AP-Project

There's plenty of truth hidden in the glitz of this CA origin story. Some series pilots can have terrible preview screenings, but then go onto great success as this one did. Other shows, without an influential producer, will be killed by mediocre or bad test screenings. The time was right in'76 for CA, and Spelling knew it. However, the world wasn't ready for reality shows then (with many classic comedy and drama shows still in their primes) and green lighting them then was unthinkable. The underlying theme of this movie is every series, and every idea for a series, has a certain time window when it can be launched successfully. As shown in the movie, one of the CA writers later created Cagney and Lacey. C & L probably could not have existed without CA paving the way for it.

As for the Angels themselves, Jaclyn Smith is portrayed as the shy, conservative young woman she was. She was the most demure of the bunch, but ironically Jaclyn became the biggest television star (of the 3) after CA ended. She was in a huge number of highly rated made-for-tv movies. Kate was the most ambitious, but the key to playing her is capturing that distinctive voice. When I recall the show, her voice is impossible to forget. Kate had no idea this would be a "jiggle" show, and it still broke barriers as an hour of television devoted to the weekly adventures of 3 smart women. That concept, for 1976, was revolutionary. Also, Kate came from the "The Rookies," another series that had pushed the envelope, although from a racial aspect. Farrah was raised as a very conservative Texas girl who always put her man, and his needs, first. She practically polled Lee daily to see if he was tolerating her stardom. As Lee self-righteously pointed out, he was making much more money per episode than his wife. Later, perhaps a year or two after the first season of CA had ended, Farrah realized that her upbringing taught her subservience to men, but life had more to offer than that. She became a successful dramatic actress. This movie is very accurate in its details and is well worth seeing.

I love the parenting approach in Gilmore Girls. Young people, and people in general, respond best when their ideas and intellect are appreciated. This means the parent who listens, truly listens, to his/her child and interacts with him/her in a non-condescending way will not only have a friend, but will sustain the child's self-esteem on a daily basis. Also, this approach enables the child to hear something besides pressure to get good grades or achieve success in athletics. A young person can achieve self-esteem from talking to friends, but friends move on with their own college, job, families and responsibilities. That relationship with the mother/father will always be there and the best ones have plenty of honest and open (and even intellectual) communication. A child feels isolated if the parent treats the son/daughter brain as something much inferior (and less important) to an adult's brain. That sort of contempt is what really does a number on a child. Thankfully, the scriptwriters of Gilmore Girls realize all of this and have incorporated it into each episode of this marvelous show. Thank you again, Gilmore Girls, for being such a great show.

Gilmore Girls celebrates all the agonies and joys of life. Alexis Bledell and Lauren Graham have a winning chemistry as actresses. Rory and Lorelai have great vocabularies that allow them to instantly articulate their reactions and feelings to anything, ranging from petty annoyances to profound love. I really love that this show treats teenagers as very intelligent, sensitive people who have growing pains, but try to rise above them with newfound maturity. One of the best episodes had a sub-plot wherein Rory's girlfriend Suky (an intellectual bookworm like herself) becomes a cheerleader and actually enjoys the experience (at least for awhile). Suky grows from the experience and her friendship with Rory became stronger and deeper. Now they are both more skeptical of labels and stereotypes. This is also one of the few shows on TV where intelligence and scholarly success are considered as facets of a complete personality rather than a personality defect. Three cheers to this excellent show that manages a sense of familial warmth, a pinch of grace and a whimsical sense of humor.