Feeling nostalgic for a time when Lorelai and Luke sparred over a morning cup of coffee, Felicity Porter had not yet cut her trademark locks, or Buffy was still an only child, a mini-skirted naif whose destiny was thrust onto her?
Such nostalgia has gotten a little easier with the news that Warner Bros is relaunching The WB, home to such series as Gilmore Girls, Felicity, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... not as a linear television network, but as a web site.
The ad-supported site, which has wb.com as its working title, will serve as an online home for all Warners-produced WB series that ran on the network during its brief lifespan from 1995 to 2006, including Gilmore Girls, Everwood, and What I Like About You. (It's still, sadly, unclear whether that will eventually include non-Warners produced titles like the aforementioned Buffy or Felicity, but fingers crossed.)
It will also include original short-form series, all targeted at the WB's signature demographic of women 12-34.
While I certainly don't fit into that demographic, I am slightly overjoyed by the fact that these series are coming back together under the WB banner, which for a while was on a real hot streak. After all, they were the first to embrace the genius that was Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams.
And, if you need your fix of some 90s era teen angst like you need an afternoon Snickers, there are far worse places to go to achieve those ends. Especially when they afford you a trip down memory lane as WB.com is likely to do.
The Hollywood Reporter indicates that a beta launch will take place beginning next month, with a rollout planned for autumn.
Stay tuned.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: How I Met Your Mother/New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS); My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad (NBC); Gossip Girl (CW); The Bachelor: Where Are They Now? (ABC); Canterbury's Law (FOX)
9 pm: Two and a Half Men/New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (CW); October Road (ABC; 9-11 pm); New Amsterdam (FOX)
10 pm: CSI Miami (CBS); Medium (NBC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: Gossip Girl.
It's another chance to catch up on the teen soap. On tonight's repeat episode ("Victor/Victrola"): Nate confronts his father about his drug problem; Jenny uncovers a secret her parents had hoped to conceal; Chuck wants to invest in a burlesque club; Dan and Serena contemplate taking their relationship to the next level; and Blair finds comfort with an unexpected suitor.
9:30 pm: Old Christine.
On tonight's episode ("House"), Christine attempts to be happy for Richard and new Christine when they buy a house she has always dreamed of living in. Ouch.
10 pm: No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain on Travel Channel.
It's a brand new season of No Reservations on the Travel Channel; follow enfant terrible chef Anthony Bourdain as he returns to the kitchen of Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan as we attempts to work a double shift. Seriously, I cannot wait for this episode.
Sure, there are more than a few television mothers who are forces for good: paragons of maternal instincts, positive role-models whose children are well-behaved and look up to them or misunderstood martyrs who are just plain unappreciated.
But let's be honest: the TV mothers that are the most memorable tend to play their roles in a no-wire-hangers Joan Crawford kind of way. These moms, sometimes as eeevil as can be, are usually a hell of a lot more fun than their Pollyanna counterparts.
So who made my list of TV's most memorable meanie moms? Let's take a look.
Name: Julie Cooper (The O.C.)
Actress: Melinda Clarke
Likes: Power, money, powerful men with money, decorating large mansions, blackmail, her daughter's cast-off boyfriends, manipulating everyone around her, Newport Living.
Dislikes: Ryan Atwood, downsizing, no-fault divorces, getting jilted, being blackmailed, Chino.
Acts of Treachery and Wanton Evil: Sleeping with daughter Marisa's high school sweetheart Luke, nearly murdering husband Caleb, persisting in calling Kirsten "Kiki," divorcing Jimmy after discovering his financial problems, discarding husbands like used Kleenex, turning a blind eye to Marissa's blatant alcoholism, sending younger daughter Kaitlin away to school and then promptly forgetting all about her.
Joan Crawford-O-Meter: 8. This Real Housewife of Orange County is as nasty a mutha as they come.
Name: Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development)
Actress: Jessica Walters
Likes: Gin, keeping Buster under her thumb, adopting Korean children, abusing Lindsay, abusing Lupe, soup, yachts, the amorous attentions of her husband's twin brother Oscar, being zipped up.
Dislikes: Lucille Ostero, Klimpy's restaurants, her driver's license picture, au pairs, her children forgetting her birthday, pool food.
Acts of Treachery and Wanton Evil: Adopting Annyong to make Buster jealous, forcing that same son to take part each year in Motherboy competitions, attempting to run over someone she thought was eldest son GOB and then pinning the ensuing accident on Michael.
Joan Crawford-O-Meter: 7. Her mother's milk of kindness dried up long ago.
Name: Lois Henrickson (Big Love)
Actress: Grace Zabriskie
Likes: Being where the action is, fur coats, smirking, turning her sons against each other, turning her sons against her husband, turning her husband against her sons, the smell of laundered money.
Dislikes: Hubby Frank, being neglected by her family, sister wives, smiling, pumping gas.
Acts of Treachery and Wanton Evil: Committing daughter-in-law Wanda to the "booby trap," turning to granddaughter Sarah for help only to rat her out to her parents, attempting to coerce Wanda into shooting the district attorney, admitting on several occasions that she wishes she had strangled son Bill during infancy.
Joan Crawford-O-Meter: 8. Extra points for also playing hellishly scary mom to Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks.
Name: Lianne Mars (Veronica Mars)
Actress: Corinne Bohrer
Likes: Booze, booze, and more booze. Also: extramarital affairs, unicorn music boxes, grand theft, dive bars, sneaking vodka into water bottles, Jake Kane.
Dislikes: Celeste Kane, standing by her man, people taking surveillance shots of her daughter, rehab.
Acts of Treachery and Wanton Evil: Sleeping with both hubby Keith and high school sweetheart Jake Kane so that the parentage of baby Veronica was in question, running away without so much as a by-your-leave, using Veronica's college fund to enter rehab and then dropping out before completing treatment, running away with a $50,000 check intended for Veronica.
Joan Crawford-O-Meter: 7. A music box is no replacement for a mommy.
Name: Emily Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
Actress: Kelly Bishop
Likes: Cocktail hour, Friday night dinners, her beloved DAR, pearls, guilt trips, trips to Europe, Chilton Academy, redecorating the pool house, anything and everything that granddaughter Rory does.
Dislikes: Unwed mothers, subpar servants, Pennilyn Lott, hospital pillows, the state of Lorelai's life, mushed banana on toast.
Acts of Treachery and Wanton Evil: Blackmailing daughter Lorelai into Friday night dinners in exchange for Rory's tuition, repeatedly springing blind dates on Lorelai, backpedaling on the issue of Rory dropping out of Yale, attempting to break up Lorelai and Luke and push Lorelai and Christopher together, firing every maid she's ever employed.
Joan Crawford-O-Meter: 4. Despite her overbearing ways, she really does want what's best for Lorelai and Rory.
Name: Atia of the Julii (Rome)
Actress: Polly Walker
Likes: Torturing her enemies, status, gossip, sex, self-preservation, manipulating others into doing her bidding, ritually bathing in the blood of animals.
Dislikes: Servilia, honesty, weakness, charity, the taste of ashes and iron, Marc Antony marrying her daughter, her children committing incest, not being the center of attention, that "pigspawn trollop" Cleopatra.
Acts of Treachery and Wanton Evil: Paying to have humiliating graffiti of Servilia and Caesar appear on streets around Rome, hiring Titus Pullo to take son Octavian to a brothel, ordering Timon to publicly strip and beat Servilia and later ordering her kidnapping and brutal torture.
Joan Crawford-O-Meter: 10. Not since Livia Soprano has there been a worse Roman matriarch; Atia virtually wrote an ancient text on bad parenting.
What other villainous matriarchs do you think should have made it on this list? Which one of these malevolent mothers is truly the wickedest of them all? You decide.
Ah, recasting. Tis the season, apparently. Did you see the massive turnover at Boston Legal? You could have enough confetti for a parade from all the pink slips being handed out there alone.
Today, however, good news for the severely Gilmore-deprived among the readers, who can finally put aside their hatred at the CW for taking away their weekly Luke fix.
Scott Patterson, who played coffee shop proprietor/on-again-off-again love interest for the elder Gilmore girl for seven seasons of Gilmore Girls, has signed on to star in the CW's new fall comedy, Aliens in America.
Aliens in America follows the relationship and cultural misunderstandings between a 16-year-old malcontent in Wisconsin and his Christian family's Muslim exchange student. Patterson will play the family's spendthrift father. He replaces Patrick Breen, who originated the role in the pilot.
There, Gilmore fans. Are you happy now?
What's On Tonight
8 pm: The New Adventures of Old Christine/The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS); The Real Wedding Crashers (NBC); Everybody Hates Chris/All of Us (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); Hell's Kitchen (FOX)
9 pm: Two and a Half Men/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Age of Love (NBC); Girlfriends/The Game (CW); Extreme Makeover (ABC); Hell's Kitchen (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: Miami (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Supernanny (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
9 pm: Big Love on HBO.
HBO's polygamist family drama Big Love is back. On tonight's episode ("Rock and a Hard Place"), Rhonda threatens to blackmail Nicki into letting her stay; Bill, Don, and Eddie meet with the owner of a polygamy-friendly video poker business; Brynne and Ben celebrate their 3-month anniversary with Margene; and Sarah tries to persuade Heather to accompany her to a movie with Scott. I can't wait!
9 pm: Hell's Kitchen.
No, I don't know why I am still watching this train wreck of a culinary competition. Nor do I know why anyone in their right state of mind would ever CHOOSE to have their wedding at Hell's Kitchen, but that's just what happens tonight as the seven remaining chefs have to present a meal for a wedding reception at the restaurant. Chaos? Tears? Angry brides? It's all here.
Gilmore Girls has been cancelled... officially, that is. Longtime readers of this site know that I reported the cancellation weeks ago, based on information passed along to me from an insider who worked on the production.
Fast forward to today. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the May 15th finale planned for Gilmore Girls will in fact be the series' last episode, which will wrap its run after seven seasons. As a former fan of the series, I can say that it's a relief that the series, which long outstayed its welcome in the face of creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's departure (and a tense, creatively weak Season Six) as well as the fantastically awful tenure of David Rosenthal during the series' weak Season Seven.
As for those rumors in recent weeks that the CW and Warner Bros Television had been in discussions about a truncated 13-episode Season Eight Run? The deal didn't pan out in the end (no surprise) and the show will now end at the end of the month.
The CW and Warner Bros. Television offered the following statement:
"Announcing the final season of Gilmore Girls is truly a sad moment for everyone at The CW and Warner Bros. Television. This series helped define a network and created a fantastic, storybook world featuring some of television's most memorable, lovable characters."Is it sad? Not really. A little bittersweet, however, given how much I adored Gilmore's first five seasons. But in the end, that's what DVD and syndication are for. In the meantime, it's been long time that Lorelai, Rory, and Emily Gilmore were retired from primetime television.
So long, girls, and thanks for my rosy memories of the early days.
Carole King once said, "Where you lead, I will follow," but I think we've reached the end of the road with those two girls called Gilmore.
According to a source inside the production, there will not be an eighth season of Gilmore Girls, which will wrap up its run this May.
While there have been rumors of a possible eleventh hour contract renegotiation with stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel (who, according to reports, have only decided to sign their contracts if the other does as well), purported (and disastrous) Season Eight storyline plans, and petitions to save the show, it seems that it's not in the stars (hollow or otherwise) for any future seasons of Gilmore Girls.
According to my source, staffers on the Warner Bros. Television series have been told that the series will not be going forward and have begun to look for other employment next season. The same holds for the actors: Melissa McCarthy, who plays chef Sookie, recently signed on to co-star opposite Christina Applegate and Jean Smart in ABC comedy pilot Sam I Am.
Hell, Gilmore Girls' showrunner David Rosenthal is allegedly looking for work as well.
For fans of the show, at least we got five fantastic years with these girls and two not-so-good ones (you all know which ones I'm referring to), but I wouldn't trade those pop culture-laced memories for anything.
Hmmm, apparently there's something in the air. Following my post yesterday about why I think Lauren Graham would be perfect for Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's new comedy pilot, The Return of Jezebel James, trouble seems to be brewing on the Stars Hollow set of Gilmore Girls.
According to a report by TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, the fate of the series lays in Alexis Bledel's pretty little hands and the younger Gilmore girl doesn't want to return for an eighth season on the CW dramedy. However, Ausiello claims that the network has a Plan B. (Now beware, ladies and gentlemen, purported and probable SPOILERS lurk ahead, so be forewarned.)
Should Bledel not commit to Season Eight, the CW will reportedly look to refocus the series on "Lorelai, Luke and their new baby, with the occasional sweeps-month guest appearance by Rory."
Ouch.
That's a truly horrifically bad idea, especially as my fear is that Lorelai and Luke will conceive a female baby, changing the focus of those titular girls from Lorelai and Rory to... Lorelai Plus One. (Shudder.)
Meanwhile, over at E! Online, Kristin has some info of her own that appears to discount Ausiello's story completely:
"Well, according to my sources—who are highly placed within the Gilmore family—the plan of a Roryless eighth season has been firmly rejected for one very good reason: Lauren Graham is sticking by her onscreen daughter (you gotta love that) and has made it clear that she will not continue the show without Alexis on board."Which means that no Alexis Bledel, no Gilmore Girls. Should Bledel decide not to make another trip to Stars Hollow, Graham won't either. (You've got to love solidarity among co-stars.) I can't say that I blame Graham, especially as the two of them are the heart and soul of the show, even if they barely appear in scenes together anymore.
Still, Kristin claims that the CW (and network president Dawn Ostroff) is willing to do "whatever it takes" to keep Bledel and Graham around for another season, including "turn the show around creatively." (I'd have to agree with that; it's been unwatchable this season.)
Personally, I think it's time for Gilmore Girls to take a bow and exeunt stage left at this point. They started out as a little tiny show on a little tiny network on Thursday nights and no one initially gave a thought to the fact that it could even make it past one season, let alone seven.
Gilmore Girls will always have a very special place in my heart but it's sad but true to say that it feels like it's going through the motions at this point and I'd much rather see Bledel, Graham, and the entire GG cast go onto newer and better things than languish for another, protracted season.
That's just my opinion. But at least I have my DVDs. Continue reading...
I might be sounding like a bit of a broken record at the moment regarding Amy Sherman-Palladino's new comedy pilot The Return of Jezebel James, but I just can't get Lauren Graham out of my head.
Mainly because Graham would just be so insanely perfect for the lead role of Sarah Thompkins in ASP's latest project and I'd love to see Graham and Sherman-Palladino reunite on a different project, one that didn't involve a certain formerly beloved mother-daughter relationship going ever so unsubtly off the rails in recent years.
Indispensable industry resource TV Tracker today released the first installment of their patented Track Vision (a boon during pilot season for overworked and overwrought buyers like yours truly) and listed Gilmore Girls as an "expected cancellation."
Rumors have been swirling for months about the fate of this WB/CW dramedy staple, but after seven seasons and increasingly mounting production costs, it seems like this May will be the end of those girls from Stars Hollow. (And, sadly, it's coming a little too late for this former GG addict.)
Which would mean that Graham needs to get out there and sign up to do a pilot for next season. If only to do something television-based that pushes her a little bit away from Lorelai Gilmore. Sure, Graham is developing a few projects with her Warners-based production shingle, but I don't believe that any of them have been picked up to pilot.
Plus, who better to write breakneck, witty, sassy banter for our gal Graham than the writer who infused Lorelai and Rory's conversations with such brilliant pop culture-infused repartee?
The script for Jezebel James describes Sarah as "a young adult book editor. She is mid to late thirties, bright, sunny, an eternal optimist and the most determined lady you could meet."
If that's not Graham, I don't know what is.
Graham needs a vehicle that would allow her to shine and still give her whip-smart dialogue, a three-dimensional character, and a unique on-screen relationship to explore. And Jezebel James would offer her a bit of variety in the fact that, unlike Gilmore Girls, it's a half-hour comedy on a network that has a bit more cache (and cash) than newbie netlet the CW.
Plus, how great would it be to see Graham reunite with her former on-screen flame Scott Cohen, who has already been cast as Marcus in the FOX comedy?
Meanwhile, I was discussing the character of Coco, Sarah's rambunctious, alternative, and aggressively estranged sister, with my friend Di, who writes industry newsletter The Surf Report, and both of us immediately wanted to cast Mean Girls' Lizzy Caplan. (I mean, come on, it would be an absolute miracle if CBS renewed The Class at this point.)
Lauren Graham. Scott Cohen. Lizzy Caplan. Amy Sherman-Palladino. The Return of Jezebel James.
Think about it.
As for those rumors of bad blood between Amy Sherman-Palladino and Lauren Graham during the last days together on the Gilmore Girls set, what better way to bury the hatchet than to start anew?
P.S. If you're wondering about The Return of Jezebel James' title and who exactly that's referring to, wonder no more: the titular character is a fictional character in a series of young adult lit books that Sarah edits. It's also the name of Coco's childhood imaginary friend. Coincidence? I think not.
Because I've gotten so many emails asking me if I knew about this latest bit of pilot casting news, I figure I might as well share it with the rest of you out there.
Scott Cohen has signed on to star in Amy Sherman-Palladino's comedy pilot The Return of Jezebel James for FOX.
For those of us that follow such events, it's a blessed marriage and the reunion of two TV greats. Scott Cohen, of course, memorably played Lorelai's doomed lover and almost-husband Max Medina on Gilmore Girls.
The two met at Rory's private school Chilton where Max was a tweed-wearing teacher and he and Lorelai nearly tied the knot (he proposed with 1000 daffodils in the days when there was an Independence Inn on the show), but she jilted him and instead took a road trip to Harvard with Rory. Ringing a bell?
As previously reported, Amy Sherman-Palladino's comedy The Return of Jezebel James has been ordered to pilot; it's about two estranged sisters who reunite when the elder sister Coco asks her younger, kooky sister Sarah to carry her child.
Enter Scott Cohen, who has joined the cast of Jezebel James, where he'll play Marcus, a confirmed bachelor AND Sarah's boyfriend. (Tricky, that.) One can only imagine how he'll take the news of Sarah's pregnancy scheme...
I think the casting is brilliant, but it only heightens the fact that, no matter how hard I try, I can't help but read the script and imagine Lauren Graham playing Sarah.
If only...
While there are a number of pilot and series orders worthy of keeping one's eye on during this busy pilot season--The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Canyons, and The Bionic Woman being the first three to come to mind--every now and then there's a certain project that comes along that you can't help but root for, especially when it comes from the fertile minds of one of your favorite television creators.
Especially when said creator has let you down a wee bit by leaving the series that made them a mythic name around the Televisionary household after sort of sinking the show a bit.
If you couldn't guess who I was talking about just from that sentence above (or if you don't bother reading the title, I suppose), here goes. Fox has ordered a multi-camera pilot from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino with the working title of The Return of Jezebel James.
First of all, I'm extremely curious to see how Sherman-Palladino will handle a traditional half-hour multi-camera sitcom, albeit one with a modern twist. The story revolves around two estranged sisters, with a vast age difference, who come together after one agrees to carry the other's baby. Because of the difference in their ages, these two barely know one another and are, obviously, forced into a relationship.
"They never forged any relationship at home, and now they're forced into a situation where they're not only negotiating over the carrying of the baby but also over who they are," Sherman-Palladino told The Hollywood Reporter. "The catalyst of the relationship is them finding out who they are to each other."
Sherman-Palladino will write, direct, and executive produce the comedy, which harkens back to her early multi-cam sitcom days as a writer on Roseanne.
The news of the pilot order comes just a few days after Sherman-Palladino's appearance last week at the Hollywood Radio & Television Society's Hitmakers luncheon at the Regent Beverly Wilshire (where, yes, she was wearing one of her trademark hats, referred to by MC Jimmy Kimmel as a "magician's top hat"). At a panel discussion with fellow series creators Greg Daniels (The Office), Damon Lindelof (Lost), Anthony Zuiker (CSI), Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), Sherman-Palladino blasted the industry's insistence that the comedy genre was dead.
"I don't begrudge the existence of reality shows," said Sherman-Palladino. "I think it's a shame that their existence has become a crutch and an excuse for not creating great shows."
Sherman-Palladino went on to say that the Big Four Networks should be doing more comedy. "They have the biggest audience and the biggest budgets," she continued. "Comedy used to make money, but everybody turned their back on it because it's just too easy not to trust good writers."
Sherman-Palladino's decision to reinvigorate the traditional sitcom definitely intrigues me, especially as the only multi-cam comedy I can watch nowadays is CBS' Old Christine. (Meanwhile, my TiVo is constantly overflowing with single-cams like The Office, Everybody Hates Chris, 30 Rock, Scrubs, and My Name is Earl. Hell, I still can't bring myself to delete episodes of Arrested Development off of it.)
I do think it's somewhat frightening that a quick glance of the networks reveals less comedy now than, say, five or ten years ago. Even comedy stalwarts like The King of Queens and According to Jim are feeling the burn; both were renewed by their respective networks, albeit with reduced episodic orders. Filling that void are typically cheap-to-produce reality programming, which Sherman-Palladino bemoaned at the panel as being forgotten five minutes later. Say what you want about NBC (I usually do), but they at least seem committed to the idea of the single-cam comedy, anyway, with their reinvigorated Thursday night lineup.
Still, Sherman-Palladino believes she can stem the tide of both networks and viewers switching off comedies. "I'm sorry it's become the wasteland and people are turning their backs on it," Sherman-Palladino told The Hollywood Reporter. "It doesn't have to be this way."
Let's just hope that with The Return of Jezebel James, Sherman-Palladino proves to be as tenacious (and obstinate) as her TV creations Lorelai and Rory. Especially on a network as trigger-happy as Fox.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: The King of Queens/The King of Queens (CBS); The Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); Next Top Model: British Invasion (CW; 8-10 pm); Show Me the Money (ABC); Bones (FOX); Wicked Wicked Games (MyNet)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Day Break (ABC); Bones (FOX); Watch Over Me (MyNet)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Medium (NBC); Primetime: Basic Instinct (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: Next Top Model: British Invasion.
Okay, Top Model might be over and CariDee was crowned the victor, but I need my ANTM fix... Fortunately, the CW is giving us a highlights package of the Blighty version of Top Model. So sit back, relax, and prepare to unleash your inner model.
9-11 pm: The Lost Room on Sci Fi.
On the final installment of Sci Fi's latest epic mini-series, Joe Miller (Peter Krause) must use everything at his disposal to find the Prime Object, his last chance of rescuing his daughter Anna (Elle Fanning) from the Motel Room.
10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.
It's the second season of Bravo's culinary competition Top Chef. On tonight's episode, it's supposedly "party season" (despite it being the dead of summer when the show was filmed) and the remaining contestants have to cater a party, but this being Top Chef tempers flare and the knives are drawn, particularly when Cliff becomes a little too bossy. Uh-oh. All this and Queer Eye's Ted Allen? It's synergistic hilarity waiting to happen!
It was with some trepidation that I sat down last night to watch the season premiere of Gilmore Girls. After all, creator Amy Sherman Palladino and hubby Daniel Palladino are gone now and their departure cast a rather large pall over this once mighty series and I hadn't exactly had a lot of confidence in their replacement, David Rosenthal, whose two episodes to date had left me cold. Could this be a fresh start for the Gilmore Girls that I knew and loved? Perhaps.
I'll admit that I was a little concerned during beginning of the Girls' seventh season premiere ("The Long Morrow") last night. The opening scenes seemed weak, ineffectual, and clunky and, even worse, they seemed vaguely similar to the frustrating, hot mess that was Season Six. (Look, it's Amy and Daniel... and they're running out the door and taking any narrative sense with them!) We've seen Lorelai sleep with the wrong guy and then sulk and pout before, we've seen Sookie babble on endlessly, we've seen Michel... have nothing to do. So there was definitely a sense of been-there-done-that that made me feel more than a little uneasy.
But then something happened.
The characters started to behave like themselves again, in a way that they hadn't for most of last season (if you can't already tell, I'm a huge Gilmore fan who was crushed by the lack of cohesion and, well, common sense of last season). Lorelai was Lorelai again: quixotic and spunky, with a fierce inner spirit and an absolute failure at cooking (I loved the riff on not having any ice in the house). Rory was Rory, completely bonded with her mother, at ease with one another, headstrong and intelligent. And both were filled with the spirit of that dearly departed wit, Dorothy Parker, who would have been proud at the zingers and bon mots casually tossed off by these two intelligent and stylish women.
If you couldn't tell, I might just be falling in love with my Gilmore girls all over again. I absolutely loved the racquetball scene between the two of them: both the sitting on the floor of the court and gabbing and the actual 5 second racquetball game, which promptly ends when the opening stroke ricochets right into Lorelai's face. The dialogue, as written by newly minted Gilmore Girls showrunner David Rosenthal, was filled with a lightness and verve sorely missing of late. It was fast and furious (but not overly so), filled with some pop cultural references (I never thought I'd hear the words "Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift" uttered on the show), but never overwrought or overdone. Simply put: it made sense, it made me laugh out loud (something I haven't been able to do in quite some time whilst watching Gilmore Girls), and it didn't reinvent the wheel. It stuck to what the show does best: plot the relationship between Lorelai and Rory, their kooky neighbors in Stars Hollow, the current men in their lives, and remain tartly sweet and smartly savvy.
I thought that the red light traffic cam installation scene was right on the money. Any more and it would have been over the top, but as is, it was just zany enough to work. Same with Luke's reaction after Kirk crashes Taylor's beloved T-bird into the diner's wall. I half expected him to begin freaking out and ranting about Lorelai and how this has broken down the walls around him (the metaphor was beginning to make me a little uneasy), but Rosenthal pulled it off by making it more about everyone forcing Luke to make a decision. It was also helped by some fine acting on Scott Patterson's part and not once did he never mention Lorelai by name. So, bravo, for pulling off something that could have been hokey and fondue-like and instead having it fit in with the tradition of bizarro Stars Hollow stories on the series and ring true to their characters and their situations.
I liked Rory and Logan's long distance interactions and the rocket ship gift he sent to her (I love when the girls attempt to solve relationship-related mysteries) and was especially pleased with the twist that, while Logan is sending her a plane ticket to London, Rory won't be seeing her beau until Christmas-time. At least, unless she has anything to say about it. I love how Logan can be so savvy and so stupid at the same time and so utterly clueless about Rory's feelings. Which is why I love their current situation. Will Logan wait "40 years" for Rory? And better yet: will Rory do the same for him?
Additionally, I'm especially glad that Lorelai didn't elope with Luke (though glad that the big lunk finally proposed to her) and that Lorelai didn't conceal the fact that she slept with Christopher from him. His reaction was right on the money, both for Luke and men in general. Personally, I'm happy to see Luke and Lorelai apart for a while, even though I was rooting for them for many years, as I think that she and Christopher are actually a really good couple. He's matured significantly in the last few seasons and is finally as adult as Lorelai but their shared past and, um, shared daughter, make them a good fit. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the next few episodes, but the scenes for next week do make it seem as though we'll be seeing Lorelai and Chris as a couple. At least for a little while, anyway.
So, was it a return to the glory days of Gilmore Girls? Well, it's definitely a step in the right direction. And while it's still way too soon to tell whether the show will keep on the path it's on or whether it will again lose its footing, I do have to say that I am impressed with how much I enjoyed the episode and the direction under the previously much maligned David Rosenthal. As for the future of Gilmore Girls, there's a part of me that's cautiously optimistic about this season. But at the same time, there's another side of me that just can't wait to get back to Stars Hollow again next week.
Next week on Gilmore Girls ("That's What You Get, Folks, for Makin' Whoopee"): Lorelei tries to cheer up Rory, upset about calling off her trip to Asia with Logan, by transforming the house into the Stars Hollow version of, um, Asia, in this episode written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Jericho (CBS); The Biggest Loser (NBC; 8-10 pm); America's Next Top Model (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC); Bones (FOX); Desire (MyNet)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); One Tree Hill (CW); Lost (ABC); Justice (FOX); Fashion House (MyNet)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Kidnapped (NBC); 20/20 (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: Jericho.
I'm really on the fence about this series, which is just way too maudlin and depressing for me to tune into on a weekly basis. Plus, I've got enough stress from Lost at 9 pm. On tonight's episode ("Fallout"), Jake discovers that the fallout shelter is unusable... an hour before fallout from the blast is about to hit the town. Day-um.
9 pm: Lost.
Yes, it's yet another Lost recap show ("A Tale of Survival") before next week's third season premiere. Will I tune in or will it just wind up sitting on my TiVo's hard drive for the next few weeks? Only Desmond knows...
10 pm: Kidnapped.
It's the second episode of NBC's fall kidnapping drama (not to be confused with FOX's). On tonight's episode ("Special Delivery"), the Cains receive a package that implies that their other children might be in danger, while Knapp (Jeremy Sisto) heads to Brown University to search out missing daughter Aubrey. Unless the ratings improve for this drama, something tells me that the only thing missing will soon be this series from the schedule...
10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.
On tonight's episode, it's finally down to the final four contestants. (Yes, really, this time.) Who will be booted off the runway next? Just please don't let it be Michael.
Fox Chases "Gilmore" Girl
Only a few weeks after leaving the series, outbound Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman Palladino has set up her next series project at Fox, according to a report filed by Variety.
The project, written by Sherman-Palladino (who may also direct the pilot), is a half-hour dramedy that will focus on two estranged sisters who come together when one agrees to carry the other's baby.
No studio is currently attached to the project, which is a put pilot at Fox.
The news comes after Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino, a fellow Gilmore Girls scribe/producer, departed the series in April after failing to reach a deal with studio Warner Bros. Television. Sherman-Palladino's replacement as showrunner on the CW dramedy series is Gilmore Girls writer/producer David Rosenthal.
While I doubt that Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel will be playing those sisters (though wouldn't that be great?), I do suspect that the pilot will feature Sherman-Palladino's trademark whip-smart banter that we've grown to love from Gilmore Girls.
Best of luck, Amy!
Warren Ellis' "Dead Channel" and Others Fill AMC's Original Slate
Following the success of the channel's Robert Duvall-led Broken Trail, cabler AMC has announced its first development slate of original series, according to Variety.
Current projects in development at the net include an untitled "hybrid family-horror drama set in suburbia" from Adam and Seth Gross (DOA: Dead or Alive) and executive producer Richard Kelley (Donnie Darko), a noir-ish detective drama from Monster's Ball writer Will Rokos, and an American adaptation of British series My Life in Film from Boston Legal scribe Phoef Sutton.
Additionally, AMC has signed deals to develop a 1970s New York period drama from executive producer William Finkelstein (NYPD Blue), modern horror story a la Rosemary's Baby or The Shining from writer/exec producer Steven Katz (Shadow of the Vampire), a supernatural drama from Peter O'Fallon (Blade: The Series) and writer Dan Sinclair about "what happens with dreams and desires are fulfilled," and a sci-fi series set in the Midwest from Rohan Gavin (Company Man).
Also revealed is the title of the previously reported Warren Ellis-created half-hour dramedy Dead Channel, which is set in a fictional entertainment industry. (Given the horrors of what actually goes on in this industry, Ellis should have a veritable field day.)
The announcement comes as AMC has made particular strides into the scripted series world, acquiring and airing British drama series Hustle and co-producing the 1950s-set advertising drama Mad Men with the BBC. (Expect an imminent greenlight and an announcement regarding the U.S. studio behind the latter, although having seen the original pilot, I'm not all that impressed... but it is good to see Angel's Vincent Kartheiser in a more adult role.)
Missed Joss Whedon at San Diego?
The Comic News Insider's Joe and Jimmy have a podcast interview from San Diego's Comic Con with uber-writer Joss Whedon and his Astonishing X-Men penciller John Cassaday. (Also available via the Music Store on iTunes as well.)
Cue the podcast to around 24:30 to catch Messieurs Whedon and Cassaday at the "geek igloo" of the Marvel booth (though beware of the massive background noise) and catch a few tidbits about the status of Wonder Woman, Goners, the Buffy Season 8 comic, and the possibility of Joss returning to television. ("I'd love to do TV again, I miss it very much.")
Joss will write the first four-issue arc on the Buffy Season 8 comic and then oversee various writers from the series and other media on their individual arcs. The comic will follow the lives of Buffy and her friends "after she has made every potential slayer in the world a slayer and changed the rules... and changed the world literally and she has to deal with what comes next."
I'm so there.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Rock Star: Supernova (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC; 8-10 pm); Blue Collar TV/Blue Collar TV (WB); George Lopex/George Lopez (ABC); House (FOX); America's Next Top Model (UPN)
9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); One Tree Hill (WB); Lost (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX); All of Us/Half and Half (UPN)
10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Primetime (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.
It's here, it's finally here! Tonight's episode of my new reality fix, Project Runway, features the dramatic booting of a would-be designer before the elimination challenge. Looks like someone bent (or broke) the rules and now Tim Gunn is swinging the axe. So who is it? As long as it's not Kayne or Michael or Allison, I'm okay.
Yesterday's Television Critics Association event in Pasadena featured the first press session with the newly minted netlet, The CW (a phoenix rising from the ashes of the WB and UPN). And, while the network and president Dawn Ostroff trotted out all of the network's returning and new series, most critics' attention was sharply drawn to two of the network's returning series, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars.
Let's talk about Veronica Mars first as the news shared there excited me far more than anything teased at the Gilmore Girls panel.
The most important announcement: Mac is back.
Actress Tina Majorino, who plays Veronica's computer geek gal pal, has been locked as a series regular for next season. But don't expect the duo to be roomies. Among other characters making an appearance next season will be Stosh Piznarski, a roommate for Wallace (Percy Daggs III), and an as-yet-unnamed roomie for Mac. Creator Rob Thomas said of Mac's roommate, "She will be bubbly and effervescence and listen to a lot of Nellie Furtado in the room. And they won't hit it off right away, but she'll have a heart of gold." (Veronica will be still living at home with dad Keith.)
But no worries, Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) will also be attending Hearst College next year, as will Wallace and Logan (Jason Dohring). (Whew.) Kendall Casablancas (Charisma Carpenter) will make "at least [one]" appearance on the show, but don't hold your breath for Duncan to make a cameo. According to series creator Rob Thomas: "We had two romantic possibilities for Veronica, and one sort of dominated the fans' interest. And it became clear that one suitor won out." (One guess who.)
The mystery surrounding the briefcase that Kendall brought to Keith will be resolved in the first two episodes of the season.
However, expect a much more streamlined third season of VM as Rob Thomas realized that this past season's mysteries were way too convoluted. The season's first mystery will consist of nine episodes, which will run straight through without pre-emptions or repeats, followed by a seven-episode mystery arc, and a final six-episode mystery. Um, doesn't that add up to 22 episodes? "That's spoken with the confidence of a man who thinks he's going 22 episodes," said Thomas.
Speaking of which, Veronica Mars is only currently picked up for 13 episodes this fall and has yet to receive an order on the back nine episodes.
What does that mean? If you're a fan of Veronica Mars, make sure that everyone you know is watching the series this fall, buy DVDs of the first two seasons for your friends, and speak loudly and articulately about how brilliant and well-written this series is whenever you get the chance. Veronica will only make it through the full season if it reaches the ratings requirements that Ostroff and the CW anticipate for it.
So get out there and spread the gospel of Veronica...
Over at the panel for Gilmore Girls, there was a lot of controversy and more than a little tension.
The behind-the-scenes drama was more interesting than the actual series announcements. Or that's the opinion of several entertainment journos who attended the event, including the San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman (he of The Bastard Machine column). So says Goodman with typical acerbic wit in his post, "The Gilmore Girls Are Dead, Long Live Veronica Mars":
"Gilmore Girls is on this planet for one thing only - to drive viewers to the better show, Veronica Mars. More people watch Gilmore Girls than Veronica Mars so this is sound programming sense. But the cold hard facts are that Gilmore Girls hasn't been very good for - being generous here - two seasons, the stars desperately want off the show (which they will be granted after the season) and the only reason Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel came YET AGAIN to another press tour is because the people who created the show in the first place and then ruined it are now gone, and the stars want to give new executive producer David Rosenthal a chance, despite his somewhat kooky and worrisome past. [Editor's note: that link will just drive you right back here, where I broke the Rosenthal history piece several months ago.]Ouch.
Their session here was dismal. Graham couldn't hide her distaste for twists and turns her character has taken recently, though she fiercely defended Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator and writer whose artistic control of the series faltered so badly late in the game and who led Graham's character down a crooked path of false behavior. Bledel's disinterested approach to the proceedings reaffirmed long-held critical beliefs that her best personality trait is one someone else writes for her. Rosenthal? He did little to disprove the notion that he's been hired to steer the series away from the cliff it's approaching and into one of those freeway dividers filled with sand, which will contain as much damage as possible so that the show will finish the season and continue to funnel viewers to Veronica Mars.
Honestly, it was that bad. In summation: Two actresses who looked like they were trapped, one producer hired to put a tourniquet on a horse's head he found in his bed and a network that knows the end is near but would really love the haggard old veteran to help the spritely new kid."
But Goodman has got a point. While I am a longtime fan of the Girls, this past season was so painful, so ineptly crafted, that I'm rather considering turning my back on my beloved Gilmores. Can Rosenthal turn the rapidly sinking ship around? TV Guide's Michael Ausiello interviews the inbound Gilmore Girls showrunner here.
One tidbit from the Ausiello-Rosenthal interview:
"Ausiello: Are you aware of all the anti-Gilmore sentiment out there?
Rosenthal: I'm aware of it. I do pay attention to it, but I try to keep my eye on the ball. I try to keep focused on the long term and the arcs for the season and where we want to take these characters... and keeping the show alive and growing so that that it can go more than just this season. So this won't have to be the last season of Gilmore Girls, 'cause I do feel like there's a lot more life left in the show, but I think it's up to us, the writers, to make that a reality."
What do you think, gentle readers?
The CW will kick off its launch on September 20th with a two-hour season premiere of America's Next Top Model. Gilmore Girls is set to premiere on September 26th at 8 pm ET/PT; Veronica Mars will start its third season on October 3rd at 9 pm ET/PT. Continue reading...
With the network upfronts completed and the fall schedules all in order (for now anyway; NBC is rumored to be already looking to move Studio 60 out of its tough timeslot), I decided to sit down and look at what shows I'll be watching this fall.
While I can't guarantee that I'll stick around for more than a few (or even one) episode of many of these series, below are the new and returning shows that have at least piqued my interest. Though as the pilots start making their way to my office, this list could begin to change drastically. (In fact, it already has. Since I started writing this, I watched the pilot for Heroes and, well, let's just say... you should look for my review on Monday.)
monday
9 pm: Heroes (NBC)
Take one part Lost, one part Uncanny X-Men, and two parts Rising Stars and you sort of get the idea behind this serialized drama about ordinary people who suddenly discover they have extraordinary powers. It has an amazing cast, including Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, and a whole host of others.
9:30 pm: Old Christine (CBS)
I'll TiVo Old Christine to watch at 10 pm. Hands down the best traditional, multi-camera sitcom on the air right now. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is amazing as divorcee and single mom Christine and has finally escaped the legacy of Elaine and Seinfeld. The supporting cast is top-notch and the writing witty and understated. Rarely ever a false note.
tuesday
8 pm: Standoff (FOX; left)
It's got Ron Livingston and Gina Torres (GINA effing TORRES!) as hostage negotiators. The mere fact that Gina is in it means that I've got to check out the first episode at least. (And let's face it, when it moves to Mondays at 8 in January, there's absolutely nothing else on in that timeslot.)
8 pm: Gilmore Girls (CW)
Despite the fact that this past season was completely sub-par and Amy and Daniel have really left Stars Hollow for good, I'll give Gilmore Girls another chance next season. We've had many good years together and--while this isn't the Gilmore Girls of yesteryear--maybe, just maybe, new showrunner David Rosenthal will surprise me with his take on the brilliant Girls. Maybe.
9 pm: Veronica Mars (CW)
As any longtime reader will know, I have an special soft spot in my heart for whip-smart teenage sleuth Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell). Murder, mayhem, mysteries, and a perky blonde gumshoe: this drama has everything that adds up to the perfect modern-day noir drama. The show is so smart and engaging, you'll scream at the television when each episode ends. Thank you, CW, for giving us another season of Veronica, Logan, Mac, and a whole lot of new mysteries.
9 pm: Kidnapped (NBC)
I've already seen the pilot (click here to read my review) and am I definitely intrigued enough to watch the next few episodes (or at least TiVo them while I watch Veronica Mars). With a top-notch feature film-quality cast (including Jeremy Sisto, Dana Delany, Timothy Hutton, Delroy Lindo, and Linus Roache), taut (if somewhat predictable) pilot, and a serialized storyline that actually makes translates well to the small screen, Kidnapped might just make my TiVo Season Pass list if the second episode builds strongly on the set-up of the pilot.
wednesday
8 pm: Jericho (CBS; top)
Like last season's now-doomed Invasion, I'm not sure how CBS's Jericho can keep the story going for very long beyond the first season, but then again Lost has managed to keep the plot twists coming over two seasons now and shows no signs of letting up, so maybe CBS is on to something here, in this drama about a small Kansas town after an apocalyptic event leaves the town shocked, isolated, and wondering if anyone else in America is even alive. The series stars Ashley Scott, Skeet Ulrich, and Gerald McRaney. I'll check out the first few episodes of Jericho to see if it piques my interest; it could be a great appetizer before sinking your teeth into Lost.
9 pm: Lost (ABC)
I'm glad that ABC decided not to move my beloved series, but the wait for new episodes in October is going to be an arduous one. (The network decided to hold off and then air Lost in two larger blocks of episodes, with the show taking a break after seven episodes and then returning mid-season for an uninterrupted run until the season finale.) Sit down with your favorite flavor of Dharma Initiative brand potato chips and get lost in this lush and mysterious character-driven sci-fi/action/drama hybrid.
9:30: 30 Rock (NBC; left)
While NBC's similarly-themed Studio 60 may have captured a lot of the buzz, I'm actually looking forward more to Tina Fey's half-hour comedy, 30 Rock, about the backstage shenanigans at a late-night sketch show. The series also stars Alec Baldwin, Tim Meadows, and Rachel Dratch and in a nifty bit of corporate synergy the show-within-a-show's sketches (of which the audience will only see a few seconds) will be shown in their entirety on NBC's relaunched website group. And while 30 Rock might be on opposite Lost, it just means that my beloved TiVo will get a workout.
thursday
8 pm: My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC)
NBC has moved My Name is Earl and The Office, easily the best hour of comedic television, an hour earlier to an 8 pm timeslot and they might have well just used a carrot on a string to get me to follow. My Name is Earl returns in the fall with a new batch of mishaps as Earl, aided by lovable mug Randy, toxic-yet-hilarious Joy, goofy-but-profound Darnell, and hot-as-hell motel maid Catalina, tries to make up for all of the bad things he did before he discovered karma. Meanwhile over on The Office, what will the fallout be from Jim and Pam's kiss in the season finale? Will uptight Dwight ever get a clue? And will boss Michael Scott ever get the girl?
9 pm: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. (NBC)
Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme return to TV with this dramedy set behind-t