The Washington Post reports that support for Republicans is even lower in the Northeast than the rest of the country. To verify this story I checked on the views in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Amy Sherman-Palladino has extensively documented the words of the residents of Stars Hollow. She particularly watched one resident, Lorelai Gilmore.
Lorelei has been blunt about her feelings about George Bush. “I hate President Bush! He’s stupid, and his face is too small for his head. I just want to toss him out.” She also shares our fears over the erosion of civil liberties. She saw an analogy to contemporary American when putting a leash on her dog (Friday Night Is All Right For Fighting):
- Oh, he’s perfectly fine with having his personal freedoms slowly stripped away, as long as he’s completely unaware that it’s happening. Just like a true American.
Lorelai’s parents identify more with the Bush Administration (Fight Face):
- Richard: I should tell Scooter Libby about this. I keep forgetting I know a man on the inside. I’ll give him a call.
- Emily: Before an indictment comes down.
Lorelai rejects her rich parents, and identifies George Bush with them. When she came into some money (Happy Birthday, Baby) her views were apparent. “Seventy-five thousand dollars. I feel so rich. And suddenly in complete agreement with everything Bush has to say.”
Lorelei has also influenced the way in which her daughter Rory sees Republicans (One’s Got Class and the Other One Dyes):
- Lorelai: So, I think I’m in touch with the other side.
- Rory: The other side of. . .
- Lorelai: The other side.
- Rory: With Republicans?
Next year we will no longer be learning about Stars Hollow from Amy Sherman-Palladino, who has been signed to produce a sit-com for Fox. TV.com does have some news on Gilmore Girls post Sherman-Palladino. More on Gilmore Girls below the fold, including why Gilmore girls is the best show on TV for men from Esquire.
Gilmore girls is the best show on TV for men
Esquire; 10/1/2005; Jacobs, A.J.
I KNOW THAT professing my love for Gilmore Girls is a bit like saying that I just went to a really super scrapbooking workshop. It’s just not something straight adult males are supposed to say. I mean, the show has a Carole King theme song, for God’s sake. Sally Struthers plays a recurring character. Doesn’t matter. I love it, and you should, too.
I first tried Gilmore Girls a year ago, late at night, my wife asleep, The Daily Show over. I faced the dregs of her TiVo selections, and Gilmore Girls looked slightly more promising than Big Brother.
I was smitten from the first moment–or at least from the first moment after the Carole King theme song. The show, about a single mom, Lorelai, and her daughter, Rory (both of whom, incidentally, are quite hot), takes place in a small Connecticut town, a quirky Northern Exposure–like village free from homelessness and cops searching bags in the subway. The dialogue is clever, clipped, allusion-heavy–Billy Wilder meets Us Weekly.
And the characters speak fast, really fast, like FedEx-commercial-from-the-’80s fast. You have to pay attention; this is no time to work on your scrapbook, or else you’ll miss the best writing on TV. Here’s Lorelai, played by Lauren Graham: “My mother–she was here. I can feel it. Smell that? The room smells like guilt and Chanel No. 5.” And here’s Rory complaining about being held captive at a soul-deadening dinner: “This is Iran in ‘79 and you are Jimmy Carter. What do we do?” Or Lorelai and her contractor: “Tom, I’m lovin’ you like a two-dollar whore.” Tom: “Terrific. I’ll tell the wife.”
And, men–in case I didn’t make the hot-actress point sufficiently clear: This is a show worth watching even if the sound is muted, especially now that Rory–played by the stunning Alexis Bledel–is out of high school and you can leer at her without feeling like you should be chemically castrated.
Sex While On a Break
Posted by Ron Chusid
March 2nd, 2006 @ 10:57 am
Nobody’s protested this yet on the blogophere, but somebody’s got to do it. Normally I consider Amy-Sherman Palladino to be the second best writer of television dialog in history (after only Aaron Sorkin). On this week’s Gilmore Girls she repeated a plot twist we’ve already seen far too much of as Rory dumps Logan after finding out that he slept around with his sister’s wedding party while they were “on a break.” I’m sure this has been done by others on shows trashier than those I watch, but I expect better from Amy-Sherman Palladino.
I’m not surprised that Logan would sleep with all those rich, dumb, bridesmaids while “on a break” with Rory, but what I don’t find realistic is that Logan never watched Friends. While no guy would fault Logan for sleeping with those blondes after being dumped by Rory, the “we were on a break” defense doesn’t work if you get back together with the previous girl friend. Just ask Ross Geller.
Maybe the problem is that six years is too long to come up with new ideas for a television show, as I already feared to be the case during the Lorelai/Rory feud earlier this season. It might be best to just enjoy that fantastic dialog on the DVD’s of the first couple of seasons, although the scenes of Paris Geller (any relation to Ross?) in her newspaper bunker have made this season worthwhile.
Amy Sherman-Palladino To Leave Gilmore Girls
Posted by Ron Chusid
April 20th, 2006 @ 10:59 pm
This is far bigger news than the shake-ups in the White House of a lame duck President. In the saddest moment for television dialog since Aaron Sorkin left The West Wing, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino announced they will leave as executive producers of The Gilmore Girls at the end of this season. They will be replaced by writer-producer David Rosenthal.
