Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Say Good-Bye to the Girls

Life is really too short to mourn the passing of a television show, but sometimes certain stories seep their way into your heart. So I thought I'd offer up a few brief comments on the occasion of the passing of one of my favorite shows, Gilmore Girls, whose finale aired last night.

I'm actually feeling a bit stunned because I hadn't heard they were ending the show this season. Since we don't have television reception anymore, I haven't been able to watch new episodes for a couple of years. Through parts of seasons 5 and 6, I kept kept up via tapes sent from my sister, but life got busy for her and for me and I didn't really mind too terribly when the tapes stopped coming. Still I've been following (somewhat haphazardly) the recaps of this seventh season's episodes on "Television Without Pity," and wincing as I realized just how far the new writers had jumped the shark. The original writers ditched the show last season after, in my mind, sabotaging many of the characters and story-lines, so the incoming writers legitimately inherited a mess.

I started enjoying Gilmore Girls fairly early on in its run, though not in the very first season. I really got into it during seasons 2 and 3. When the sweet girl was a baby, I went through some pretty lonely stretches of time (new mom at home in the evenings with an infant, several close friends who had moved away, D. working nights) and visiting the wonderfully quirky fictional town of Stars Hollow each week always gave me a laugh and a lift. I didn't always agree with the characters' decisions, but I loved the characters themselves, and they were so wittily and touchingly acted. And what dialogue! No show I've ever seen could match its pace. I will miss all that chatting. I will miss Lorelai and Rory, Luke, Emily and Richard, Lane and her Mom, Sookie and Michel, Friday night dinners, and movie nights at the Gilmore house. Not to mention Taylor, Kirk, Miss Patty, Babette, and the other odd but lovable denizens of Stars Hollow!

Apparently the decision to cancel was made very recently -- just announced a couple of weeks ago. And the series finale aired last night. Thanks to a recaplet on TWP and a google search which turned up this article, I now know how they pulled off the finale. My feelings are mixed. Once the season's out on DVD, I will have to give that finale a look myself. But can I say how grateful I am that apparently Luke and Lorelai are back in each other's arms? They always belonged there. At least now we can imagine that they will live happily ever after.

3 comments:

Erin said...

I thought of you when I read that the show was coming to a close. We had an article about it in the paper a few days ago, with local folks talking about why they like the show. One of these days I'll have to check it out on DVD!

Beth said...

It's a great show! I still feel very sad to know it's not coming back.

We missed LOST again this week (urgh) but have been trying to bring ourselves up to speed via recaps so we can watch the finale next week. Sounds like Charlie got a reprieve...at least for now. I sure hope that's the case again next week. Do you think it will be?

Erin said...

Indeed I do. I hope. My mom's convinced that Charlie will wind up wandering around this underwater hatch for the next season or so. I guess I wouldn't be shocked if he died, but I would be very upset. Those producers need to quit yanking us around...

Excellent episode, though. Definitely one of my favorites this season.