Information AboutGilmore Girls |
''Gilmore Girls'' is an America n Television Drama / Comedy created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel . The series premiered on The WB on October 5 , 2000 and was cancelled on May 15, 2007 , at the end of its seventh season, which aired on The CW Television Network . The show follows single mother Lorelai Victoria Gilmore (Graham) and her daughter Lorelai "Rory" Leigh Gilmore (Bledel) in the fictional town of Stars Hollow , Connecticut , a close-knit small town with many quirky characters, located roughly thirty minutes from Hartford . The series explores family, friendship, generational divides, and Social Class . ''Gilmore Girls'' features intricate, extremely fast-paced dialogue, with numerous Popular-culture references, along with many other allusions to Politics and High Culture . It also has specific perspectives on social class, represented most regularly by Lorelai's difficult relationship with her wealthy Upper Class parents. CAST See Also: List of Gilmore Girls characters Main cast Recurring Actors who were not in the main credits but were significant to the program: Notable guest stars
with Alexis Bledel ]]
PLOT See Also: List of Gilmore Girls episodes Background Lorelai 's conflict with her wealthy parents is central to the Back-story for the series. Tension with her headstrong mother, Emily , and her father, Richard , recurs throughout the show. This presumably began when Lorelai became the Teenage Mother of Rory at the age of sixteen, which required the sacrifice of her elite prep-school education (and future as a college student). In addition, Lorelai opted to not marry the baby's father, Christopher , much to the constant dismay of her parents. As an extension of her stubborn and rebellious nature, Lorelai ran away to Stars Hollow , a small town near Hartford . There she met Mia, owner of the Independence Inn, who gave her a job as a maid and acted as a surrogate mother to both Lorelai and Rory. Lorelai eventually became general manager of the inn, her position at the start of the series. She and Rory lived in a converted potting shed behind the Inn for about ten years before moving to the house they live in during the show. Lorelai consistently tried to minimize her parents' contact with Rory until Rory needed money for school. Rory's education Rory's academic aspirations complicate matters on the show. Rory had wanted to attend year. There, she encounters an unfamiliar social environment of wealthy, high-strung peers. Lorelai knows that she cannot afford Rory's Chilton education, and reluctantly solicits help from her parents. Richard and Emily Gilmore negotiate a mutual arrangement; Lorelai is given a financial loan on the condition that Rory and Lorelai attend dinner at their Hartford mansion every Friday evening. The dinners become a common setting for heated conversations and family drama. After much deliberation, and with her mother's blessing, Rory ultimately decides to go to Yale , her grandfather's Alma Mater , instead of Harvard. Lorelai repays her parents' Chilton loan just before Rory's graduation, ending their mutual arrangement. However, she later discovers Yale is not offering any financial aid for Rory, putting her education in financial jeopardy once again. Rory requests the tuition money from her grandparents in exchange for the continuance of the Friday night dinners - until the spring semester of Rory's junior year, when her father, Christopher, begins paying her tuition. This creates tension with her grandparents, but ultimately the Friday night dinner tradition continues. In the seventh season, Rory graduates from Yale. She got an opportunity at a job, but she turned it down in favor of applying for the '' New York Times '' fellowship program. Unfortunately, she later finds out she was not accepted into the fellowship and the job she was offered before is now filled. So, Rory graduates from Yale uncertain where her career is going and what she will be doing. In the final episode she accepts an impromptu job offer to work for an online magazine, in which she will follow Barack Obama on the campaign trail. The town throws an equally impromptu going away party for Rory, wishing her well and love as she heads into the world outside of Connecticut. Lorelai's romantic life Lorelai's various romantic entanglements also played a role in the show.
Rory's romantic life As with Lorelai, Rory's romantic attractions also run throughout the show.
Other characters Rory's friendships with long-time best friend Lane Kim ( Keiko Agena )—a first-generation Korean American from a strict background—and Paris Geller ( Liza Weil ), a friend/rival at both Chilton and Yale, are also themes in the show. At the end of the sixth season, Lane marries Hep Alien band-mate Zach van Gerbig (Todd Lowe), a sweet and slightly dopey rocker. At the beginning of the seventh season, Lane discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant and gives birth to twin boys (Kwan and Steve) later in the season. In the seventh season, Paris is accepted into Harvard Medical School (Harvard is the school she has wanted to go to for years, as her family are all alumni, but was not accepted for the Baccalaureate program during the third season). In season four, Doyle McMaster ( Danny Strong ) storms onto the show as the '' Yale Daily News '' editor. He and Paris start dating in the fifth season, after Paris's relationship with a much older Professor Asher Fleming ( Michael York ) ends with his sudden demise. EPISODES See Also: List of Gilmore Girls episodes PRODUCTION History The Pilot Episode of ''Gilmore Girls'' received financial support from the script development fund of the Family Friendly Programming Forum . It was the first network show to reach the air with help from funding provided by that organization, which includes some of the nation's leading advertisers. The show was not a ratings success initially, airing in the tough Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot dominated by '' Survivor '' and '' Friends '' in its first season. It grew a following that saw it outdraw its time-slot competitor, popular series '' Buffy The Vampire Slayer '', in the ratings. In its fifth season, ''Gilmore Girls'' blossomed into The WB's second most watched primetime show, with a fan base which grew by double digits in all major Demographic s.1 In its Syndicated release in the U.S., the show airs exclusively on the ABC Family Channel . as Jess Mariano in ''Here Comes the Son'']] The WB planned to air a spin-off featuring Jess as the main character, called ''Windward Circle'', in which he gets to know his estranged father better and befriends a bunch of California skateboarders. However, the network canceled the show before it aired, citing high production costs to shoot on location in Venice Beach as the reason.2 On May 3 , 2007 , The CW announced that the series would not be renewed.3456 According to ''Variety'', "Money was a key factor in the decision, with the parties involved not able to reach a deal on salaries for the main cast members. Other issues, such as number of episodes and production dates, may have also played a role".7 Awards ''Gilmore Girls'' received an American Film Institute Award and two Viewers For Quality Television Awards, and was named New Program of the Year by the Television Critics Association . The show won an Emmy for its only nomination: 2004's Outstanding Makeup for a Series for the episode "The Festival of Living Art". The show's actors have received many awards for their work on the series. Graham won two Family Television Awards along with a Teen Choice Award for Best TV Mom. Alexis Bledel has won a Young Artist Award and a Family Television Award. The series also won a Family Television Award for New Series, and was named Best Family TV Drama Series by the Young Artist Awards. Cultural references In addition to fast-paced dialogue, ''Gilmore Girls'' is also known for numerous popular culture references made by the characters. The references, which may point to anything from movies, television shows, music and books to quotes from celebrities, are frequently quite obscure and thus seem to be understood only by the characters. To help the viewer understand what the characters are talking about, The WB has included "Gilmore-isms" booklets in the DVD sets of the seasons (except for seasons one, five and six, where purchasers of that set were referred to the site below). The booklets contain "the 411 on many of the show's pop culture references", along with comments from the show creators. Music Music plays a large part in the show. Most of the main or recurring characters on the show have had their musical tastes revealed at one time or another. Lorelai famously likes '80s music like that of The Bangles , The Go-Go's , David Bowie , Metallica , and Brian Eno , but Rory credits her with introducing her to new books and music throughout her life, and she and Rory often swap CDs. As we find out in 5th season Rory isn't a fan of the famous American singer Bob Dylan or The Smashing Pumpkins (whom Lane likes). Lane is a music enthusiast, and her list of musical influences ran to five pages when she was writing her "drummer-seeks-rock-band" ad. Included were ’s best songs and was in fact her lover before he bored us with ' Doctor My Eyes .' That will separate the Poseur s from the non-poseurs." —Season 3, Ep. 3 "Application Anxiety"), The Accelerators , The Adverts , Agent Orange , Angelic Upstarts , and Agnostic Front . She also owns a record of Rilo Kiley and another by The Beta Band . Lane's band, Hep Alien (which is an anagram of producer Helen Pai's name), plays rock with different influences, and Sebastian Bach , formerly of Skid Row , plays Gil, the band's guitarist. In one episode Lorelai explains that Lane's kid may like anything. Lorelai says that Lane's mother didn't know that she would love Jane's Addiction , thus showing more of her musical interests. In another episode Zack is planning to have sex with Lane and asks her if the music is alright; He was playing Siouxsie and the Banshees' hit-Hong Kong Garden. Lane says that she likes the music. The Bangles made a , who re-recorded her 1971 song "Where You Lead" as a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin as the ''Gilmore Girls'' theme song, appears occasionally as local music store owner Sophie Bloom. The original score to the show is performed by Sam Phillips . Grant-Lee Phillips appears in at least one episode per season (up to season 6) as Grant, the town Troubadour . In the finale of the sixth season, the aforementioned troubadour is "discovered" by a music producer and is set to open for Neil Young (who Kirk says is "one of The Monkees ") and, as a result, Stars Hollow is infested with new "troubadours" including Sonic Youth , Yo La Tengo , Pernice Brothers and Sparks , all "hoping to be discovered". Taylor, the town's Selectman, tries to shove away the musicians, to no avail. He claims that there's no greater music admirer than him, a Pat Boone enthusiast, but that they lack Boone's talent. Later on, the original troubadour returns and says he was booed off stage and never even got to meet Neil Young - "Heart of Gold my ass" he tells Taylor. Lorelai adopts a dog and names it Paul Anka . The famous singer himself appeared in season 6 in the episode "The Real Paul Anka": Lorelai has a strange dream (that serves as the episode introduction) in which "the dog Paul Anka" switches bodies with "the real Paul Anka" numerous times during its morning walk, until the two, dog and artist, meet in the middle of Stars Hollow, and the world ends. Joel Gion , formerly of The Brian Jonestown Massacre , also appeared in an episode, playing tambourine for Zack's side project while Hep Alien is on hiatus. In ''. The CD booklet features anecdotes from show producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino covering the large part music has played in their lives. Food and drink Food is another important part of the show. Lorelai and Rory are coffee addicts and are frequently seen drinking it on the show. In reality, Alexis Bledel (Rory) refused to drink coffee. When shooting, her "coffee" mug was filled with Coca-Cola or tea. It is a running gag that Lorelai and Rory can eat copious amounts of junk food, but never seem to gain weight. When they are not eating or playing bagel hockey at Luke's Diner, or having formal Friday night dinners at Emily and Richard's, they often order pizza or take-out Chinese food. Consequently, their refrigerator is always filled with leftovers. They eat tons of food, including french fries and tater tots, various types of pies, and ice cream straight from the carton. Lorelai and Rory love to eat Mallomars , which Rory uses to spell out "Happy Birthday Lorelai" on their Kitchen table in the third season. The two also like doughnuts and various other chocolate and baked goods. They also enjoy many international foods while on their European trip in the fourth season, and eat the Italian dessert, Biscotti , on the night before Rory leaves for Yale (see Season 4: Episode 1 "Ballrooms and Biscotti"). In the DVD commentary, Lauren Graham admits that no one could realistically eat the way Rory and Lorelai do. Additionally, Pop-tarts recur on the show as both Lorelai's and Rory's favorite breakfast and snack food. Sookie, the chef at the Dragonfly Inn, is very passionate about cooking and often obsesses over the inn's menu. Lane Kim's mother, Mrs. Kim, is a fan of health food, and Luke's healthy eating habits are sometimes contrasted with Rory and Lorelai's junk-food diet. Especially in the first season, Rory sneaks Lane candy bars and etc. U.S. ratings Season US Ratings Network Rank Rank (Network) 1 2000–2001 3.6 Million The WB #126 #11 2 2001–2002 5.2 Million The WB #122 #3 3 2002–2003 5.2 Million The WB #121 #3 4 2003-2004 4.1 Million The WB #6 5 2004-2005 4.8 Million The WB #2 6 2005-2006 4.5 Million The WB #3 7 2006-2007 3.7 Million The CW #129 #5 IN POPULAR CULTURE
Turk: "''Mothers and daughters... they speak so fast, but they speak so true.''" J.D.: "''I'm so mad at Lorelai, I can't even talk right now.''"
Wallace: "What?" Veronica: "I'm just trying to figure out which Gilmore Girl you are."
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