(2000) Review in Entertainment Weekly

On the L.A. set of the WB's ''Gilmore Girls,'' the titular twosome -- Rory and Lorelai -- are having a good old fashioned mother daughter spat. Rory's swamped with work, but Lorelai keeps bugging her to take an ice cream break. Finally, Rory erupts: ''Lorelai, go to your room!''
It sounds like your average family dramedy scene, except for one thing: Rory (Alexis Bledel) is a serious minded 16 year old prep schooler, and Lorelai (Lauren Graham) is her free spirited 32 year old single mother. Do the math, and you'll figure out this is not your stereotypical American TV clan. ''['Gilmore''s] strength is that it's a family show that does not pander or condescend to families,'' says Graham (''M.Y.O.B.''). ''It's not so soft that your grandmother could watch it with her dentures out.''

In other words, ''it's not going to be '7th Heaven,''' declares ''Gilmore'' creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (''Roseanne''). What sets the show apart are its sardonic one liners (''On the way home, you can pull a Menendez,'' Lorelai tells Rory before dragging her to dinner at her stuffy grandparents' house), its multicultural cast (Lorelai manages a hotel in the diverse fictional hamlet of Stars Hollow, Conn.), and unusually close familial bonding (Rory and Lorelai share the same taste in lip gloss and Macy Gray CDs).

Yet Sherman-Palladino can thank shows like ''Heaven'' for helping get her series on the air. As that 99 44/100 percent pure drama started cleaning up in the ratings, a group of advertisers (including Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson) formed the Family Friendly Programming Forum to fund the development of similar series. When Graham learned ''Gilmore'' was supported by the FFPF, however, she admits that it ''made me so nervous.... I would be more comfortable if it were called the Dysfunctional Family Friendly Forum.'' Not to worry: Despite its ominous moniker, the FFPF has no political agenda. ''It's not a right wing thing,'' says Graham. ''It's mainly supporting shows with a multigenerational element that you could watch as a family.''

Sounds good, but up against NBC's ''Friends,'' will there be any families left to watch ''Gilmore''? ''People really like those six kids,'' Sherman-Palladino says, adding tartly ''Well, they're not kids anymore -- they're all, like, 80.'' Still, ''there probably isn't a tougher time slot,'' WB Entertainment president Susanne Daniels concedes. ''But in a strange way, that's a vote of confidence from us.'' If the show can overcome this potentially crippling ''vote of confidence'' and attract a small, loyal cult the way ''Popular'' did in the same spot last season, Daniels promises ''Gilmore'' won't be a goner. -- Bruce Fretts

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