What We Learned from the 'Gilmore Girls' Reunion

By Genevieve Burgess | Miscellaneous | June 7, 2015 |

By Genevieve Burgess | Miscellaneous | June 7, 2015 |

Yesterday the cast and producers of Gilmore Girls reunited at the ATX Television Festival in Austin Texas. There’s a full live blog at Entertainment Weekly which sponsored the event, but here are some interesting takeaways* that I got:

- The idea for Gilmore Girls started with just the pitch “I have an idea about a mother and daughter who are more like friends” and The WB said they’d buy it based on that alone. But it was all Amy Sherman-Palladino had, and she had to start writing out the show over a holiday weekend that gave her the inspiration for Lorelai working at an inn.

- Bledel was cast just as she became interested in acting and Gilmore Girls was the “fifth or sixth” audition she ever had. She had previously been modeling, but it “wasn’t working out.”

- Of finding Graham and Bledel to play mother and daughter, Sherman Palladino said “It was lucky the two of them had blue eyes and the hair. It was like pixie dust”

- Neither Graham or Bledel had good recollections of the lines that fans say were the favorites from their characters, or why people like them so much. Those lines were, respectively, “Oy, with the poodles” and “Copper boom.”

- Edward Herrmann was the first cast member to RSVP for the panel, and they left an empty chair on stage in memory of him.

- Rory’s suitors declared their allegiances. Milo Ventimiglia was “Team Dean”, Jared Padalecki was “Team Jess”, and Matt Czuchry was “Team Jess.” Scott Patterson says none of them were good enough for Rory.

- Of letting Luke and Lorelai get together, Sherman-Palladino says “It was a very calculated move to make sure we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”

- There is nothing currently in the works for reviving the show or making a movie. But, as Sherman-Palladino points out “Nobody here hates each other. … And if it ever came around, we would all jump in and do it. And if it ever happened, I promise you I’d do it correctly.”

*Disclaimer: I have never watched Gilmore Girls.