TV shows like “Gossip Girl,” “New Girl” and “Golden Girls” all have their places in popular culture as the programs that your grandma, mother, sister or girlfriend once loved to obsess over and continuously marathon. Add “Gilmore Girls” to the mix and you have the perfect compilation of female-centered shows that the last few generations have seen.
The show ran from 2000 to 2007, and despite the eight-year break since its series finale, “Gilmore Girls” is the buzz once again, at least amongst some crowds. On October 1st, our modern, online mecca of TV and movie entertainment, Netflix, made all seven seasons of the series available for streaming. Since then, Netflix announced that they are working with the “Gilmore Girls” creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, and much of the original cast to potentially make four 90-minute movies about what’s happening in the show’s fictional town of Stars Hollow today. Adding to the show’s revival news, a popular podcast called “Gilmore Guys” has also come out since the show’s Netflix debut where Kevin Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe give hilarious commentary on each episode of the series.
With all this news about the “dramedy” surfacing, I felt left out and wanted to get in on all the excitement. I had never watched an episode before last month, but I do recall Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel’s faces popping up on TV every time I’d channel surf for reruns of “Friends.” I had heard about the series here and there in the past, mostly from my female friends and I never thought much about it – I just labeled “Gilmore Girls” as one of those shows that girls watched at sleepovers or in place of a perfectly good rom-com. It was just another fluffy program that women forced their significant others to watch with them, and I wanted nothing to do with it.
But now, after having been sucked into a Netflix binge-watching trance for the last few weeks and completing the show’s first season, I take back every word I said and every thought I had about the early-2000s hit. “Gilmore Girls” is not just a show for teen girls to fangirl over – the characters and storyline are things that we should all be consciously consuming because of all that we can learn from them. And that means you too, boys.
Many women and men are both guilty of ignoring certain TV shows and movies, deeming specific media unfit for them because of its name or general storyline. I’ve done this countless times with shows like “The League” and “Pretty Little Liars.” I was right about the unfitness of one of these, but I still gave them a chance, as should everyone with “Gilmore Girls.”
The show centers on what is often labeled as a “non-traditional” family since it’s just Lorelei, played by Graham, and Rory, played by Bledel – there’s no father-figure who is continuously involved and only a couple grandparents who are slowly re-entering into their daughter and granddaughter’s lives. The two protagonists are then surrounded by these oddball characters who all make up the small town of Stars Hollow. These people are characters to say the least, which brings in a lot of hilarious material to play off of.
After being just one season in, I have noticed that the script feels choppy at times. The sets often seem unfinished. And there are some continuation errors that I’ve already caught here and there. But putting that aside, there is no doubt that “Gilmore Girls” is brilliant in all other aspects. The “drama” that comes up in the show isn’t ever that serious, but the show is far from simple. Strategically intertwined with the witty one-liners and quick banters is a complexity that gives notice to issues that everyone can somehow relate to, not just the show’s female-majority audience. There are bits to the show that hit at relationships we all experience with parents, friends, teachers and love interests. Matters of economic class also come up with Rory’s private schooling and her wealthy grandparents. And then there’s the progressiveness of the series that I think everyone, guys and girls, should be exposed to.
From the amusing humor, to the nonstop pop culture references, to the rich cast – including a more enjoyable Melissa McCarthy before Tammy – all in combination with realistic depictions of women, everyone should give “Gilmore Girls” a chance.
Pirzad: We can all learn from “Gilmore Girls”
Negina Pirzad
November 5, 2015
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