Way back at the beginning of the year, Arieanna reported that Lauren Graham had a new sitcom in development with NBC called “Let It Go.” Sadly, that pilot never made it to the schedule and the project was scrapped. The Futon Critic is currently doing a series of posts centered around pilots that did not get picked up and started off with Lauren’s sitcom.
As Arienna mentioned, the show featured Lauren as a self-help guru (her mantra is “let it go”) who quits her popular TV show and has to start her life over. The folks over at Futon Critic apparently got a chance to watch the pilot (actually, this isn’t clear, but I’m going to say they did) and says, quite frankly, the show was awful and made Lauren into an utterly unlikeable character. That’s really too bad that the show’s pilot tanked; it had some seriously big comedy chops behnd it including Arrested Development’s Mitch Hurwitz as executive producer and fellow Arrested Development alum Jeffrey Tambor as Lauren’s manager.
Thankfully Lauren has a new film she is set to start shooting next month (“It’s Kind Of A Funny Story“) and of course, her new role in NBC’s Parenthood. While it’ll be great to get Lauren back on television, it’s really too bad it won’t be in a comedic role. She’s quite funny and it would’ve been nice to have seen her work those talents.
While she’s done some press lately on the Ellen DeGeneres and Craig Ferguson shows, Lauren Graham (Lorelai on Gilmore Girls) hasn’t said much on her return to our television sets in the upcoming drama Parenthood. That might be because she has yet to shoot any scenes as Sarah Braverman, the single mom she will portray on the show, replacing original cast member Maura Tierney. In an interview with TV Guide, Lauren reveals more about her new character:
She’s really down and out, and kind of in a place that would be a very difficult adult place to be, which is really running out of options. What I connected to is the beauty about that writing. It’s really strong, really elegant, and kind of economical. And she’s a single mom, but the world of the show didn’t remind me of anything that’s on, or that I’d done. It just felt like shows that I loved growing up, like thirtysomething, where it’s not a soap opera, it’s not a melodrama. It’s just a relationship story. I do think there’s a lot of places to go, because she’s moving back to her hometown, she doesn’t have a job, she’s going to reconnect with old friends. And that’s some of the things you look at on a TV show too, like, are you always going to be telling the same story? And this felt like, “Ooh, it could go a lot of neat places.” But really, I’ve had all kinds of different experiences of trying to find the next TV thing, and I just met a writer who I feel will write for me. That’s all you want.
Running out of options is kind of similar to how we first met Lorelai Gilmore, right? Desperate to give her daughter opportunity and going back to her parents after being distant for years. While some of the themes may be similar, Lauren said Sarah Braverman doesn’t share Lorelai’s unique speech patterns, because, who does?
No. Nothing will ever be that, in the best possible way. That was so unique, you know? And that’s been the problem actually – finding something that I connect to that has its own voice. This, to me, was that. I love the relationships and how complicated they are. It’s very grown up, the show.
Parenthood shoots its second pilot in a few weeks and should be on the air next year.
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One of the most interesting story lines in Gilmore Girls history was Paris Gellar’s relationship with professor Asher Fleming, played by Michael York. He first showed up on Season 4 and then sadly, we find out that he died of a heart attack in Season 5. It’s one of the more overlooked relationships of the women of Gilmore Girls, but one of the few times we get to see a more vulnerable side to Paris.
Michael York himself, always the working actor has kept busy this year by providing a voice on “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen” and has several movies in post-production, per his IMDB profile including “Quantum Heist” and “The Mill and The Cross.” He also acted in a German film called “Mika i Alfred,” slated to be released in 2010. He was recently photographed with his wife Pat McCullum on the red carpet of a performance at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
In ‘One’s Got Class and the Other One Dyes‘, we see more of Jess dating Shane. Of course, Rory is still upset about this, as she should be… perhaps.
“The girls that I like don’t give a damn about me. And unlike some other people I know, I’m not gonna sit around hoping that they change their minds and suddenly notice me.”
Did Rory give Jess mixed signals about her intentions, by leaving for the summer & not breaking up with Dean? Is Jess trying to make Rory jealous? Or is Jess really just trying to move on? Here’s what he said to Luke:
And why, of all girls, did Jess choose Shane? She’s not exactly Rory-level, is she? And Jess doesn’t even know her last name!
I think we all knew this already, but it’s nice to see that Entertainment Weekly picked Rory and Lorelai Gilmore as one of their “Top TV Castmates.” EW asks, “Who didn’t want to be them or at least be their friend?” Agreed! In honor of this most wonderful TV relationship, I thought I’d post a fan video of different clips of the girls set to the original version of the Gilmore Girls theme song, “Where You Lead” by Carole King.
If you have missed any episode of Gilmore Girls, then download it here.
Amy Sloan (Sheila of the Yale Daily News on Gilmore Girls) recently starred in the Heroes webseries, Heroes: Nowhere Man. The miniseries follows on Eric Doyle, aka the Puppet Master, played by David H. Lawrence, as he attempts to live a normal life.
Amy’s character in the webseries was Lauren Shapiro, described as “a mid level accountant at Copy Kingdom Headquarters… a sweet person with a positive disposition.” Lauren lives alone with a fish and a cat and is dating one of the other main characters in the series, Kyle Dilman (Brian Kimmet).
Here is the promo for the series:
We figure now that they’re on to filming a second “Sex and the City” movie, all our favorite defunct television shows should be up for grabs to be made into successful movie franchises, as well. At the top of our list? A “Gilmore Girls” theatrical version of course!
But before you break out your Luke’s Diner coffee mugs, Rory Gilmore herself, Alexis Bledel, wants to warn all those wishful thinkers out there that they should maybe wish a little harder for a movie to get made.
“I haven’t heard anything about that,” she told MTV News while promoting her new flick, “Post Grad.” “Like people ask but I haven’t heard a formal [plan for it]… I haven’t read a script.”
Okay so maybe there isn’t a script in the works yet, but would Alexis even want to make a movie? This answer is even more disappointing.
“I don’t know. I mean it depends on the script because I really liked the way they wrapped up with the series finale with such a nice conclusion to the story,” she explained. “The pilot started out with Lorelei trying to figure out how she’s going to finance her academically advanced daughter’s education for eight years and then they do it. They do this amazing thing together and she graduates in the last episode and is off to start her life and I thought it was kind of perfect. So I don’t know if I want to keep telling this story.”
OK, so let’s pretend for a second here that a script does eventually come her way and she does want to do it — Alexis would have some input then on what Rory would be up to these days then, right? “I imagine her working in a newspaper room somewhere just going after a story,” she said.
That’s exactly how we want to see her! Would you like to see a “Gilmore Girls” movie?
Will there be a Gilmore Girls Movie? Maybe a Gilmore Girls eighth season? If it were up to fans of the show, the WB and CW series never would have been taken off of television in the first place. But two years after the last episode of Gilmore Girls was aired, fan sites are starting to report many rumors about a new season for Gilmore Girls and a Gilmore Girls feature film. The only problem with these rumors, is that they are unfortunately only being linked to fan sites, and that though the rumors are being spread around, there may not be any real substance behind these ideas.
One of the big reasons that rumors still follow Gilmore Girls around the internet and the industry, is that the show ended without what die-hard fans would call a real conclusion. Gilmore Girls was on the WB and CW networks for seven seasons, covering 154 episodes of the show. In the final episode of season seven, called Bon Voyage, the main characters are still left in a bit of a lurch, and though it can be assumed where the main characters might end up in the end, nothing final takes place on screen to really bring closure to the show or to the millions of fans that tuned in every week to watch Gilmore Girls.
It is because of that ending that fans have been clamoring for some time to get them to put out an eighth season of the show, and hopefully get Gilmore Girls picked up by another network. The CW decided to move on without Gilmore Girls, and had felt that the show had runs its course on the network. The problem though, was that because some things were left up in the air as the final episode drew near, the cast and crew didn’t get an honest chance to wrap up all of the storylines on the show. Maybe with one more episode everything could have been settled, but fans have wanted an entirely new season in order to enjoy the show for another year.
Lauren Graham made a special appearance today on the Rachael Ray show. Lauren was announced as “the coolest mom on earth” with some Gilmore Girls clips set up to introduce her appearance.
Lauren admits seeing the clip kind of “freaked her out” since it was from such a long time ago (for her). She admits that the 7 years of production kind of blend together for her now. Rachael then asks if Lauren is “stuck in Lorelai”, in terms of how people see her. Lauren responds:
“I think I’ve realized I’m not, because, like anything, it’s now been 2 years since the last episode, so I’ve gotten a chance to do some other things. But, I realize that because of reruns, and just how television works now, that it’s going to be on forever. And so, for the rest of my life, people will be asking me when the Gilmore Girls movie is. And I’ll have to keep saying ‘I don’t know.’”
Lauren mentions how, for her growing up, her Gilmore Girls was Laverne & Shirley. They continue talking about Gilmore Girls (this is nice!) and how people relate to her as if she were Lorelai, with people always telling her their similarities to the Gilmore Girls characters. Lauren says it’s sweet.
Rachael asks if Lauren had ever had any weird fan reaction, one that kind of crossed the line. Lauren says it’s mainly “really friendly” and that Gilmore Girls was such a happy show. People come to watch Lauren in Guys and Dolls because of Gilmore GIrls, and Lauren feels great that she’s able to introduce people to Broadway in this way.
Lauren talks about working on Guys and Dolls, and about how taxing the 8 shows a week are on her voice. At first she would go home and avoid talking, but now she’s used to it. Still, her voice is tired by the end of the night and there’s nothing glamorous about that (so she describes)! Lauren also talks about being blonde in the show, and Rachael suggests she take the wig out for a night on the town to see if blondes really do have more fun. 
Edward Herrmann (Richard Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) has joined the cast of a new Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo-produced film, Born to Be a Star.
The new movie will star Nick Swardson starring as a small-town nerd who learns his demure parents were porn stars in the 1970s. This knowledge drives him to leave Iowa for Hollywood, hoping to follow in their footsteps and be the biggest adult-film star in the world.
Other actors in the movie include Don Johnson as a down-on-his-luck porn director who gives the nerd his big break. The cast also includes Christina Ricci, Stephen Dorff, and Tyler Spindel. As yet, there’s no information about Edward Herrmann’s role (I wonder if he’s the dad?).
