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104 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get More Gilmore!, June 21, 2004
"The Show That Almost Wasn't."That's the most surprising lesson learned about the nature of television production -- as told by the show's creator Amy Sherman-Palladino -- in the WB's stellar GILMORE GIRLS release: Ms. S-P had pitched a variety of programs for WB executives, and, when they asked for more, she made up an idea on the spot -- with no preparation or background detail -- which the executives took! Then, Ms. S-P had to go and create it. GILMORE GIRLS arguably stands as a benchmark in television history. In some ways, the program is like SEINFELD: if you don't get it, you won't get it. In other ways, it's a high quality Hallmark Channel movie-of-the-week, currently stretching out beyond its fourth season and soon to be entering its fifth. Still, in more ways, there's absolutely nothing else like it on television. GG is far more than just the story of Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, Lorelai "Rory" Gilmore: it's the story of the fictional town known as Star's Hollow -- the dreamland for bed-n-breakfast businesses -- and the odd assortment of characters who happen to live, work, and breathe there. While the centerpiece is clearly the Gilmore family -- a contemporization of the BRADY BUNCH, if there could ever be such a thing -- the spin of the show is, to its benefit, the plethora of wonderfully imagined and uniquely quirky townsfolk who populate the secondary storylines. And, yes, the acting is top notch. The direction is absolutely superb. The writing is, by far, some of the most deserving work being put up on the boob tube today. Still, GG is on the WB, meaning that it will, more than likely, never find the kind of ratings the show deserves. Like STAR TREK, GILMORE will find its true financial potential in syndication and DVD releases ... much like this current release of the 21 1st season episodes. To my delight, I'm just discovered these television characters. My wife has watched the show since the beginning, but I always dismissed it as a "chick flick," tuning it out to spend my time on other shows. However, she convinced me to give it a chance this past season (its fourth), and now -- here am I -- writing a review for Season 1 that we watched together virtually non-stop. Others here have raved about the quality of the writing -- the true lifeblood of the program -- and I wouldn't even attempt to do GILMORE a disservice in discussing it other than to add "every good thing that's been said here is absolutely not enough to sanctify how well, apparently, every episode is written." Honestly, GILMORE is really that good. Truth be told, the extras are surprisingly thin -- but of good quality -- on this 1st season release, especially considering the fact that the show is currently in production for the WB. Disc 6 includes a handful of deleted scenes; a mini-doc with some revealing insights from the show's creator, cast, and crew; and some scenes from various episodes edited together in a piece that tries to capture the 'essence' of what makes GILMORE GIRLS as remarkable a television achievement as it is. One would think that Warner Brothers would've offered more -- in-depth interviews with the series cast OR, minimally, an audio commentary or two -- but, sadly, that isn't the case. As a result, one could argue that the studio -- as Amy Sherman-Palladino points out in the scant 30 minute documentary -- has underestimated the intelligence of its audience, focusing only on the commercialism of the program and not feeding the fanbase brain. The 6-disc set is presented in full screen format. The video quality is excellent. The sound quality is excellent (there are a handful of scenes that are hard to hear b/c of verbal pacing, not production issues). Overall, this is one great package only lessened by what they chose not to provide: audio commentaries.
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