Why you're ignoring your family to watch 'Gilmore Girls'
When Netflix announced that the release date for the "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" revival would be Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving, one fact became clear: Many relatives will be ignored during this holiday.
The most-anticipated show of the year will land on Netflix at 2:01 a.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 25, and it's not a stretch to say that quite a few people will wake up the next morning and immediately start streaming the series, which is four 90-minute episodes. Sorry, parents who need help cleaning the kitchen or cousins who want to go Black Friday shopping - "Gilmore Girls" is top priority.
If you need help explaining to your family why you're barricading yourself in your room on Friday, and potentially into the weekend, here's a guide, with questions from the perspective of a non-"Gilmore Girls" viewer:
Q. Why is the Internet melting down over this revival? Don't old TV shows come back all the time these days?
A. Fair point! But "Gilmore Girls" is still a pretty big deal. The show went off-air in 2007 after the seventh and final season, but the ending was a huge disappointment for fans. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, executive producer Dan Palladino, walked away after the sixth season when they couldn't come to a financial agreement with the studio. It was complicated.
Q. Why is that a big deal?
A. Not to get too cliché here, but the Palladinos were the heart and soul of the series. "Gilmore Girls" is known (and loved) for its rapid-fire, whip-smart dialogue filled with pop-culture references, and it takes a very specific person to carry that voice.
"It's horrifying. It's like a freaking nightmare," Sherman-Palladino said in response to passing off the show to a new executive producer for the final season. Yet that's what happened - and it was too obvious in the seventh season that new people were in charge. The dialogue dragged, storylines were nonsense, and a beloved series limped away to the disappointment of a fiercely loyal fan base.
Anyway, the Palladinos are back in charge of the revival. This is very exciting closure for fans, because now they'll be able to see the end of the series the way the creator originally intended. Also, for years, Sherman-Palladino has teased that she's always known what the last four words of the show would be; the mystery surrounding the final line has reached almost mythical status. Mythical!
Q. So what's the show about again?
A. I would be shocked that you asked that, except as my friend Nick recently put it, "Sure, I know the Gilmore girls. Lisa Gilmore and Juanita Gilmore. One's a mom, one's a girl, something something Yale."
Uh, close. "Gilmore Girls" is about the adventures of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel), a quirky mother-daughter duo who are best friends. They live in a small, dreamy New England town. Lorelai got pregnant when she was 16, which caused a lifelong rift with her wealthy, traditional parents, and she ran away from home once Rory was born. The series starts as Rory is 16 and gets into a fancy private school, and Lorelai is forced to ask her parents for money for Rory's tuition. They say yes, but as a condition, her mother (Kelly Bishop) insists that they come to dinner every Friday night. And so the generational drama begins. (And yes, Rory eventually goes to Yale.)
Q. Why are people still so excited about a show that ended almost 10 years ago?
A. I could write a book about why "Gilmore Girls" is so magical, but in practical terms, the show got a second life a couple years ago when Netflix made all seven seasons available. The enormous response showed Netflix executives that they should probably capitalize on this momentum (there's basically a cottage industry of "Gilmore Girls" memorabilia, GIFs, quizzes and thinkpieces) and order up a revival.
Q. Can I watch it if I've never seen the show before?
A. The revival is almost 100 percent fan service, full of inside jokes and callbacks to the original show. But if you want to spend time with your family member who is ignoring you, go for it! You just might not understand anything - and you might not want to interrupt with questions.