These days, if a show lasts into its fifth season, it’s a TV miracle of considerable proportion.
Few know that better than Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator of The WB Network’s “Gilmore Girls,” which airs its 100th episode Tuesday, Feb. 8.
At first, she was just in it for the shoes.
“I didn’t think we’d shoot the pilot,” Sherman-Palladino says. “Then when we went up to Canada to shoot the pilot, I said, ‘At least I got a free trip to Canada.’ I’d never seen Toronto. I went shopping on Queen Street. I bought nine pairs of shoes in two weekends. How about that?
“So I figured, ‘Hey, take some pictures, get some shoes.’ Then they put us on, but they put us on opposite ‘Friends,’ so I figured, ‘One season, you have a show on … second season, OK, they’ll cancel us midseason.’ Now I’m, ‘Well, maybe we’ll get to the 100th episode. Who knows?’ “
Having proved that negative thinking is no impediment to success, Sherman-Palladino then had to pick the story line for this milestone episode.
Sherman-Palladino went for a wedding. She is the writer and director of “Wedding Bell Blues,” in which Richard and Emily Gilmore (Edward Herrmann, Kelly Bishop) — parents of innkeeper Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and grandparents of college student Rory (Alexis Bledel) — decide to renew their vows in a lavish ceremony.
Lorelai and Rory throw Emily an impromptu bachelorette party, which goes about as well as fans might expect. Then at the big ceremony, Rory’s father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), arrives.
The process begins with applause and cheering as the cast gathers over a tasty buffet of Chinese food for a read-through of the script. The actors deliver lines in their signature snappy fashion — including Herrmann on the speakerphone — and the reading is pretty entertaining even without props, costumes or sets.
A few days later, a fuzzy pink hat on her head, Sherman-Palladino sits in the director’s chair at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles, where the wedding scenes are being filmed.
“We shoot here a lot,” she says. “First, it’s down the street from where I live. I walk to work. I love that.”
On this day, there are loads of well-dressed extras; lovely tulle and ribbons draped everywhere around the elegant, dark-paneled interior; and huge bouquets of real roses.
Although she was an enthusiastic pessimist about her show’s chances, that doesn’t mean Sherman-Palladino didn’t think she had five seasons of stories in her “mom and daughter who are best friends” concept for “Gilmore Girls.”
“I’ve never pitched a show in my life that I couldn’t see year five,” she says. “When you do a good family show … until people actually die off and are put in the ground, they’re driving each other crazy. Even after they’re dead, they’ve got all the baggage and the damage of the dead person. It goes on for generations.”
Right now, Sherman-Palladino’s main issue is a close-up that’s just a little too close. “Way too tight,” she calls out to the cameraman. “Serious intimacy issues here.”
Credit: Zap2It.com
