Gilmore Girls is an American comedy drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The series made its debut on The WB on October 5, 2000, and ended on May 15, 2007, in its seventh season, which aired on The CW. Time magazine named Gilmore Girls to their list of the top 100 television shows of all time.Time Magazine Top 100 Television Shows of All Time, Retrieved on 2009-05-13 The show placed #32 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" listEntertainment Weekly The New Classics: TV, Retrieved on 2009-08-20. It is known for its fast dialogue with endless run-on sentences. The show follows single mother Lorelai Victoria Gilmore (Graham) and her daughter Lorelai "Rory" Leigh Gilmore (Bledel) in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, a close-knit small town with many quirky characters, located roughly thirty minutes from Hartford. The series explores family, friendship, generational divides, and social class. Gilmore Girls features frequent popular culture and political references and social commentary that manifest most clearly in Lorelai's difficult relationship with her wealthy upper class parents.

Production

History

The pilot episode of Gilmore Girls received financial support from the script development fund of the Family Friendly Programming Forum, one of the first network shows to reach the air with help from funding provided by that organization, which includes some of the nation's leading advertisers.www.ana.net/ffpf/ The show was not a ratings success initially, airing in the tough Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot dominated by Survivor and Friends in its first season. It grew a following that saw it outdraw its time-slot competitor, popular series Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the ratings when it moved to Tuesday . By its fifth season, Gilmore Girls became The WB's second most watched primetime show, with a fan base which grew by double digits in all major demographics. In its syndicated release in the United States, the show airs on the ABC Family Channel, and Soap Net. The WB planned to air a spin-off featuring Jess as the main character, called Windward Circle, in which he gets to know his estranged father better and befriends a bunch of California skateboarders. However, the network canceled the show before it aired, citing high production costs to shoot on location in Venice Beach as the reason. On May 3, 2007, The CW announced that the series would not be renewed. According to Variety, "Money was a key factor in the decision, with the parties involved not able to reach a deal on salaries for the main cast members. Other issues, such as number of episodes and production dates, may have also played a role". Since the finale, some fans have petitioned for an 8th season. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has expressed an interest in pursuing a Gilmore Girls movie. Lauren Graham has noted that a lot of fans "were disappointed with how it series ended" and commented on the possibility of a follow-up movie.

Cultural references

In addition to the fast-paced dialogue, Gilmore Girls is also known for its frequent popular culture references. The references contain anything from movies, television shows, music, and books to quotes from celebrities. The references are frequently quite obscure. To help the viewer understand what the characters are talking about, The WB has included "Gilmore-isms" booklets in many of the DVD sets of the seasons. The booklets contain "the 411 on many of the show's pop culture references", along with comments from the show creators.