The Gilmore Girls and Other TV Alternatives

[slowontheuptake]

I second that. Holy crap is she hot! Take that Jennifer. I prefer the woman that plays your mom.

Add to that a creepy black widow type performance of a charactor with a completly unknown agenda... Well that's just good fun.

[seurat]

Well, not being in L.A. has at least one advantage in that I was able to watch Birds Of Prey last night and not the Clippers (ewww). I enjoyed it again this week, some nice stuff between Huntress and Dinah about their mothers. Too bad we're never going to find out for sure if Black Canary is still alive. And Oracle got to, among other things, show us that she works out a lot. Very impressive. And the actor playing Reese's father, from X-Files right? , was very effective.





I did miss seeing Harley though, they seem to have dropped that storyline or maybe the continuity has gotten really messed up. I suppose since it's been cancelled anyway we should be happy with what we can get. A much much more messed up show is going to be airing in that spot soon enough.

"It seems (to me) that Christmas is more than just a birthday. It's a time for spiritual reckoning...a pause to affirm that love is the "Elmer's glue" that holds this planet together." -Opus the penguin in Bloom County

[Puff]

I really enjoyed last nights BOP it was highly entertaining (how TV should be) and it will be a sad loss for the WB when they cancel the show and move Angel into it's place. They really must want Angel to fail. All of the actresses are really connecting with each other now in BOP and the fight scenes are still great. I think the one thing wrong with BOP was its timeslot. There is nothing in the show to warrant it being shown at 9pm. If it was an 8pm show it would have gotten a larger audience.



Oh and the two hour finale promises to wrap up any loose ends, like whether Black Canary survived the blast or not. So it should be good.

---

Donner and Vixen slashfic...its all about the harnesses and maybe the bells.

[justastraightdog]

FYI, found at TV Barn:

_____



Lost Causes Dept.: Save "Birds of Prey"! PR



"KEEP THE BIRDS FLYING: SAVE THE BIRDS OF PREY" CAMPAIGN



December 17, 2002 - 'Birds of Prey Online', one of the leading Internet websites devoted to The WB comic-book-turned-hour-drama series 'Birds of Prey', has launched a major campaign to convince The WB Television Network and its parent company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., to either reverse their decision to cancel the program or to sell the show's rights to another network.



Followers of the 'Keep the Birds Flying' Campaign have begun flooding The WB and Turner, who hold rights to the show, with thousands of 'Birds of Prey' books as well as other comics set in the Batman universe, encouraging them to "keep the birds flying". Over four million fans have proclaimed they are not content to sit back and watch the show they love placed permanently on the shelf - instead, they are spending their time and money to convince the network to "Save the Birds of Prey".



'Birds of Prey', an action-adventure drama focused upon the exploits of Batgirl and the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, was hastily cancelled by The WB in mid-November following the airing of only 7 episodes. 'Birds of Prey' premiered on October 9 to huge ratings which fell off dramatically due in part to overwhelming competition from 'The Bachelor'. Instead of moving the show to an easier timeslot, re-broadcasting it during their new 'Sunday EasyView' line-up or holding out for temporary seasonal shows like 'The Bachelor' to finish before making a decision, The WB simply cancelled it.



As soon as 'The Bachelor' ended its run, the next new episode of 'Birds of Prey' garnered a 4.8/7 overnight rating (matching its second highest overnight) and rose 21 places in the national ratings - despite being aired on Thanksgiving Eve. 'Birds of Prey' increased its overall number of viewers for this episode by over 500,000. These figures prove that there is a dedicated fan base for this show. 'Birds of Prey' has consistently beaten its UPN competition, Twilight Zone, by wide margins.





FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: webmaster@www.birdsofpreyonline.com



CAMPAIGN DETAILS CAN BE FOUND AT: www.birdsofpreyonline.com/campaign

_______________________________
Though here at journey's end I lie in darkness buried deep, beyond all towers strong and high, beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun and Stars for ever dwell: I will not say the Day is done, nor bid the Stars farewell.

[BBOvenGuy]

Wow, now there's a case for bringing a show back off the cancellation list. 4.8/7 is much higher than a certain other now-cancelled show got on a much bigger network. It's an incredible long-shot, but let's hope BoP can somehow be salvaged.

------------------------------------------------
"A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly. - Thomas Merton

[Ben Varkentine]

I caught about the last half of GG tuesday night--from where Lorelei is getting ready to out on her bad date. Thought I'd zap in with a few questions and thoughts.



Who's the actress who play's Lorelei's mother? She sounds very familiar.



Rory's little speech after she bumps into that boy after trying and failing to turn off the sprinklers was *so* Willow-Classic.



I'm assuming that she and that boy have some history, but since I'm not a regular viewer of the show (yet) I don't know what it is



I've been a little bit resistant to GG so far, even though it looked like it was a good show, because when I tuned in it always seemed a bit "overwritten." I don't know why that should bother me, though, considering that I love The West Wing, and lord knows...



But watching this I think I figured out what the barrier has been for me. West Wing (and Sorkin's earlier Sports Night) makes a lot of long dialogue scenes work by always keeping the characters, camera or both moving (the trademark Sorkin "conversations in a hallway). On GG, at times it seems a little bit too static. Show one person speaking, cut to the other person speaking, cut back, and so on. Maybe if WW director Tommy Schlamme did a little moonlighting on the GG?



BTW, is there a favorite GG site for episode guides, character bios, and so on?

Ben Varkentine



Read my film, music and book reviews at



http://www.ink19.com (new) & http://www.popmatters.com (archival)

[emma peel]

Ben,Lorelei's mom is played by Kelly Bishop, who I recognized as playing Jennifer Grey's mom in Dirty Dancing. Plus, she's done a bunch of theatre, mainly A Chorus Line on Broadway.

I confess I've only seen The Gilmore Girls once, with and it featured Lorelei's mom then, and I knew I recognized her.I enjoyed the ep a whole bunch.

Janice

Edited by: emma peel at: 1/2/03 1:19:53 pm

[Cicca]

Yeah, I think Jennifer Garner is a lot of fun, but they really hit the casting jackpot with Lena Olin.

She's just excellent. Her interactions with everyone have been deliciously naughty and mysterious. Who knows when she's telling the truth?

Oh yeah, and she's hot.

invite someone dangerous to tea * look forward to dreams * imagine yourself magic

[BBOvenGuy]

Quote:

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I'm assuming that she and that boy have some history, but since I'm not a regular viewer of the show (yet) I don't know what it is.

---

"That boy" is Jess, nephew of Luke, the guy who owns the diner. There has been chemistry/friction between him and Rory from the moment he arrived last season, largely because Jess is something of a "bad boy" and Rory was dating "nice boy" Dean (the guy who she was paging for help to turn off the water). In a more recent episode, Dean decided he'd had enough of the chemistry/friction and broke up with Rory, leaving her free to hook up with Jess, which she did.



And yes, there have been times when I felt like the show looked a bit too much like a sketch comedy, with funny lines being said in one static place followed by more funny lines being said in another static place. Those moments, though, are vastly outweighed by the rapport and timing between the cast members and the show's ability to surprise - two things I used to like about Buffy that aren't there any more.



You can find a good Gilmore Girls website here:



www.gilmoregirls.org/

"If you are going to give a new message to the world, you will do so without being conscious of it yourself. If you set out to do it consciously, you will fail because you will be trying to pose; and the man who poses is insincere." - Charles V. Stanford

Edited by: BBOvenGuy  at: 1/2/03 4:36:32 pm

[seurat]

Ben- For a GG website you might start with epguides/GilmoreGIrls it seems pretty complete. Lots to choose from though, plenty of sites.



The boy Rory bumps into in that ep is Jess and they have not only a past but a present and, most of us think, a short-lived future (as a couple, of course, this isn't Buffy.)



For me, the long dialogues work fine when show creator Amy Sherman Palladino writes them and less so when she doesn't.Imagine if Sorkin wrote only some of those speeches on West Wing, I'm afraid you could shoot it any way you like, put the camera on a rollercoaster and it wouldn't make it work. It's all in the writing.



Welcome to the GG watchers corner of the kitten, Ben, we're glad to have you. Btw - I really liked Sports Night too.



Edited to add:A nearly similtaneous posting with Bob!

"Everything's brighter just before,

and it's just before always."

- Margaret Atwood, Interlunar

Edited by: seurat at: 1/2/03 5:15:52 pm

[Ben Varkentine]

seurat--I feel your pain. I've never tested this theory, but I've always believed if you showed me an episode of West Wing without letting me see the "written by" credit, I could tell you if it was a Sorkin-written episode or not. On the rare occasions when it's not, it's like listening to a cover band--they can play all the notes, but not the music.



Thanks for the tips, seurat and Bob.

Ben Varkentine



Read my film, music and book reviews at



http://www.ink19.com (new) & http://www.popmatters.com (archival)

[Italiangirl]

So, I might be beating a dead horse here with my comments about the show this week, b/c I don't know if anyone is even still watching, but if anyone is, I thought some interesting things were going on this week and I'd throw them out for discussion. As an aside, I have cross posted this in another place, so apologies for any readers who caught these comments somewhere else (TWP) already. Anyway, I had really mixed responses to both of these eps, but I thought they succeeded in recifying some of the major issues that the show has come under fire about from the fans. Regarding the evolution of the show, I thought they were fantastic. But I don't know that I liked them.



To begin... Gladiatrix. I didn't *like* the episode, but I thought it was a good episode in terms of the show. While the plot was predictable...and we all knew they were going to defeat the evil woman hating and sexually exploiting villain... and it very much had the whole "bad women in prison" B-movie feel to it... I also thought, in terms of character development, it had much more moral ambiguity than ANY other eps to date did. While I knew they would defeat the bad guy, I really didn't know how far they were going to destroy each other and their relationships...or themselves... before they did it. It was like watching someone make a big mess that I wasn't sure would clean up easy. Of course, being the WB, it did, but also left some things open ended and riding the line between heroism and revenge. I thought the villain guy was nastier than usual...I hated his "torture" device and that he used it over and over on Helena, and also that other woman in the cage next to her, and then on Dinah as well. I thought that first scene where he used it the first time went on, and on, and on, and made me uncomfortable as a viewer. On one hand, I liked that finally there was a moment in this show where I was watching and went "what's happening here? This is a little on the darker edge... and am I offended or not?" Although I do think they leaned somewhat too far over onto the "sexualizing torture and cruelty to women" side of the line. Hence my not liking it. I had another moment like that when, at the end, Reese walked out of the cage and left the bad guy to the four of them, knowing they were going to shred him before he ever made it to the cops. It was a little scary... how he acknowledged it and walked away... and how the camera panned away and didn't go back and make it okay, or show that they really didn't hurt him so bad. That's the kind of ambiguity this show has needed in terms of where the lines between being a superhero force of good or a dangerous vigilante get blurred. Here was the darkness people have missed all along. On a personal note, when it at last arrived, even to a slight degree like tonight, I'm not sure if I was happy to see it. But I think it worked, in the fact that I'm even contemplating those issues in reference to this show.



Other good stuff about the ep... Barbara's role was much much much more inline with her whole Oracle mystique of the comic books. She was behind the scenes. She was controlling the events. She was bringing in the right elements at the right times. She was providing valuable info to a variety of people whose contributing efforts saved the day. That was really good. Also, I liked the tension and explosiveness of Helena and Dinah throughout the ep. I was a little sorry to see it resolved so quickly in the end, but I enjoyed the fact that for the first time watching this show I wasn't sure how far they were going to take something. Good on them. Also good on them is the good onscreen chemistry between Helena and Dinah, and Barbara and Helena, and Dinah and Barbara. There weren't so many scenes of the three of them in this ep, but in various pairs, I could really see their relationships come to life and seem real and comfortable. That was good.



Which leads me to the next ep. The plot of Reunion was lame. I think it's been on like... 200 shows involving Angela Lansbury, lol. Even so, Ashley's acting was *really good* and the comfort and familiality of the three of them, as a group, really shined in this ep. I could look at them and believe they were a crimefighting team, and believe that outside of that, they all just cared about each other, as people. THAT, I have sorely missed, and wanted to see more of. Tonight, it was delivered in this ep. Also, I liked that some other character and plot issues were addressed... the not wearing a mask... the fact that Helena all too frequency makes no distinction between her regular life and herself as the Huntress...and it isn't neccesarrily good for her... and the whole New Gotham/ Old Gotham business, even if the explanation...and earthquake, was lame. I'm undecided as to the whole Reese development, but I was happy to see at least some of these issues be explored. I liked this ep. Honestly, I think it would have made a MUCH better pilot than the one that was aired. It served to expose some of Helena's frustrations with the vigilante life without being so anvilly, like the pilot, or make her sound as whiny and immature as she did in the pilot.



An aside... I was looking and looking at Helena's gay bartender boss trying to figure out where on earth I had seen him...and I realized...at least I think...I'm not positive...but pretty sure... that it was CLEM! Did anyone else notice this and can either confirm or deny? Good old Clem, lol. I had wondered what happened to him.



Anyway, I hate that finally we are getting all this character development and improvement, and the show is gone with the wind. Hopefully, the ratings for tonight were good, and will boost the efforts of the already tireless campaigners. You guys at BOPonline rock. And personally, I think if I see one more fucking commercial for goddamn Surreal Life, I'm going to vomit. BOP is cancelled, but how fucking hard are they promoting a show about seven hollywood has-beens in a recycled version of The Real World. Feh.





And PS...I MISS the Gilmore Girls. Anyone know when the next new ep is?

[Firefoot]

...is pretty pitiful. I still watch West Wing and enjoy it most of the time, although there are things about it now which irk me (I won't bother with a long, tiresome list), and I don't adore it as much as I used to. But it's still IMO a very solid series, and well-worth tuning in for every week.



I will admit to taping the current season of Buffy, but I read the Wildfeeds before I watch the episodes, and only watch those scenes I think will interest me. These days, it usually means I zip through most episodes in about ten minutes. Thank Goddess for the fast forward button! I haven't watched Angel since the end of season two.



The other thing I found this year, which is pretty darned funny, is a Disney series called Kim Possible. It airs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights on the Disney channel, at 6:30 PM (an awkward hour; huzzah for the VCR!). It's very reminiscent of early Buffy: a cute, cheerleader superhero who saves the world every week, but still stresses out about schoolwork, dates, etc. Kim even has Xander and Willow-type best friends who help her out, and a rivalry with a fellow cheerleader who is so much like early Cordelia that it's almost scary. Her arch-rival is a hilarious cartoon-villain sendup named Dr. Draken, who has a smart (and fairly yummy) female accomplice named Shego. It's a mostly light-hearted and silly show, but the humor is amazingly sharp and deft for a 30-minute animated kids' series. I recommend it highly.



Firefoot

[BBOvenGuy]

I haven't watched my tape of the second BOP episode yet. In the first episode, I kept waiting for the men to start shouting out how many quatloos they were wagering on each fight.



Okay, let's see how many people get that reference...

"If you are going to give a new message to the world, you will do so without being conscious of it yourself. If you set out to do it consciously, you will fail because you will be trying to pose; and the man who poses is insincere." - Charles V. Stanford

Edited by: BBOvenGuy  at: 1/9/03 1:06:35 pm

[Dave V]

Quote:

---

...I kept waiting for the men to start shouting out how many quatloos they were wagering on each fight.

---

[Cue cheesy Star Trek music, as the combatants circle each other, making tentative passes with their hands.]

I'm really dating myself by recognizing that reference to The Gamesters of Triskelion.

[BBOvenGuy]

Okay, I've seen the second episode now. If BoP has to be cancelled, at least they ended on a high note. Something about Helena finally telling Reese who she is felt like a good way to end the series.



Meanwhile, was that guy she used to have a crush on played by the same actor who played Owen way back in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date?"

"If you are going to give a new message to the world, you will do so without being conscious of it yourself. If you set out to do it consciously, you will fail because you will be trying to pose; and the man who poses is insincere." - Charles V. Stanford

[Italiangirl]

Hey...regarding the end of the series Birds of Prey, there are actually two more installments... one is a regular ep, the other the "series finale." A lot of the fanbase is disgruntled at the moment because it seems the WB isn't going to air the last two until March. The buzz is that it has to do with the campaign to save the show, and that decision was made in order to try and cool out both the ratings and the efforts of the campaigners. I don't know about that, but personally I am miffed that I have to wait a month and half for the final two eps, after I just waited a month for these two new eps. And all so they can air their two new stupid reality shows. Grumble grumble.



Anyway, just thought I'd let everyone know there are still two new eps coming.



And rumor has it the Sci-Fi channel is negotiating a deal to buy it. The recapper over at TWP mentioned it in his recap of Reunion, But I can't seem to find a reliable source to confirm, so who knows.

[seurat]

I'm expecting those two eps might air sooner here in Canada, Italiangirl, since the Space cable channel has been running them here, and they have run extra eps of cancelled series here before even if the originating network hadn't shown them yet. I'll let you know. keep us posted if you hear any more about that possible pickup of the show, that would be great.BTW Italiangirl, if nobody has answered your question about new GG ep's, tune in Tues. nite and we should be seeing that new ep that some of us thought would be airing a couple of weeks or so ago.



I really liked the last two eps, even the Fight Club one altho it certainly was close to the line in terms of violence. And I agree that despite it being obvious that our heriones were going to survive, they did manage to create some real tension. And I agree with Bob about that second ep, if we are going to be left hanging for months waiting for those last two eps, it was a fitting place to pause.

"Everything's brighter just before,

and it's just before always."

- Margaret Atwood, Interlunar

Edited by: seurat at: 1/11/03 3:52:30 pm

[justastraightdog]

Good and bad news for all you Gilmore Girls fans:



Don't set your hearts on Rory and Jess - she's about to get her heart broken all over again, because:

Quote:

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tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?29615">tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnews...html?29615

Milo Ventimiglia, who plays Jess, will be getting his own spin-off in the form of a new one-hour series on The WB. Like "Gilmore Girls," the currently untitled project will be created and helmed by Amy Sherman-Palladino and will revolve around Jess and his estranged father's relationship

---

If I'm not the only one who sees a certain irony here and some probable consequences for an older WB spinoff from another ex-WB show, let's discuss it where it belongs to - on the S7 board.

_______________________________
Though here at journey's end I lie in darkness buried deep, beyond all towers strong and high, beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun and Stars for ever dwell: I will not say the Day is done, nor bid the Stars farewell.

[BBOvenGuy]

Yeah, but we already knew Rory and Jess weren't going to last. Besides, I suspect Rory will have all sorts of new relationship opportunities at Yale next year.



As for Jess, like I said over on the other board, it sounds like the WB went to Amy Sherman-Palladino and said, "Everwood's doing really well. Can you make another show just like it?"

"If you are going to give a new message to the world, you will do so without being conscious of it yourself. If you set out to do it consciously, you will fail because you will be trying to pose; and the man who poses is insincere." - Charles V. Stanford

[DRUSILLA LOVER]

hey, does anyone know when Gilrmore girls is coming out on DVD?

[BBOvenGuy]

I have one thing to say about tonight's Gilmore Girls episode:



Oh my gosh, how I've missed this show!!!



Tonight's episode was originally scheduled for December, at least according to some of the websites. Wow, was it worth the wait. Everyone had something to do. There were good moments galore:



The opening conversation between Lorelai, Rory and Lane.



Paris daydreaming through calculus class and then going on about her Christmas in Philadelphia.



Michel running from the angry Hungarians.



Dean's little sister bugging the heck out of Jess.



Grandma's inspection of Lorelai's house.



Emily finally figuring out how to get the better of Grandma.





And next week is the much-anticipated fencing episode! Did I mention how much I missed this show? I think I've finally reached the point of saying "Buffy who?"

"If you are going to give a new message to the world, you will do so without being conscious of it yourself. If you set out to do it consciously, you will fail because you will be trying to pose; and the man who poses is insincere." - Charles V. Stanford

[slowontheuptake]

Holy crap! A psycotic, murdering lesbian on Smallville. Who saw that coming? Well, not suprising anyway.

Someone should definatly add it to the list.

[lilkkgirl4u]

now if only i saw all of smallville..

but i did see the part where lana admitted to whitney that she decided to break it off with him..ooh..shes rily in denial over clark (i dont usually watch the show..but since buffy wasnt on..figured i'd watch something else..at a different time)

[Dave V]

GG's was so funny last night. My wife and I LOL throughout. Other entertaining moments: Rory's nonstop chatter after agreeing to go for coffee with Dean, then at the end when you realize sometimes Lorelei does know better than Rory.



Smallville's addition to the cliché wasn't so good - another dead, evil lesbian added to the list. However, the death of Whitney and its effect on people is interesting. Even though they'd broken up, Lana has to grieve. Also, I've been reading about the events behind the movie Black Hawk Down (U.S. forces fighting in Somalia) and I liked Clark's contemplation of Whitney's sacrifice.

[Puff]

Just wondering who is going to tune into this weeks Fastlane Friday night on Fox? The show took the place of the dearly departed Firefly (please note the use of heavy sarcasm) and this weeks episode is heavily promoting Girl on Girl action...of course it's just for the ratings but I'll be tuning in to see what they can get past the 8pm censors.



Edited for crappy spelling.

---

Grapes. Because who can get a melon in their mouth?

Edited by: Puff  at: 1/15/03 8:37:46 am

[emma peel]

I'll be watching, hopefully. I'm curious as to what the "girl-on-girl action" will turn out like. (I'm hoping for more like "Bound," but I know that probably won't be the case. I hope it's better than what I've read this morning about Smallville). Besides, I like John Doe, and hope Fastlane helps JD's ratings. I like watching JD to see Stella, the computer nerd. Stella (Rehka Sharma) is a hottie, IMO. (But no one is better than our dear Amber!).

Janice

Edited by: emma peel at: 1/15/03 10:07:21 am

[Kendahl897]

Apparently alot of people are now discovering the Gilmore Girls..it came in 3rd in that time slot....I watched it also and thought it was great..Fun and entertaining..

[helpful information perha]

an interesting piece about the media and diversity here



www.calendarlive.com/tv/l...an15.story



Is this the last stand for media diversity?

[gspiggott]

Oh it was so good to see the Gilmore Girls again. There's nothing like watching a great show on Tuesday night with outstanding writing and mile a minute pop culture references .