For the past 25 years, Gilmore Girls has filled the homes of millions with endless laughs and an irreplaceable amount of heart that simply can't be replicated. Many shows have tried to capture the essence of the mother-daughter comedy-drama series over the years, but we keep following to where Lorelai and Rory lead... and that's right on our watch lists.
While celebrating the 25th anniversary of the beloved series, the cast and creator have been honoring the show's legacy, whether it's Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel reuniting at the Emmys or some of the cast participating in an unofficial documentary. Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino also opened about about the origins of the show and shared some secrets.
Early on in the show's inception, Sherman-Palladino had to advocate to Warner Bros. to make the show she wanted make, with all of the obscure pop culture references that have made Gilmore Girls one of one. Looking back, she admits she didn't receive many notes, but thinking about the show through today's lens, she doesn't believe that lightning would strike again.
On paper, Gilmore Girls looks and sounds like the kind of show that would thrive on The WB in the 2000s, but in practice, the writing and storytelling was so unique and specific that it was truly a gamble. Obviously, everything ended up working out in the show's favor, and Sherman-Palladino boils it all down to "alchemy." But that doesn't mean the same result would still happen.
"We were really left alone to build our worlds and our characters. [Warner Bros.] gave up on even trying to give us notes on the scripts. They didn’t understand the scripts. It wasn’t soapy enough for them. There were too many pop culture references they didn’t understand. At every turn, we were not necessarily what they wanted or what they thought they needed, but it was a different time. Today, a Gilmore Girls would not get on the air. No way, no how," Sherman-Palladino said to The Hollywood Reporter.
Why Gilmore Girls couldn't be made today
It's probably true that these days, there would be so much studio and network intervention in the creative process that would water down everything that made Gilmore Girls special. That's not to say that special shows with a distinct voice and point of view don't exist, but at the end of the day Stars Hollow wouldn't be Stars Hollow. Not to mention, one-hour dramedies like this aren't getting made.
You might think Sherman-Palladino's conclusion is dramatic, but she's right, especially as someone who has been making television for over two decades and has seen as many challenges as she has successes. For every Gilmore Girls or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, there's a Bunheads. Creatives often tell us that it's hard to get things made, and clearly it's always been that way.
Gilmore Girls also wasn't the kind of show that's a dime a dozen in today's TV landscape, which is the show that takes a full year for filming and post-production before its release two years after the last season. They were making 22 episodes per season every year for seven seasons. They didn't have a Stranger Things budget or the streaming service luxury of time. Probably another reason it would not exist today.
Thankfully, we can still binge-watch all seven seasons on Netflix and Hulu, and relive the magic of the revival miniseries A Year in the Life on Netflix. As fans keep our fingers crossed for another possible return in the future, let's be grateful the show as it is made it to air 25 years ago.