Thursday, September 25, 2014

Gilmore Girls Coming to Netflix


What did we do before Netflix? A better question: what did we do before Netflix streaming? Answer: got up, opened the dvd player, switched out discs, sat back down again. It was SUCH a hassle, amiright? Okay, okay, obviously it wasn’t that big a deal but you have to admit that those Facebook memes about Netflix giving you fifteen seconds to decide if you’re going to do anything with your day are pretty dead-on. Once you find a show to binge on, that’s pretty much all she wrote.

Which is why October 1st is such a dangerous day for me. Friends, Gilmore Girls is finally (FINALLY!) coming to Netflix. All seven seasons of coffee, junk food, speed-talking and boys, I mean girls, will soon be available to stream.


Let me repeat: ALL SEVEN SEASONS. AVAILABLE TO STREAM.

Just typing these words makes me giddy. According to legend, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (Bunheads) had a meeting at the WB where she pitched a bunch of shows and after each pitch the executives around the table went, “Eh.” She was about be escorted out when at the last second she blurted, “Mother-daughter show! The mother was a teen-mom so she’s young! The daughter is really brainy but sweet! They have a quirky and fun relationship! They like each other! They drink a lot of coffee! The grandparents are rich and don’t approve!”

And that, Possums, was how Gilmore Girls got green lit. And really, how perfect is that synopsis? How perfect was the show? I was out of the house by the time I became obsessed (yes, I’m admitting it, I was full-on obsessed), but many of the show’s fans would watch with their mothers and as a result were able to talk about all the icky boy-stuff they were going through. The show broke down barriers when it came to frank conversations about teen sex. When you get pregnant at sixteen, you’ve got a lot of opinions on teen sex.


Also, when you get pregnant at sixteen, you’ve got a lot of issues with your parents, or at least Lorelai did. Emily and Richard Gilmore were uber-rich Connecticut wasps that had very clear ideas about their only child’s future. When 16-year-old Lorelai revealed her pregnancy the already fraught relationship became even more fractured. By the time Rory was born Lorelai knew she had to get away from their control, and off to Stars Hollow she went.

Can we just talk about Stars Hollow for a second? The goofy town folk, the perfect town square, the insane town hall meetings, the quaint little shops (Miss Patty’s Dance Studio! Luke’s Diner! Taylor’s Ice Cream Parlor! Al’s Pancake World!), annual town-wide events (Founder’s Day punch!), the controversy when the one stop light was finally erected. Oh, how I wish I lived in Stars Hollow.


Okay, yes, not every season was a winner. Not every recurring character was perfect. If I had a nickel for every time I wished death upon Jess I would be a very rich woman. But the show as a whole always worked. And the parts of the show that worked well, REALLY worked well, right from the get-go.

In the pilot, Rory gets accepted to snooty Chilton and Lorelai gets walloped by the tuition bill. Hating herself the entire time, she goes to her parents for financial help and while Richard and Emily quickly agree (okay, not THAT quickly), canny Emily puts a stipulation on the money: the girls must have dinner at their house every Friday night. Meanwhile, Rory meets a cute new boy at her old school and starts having second thoughts about her new plaid skirt. Lorelai, fresh from the humiliation of asking her parents for money, is incredulous that Rory somehow wants to put her dreams of Harvard on hold over some silly boy. “Trust me, you don’t get knocked up at sixteen without being a fan of guys,” she tells Rory. “But this is more important. It has to be more important.”


Somehow it all worked out and each week the angst was balanced with colorful townies, stiff grandparents, and Rory’s new schoolmates (spoiler alert: they’re not so nice at first). Over the course of seven seasons we watched both Gilmore girls grow up and while I think we all agreed that it was time to say goodbye to them, we were so sad to see them go. And now it’s been seven more years and they’re finally coming to Netflix. Let joy be unconfined. No, really.

Or, rather: oy, with the poodles, already!

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