(2005) TV Gal Gives it Up for the 'Gilmore Girls'

(Monday, February 07 08:02 AM)
By Amy Amatangelo

HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - - Now, I don't want to over-hype it, but this week's 100th episode of "Gilmore Girls" may be the best episode the series has ever had. At the end, there is a moment so chilling, delivered with such pitch-perfect aplomb that it left me staring at my TV in silent shock. So this column isn't about the missteps the show has taken along the way or concerns that the show may be repeating itself (is Logan the new Tristan)? Today's column is about celebrating one of television's best and most overlooked series.

Since its premiere in 2000, the heart, strength and soul of the series has always rested on the show's inter-generational strife. The series has given us some indelible characters. Scott Patterson's Luke Danes has done for coffee shops what John Corbett did for radio stations on "Northern Exposure." Kelly Bishop and Edward Hermann's Emily and Richard are such real, vibrant characters. Yes, they are wealthy snobs but they are also devoted parents and grandparents and, as this week's episode proves, loyal and devoted spouses. And we all know I still want to be Lorelai when I grow up.


From the characters who only get sporadic screen time (I love Lane's boyfriend) to the town residents who've been there since day one (Ms. Patty and Babette), Stars Hollow embraces its members and by extension its viewers. It's the type of town that only exists on television but is so believable that it has become a major character. The last time I felt this connected to made-up location was 1984. That was the year I told my mom I wanted to go to Pine Valley for our family vacation.

As we prepare for the milestone episode, let's look back on some of my favorite episodes:

Rory's Birthday Parties (Nov. 9, 2000): A befuddled Emily and Richard attend the birthday party Lorelai throws for her in Stars Hollow. It establishes the "we're fish out of water in each other's worlds" subtext that sustains the series.

The Road Trip to Harvard (Oct. 21, 2001): This episode featured Lorelai's poignant trip to Harvard where, with no dialogue, we see her reflect on the life she might have had if she had not become pregnant at 16. Luke builds a chuppah for Lorelai and Max's wedding. And it still takes Lorelai almost three years to realize Luke loves her.

I Can't Get Started (May 21, 2002): In the second season finale, Lorelai and Christopher briefly reunite only to find out that Sherry is pregnant and Jess and Rory kiss for the first time.

Haunted Leg (Oct. 1, 2002): When Christopher shows up unannounced for Friday night dinner, Emily defends Lorelai and asks him to leave. These are the moments that make us love Emily.

Raincoats and Recipes (May 18, 2004): In the fourth season finale, Rory sleeps with Dean, a married man. I stand by my earlier statement that the show is stronger because Rory did something we didn't approve of. Also Luke and Lorelai finally kiss. What more could we ask for?

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,276934311,00.html

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(2005) Graham is blessed, but there remains one void

By LUAINE LEE
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - Actress Lauren Graham learned early on that you can't have everything you want.

The star of the WB's "Gilmore Girls" was a senior in high school who'd sparkled as the star of most of the school plays. But when they were casting "Once Upon a Mattress," she didn't get the lead. "I kind of took it a little bit for granted that I would get the next lead," she says, seated at a small, round table in an empty room of a hotel here.

"I didn't do a bad job. I just had senior-itis. I remember my teacher saying, 'You need to tell me now if I give you a smaller part, will you not do it?' And I did it."

That taught her a valuable lesson, she thinks. "That became the way I disciplined myself. If something didn't happen the way I wanted it to, I really did learn how to stick with it and try harder and to challenge myself in a bigger way," she says.

After six years of struggling, Graham landed "Gilmore Girls," which aired its 100th episode on Feb. 8, a status that most television shows never reach.

But starring in a popular and consistent show is not everything.

She would like to have an equally enduring relationship, she says. "I was with somebody for a long time, off and on, but we broke up not too long ago," she smiles, a half-shy shake of her head.

"I want to have a family. I really love being in a relationship, and my dad is such a great man, and my relationships have been very positive. I really think I grew up with a good experience of what a good man is and have a lot of respect for that. It's been tough, this job, because it's all-involving," she says.

Graham's mother left the family when Lauren was 5. Her father raised her alone until he remarried when she was in high school. A lawyer who became proficient in Vietnamese, her father worked for a year in Vietnam with a government agency connected to the CIA.

"What he would do is fly around to these small towns that had been devastated and help them rebuild. So that's what he did for about a year.... Understandably he found it really distressing work," she says.

"I think there are hundreds of people that perceive part of that group could've been spy cover, but my dad can't keep secrets," she laughs.

Being reared by her father made her different, she confesses. "I think that changed how I viewed myself in the world of my peers. And I knew that in order to learn to be a girl I was going to have to do it myself...There were people who guided me. But I learned how to put on makeup from books and magazines, nobody helped me do that. So I thought that's one of the things that's different about my life."

Her mother settled in London and eventually had a child, her father had two more. She's still on cordial terms with her mother, though they only met annually when she was growing up.

Being a latchkey kid with a string of baby-sitters made her independent, Graham thinks. After high school she enrolled in a performing-conservatory school. But, coming from an academic background, she felt out of place there.

"I thought, 'You know, I should read more. I should study more before I roll around on the floor pretending I'm a lion.' So I transferred to Barnard and I was an English major and was still thinking about being an actor and took classes outside of school."

Things were difficult there. Graham, 37, endured a series of jobs. She waitressed, worked at Barney's, toiled in a library. "I remember counting pennies in the subway because I lived off-campus and had to get to school that day. I didn't have enough money to get in the subway. I remember standing at the turnstile. And I would eat out of the vending machine and would eat cheese and crackers.... I just had no money all through college, and it just adds to your frustration and depression, and it was really tough."

Things weren't much better in L.A. She slept on her aunt's couch in Long Beach (20 miles south of Los Angeles) while she looked for work. A commercial for Cascade dishwashing powder had sustained her for nearly two years, but that was running out.

When she graduated from her aunt's couch she moved in with a newly divorced friend whose house contained no furniture except two beds and a chair. "And we just ate Rice Krispy treats. That's when I started working in 'Caroline in the City' and that's when it kind of started."

Except for missing someone to share her life, she's content, she says. "I have a sense of faith, look at all the blessings I have. I don't have everything I want right now, but there are plenty of people out there in a great relationship, but they're not in the job they want. You just don't get everything you want when you want it."

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/entertainment/10860811.htm

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