alexis bledel

(S07E13) So this is what it takes to get a good episode this season? Richard Gilmore has to have open-heart surgery? Well, I guess if this is what they have to do, I can accept that. Maybe next week, they'll give Paul Anka worms.

Seriously, though, the reason why this episode worked is because all we saw was the Family Gilmore, together for most of the episode. Not sixty seconds of a Friday night dinner. Not Lorelai and Rory chatting on the phone. Nope, they were all together for an extended period, interacting in the ways that once made the show so great.

Did this episode have flaws? Tons. But it was the best of the season so far.

(S07E12) For some reason, despite everything that has happened to make this show start circling the drain, four Gilmore characters can be relied upon to entertain, no matter who is writing the episode: Emily, Richard, Sookie and Paris. All four of them are in tonight's episode (Emily is just in the cold open, but it counts), and, I've got to tell you, their presence made it pretty decent as a result.

Otherwise? Um... well... Let's just say this crawl towards the inevitable Lorelai - Luke reunion is driving me nuts.

(S07E11) When I was out in LA, I ran into a few members of the Gilmore Girls cast at the various network parties. Whenever I brought up the topic of whether there's going to be another season or not, the answer I got didn't seem to vary much. It wasn't definitive by any means, but the general feeling was that, yes, we're probably seeing the last episodes of the long-running show.

That's a good thing, folks. While episodes like tonight's had quite a bit of the chemistry of the first five-plus seasons, you just know that it's not going to last. But at least we're seeing some peeks into what we might see in the second half of the year, and it certainly looks like the Chris/Lor 'shippers are going to be disappointed.

(S07E10) For the last few weeks, I've been wondering if David Rosenthal and company have been turning Lorelai Gilmore into a more childish, petulant character than she had been in recent years, or if she's always been this childish and petulant, but her act has started to wear thin. After this episode, I've determined it's a little bit of each, leaning towards the "written that way" side. There really seems to be no reason that Lor should be so mean-spirited nowadays, especially towards her parents. She's pushing 40. She owns a successful business. And she's finally married to her high school sweetheart, who just happens to be loaded. So why does she still act like a baby?

In short: it's an easy way to for the writers to make Christopher look like a putz.

(S07E09) This one felt cozy, didn't it? Snappy dialogue, funny situations (I mean, come on... huge knitting needles and balls of yarn?), quirky parties, story development... This week's episode felt almost... almost like the Gilmore Girls we knew and loved, moreso than any we've seen this year so far. One problem, though:

Christopher.

How is he gumming up the works so much, literally, figuratively, and everything in between? It's not like the town never knew he existed up until now; he's been in and out of Lor and Rory's life for over 20 years. Surely, the folks in Stars Hollow would be treating him more warmly in the past than they are now, when he's Mr. Lorelai Gilmore. There's just one thing that can explain this: Sloppiness.

(S07E08) Hmmmm......

Ya think something's a'brewin' in Gilmore-land?

Lorelai is trying to convince herself as much as Rory that marrying Christopher was the good and right thing to do; meanwhile, she's running to see Luke at the hospital when April has appendicitis. She resists, but then relents when Chris wants to make some changes around the house; meanwhile, she's definitely keeping the name Gilmore, because she doesn't want to be called "Lorelai Hayden Planetarium." And here's the biggest thing: despite the fact that she married Rory's dad, she, Chris, and everyone else knows who the rock is in Rory's life. That's going to be a lot for ol' Christopher to overcome, isn't it?

(S07E07) Thanks for ruining things, Mike.

I'm talking to Mike Ausiello, TV Guide's resident Gilmore Girls fan and spoiler king. Because he had well-placed moles over at GG (he was an extra there, after all), he revealed a big-ass plot point from this episode a few weeks ago, and by the time it wrapped around the Internets, even spoiler-averse people like me knew what was going to happen tonight. So the surprise wasn't there at all.

(By the way, I like Mike. Even interviewed him once. Nice fella. But he's gotten so big that it's hard to avoid his spoilers, even if you want to.)

(S07E06) In this episode of Gilmore Girls, kiddies, we have entered what is known as the Bizarro Gilmore World (maybe there there Rory's name is Yror). People talk and talk and talk but say nothing. Christopher and Lorelai act like lame Yale parents. Rory doesn't wear gobs and gobs of mascara. Emily and Richard are the most sensible people in the room. Seemingly reasonable swim coaches become nightmare dates in the span of ten seconds. And Sookie appreciates vegetables that come from someone other than her husband Jackson. Problem with Bizarro Worlds, though, is that they don't seem to ever make a lick of sense, and go about things the wrong way just because they can.

Can you tell that I found this episode completely irritating?

(S07E05) Even though Gilmore Girls fans have complained about everything that has occurred from the beginning of Season Six until now, they have to admit that the best thing to come out of this somewhat fallow creative period of the show is a character that was introduced early last year: Paul Anka.

That neurotic dog has been the source of a lot of comedy the last year and a quarter, hasn't he? Hearing Lorelai reel off all his fobiles in the opener of this episode made me laugh; he likes chewing a certain shoe, and will only catch tennis balls of a certain brand and color. How Lor keeps these things straight is anyone's guess. And then, as she rattles them off, and Chris grows weary of the litany of doggie quirks, Paul Anka just lies there, like any dog, probably contemplating where he's going to sleep later on that day. It's a contrast that I've always found to be very funny.

(S07E04) Damn you, Dave Rosenthal! You're making me start to like the idea of Christopher and Lorelai together. I can't believe I'm actually thinking it, much less writing it; but tonight's episode showed why that couple has always been so good together over the years. I just wish we didn't have to see those two be cute and laugh and have banter about Snakes on a Plane together at the expense of Luke.

But Luke's OK, sorta. He's got the Tortured Plot Device -- known to most people as April -- in his life.

(S07E03) Have you noticed that the way Gilmore Girls is being shot this season seems somewhat... different? The film is less grainy... the sets are lit differently... there are more close-ups... something is odd. Yes, I'm nitpicking, but GG under the Rosenthal regime just has this feeling around it that's different from the Palladino era.

You could see it with the first appearance of Richard and Emily this season, right in the cold open. Rory and Lorelai are back doing the Friday night dinners, and the dining room of the Gilmore estate seemed brighter, not as big as before. And Richard's toupee was different. If it weren't for Emily yelling at a 10-year-old finishing school protégé, the whole thing was making me think that we landed in some sort of parallel GG universe.

(S07E02) Holy out-of-character, Batman! This is what fans were afraid was going to happen during the new Rosenthal regime: a slowish episode where people do and say things that no one has ever seen or heard them do, punctuated by forced "classic Gilmore" dialogue that neither flowed right nor made much sense in the context of the episode.

I've got to say, I was immensely let down here, in more ways than one. How many ways, exactly? Well, right now I can count five:

1. Predictability - As soon as the cold open started and we saw Luke driving in his truck with a map in his hand, we knew exactly what was going to happen.

(S07E01) I decided to watch this episode a second time, just to see if my early assessment of it was correct. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just so damn happy to have Gilmore Girls back, that I missed some fundamental change, something that would tell me that new EP David Rosenthal was going to completely screw up the transfer from Team Palladino and turn this show into something different than the one I came to know and love.

And, you know what? It is different. But those differences weren't due to the transfer in power. No, this show started changing while Team Palladino was still around, and I'm not sure if it's ever going to go back to what it was.

It looks like Gilmore Girls. It certainly sounds like Gilmore Girls. And it's just as funny, fast-paced, and quirky as Gilmore Girls. This is a good start.

Every fan on the planet was worried about their favorite mother-daughter team when show creator Amy-Sheman Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino left the show last spring in a contract dispute with Warner Brothers. Even though the new show-runner, David Rosenthal, had experience on the show, fans were worried he wouldn't be able to capture the classic Gilmore Girls "voice." Most of all, fans were also worried that season seven wouldn't strike the show's signature lightness, which even the Palladinos had trouble capturing last year.

Well, I saw the Season Seven premiere over the weekend, and I've got to tell you, GG fans, you don't have anything to worry about... at least not yet.

Sometimes I get the feeling that Mike Ausiello of TV Guide has a life goal of having a lengthy interview with everyone who's ever been involved with Gilmore Girls. But that might be a good thing, considering he usually draws good information out of these people.

Anyway, when Milo Ventimiglia came by the TVG offices, I would imagine he did it to promote Heroes, his new fall show on NBC. But Ausiello peppered him with GG questions anyway. Some good tidbits came out: He won't be back as Jess; Lauren Graham may or may not have 2 years left on her contract, and Alexis Bledel has only one year left. In conclusion, he feels the same as most people: the upcoming 7th season of Gilmore will be the last one. Oh, and he mentions some stuff about Heroes and his role in (gulp) Rocky VI.

Next up: Ausiello interviews the key grip from GG seasons 1-3; I'm sure he'll have some insights on Lauren Graham's contract, too.

[via The TV Addict and Bloglines]