This weekend I've been having something of a Gilmore Girls retrospective and I've been rewatching the third season. There is one episode that has everything in it I love about this show. The episode is called They Shoot Gilmores Don't They? and it's about a dance marathon like they used to do in the great depression; basically couples dance for 24 hours and the last couple standing wins. There was a wonderful Waltons episode which featured this but we digress.
Lorelei (one of the great TV moms) is looking for a dance partner as she has to beat Kirk, the town oddball who in every single episode has a different job. So they have this rivalry about who will win the dance competition. Lorelei has lined up the new guy in town as he was once in Riverdance (just a hilarious thought) but his wife hears of this and forbids him to enter with Lorelei (who is completely gorgeous - played by Lauren Graham). So she ropes her 17 year old daughter, Rory, into dancing with her. Rory is on the brink of breaking up with her nice guy boyfriend Dean to get together with bad boy Jess. So without running down the whole show, it ends as they are in the final minutes of the 24 hour marathon and Dean tells Rory she is into Jess and stomps off the floor (he'd been standing in while Lorelei gets her shoe fixed). The reason I tell you all this is that it means Kirk wins and as he stated at the top of the show, he does a victory lap to the Rocky theme! This is a show that tells you Kirk will do a victory lap to the Rocky theme if he wins and then goes through with it. And it's wonderful. I admit to being slightly obsessed with the Rocky theme but even if you're not, I defy anyone to not giggle at this.
Gilmore Girls is stuffed full of pop culture references. Another favourite moment is when you see Lane's band do a version of Hollaback Girl with Sebastian Bach from Skid Row. Yes. I didn't just make that sentence up. Sebastian was in the show for a few seasons. It's that kind of show.
One of the many things I love about Gilmore Girls is all the characters, you feel like you are part of Stars Hollow. Babette - the crazy voiced neighbour, Miss Patti - the enormous dance teacher, Sookie - Lorelei's best friend and chef, Luke - the owner of the diner and of course Lorelei's true love but it takes them four seasons to realise it. I could go on and on but I must save a mention for Paris. Paris is one of the greatest characters ever written for television. Played to perfection by Liza Weil, she is an over achiever, needy, desperate for love and horrible yet loveable. Paris gets most of the truly great lines. You can read some here but if you've not watched the show, you may not really quite get it. I also can't mention the great characters and not mention Richard and Emily Gilmore, Lorelei's parents. Stiff and snobby, some of the wonderful moments from this show comes form the Friday night dinners set at their house.
Gilmore Girls has plenty of teen angst love in it to satisfy any inner teenager however it's much more than a teen show. It's just great television and it makes you want to move to small-town America and attend small-town meetings in long scarves and wooly hats while drinking coffee. If you've not watched it, get the box set and curl up under a blanket with a hot chocolate. After all, that's what January is for. I can't find the Kirk victory lap on YouTube or I'd leave you with it. And it won't let me embed Hollaback Girl so you'll have to click here. Enjoy!
Now you know how I love a tv/movie quote! Paris has two of my all time favorites:
ReplyDelete"For example, I can instantly deduce that when someone hears the name Paris in the same sentence with the word date, jaws will drop, confused looks will cover faces, words like 'how' and 'why' and 'Quick, Bob, get the children in the minivan because the world is obviously coming to an end.' will immediately fly out of people's mouths"
and
"I think it's good to be adopted. If you get sick of them, you just dump this set and go find the originals."
All beautifully delivered by Lisa Weil