Amy-Sherman Palladino on This Season’s Gilmore Girls and Rumors She Will Return for Finale

Gilmore Girls fans have had to endure a lot this year. There’s been the quickie marriage between Lorelei and Christopher which just isn’t working out so well. There’s the strange return of Marty, ultimately leading to a falling out with Rory’s new friends (which don’t compete with Paris and Lane any ways). Hopefully we are not going to have to endure a protracted custody battle over April. Worst of all, the dialog is just not right. Sure there are still those pop culture references, but they just aren’t done right. The New York Times goes as far as to say the show is as if “some Cylons who look like Rory and Lorelai are there, in Stars Hollow, going through their paces.”

For a moment it looked like there was hope. There’s rumors going around the internet that Amy Sherman-Palladino would return to write the season finale (as well as other unsubstantiated rumors of an eighth season). After following all the links to what I believe is the original source for the rumor, while it might be possible, this interview doesn’t really make it sound all that encouraging:

Ausiello: Now I have a few Gilmore Girls questions for ya.
AS-P:
(Adopting a Southern accent) Oh, honey, I got nothin’ to say about Gilmore Girls.

Ausiello: At least tell me if you’ve been watching it.
AS-P:
I have not been watching it.

Ausiello: Not at all?
AS-P:
No. Couldn’t do it. I think we actually talked about this in my ginormous 12-hour marathon interview with you [last April].

Ausiello: You did, and Dan said you guys were going to watch it.
AS-P:
He may’ve said that, but I’m a woman, honey. And women can fry up the bacon and bring it home in a pan. Here’s the bottom line: If it was great, I would feel horrible and want to throw myself off a building. And if it was not what I wanted it to be, I would throw myself off a… either way, I’d throw myself off a building. So there’s no good outcome there. You know, I still have friends there. I keep in touch with the cast. I just felt like it’s a new game and it’s a new show. Good, bad or indifferent, it’s a whole new thing.

Ausiello: Have you heard what they’re doing story-wise?
AS-P:
I’m really disconnected. Is one of them possessed?

Ausiello: Lorelai and Christopher are married.
AS-P:
Wasn’t that on the cover of TV Guide?

Ausiello: It was. We weren’t very discreet about that.
AS-P:
You weren’t very discreet at all. You just threw it right out there, baby. I still read Mike Ausiello. That I read.

Ausiello: What was your reaction when you saw the cover?
AS-P:
Look, it’s a new regime, it’s a new world. There are plenty of people who were not thrilled with me last year, so maybe they’re happier with the road that’s being taken now. I had my own ideas about everything, because I am me and, to me, my world and everything around me is really all I give a s–t about. So I had my own plans for this year. I had my own plans for a second year. And for a finale. But that didn’t happen. So they’ve got to go their own way. I have no contact with that staff. They’ve done it totally on their own. I wish them all well while I’m at the Century City Mall. (Laughs)

Ausiello: If they asked you to come back for the finale, what would you say?
AS-P:
Because I don’t know where they’ve gone or what they’re doing, that’s almost an impossible question for me to answer because, like I said, I have it in my head how I want it to end, but that may not at all jive with what they’re doing now. I would say I don’t really see how that would happen, because it would be so weird for me to go, “OK, these writers have set their paths, so I’ll just do that.” That ain’t Amy. Amy can’t follow someone else’s path. Then she wouldn’t be the delightful human being that she is.

Ausiello: What if your ending will still made sense in the context of these new stories?
AS-P:
Well, if it still made sense, then it’s definitely something we could talk about. I love that show. That show was my child. It was my everything. Dan and I did nothing but that show for six years. We’re still staring at each other like, “What do we talk about now?” And I love the crew there. My best friend, Helen, still works over there. And I adore Lauren and Alexis. I love them. I miss them very, very much. I miss not seeing them and working with them. So I can’t say that it wouldn’t be fun as hell to go back there and hang with them for a while. I’m just not sure if that’s really going to be possible. Our story lines were very meticulous. Dan and I crafted arcs to go way, way, way back — for good, bad or indifferent. Whether you liked it or not, we really put a lot of time and energy into setting up very early what we could pay off at the end, and I’m not sure that would be such an easy thing to pull off. I won’t say no, because it might happen. But I can’t see it right now.

Ausiello: Have you made peace with the way the whole thing ended?
AS-P:
All those suckers can bite my ass, ladies and gentleman. It’s a business. I think they were wrong. (Laughs) I will always think that they were wrong to not sit down with us and figure out how this could work. The fact that there was no sit-down ever, no face-to-face with the studio or network to try and hash out what we needed and what we were asking for… that everybody just played it off like a negotiation… but that’s Hollywood. That will always piss me off, because it’s so frustrating that things get turned over to business affairs and then get reduced down to a strategy, as opposed to, “We’ve been in this for six years together. Can we sit down and talk about how we could make this work?” So, no. I’m still pissed off at something that was done to me in third grade. I’m very Russian in the, “You cross me, and I take your picture off the wall once you defect, and I don’t know you anymore” [sense]. It wasn’t personal, it was just what [Warner Bros.] felt they had to do. I’ll always be sad that I don’t get to close out Gilmore, because it was my kid. But I’ve got a new kid now. I’ve got a new baby now. I’ve got someone else to annoy me and make my ass chair-shaped.

1 Comment

  1. 1
    Maggie+Alison says:

    We LOVE Gilmore Girls so much. We have had many marathons, really love the characters and the story lines(except chris) until mr. buttface came and ruined it!!!!! what were u thinking Amy!?!?!?!?!! He is ruining the show for everyone. We have talked to many different people and they all think the show is going down the drain.
    We want you to pay attention to the show and realize whats happening!! We want you back!!!
    Sincerely,
    Alison+Maggie

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