of Stars Hollow as I could. I succeeded in converting my parents, my sister and several friends.
“Just watch the first episode,” I’d say. “If you don’t like it after the first episode, we don’t have to watch anymore.”
It never came to that. No one could resist the magic.
Sarah goes on to list her top 11 episodes of Gilmore Girls. She tried to narrow it down to 10, but couldn’t. These are among my favorites, too, but I don’t think I could narrow my list even down to 11.
Posts like this are part of the grieving process. (And there are a lot of them. For example, Gossip Communications News posted a long list of Gilmore Girls farewell articles). We all are grieving, actually grieving, over the end of Gilmore Girls. I know it might sound silly to some people. “Grieving over a TV show? It’s not like your best friend died or something.”
But to those of us who are grieving, it is like our best friend is dying. And that’s why some fans are in denial. They don’t want to believe that it’s actually over, and they’re holding their breath for Gilmore Girls to pull a surprise renewal like 7th Heaven did that time. And other fans are angry. They blame the CW, or they blame Alexis Bledel, or they even blame Lauren Graham. Some fans are no doubt silently making deals with God in their prayers, begging Him for more GG episodes. Some fans have become depressed, and have even given up on the show.
So, yes, we are grieving. And as the last episode nears, we look back at our favorite episodes, and our favorite Gilmore Girls moments, and the lives of our favorite characters. We are attending a virtual wake, as we grieve together.
Almost a decade ago, Wes, an acquaintance of mine and the brother of a close friend and colleague, passed away. He loved English literature and spent a lot of time researching what influenced various stories, novels, and plays. At that time, he was tracing the origins of Robin Hood and where private-eye novels like Mikey Spillane’s Mike Hammer series got their start.
His favorite authors were Dickens and Shakespeare, but his interests spanned well beyond these two. I remember one day he was trying to clarify to his mother that he wanted her to pick up a book by Harlan Ellison. This was before I had read anything by Harlan Ellison myself. And I have since come to admire Ellison’s work. And I remember, when I read my first Harlan Ellison story, I thought of Wes.
It was completely unexpected. One night, he was short of breath and decided to rest for a while. After about 15 minutes, he had dozed off. But when his family tried to rouse him, he didn’t respond. They attempted CPR, and the EMT’s and ER doctors worked for a long time. But that was it.
He just went to sleep and never woke up. And it suddenly hit me how fragile life is. We get into a daily pattern: Wake, eat, work, sleep. And in the daily grind, we tend to forget that when it ends, it ends in a moment. You’re alive, then you’re dead. No hurrah. No fanfare. Just a quiet moment’s passing.
And I went in and stared at my sleeping daughter. She was only a month old. She had just been born, and I thought: She has her whole life in front of her.
Today reminded me of that. Because today I discovered that inside sources say Fox has picked up 6 new series for next season, including…
Fox has picked up six new series for next season, sources said Friday.
The network’s pick-ups include the “Terminator”-themed sci-fi drama “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” New Orleans-set cop drama “K-Ville” and high-concept detective drama “New Amsterdam.”
On the comedy side, the Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton starrer “Back to You” (formerly known as “Action News”) has been officially picked up to series, along with Amy Sherman-Palladino’s “The Return of Jezebel James”—
That’s as far as I got in the article.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know how much I’ve been looking forward to this project and praying and hoping that it comes to fruition. You may even remember how I gushed over the Jezebel James sides.
The Fox upfronts are Thursday. That’s irony and poetry and the circle of life and everything. I don’t even know how to feel about that. On the very same day, the CW will have the end of Gilmore Girls. Meanwhile, Fox will be talking up Jezebel James and hopefully beginning a whole new era of brilliance by the creators of Gilmore Girls.
Farewell, my beloved Gilmore Girls. I will surely miss you. Long live the Gilmore spirit! May it go on and on.
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