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There really isn't another show quite like THE GILMORE GIRLS. No other series so thoroughly dedicated to words. There are no doubt other series with great talk: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER definitely comes to mind. But no other show that I know put language and witty talk so completely at the heart of what it was trying to do. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino said that she was inspired by great Hollywood comedies like the Thin Man series and HIS GIRL FRIDAY (one of the few films where the characters talked faster than they did on THE GILMORE GIRLS). And for five absolutely brilliant and one less than brilliant season the show was magical beyond any reasonable expectation. Then came Season Seven. I still watched with great interest. Well, until the marriage to Chris part (I asked a friend to tell me when Lorelei and Chris busted up and stayed away until they did). Season Seven was not a truly awful season. There were still many great moments during the year, including an absolutely splendid series finale, but by the end the show was having fewer and fewer of those wonderful moments that made it so special.
One major reason Season Seven struggled so much was the absence of the show's guiding genius. During contract negotiations at the end of Season Six, the WB offered Amy and her co-producer husband Daniel Palladino a one-year contract. She wanted the respect to be offered a two-year contract. The WB refused to budge and she and Daniel left the show. Since the two of them had either written or directed separately or together the bulk of the episodes on the show, the loss was irreparable. The show was built mainly around great talk, but what happens when the person most responsible for that talk leaves? Unfortunately, the brilliance of the talk went with them.
Those left behind tried gamely to carry on. But they also had the misfortune to be left with the remnants of an exceedingly bad story arc that Amy left behind. Most fans of THE GILMORE GIRLS came to dislike Lorelei at times during Season Six, including Lauren Graham. While most agreed that Luke was being too secretive about learning that he had a daughter he knew nothing about, most also felt that Lorelei's reaction was excessive. She became pushy and needy and impatient and just generally unlikable. Then incredibly stupid by giving Luke an ultimatum to either elope on the spot or lose her. And Season Six ended with her sleeping with Luke.
This whole story arc has to be laid at the feet of Amy Sherman-Palladino and the show had no choice but to continue the arc in Season Seven. As brilliant as Amy was over the first five seasons, the falling apart of Luke and Lorelei's relationship in Season Six and then whole Chris mess in Season Seven were her worst contributions to the show. Luckily, it didn't last forever. By the end of the season Rory had graduated from Yale and Lorelei was yearning to be with Luke, acutely conscious of what she had lost.
The season ended on some of the best moments of the year. One memorable episode had all of Stars Hollow laid out as a vast maze, in a weird plan by Taylor that for once truly worked out. Lorelei and Luke meet and express some of the regrets that they had felt for some time. It was a great moment. But the highpoint of the season and one of the highpoints of the entire series occurred in a scene in which Rory gets her mother drunk enough to sing on karaoke night. She starts off singing Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" (and the Dolly Parton arrangement, not the overly ornate butchering that Whitney Houston did) in Rory's direction. But Luke walks in as she sings and inevitably her gaze shifts. As she sings (and quite well, thank you), you see a world of conflicting emotions overcoming her: regret, yearning, hope, resignation, good will, and love. I don't know of another actress on TV other than Lauren Graham who could have pulled it off. It was one of those utterly perfect TV moments that reminded me not just why I watch THE GILMORE GIRLS but TV in general.
Until the very end of the season it appeared that there was going to be a Season Eight. The CW (which had taken over the show when the WB and UPN merged) hoped to have a 13 or 16 episode shortened season, but in the end Lauren Graham and Alexis Bedell, who were both up for contract renewal, declined to sing new contracts. But after seeing what turned out to be the series finale I am almost grateful of their decision. What a lovely end to a wonderful series! Few shows get to go out perfectly, but THE GILMORE GIRLS managed one of the most perfect finales ever. As Luke marshals the town for a farewell party (on one day's notice) we get a beautiful episode that allows us both to see all our favorite characters one last time and to say goodbye to them. Everything that should have been done was done. Rory is off to join the Barack Obama campaign as a reporter. Lorelei, when Sookie tells her that the planning of the party "was all Luke," realizes that Luke, who is sometimes slow to speak, has shown how he feels about her with actions. When she thanks him and he tells her that he likes to see her happy you know that they are going to be fine. You don't even need the kiss that follows. And the series ends just as it began seven years earlier, Lorelei and Rory sitting in Luke's diner.
I'm not sure that this is a show that can be replaced. Some shows are sui generis, truly one of a kind. This is one of those. The premise of a mother and daughter who were best friends was at the heart, but it didn't make it unique. It was the combination of the amazing group of characters, the wonderful town, and the endless stream of magnificently written scripts.
I want to end by praising Lauren Graham. This was a great cast with a number of remarkably gifted actors. But Lauren Graham towered above them all. The Emmys never did her justice. It is almost inconceivable that she never received a single Emmy nomination. Yet for seven years she was without serious competition the finest actress on television. How can such a travesty occur and the Emmys not feel a profound sense of shame? It is true that last year the Emmys were "reformed" in order to make it possible for deserving performers more likely to be nominated. Lauren Graham's name was the one mentioned as an example of such a performer. Yet even with reform she didn't receive a nomination. But to me her performance as Lorelei is one of the great achievements of television acting. No one came anywhere close to her in handling comedy; no one could rival her delivery of the machine-gun like dialogue. But neither could many rival her with drama. The karaoke scene I mentioned is a perfect example.
I will truly miss this series.
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Gilmore Girls: The Complete Seventh Season (2006)After 20-plus years of single motherhood, after a series of Mr. Not- Quite-Rights, after buying that perfect wedding dress and watching it hang in the closet, Lorelai finally gets married. Yes, but to whom? The answer is just one of the deliciously intriguing what's-gonna-happens in these 22 episodes about a mother, a daughter, a town and a world that devoted Gilmore groupies have taken as their own. Sharpen your wits for the famed, fast-paced Gilmore dialogue -- but let your heart do its thing. From Stars Hollow to New York City to Paris... from Lorelai's wedding to Lane's baby shower to Rory's graduation... from beginning to middle to end... here's Season 7.
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