On October 5, 2000, a then almost unknown Amy Sherman-Palladino presented to the world ‘Gilmore Girls’ (‘Gilmore Girls’), the first series he had created, written and directed. The protagonists were Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel), a single mother and her teenage daughter who lived in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, a fairytale town in the state of New Jersey.
Sherman-Palladino Magic
‘Gilmore Girls’ was, during the seven years that was on the air (Now it can be fully enjoyed on Netflix), a series that, without further pretense, showed the lives of the protagonists, their family, their friends, the townspeople … In short, a series of manners, naive, no big plot twists … but pretty as hell.
The fiction worked on different levels: the younger audience connected with her through the character of Rory, the middle-aged thanks to her mother and, the older people could be seen reflected in the role of Emily Gilmore (Kelly bishop), Lorelai’s petulant mother, the one who took us several seasons to see that she also had her little heart.
The New York Times defined it then as an “ingenious and charming” product, something that now, two decades later and having witnessed the paths of Sherman-Palladino’s career, is shown to be the brand of its creator’s house. Because the Gilmore seal has remained intact in several of his productions. There is no more to see ‘The wonderful Mrs. Maisel’, a series whose plot structure and construction of characters drink from their older sister on a good handful of occasions.
Both in ‘Gilmore Girls’ and in the award-winning series of the brightest monologue of the Upper West Side we can enjoy dialogues at the speed of light, where jokes follow one after another without leaving the viewer time to rest. And of the fine irony of its protagonists. And of the clownish hint of his secondary, tender as they could not (the similarities between Susie –Alex Borstein– in ‘Maisel’ and Sookie –Melissa mccarthy– in the ‘Gilmore’ they are many and very remarkable). And from large amounts of meal which, along with coffee, is the great silent protagonist of ‘Gilmore Girls’.
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A cultural legacy full of current affairs
During the seven years that we were able to sneak into that little house in Stars Hollow, we learned many things. We learned about film, music, literature (the series references more than 300 books), pop culture, and about love, friendship, and parenting relationships. ‘Gilmore Girls’ is a series whose topics are still topical: they were already working in 2000, but they could continue to do so in 2020.
The reasons for Lorelai’s shadowy relationship with her parents, her ambition to be the owner of her own hotel, Rory’s first boyfriends or that decision from the final chapter that caused us to say “Yeah !!” internal to the purest Cristiano Ronaldo style, they would be 20 years later just as well justified.
‘Gilmore Girls’ was ahead of its time showing a single parent family without any condescension, without posing it as a “broken family”, as many fictions continue to do even today. In the series we see many kinds of families, and Amy Sherman-Palladino puts them all on the same level.
And he is not only right when it comes to showing family relationships: he also does the same with love ones. In ‘Gilmore Girls’ we saw fairytale loves (I still haven’t gotten over the pumpkins to Max Medina –Scott cohen-), first loves, toxic relationships and almost platonic loves. And all these stories are raised from the point of view of the mother and daughter, not their partners, which influences that this series pass the Bechdel test with flying colors almost without trying. Mini point and point for Gilmore.
‘Gilmore Girls’ has been a great pool of actors and actresses
In addition, the series, which began with practically unknown actors, has been a great springboard for many of them, now being more than coveted performers. Without going any further, the mother and daughter protagonists: Lauren Graham she has appeared on shows like ‘Parenthood’ and, this year, in the adorable ‘Zooey’s Extraordinary Playlist’. Alexis Bledel, meanwhile, has been part of the cast of ‘Mad Men’ and ‘The story of the maid’ among others.
Thanks to the Gilmore we met Melissa McCarthy, who today is one of the best valued comedians in American cinema; to Liza Weil, that later she has been a cold lawyer in “How to defend a murderer” and a bassist in Shy Baldwin’s band in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; to Milo Ventimiglia, now star of ‘This is us’; to Sean Gunn, Kraglin in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and brother of James Gunn; already Jared Padalecki, who has already been starring in ‘Supernatural’ for no less than 15 seasons. But through its quarry they have also passed, among others, Adam Brody, Chad Michael Murray, Krysten Ritter and a lot of common faces from the small screen.
‘Gilmore Girls’ was on the air between 2000 and 2007, and had a good beginning and a better ending. After joining the Netflix catalog and living there a small second life, in 2016 the platform decided to launch ‘The 4 seasons of the Gilmore girls’ (‘Gilmore girls: A year in the life’), a kind of continuation of the lives of the protagonists nine years after the final chapter.
There were only four episodes and they were more self-parodic than enlightening but, without a doubt, they worked as a candy for the fans. Nor did they pretend otherwise. But that little continuation of the story did leave us wanting to know more and to continue following the little lives of the little inhabitants of Stars Hollow. So, if Sherman-Palladino were to show us how the protagonists continue to evolve, he could only tell you one thing: how he sings. Carole king at the head of the series, where you lead, i will follow.