Gilmore Girls

"Gilmore Girls" (like Leonard Maltin, I usually like to use the title as it appears on screen, but we'll forego the nomenclature "Gilmore girls") is one of those shows that positive word of mouth and the "You know, this does seem like a good show" vibe from hearing about it made me want to get a look at; the series has finally started UK airings on Nickelodeon, a strange choice for the channel - it's certainly comedic, but it's more of a comedy-drama than the usual stuff that's on Nick. (Plus, unlike all its regular shows it's an hour series.)

My rule of thumb is that if a series doesn't encourage me to keep watching by its third episode, it won't do so after its thirtieth; Amy Sherman-Palladino's series passed by the end of the first one. A number of viewers have commented that the dialogue isn't too realistic, and Lorelei Gilmore is certainly so quick with the witty repartee you wonder why she's not a stand-up comic instead of managing an inn (possibly a clue as to why one of the companies involved is called Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions?), but it does have the saving grace of actually being funny... something that can't be said for a lot of official comedies.

What helps the series work so far, apart from the dialogue, is the characters - just as "M*A*S*H"'s laugh track was kept out of the operating room even in the American broadcasts (it was initially broadcast in the UK sans track), the relationships between Lorelei and Lorelei (that's Rory - in the pilot we learned that she was named after her mother) aren't actually played for gags endlessly, and her mother's certainly strong but not a bitch, the way the makers could have easily done. No one in the show so far is truly bad or good, which bodes well, and the bond between mother and daughter is a rare thing for TV - they're both relatives and true friends without making you want to vomit, not a common thing in family dramas.

We're about three years behind the WB, and I'm looking forward to catching up with the Gilmores and their friends (it's impossible not to symapthise with Rory's best friend in particular, what with her health-food-obsessed/antique-selling mother). And on a purely shallow note, Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel must be the most attractive mother-daughter pairing in recent television history. Beautiful and funny? Who needs Madonna kissing Britney?

i do not exactly know, which audience this show is meant to appeal to. i am a single male in my late thirties with a long history of being in love with my best female "friend". so of course, it will always be the Luke-lorelai relationship that will appeal to me. but the way lorelai interacts with her parents, the way, the town's community is depicted, the sheer speed of a 45 minute drama/comedy, are all simply wonderful. in a lot of ways, it reminds me of thirties' screwball comedies, you know the ones, katherine hepburn, cary grant. anyway, this show is perfectly written, directed and acted. it's a pleasure to watch. my previous favourite shows have been "northern exposure", "picket fences", "buffy" (oh yes) and "frasier". "gilmore girls" took the best of all of them and put it together. i hope, they can keep this sort of level and i hope it will never stop.

39 year old straight male watched every episode 5 times. I don't care if unmanly. But it is my cure to poor mental health. Truly and pure unadulterated perfection.

Gilmore Girls is one of those shows that people love because they're so adorable...and they simply don't know it. And not teen pop bunk adorable, but as in they're easy to love. I was surprised by the quality of the series, considering it's on the WB. It's intelligent, creative, and sophisticated in an everyday way. And even though this show has enough sarcasm to give you heartburn (it's fueled by sarcasm, in double digit gallons) the characters are fleshed out and live an alternate lifestyle that may be foreign, but is completely believable. These aren't people who live stereotyped mid class American TV lives, they live like the people next door, but like the strange people next door. They're those specially chosen eccentrics, small town hicks, artists, and snobs who are so full of quirks and idiosyncrasies they tend to make our lives colorful.

And this show is about characters and how they relate to each other. The crux of the show is the relationship between the close in age coffee addict mother (Loralai, played by the fantastic Lauren Graham) and daughter (Rory, beautifully played by Alexis Bledel) who have an unusually close knit, and witty, relationship. The two are an eccentric pair, they live for each other and pay no heed to those who sneer upon them and indulge in their wacky Bohemian-ness. They eat at Luke's Diner for breakfast and order economy size platters of Chinese food from Al's House of Pancakes. Rory likes chaperones, Loralai intrinsically trusts her daughter.

When Rory is accepted to a posh prep school (which she doesn't care for, but deals with because, quite simply, she has a higher IQ than most of the town and wants to get to Harvard) paid for by her incorrigible and borderline personality grandmother (another recurring character), her mother has to take a job she doesn't want at a first class hotel, and thus a whole passel of problems and dilemmas occur. Long term plot lines gracefully combine with town occurrences, scandals, gossip, etc, and create a show with as much flavor and pizzazz as Stars Hollow can take.

And where the sarcasm and one liners, bizarre scenarios and crazy happenings flow freely there's always an underlying riptide that surfaces quickly here and there, and the tensions that arise can become especially pungent because we're allowed to be close to the characters. For example, in one episode Rory accidentally falls asleep next to her boyfriend late one night while they were both reading a book together, and next morning they are found by Miss Patty (the fabulously fabulous Liz Torres who is also from "American Family"), nothing had happened, Rory is completely innocent, but Loralai is worried when she's alerted that she hadn't come home and receives the call that they had been found together. Rory's grandmother jumps to conclusions and starts harshly saying that Rory has ruined her life just the way Loralai had, but her mother adamantly sticks up for her. Yet when Rory comes in, they have an explosive fight, with Rory crushed that her mother didn't trust or believe her.

And yet situations with even a slight potential for sugaryness are resolved with lightning fast dialogue a la `Philadelphia Story'. The fact that they're close is already there, anything else feels wrong. This is the genius of the show's writing and acting. All said, whether during revealing moments of emotion or poignancy, or the standard rib cracking, fire crackling wit and sarcasm, this show gets under your skin and refuses to let go. It's more than a gem, and I hope that it lasts.

"Have you ever watched Gilmore Girls?" It's what my friend said when she recommended me this show while were discussing my tumultuous family relations. She said: "Give it a shot, you might find it surprising how much you can relate to these characters, their journeys and struggles." Said and done.

I have just finished watching the show and the last episode had me crying from beginning to end, and this is a statement to the most powerful asset the show has: the ability to make us relate and sympathize with the characters. This is a show about relationships: family, friends and love, plus we get to see one the main characters go through high school and college, and who can't relate to those things?! Life is tough and relationships are hard, but to still believe in your goals and dreams despite it all is what this show is all about.

The Gilmore Girls: Lorelai's character (the mom) is the soul of the entire show, her dysfunction relationship with her parents, the hard work put into building her life and independence, the love, care and trust (even if a bit idealized) she shares with her daughter is a wonder to see, she is a living and breathing compulsive joker that made me laugh out loud so many times I lost count, and all of it lets us connect with her in so many levels.

Rory's character (the daughter) is the one everyone wish they were: has good grades, likes to study, is ambitious and above it all has in her mother a best friend and a partner. As she comes of age, we get to see a lot we can relate to: first love, first time, getting to college, existential crisis (every college kid has at least one), graduation and the uncertainties that lies ahead of adulting around.

Emily's character (the grandmother) is the one that makes us understand why all of us gotta go to therapy: because our parents didn't. She is also the reason one of the most iconic parts of the show exists, the Friday night dinners with Lorelai and Rory. The dinners are almost a synthesis of the entire show where these three women, who lead absolutely different lives and want completely different things from one another, try to get together and figure out a way to be a family.

The show is pretty clever in depicting the impact family support can have on someone as well as the result family disfunction can inflict on somebody, and that's what family is all about. But don't get me wrong, sometimes the very lesson the show is trying to teach about the importance of clear communication, and the problems with misinterpretation and assumptions are sometimes used for a lack of better writing, especially concerning Lorelai and Rory's romantic interests throughout the show and are very often frustrating and out of character.

It has a lot of great side characters and the tone and dynamic between them all shifts a bit from season 4 forward. It's a nice depiction of the small-town way of life and has a rare yet kind and considerate take on relationships between generations (grandma, mother and daughter). All and all Gilmore Girls is an up lifting, feel-good and cozy show. I loved this journey and I genuinely think it made me realize and change the way I see myself and deal with my family issues (and all of it while having a good time!). Hope a lot of people give it a shot, because it's definitely worth it.