La la la, la la la la la, la la
As one or two of you know, over the course of the last four months Gilmore Girls has become one of my favorite shows. What I want to do here is say a few things about why while trying to remain as concise as I prefer these blog entries to be. (I might as well tell you now, I’m going to lose that battle.)
For a long time when I thought about writing about the series, I kept thinking of the opening line of the Smiths biography in Trouser Press. Which I guess is appropriate enough for a show with characters who are Smiths-loving (among many other bands too numerous to mention) music geeks.
That opening line was, “You’d be perfectly within your rights to hate the Smiths.” And indeed, there are many criticisms you could make of GG with which it would be hard to argue. You could say it’s set in a town that seems more like a shopping center in design, and populated by self-conciously “quirky” locals. You could say the impossibly perfect relationship between series leads Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) is wish fufillment beyond a Democrat’s wildest dreams of The West Wing. You could say that the opening theme and most of the music score is so sweet it could make you puke. On a more personal note, I could say it’s the girlyest thing I’ve ever liked–and I’ve liked some girly things.
Indeed, all these things are true (although, re the music, major bonus points for the folky rendition of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go), and more. And none of them matter. Yes the show is a fantasy, but fantasy, I believe it was Terry Pratchet who said, is like alcohol: Too much is bad for you, but a little makes the world a better place.
What keeps the series from crumbling like gingerbread? Well, first of all, there’s the actors. Aided immeasurably by the writing (about which more in a moment), they manage to bring emotional reality to characters who in lesser hands could be empty caricatures and stereotypes. Graham, Bledel and Keiko Agena (who plays Rory’s best friend, Lane) have all received acclaim, and deservedly. But this is another one of those shows like 24 or The West Wing that can proudly point to a true ensemble. I could say nice things about practically everyone in the cast, but I’ll limit myself (concision, remember, concison) to mentioning Scott Patterson and Liza Weil. Patterson plays Lorelei’s friend/paramour Luke Danes with wry humor and heart (I thought about it–there wasn’t any better way to say that). Weil plays Rory’s ferociously intelligent friend Paris. And turns out to be one of those actresses who you never fully realize how much she’s done that you liked until you see it all laid out in front of you. A true actress, some might say that makes her, and I wouldn’t disagree. She had the lead in a teriffic independent coming-of-age film called Whatever, and memorable guest spots on ER and some series I’ve never heard of called The West Wing.
Speaking of which, a few years ago it seems there was a rumor going around that WW creator/writer Aaron Sorkin was actually writing Gilmore Girls under a pseudonym. This was both unfair to Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator and chief writer of the Girls, and in a strange way highly complimentary to her writing abilities. I certainly wouldn’t entirely mind if somebody wanted to start a similar rumor about me. But to anyone with a good ear for writing, which I think I have, it was a rumor that should have been easy to dismiss out of hand. It’s like claiming that Bach wrote songs for Lou Reed (logistics and timelines aside). Sorkin’s scripts are more classical, measured, hitting just the right notes, and Sherman-Palladino’s are more white light/white heat, throw as much at the audience as you can, hard and fast.
The series and the scripts are incredibly dense, and there’s both good and bad things about that. What’s good is that it also makes them incredibly rich, what’s bad is that it made the show hard for me to penetrate for a few years. Your mileage may vary, as they say, but I found I didn’t really get a jones for the Girls until ABC Family started running the first four seasons. Being able to follow the characters from the beginning was a big help. In the past, when I’d tried episodes more-or-less at random in the middle, they left me kind of breathless and confused.
Which brings me, finally, to why I decided to say all this tonight in the first place. In four days, (or, on Friday) ABC Family should be cycling back around to the beginning again. This would be a good time for those of you who’ve been meaning to try the series to start.
And if you do, spare a thought for me as you watch and become intoxicated. Because I face a hellish choice: Having watched almost all the first four seasons worth of episodes now, do I join the fifth season already in progess and more than half over? I could catch up by means of online episode guides and transcripts. Or I could excercise will power, maturity and restraint and wait until the first half of this season shows up in syndication or on DVD.
Who wants to put their money on maturity and restraint? Anyone? Anyone?
