At the First Hint of Fall, My Thoughts Wistfully Turn to the 'Gilmore Girls'

I just noticed the first hints of autumnal color in the leaves on the tops of two trees on my New England street. During the past two days, the temps haven’t made it above 70 and school has begun. As fall gradually unfurls, my thoughts turn to many things, like playoff baseball (Go Sox!), apple picking, making everything I can think of from the apples before they go bad, fresh cider and cider doughnuts, jack-o-lanterns and cozy sweaters.

And I also think about one of my favorite TV shows, the Gilmore Girls, a program which showcased fall in New England quite often. Set in a fictional Connecticut small town named Stars Hollow, about a half-hour outside of Hartford, it began in the fall, in September specifically. Its opening credits display the show’s title across a background of vibrant foliage. On the DVDs (I own nearly all of the seasons), you make episode selections by clicking on a leaf. The ABC Family web site which has a page for the show, is covered in fall leaves. Fall and the Gilmore Girls go hand-in-hand, despite Lorelai's professed love for magical snow.

 

Many memorable, quirky moments occurred in the fall: Rory Gilmore’s birthday was in the fall -- something that was marked during several seasons -- and she received her first gift from her first boyfriend Dean outside amidst the leaves while her mother Lorelai looked on through the kitchen window.

Luke Danes was constantly hounded by the Stars Hollow selectman, Taylor Doose, to festoon his diner with festive fall decorations, given its proximity to the town green where the Thanksgiving horn of plenty resided and where the fall fair was being held.

Rory got her first kiss in Doose’s Market while she was awkwardly clutching a box of corn starch from a Thanksgiving display (a box she inadvertently shoplifted), and then ran across the center of town, stepping around pumpkins and hay bales to share her good fortune with her buddy Lane.

Rory and Lorelai had four Thanksgivings one year when they were emotionally blackmailed and/or cornered by their friends and family and felt as though they couldn't decline the invitations.

The first one at Lane Kim’s house featured tofurkey, the second at Luke’s diner featured Luke’s gruff banter, the third at Sookie St. James’ house was highlighted by Jackson deep frying the turkey and Snooki getting drunk, and the fourth at Emily and Richard Gilmore’s was the site of an argument over where Rory should apply to college. The mother-daughter duo gave everybody a bouquet of fresh fall flowers, cranberry sauce and chocolate turkeys.

When Rory was a freshman at Yale, Emily and Richard insisted on tailgating prior to the Yale-Harvard football game (albeit tailgating alongside a massive motor home, using linens and fine china and the services of a wait staff). Richard got drunk, ran into an ex and, when Emily became jealous that he’d maintained regular contact with a former flame, she took out her anger on Lorelai who’d finagled an invitation to the tailgating soiree at the last minute.

Just a month or so earlier, Lorelai had eased Rory through the college transition by spending the night with her in her Yale dorm, inviting the female students into Rory’s suite as they ordered from all the take-out joints in the neighborhood so they could sample them, that was when Lorelai wasn’t arguing with Luke over his truck in which she’d left Rory’s Yale-issued mattress.

Are there any TV shows which remind you of fall? Any favorite fall-related Gilmore Girls episodes?

Image credits: ABC Family and The WB.



Six Degrees of Lorelai Gilmore

Seeing that I’ve been writing about Parenthood for CliqueClack TV, coupled with the fact that my daughter has been watching repeats of the Gilmore Girls on ABC Family, I frequently think about Lorelai Gilmore, the well loved character played by Lauren Graham.

However last night I didn’t happen to be thinking about Lorelai/Lauren Graham at all when she suddenly came to mind because characters who’d appeared on Gilmore Girls with her kept appearing. There on The Event was Lorelai’s former fiancé Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), only he wasn't wearing his backwards baseball cap. (The Event also features the English teacher Lauren Graham’s new Parenthood character briefly dated.) While flipping through the stations, I spotted Lorelai’s other former fiancé, Max Medina (Scott Cohen) on Hawaii Five-O.

Could Lorelai Gilmore/Lauren Graham be a female Kevin Bacon?

As names of shows started popping into my head, I tested my fledgling theory:

Mad Men – There was Peyton Sanders, otherwise known as Don Draper on Mad Men (played by the awesome Jon Hamm), who Lorelai found to be such a dreadfully boring man that she refused to go on a second date with him, even though their second date was supposed to be attending a David Bowie concert.

Grey’s Anatomy – Lorelai’s father, Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) did a three-episode stint where he played significantly older-than-usual surgical intern, Norman Shales.

The Good Wife – Lorelai’s daughter Rory dated Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) when they attended Yale. Now Logan’s making life difficult for one of Lorelai's peers, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) in Chicago on The Good Wife.

Lost (it came to mind because I was thinking of The Event): This route is more circuitous, but still gets you to Lorelai in six links or less: Matthew Fox was on Party of Five with Scott Wolf, who was on The Nine with Kim Raver, who’s now on Grey’s Anatomy which had Edward Herrmann.

24 – Chloe O’Brian, Jack Bauer’s most trusted ally, appeared twice in the Gilmore Girls, once in Kirk’s odd black and white film (the whole thing is on the DVD set) and once as a troubadour who flouted Taylor Doose’s crackdown on troubadours who were crowding the Stars Hollow streets.

Modern Family -- Julie Bowen, who plays Claire Dunphy, played Matthew Fox’s wife on Lost. See the aforementioned Lost connection.

You can also link Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal to Lorelai through Duck Phillips/Paul Young, Mark Moses’ roles on Mad Men and Desperate Housewives respectively. Chilton's Headmaster Charleston (Dakin Matthews) also appeared on Desperate Housewives as Bree's pastor, providing a more direct link between Wisteria Lane and Stars Hollow.

It’s a fun game to play once you start . . .

Image credit: WB.

Fall TV Previews: Sookie St. James Gets Her Own Show with 'Mike & Molly'

. . . except she’s not Sookie the talented, uber-chef at the charming Connecticut jewel known as the Dragonfly Inn anymore, cracking wise with Dragonfly co-owner/best friend Lorelai Gilmore on the Gilmore Girls.

Sookie St. James has moved on, as has Lorelai Gilmore who’s now appearing under the name “Sarah Braverman” on Parenthood. Melissa “Sookie” McCarthy returns to TV this fall in the new CBS comedy, Mike & Molly. McCarthy plays Molly Flynn, a fourth grade teacher, who finds a potential love interest at a Chicago Overeaters Anonymous meeting in the form of police officer Mike Biggs.



I’ve always liked McCarthy. I just hope that Mike & Molly provides her with some funny/goofy material that will make me stop thinking of her as Sookie St. James. However the promos didn’t exactly have me rolling on the floor.


Mike & Molly premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 9:30.

'Parenthood' Muses on Working Parenthood & Grandparents with Financial Woes

Parenthood has been on the uptick these days – with the exception of the fact that, no matter how much I’ve tried to forget that Lauren Graham played Lorelai Gilmore, I just can’t (her character went out with her daughter's English teacher, went back to school as an adult, has daughter who, according to previews, falls asleep with a guy overnight just like Lorelai's daughter did in a gazebo that looks like it was lifted from the Stars Hollow town green).

Part of the reason why I’ve been enamored of the drama as of late is its treatment of working parenthood, which it addressed in two recent episodes, the latest of which I lauded in my Pop Culture column on Mommy Tracked.

The writers have also, FINALLY, started paying some attention to the grandmother, Camille, who’s been largely wallpaper up until the last episode. (Episode recap is up on CliqueClack TV.)

'Parenthood' Enters the Family Drama Arena

The premiere episode of Parenthood, which aired last night on NBC was, like most pilots, overloaded with storylines designed to introduce each character and place them into some kind of context. Once the introductory business is out of the way, the real test of whether a show's got staying power is by watching the next few episodes. I'll be looking to see whether the show can and will delve into what makes each of these characters tick. But I think it has promise.

That being said, in my Pop Culture column on Mommy Tracked I pleaded with the show's writers to NOT -- I repeat, NOT -- go down the road of cliche when it comes to working moms and will refrain from demonizing them. There's this one character who's a workaholic lawyer mom, Julia Braverman-Graham (Erika Christensen), and because she's always fielding work calls, messing with her BlackBerry and working long hours, her young daughter openly favors her at-home dad. A similar dynamic was played out on Brothers & Sisters a few years ago with the Sarah Wheedon Walker (Rachel Griffiths) character, and Sarah was threatened with the loss of custody of her children during her divorce proceedings because of the long hours she worked. Brooke Shields' movie mogul character in Lipstick Jungle also suffered similarly for trying to thrive in a tough career while raising children.

Meanwhile, over on CliqueClack TV, I compared Lauren Graham's iconic role of Lorelai Gilmore in the Gilmore Girls to her new Parenthood character, Sarah Braverman. While I initially found that there are more differences than similarities between the two characters, after watching the preview below which NBC just put on its web site and seeing that Sarah's potentially interested in dating her 16-year-old daughter's teacher . . . well that scenario was played out in the first season of Gilmore Girls. (Remember Max Medina? You can refresh your memory with repeats of season one currently airing on ABC Family.) If Sarah starts dating her daughter Amber's high school English teacher, there's a distinct possibility that I may have to reassess my conclusion about just how much Sarah and Lorelai have in common.



What did you think about the Parenthood premiere?

Living Like Your Favorite Celeb. . . Who Would You Choose?

I was mildly amused by an article in the Sunday New York Times' Style section about a 35-year-old writer/performer/artist's attempts to live according to the word of Oprah for an entire year. Through her blog, Living Oprah, Robyn Okrant chronicles her exploits as she adheres to Oprah's recommendations (on what books, shoes, etc. to buy, how to de-stress, how to adopt a cat, to eat more slowly) dispensed either by Oprah herself on her TV show or through one of the reigning queen of all media's many other outlets (magazine, web site, etc.) (Okrant, by the way, has a literary agent and hopes this effort will spawn a book deal, the Times reported.)

Okrant's endeavor got me to thinking. If I were to model my life after someone, or choose someone whose recommendations I would utilize to guide my life, who would I choose? I couldn't come up with an answer.

For example, I aspire to be as witty as the character of Lorelai Gilmore from the Gilmore Girls, but Lorelai, sadly, wasn't real. Her fast-moving, smart banter was crafted, with a great deal of thought I'm sure, by the show's creative geniuses in the writers' room. No one talks like Lorelai in real life.

I have a few pop culture critics (from Entertainment Weekly, the Boston Globe, the New York Times) whose work I follow and whose tastes oftentimes mirror my own, but I can't see myself only watching, reading or listening to only those items that they like. I'd go mad.

There are a handful of pundits/columnists who make incredibly insightful observations and connections about politics, the cultural scene that might not have crossed my mind, but there's not a single one with whom I'd cast my lot 24/7, intellectually speaking.

And seeing as though the only kinds of TV talk shows I watch are political/news talk shows, there isn't an advice guru a la Oprah whose work resonates intensely with me. But maybe that's just me being me. (I'm not saying that Okrant doesn't have her own, idiosyncratic tastes; I'm sure she doesn't agree with everything Oprah says. Is there a person on the planet who agrees with everything ANYONE says?)

That being said, if YOU had to choose, is there a person or celebrity (because a celeb is distinctly different from a down-to-earth, garden variety person) whose advice and/or recommendations you'd be willing to abide by for a year? Would you ever consider adhering to anyone's recommendations for a year?

(My mother is likely thinking it'd be great for me to act on her every recommendation for a year. Sorry Mom.)

Image credit: New York Times/Sally Ryan.