Yep. Gilmore Girls is really coming back. 9 years after its tragic Palladino-free ending. And its coming back in less than a month. How did that happen?
I complained in my last post about Netflix originals. (At least a little.) I now need the opportunity to complain about the Netflix revival. Or revivals in general. One, or both of those things, maybe. I’m going to lead you down a long journey of revivals and follow it up with a discussion of the new Gilmore Girls, which is important for you to note if you want to just skip to the end (where I talk about GG)
SPOILERS FOR DEAD LIKE ME, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, VERONICA MARS and a brief fit of cursing for the STAR TREK ABRAMSVERSE (er, Kelvin Timeline)
Futurama (1999-2001, 2002-2003, 2007, 2009-2013)
In the first decade of this great 21st century, I had been in love with several television shows. Among them, my ever-present love, Futurama. That’s still my favorite show, but when the series came back in the form of 4 movies, it failed to meet expectations. Don’t get me wrong because I still enjoy those stories but it was the wrong format ( long episodes, i.e. the movies which are subsequently aired as 16 individual episodes) and thus just couldn’t be as good. I believe it became more “right” again once they got back into the TV format but it’s amazing they achieved that given the relative lackluster standing of the movies. (Plus, given how many times Family Guy got to come back and STAY ON THE AIR, I cannot believe that it took until 8 years past the original airing of Futurama for it to gain a bigger fan base. I was on board from day freaking one.)
Dead Like Me (2003-2004, 2009)
Some other shows of that time had revivals, too. Dead Like Me had Life After Death in 2009. By that point, they couldn’t get Mandy Patinkin or Laura Harris. In a cast THAT small, replacing TWO people is a major change. DLM was never a show driven by heavy action, but instead by extreme character development. Rube’s replacement (whom I referred to solely as “Desmond from LOST” so much that I actually had to look up his character’s name before writing this paragraph) was horrendous. He lacked all the charm and mystery of Rube, who was clearly a man of strong opinion and epic backstory. And needing to have Daisy in the show without being able to get Laura Harris (I don’t really care that Sarah Wynter looks enough like her to play her sister (24); she’s not the same person) made everything super awkward. Everything about this movie was supposed to tell us that George had grown up and made peace and that her sister and mother and father, all left behind in the living world, were in need of some ethereal love from George. So much wrong here. Just so much wrong. George talking to Reggie while wearing her Millie face, and sharing secrets is just such a violation of everything George came to appreciate while working for Rube. It broke apart the family of Reapers, set up extremely bad moral dilemmas and solved or explored nothing past “Are Blackberries still relevant in 2009?” Basically it brought the show back just to crap all over it and that was a useless exercise. Bryan Fuller is the creator of many amazing set pieces and characters (and it’s why I hold out some hope for Star Trek Discovery, despite his background on Voyager) but he also has a habit of leaving. He didn’t stick around for the TV show, yet the characters all grew in a reasonable arc, never needing to solve every asked question, but at least they were able to touch on them. Betty, for instance, never comes back, the show ends without a definitive solution to every problem, and that leaves a sense of realism that is entirely ripped out of the essence when the movie basically pulls a deus ex machina to make everything “happy” for no good reason. Sigh.
Arrested Devleopment (2003-2006, 2013)
When Arrested Development showed upon Netflix in 2013, it did so post House of Cards and with Orange is the New Black, Netflix’s major flasgships for proving they could create original content. In my mind, seasons 1-3 of that show are flawless. This is not an easily obtained rating from me (as you’ll note I don’t even give my favorite show of all time a perfect score) so to say it really means something. It is extremely well-crafted, uses recall and tie-ins beautifully, focuses on character and ran its course even when it came up against the network-created obstacles of reduced show orders and cancellation. Would they have done more with more episodes? Probably. And I have no doubt it would have been amazing. But the return in the form of 13 varying length Netflix episodes isn’t the same, either. It’s more akin to the Futurama problem. It’s the wrong format. Being unable to gather the cast together, coupled with 7 years’ lapse between (and that’s a lot for teenaged actors, especially) made it more of a “fan” style project. Don’t misunderstand me, because I’m glad someone wanted to make it again badly enough to keep going. And by the time they got to the first GOB-centered episode (5 episodes in), I was happy because he’s my favorite. I also gave a pass because I was losing Futurama from my life yet again at the time, and was happy to have Favorite Show #2 in the mix. I’ve rewatched season 4 a few times and I think the missteps are these: 1) Seth Rogen never lives up to the character of young George Bluth that Jeffrey Tambor’s performance would lead us to believe exists (though Kristen Wiig gets Lucille perfectly), 2) Ron Howard and Brian Grazer should not have been meta characters in the show, 3)A lack of direction for Maeby and “George Maharris” caused a deeper drift because their stories were always supposed to be the ones that brought you to different family viewpoints. Maeby basically grows up to be as selfish and ridiculous as the rest of the Bluths and George Michael falls off his trajectory. Still, I can’t deny enjoying big parts of it, but it was nowhere near the flawless, well-crafted story that the first three seasons were.
Veronica Mars (2004-2007, 2014)
This is my sole example of how to do it right, folks. Veronica Mars was knocked out of my top 5 favorite shows of all time only because The Joes made The Americans. (Also a spy show… coincidence?) But she, Ms. Mars, is still in my heart eternally. The third season of the show definitely took a turn to be less great than seasons one or two (with one still being the pinnacle) but I blame the CW for large parts of that, since Rob Thomas and company were told to stop doing long arcs and to focus instead of monster of the week stories and foreshortened everything to let America watch The Pussycat Dolls. I cringe at this. I also cringe at a few mistakes made in the final season. No, sorry, I don’t think it’s “weird” that Logan would be upset that there’s a sex tape of Veronica going around that he believes (correctly) to have been made without her knowledge. Even Veronica should understand this. It’s an absolute linchpin of seasons 1 and 2 because of Lily Kane and the Aaron Echolls sex tapes. Likewise, I never believed that Jake Kane really thought having Veronica killed was the right thing to do, especially since he, unlike Celeste, never disliked her. The termination of LoVe in the form of Veronica dating Piz, and the essential “dumbing down” of Veronica’s killer instincts just to satisfy a more “relatable” college freshman experience made everything weaker. I did like that Mac got more story but hated that Wallace was pushed to the background. Logan turned into a whiny emo kid and lost many of his previous charms. It also ended on a cliffhanger. It’s not a bad cliffhanger, really, especially compared to the season 2 finale when Veronica is waiting for her dad at the airport. But it’s still a cliffhanger. As such, the movie, backed in part by Kickstarter funds, actually did something incredible. It undid the third season’s mistakes with a long-term reset. Yes, Veronica is with Piz, but as noted, they only just got back together after years of being apart. Veronica went to Stanford after her freshman year at Hearst. She went to New York, got a law degree. She hasn’t seen Logan in nine years, so her seeing him now isn’t the same as having had him in and out of her life for a decade. He also changed during that time, and while every character who could come back pretty much comes back, they all come back as organic, believable versions of themselves. And we hit the rest button. There’s a new Sheriff Lamb. Keith is a private investigator. And hey, Logan’s been accused of murder… again. (This is time #3, I believe.) Veronica and Logan get together in a version of events that is similar to the end of season one, Veronica ditches her New York life for the adrenaline junkie rush of the PI world, Weevil gets on a bike for the “first time” since his daughter was born. There are more dead people. There are new villains. Veronica and her cast of characters have grown but they honor who they were. Also, the movie is brimming with fan service in the form of in-jokes and cutbacks, and does the best job of telling “the road so far” at the outset. Down to the Dandy Warhols acoustic cover song on the streets of Manhattan, and the “I heard you were with the FBI” reference to the proposed season 4 time jump concept (which, by the way, had Walton Goggans in it), it was just fantastic. In a way, I suppose you could argue it’s like The Force Awakens and it’s just a copy of A New Hope, but I think there’s too much differentiation and new character information added in for that to be the case.
Cursing About The Abramsverse (2009, 2013, 2016)
Yeah. Rebooting Star Trek just to make two films that rebooted “too much” (which is the same thing Abrams did, as referenced already, with Star Wars) is just another example of a revival that doesn’t quite work. It’s not even super relevant here. I just wanted to complain about Into Darkness again.
But Wait! There’s More, Because Now I Get To Talk About Firefly As Serenity, Boy/Girl Meets World, and Fuller House – SPOILERS
Because when Firefly (2002) came back as Serenity (2004), very little time, relatively speaking, had passed, and yet the movie suffered the Joss Whedon problem: killing characters to kill characters. It’s something. It’s not bad. But it’s not the same show in the slightest, and I’m only marginally okay with the outcome because it lost its adventurous sense to its detriment.
The revival movement has created shows like Girl Meets World (2014-Current) from its very popular parent Boy Meets World (1993-2000) and Fuller House (2016) from its long-running parent, Full House (1987-1995). In some ways, trying to loop the circle for a new generation isn’t bad. After all, Star Trek The Next Generation (1987-1994) is excruciatingly popular and considered wonderful, even though it came 20 years after its originator. I actually quite enjoy watching Girl Meets World, possibly because they allowed the BMW characters to exist in the world, but it’s still a somewhat “unnecessary” show. The references back in time to 1995 are entirely for parents watching the show with their teenagers, who are the age of the show’s lead, Riley, daughter to Cory & Topanga, who clearly had her around age 22 or so, e.g. early 2000s. Other viewers of that age don’t remember 1995 because they weren’t born yet, and they certainly cannot appreciate the show’s callbacks in the same way. I’d argue the same to be true of Fuller House, and even more severely because not only did they try to copy the same concept, they did so without any winking (GMW at least winks an awful lot at it, hell, sometimes they even full on smirk and chuckle at it) and in a super ridiculous, obvious way. Of course, DJ has to lose her husband. Of course, she has to have three kids. Of course, she has to have her sister and her BFF come move in with her, just like her dad, with gender swapping. Of course, of course, of course. And it’s painful. Very, very painful. (I watched every episode. It’s super painful.) AND IN THE SAME HOUSE. FFS. Girl Meets World stands as superior because enough things have changed, and even in the limited vein of Disney channel programming, they manage to talk a lot about real issues. Still, this is just part of the revival culture and that leads me to
Gilmore Girls (2000-2007): A Year In The Life (2016)
So yep, this is really happening. Wow. And then we’re here, in 2016, to revisit Stars Hollow and the Gilsmore. (Not a typo. Reference to the culs-de-sac joke of the show itself– Season 4, episode 10) So season 7 was disastrous when the Palladinos left. Trying to play shipping with Christopher instead of Luke? Was that a joke? Did the writers room get stoned for an afternoon? Get sober for an afternoon? Whatever it was, it was terrible. Much like Rory’s “life experience” of season 6 is completely wiped away. She’s on probation, remember? She’s supposed to have a clean record for 5 years (as outset at the beginning of season 6 when she’s in court) before she can petition for an expungement, but she’s also given the condition of probation, which usually means meeting with a probation officer at some point. Never comes up once she finishes her community service. (Also 300 hours in 6 months when you have no job is not a big deal, entitled Rory. It’s 50 hours a month. i.e. what most of us work in a week.) I guess Lorelai ends up with Luke because they kiss? But we don’t resolve stupid problems like April Nardini and her mother April, or why season 7 Emily forgot every single thing she learned about being a good mom and grandmother in seasons 1-6. It was a train-wreck, and frankly, I don’t even believe it’s just that the Palladinos left. I think there was a deliberate effort to make the show terrible. Remember when it aired on the new CW? There were those 4 girls in cutaway shots “talking about the show.” One of them said Luke was going on a man date with Jackson because Lorelai and Sookie made them. But you see it’s a “mandate” too! Oh, the sick wordplay. /s Since GG season 7 came on at the same time as Veronica Mars season 3, with the new CW, I still blame Dawn Ostroff immensely for the failings once UPN & WB merged.)
Plus we never got to hear the final four words that Amy Sherman-Palladino said were supposed to be the show’s conclusion. No idea if she’s telling the truth but there’s enough fantastical fan mythos out there now that she might have thought of four words even if she hadn’t before. Since the first words in the show are “Please, Luke, please?” maybe it’s something to do with that. No idea. Also not super relevant, I guess, at this point, because the real issue is the trailer for the new show that’s coming in less than 30 days. (Well, movies. Whatever.) I’d worry about the format but the Gilmore Girls ran well on a long format, and it was wordy and quick anyway. So it’s probably fine there.
Listening to Alexis Bledel talk in the trailer, though. What the hell? She sounds, at times like her season 6 Rory, and at times like her season 3 Rory and at other times like her Beth Dawes from Mad Men, i.e. a depressed vacant person with a shallow voice, that might also have fit in with her work on Sin City. It sounds bad. No forgiveness for it here. But it is especially prevalent when she speaks about Batman vs. Superman. Everybody else sounds fine, especially Luke, who seems not to have changed at all. Good work, Scott Patterson.
Giving the long time interruption (9 years) it’s hard to go back to that world. Rory was going off to follow Barack Obama’s campaign bus (during his first Presidential run) and she was still trying to write for a physical newspaper. See how the world has changed? Edward Herrman’s death makes the story sad, and admittedly, the “half of me is gone” line from Emily was sad. but Kelly Bishop looks, to me, like she can sell it, and her whole “No joy” segment from the trailer was on point. Right along with the vagabond and peyote comments.
I saw Paris. And Kim’s Antiques but barely any Lane. And I watched this trailer frame-by-frame, folks. Yes, I really did. Dean may only be in the show in passing (and looks, in the trailer, like Sam Winchester, not Dean Forrester– PS: Dear CW, ENOUGH WITH THE SUPERNATURAL RENEWALS ALREADY, SEASON 12 IS TOO MUCH, OKAY?) Jess is apparently, according to IMDB, in 3 episodes, and Logan is in 4. And here’s where I confess my desire (besides seeing Paris end up with Rory) for the show to pull a Veronica Mars and have Rory end up back with Jess. Not adolescent Jess. Grownup Jess who was a much better person. Maybe she’s with Logan now but she goes back to Jess. Great. That’s better. The truth is, though, the show would be so much more interesting if she didn’t end up with any of them, even if she’d gone back to Logan or Jess or Dean (again, really?) and it didn’t work. Maybe she was with someone else entirely or chose to be alone. I see that as such a better image. People keep talking about how Rory must be pregnant or should have a kid and that’s the new show. No. That’s stilted thinking. She never expressed any real interest in babies or in a family. She’s not that kind of gal. Let her be the brave soul who goes alone or who has flings or even has boyfriends that don’t tie her down. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS IDEA. We don’t have to see epic romance to have the show be satisfying. Forcing her into wife-and-mother role is a mistake for a show that went out of its way to make that not be the sole goal for a girl or woman.
(Fun fact, Alexis Bledel is now older than Lauren Graham was when Gilmore Girls first aired 16 years ago.)
I also see Tristan mentioned in the IMDB listing. Is this Chad Michael Murray Tristan or a new Tristan? Because he’s not played by CMM. I assume a Chilton reunion is happening, although I’m not sure that 13 year reunions are a thing, either. I don’t believe the theories about Paris becoming a teacher. Seriously? Or even Rory doing that. I also find it odd that Lorelai would still be working regularly at her inn given that she’s the owner, not the manager, but it appears that Sookie is in the kitchen at least once, so who knows?
Gigi should be about 13 years old by now and April Nardini should be in her mid 20s. Can’t wait to see how that works out. Also, people say everybody’s back, but I didn’t see the roommates from Yale, the Yale newspaper staff, Madeline & Louise, Nicole Leahy, etc. So not quite up to the “everybody” moniker that’s been pronounced repeatedly.
Do we trust in this revival to be good? I don’t know. I know I’ll watch it no matter what, at this point, because that’s just how it’s going to be, but it’s a long time and a long time to not play a role or write for certain characters. If you asked me to go back and do exactly what I was doing in 2007, I’m going to need to go back to renting, I’m going to have to give up my high level IT job for a mid level support position (and work on Windows XP), and pick up projects I literally haven’t touched in all that time, like trying to learn foreign languages, clay modeling, daily quoting, etc. No, I’m a different person and so are these actors and writers. Imaginably, their characters are also different because of that. So it’s hard to say whether we’ll be treated to something good.
Copper boom.
Dumpster Jedi 