I must be gay. Honestly. I am about to dedicate an entire blog entry to an episode of Gilmore Girls.
WARNING: You probably don't want to read this.
Anyway, I just watched the first episode of this season. They re-ran it last night & I Tivo'd it. WOW! I had complained about there being new producers & writers of this show, but I hadn't given them a chance from watching the first couple episodes. They really did the first episode justice.
Luke Danes: Our Man in the Clutch
I think the thing that I am happiest about is that they have made Luke back into a good guy. He's not a jerk anymore. And when he hung his heart out on the line for Lorelai when he apologized & confessed his undying love, we all fell back in love with the "old Luke" again. And when Lorelai crushed him with the news that she had slept with Christopher, the father of her daughter, he just turned, got in his truck, and drove off. And the best part was that I SAW THE WHOLE THING COMING. Not in a bad, awful unimaginative predictable kind of way. But in a good, warm, "They got it right!" predictable kind of way. It was a nice, "They got it right! They still have the characters right!" kind of moment. It's almost as if I was afraid I had lost some friends for good when the Palladino's left the show. (Wow, that makes it sound like I watch WAY too much TV. And, with Gilmore Girls, I probably do take this stuff way too seriously.) It was also a sinking feeling for Luke, though: "Poor guy always gets the bad end of these things."
And in the episode, Kirk drives Taylor's car into Luke's diner. Luke's diner. His pride & joy. The place he cherishes above all else. All of this sets up this great scene at the end of the show.
The ever-charming, ever-gorgeous, and ever-neurotic Lorelai Gilmore
So, ok. Near the end of the show, there is this absolutely compelling, completely touching scene where Luke & Lorelai are both not at ease. Of course, the Sam Phillips "la-la" song is playing. (AHHHHH ... I just LOVE that song. So peaceful & tranquil ... yet, unsettled.) Lorelai is restless: tearing the bedspread off her bed, moving pillows. She's throwing pillows, she's putting pillows back -- she just can't quite find the right niche to settle into. And it's just like her life. In her life, she has never been able to stay settled. She can't find stable comfort in anyone's arms for very long. Whether it is Rory's old teacher from the first couple seasons, Luke, now Christopher, or any of her other boyfriends, she cannot stay comfortable. She is unsettled. She can't find comfort. Poor Lorelai. So Sad.
At the same time, Luke is sitting on a chair in the middle of his destroyed & cluttered restaurant as we peer in through the big hole in the side of the place. He sits there. Still. People walking by on the street, and he just sits there with his arms folded in his big empty, cluttered restaurant with the hole in the wall. It symbolizes the big hole in his heart, and the emptiness & clutter that Lorelai has wrought with her whirlwind wares. There is even a broom next to him. He's not ready to clean up. He's not ready to pick up the pieces. He's just sitting there, in stillness & in shock: heart broken wide open. Poor Luke. So Sad.
Anyways ... GREAT art. Well-written, well-produced art. And I know it's Gilmore Girls, but folks, it is still an awesome show.
My new favorite comedian is a guy named Jim Gaffigan. You may not recognize the name, but you'll recognize his face from at least one of the hundreds of commercials that he has been on, whether it's Siera Mist, Saturn, ESPN, or Rolling Rock. He recently did the Gator Growl (University of Florida Homecoming pre-game festival) this past Saturday, and I wish I had known so I could have gone.
Click play below to listen to one of Gaffigan's best bits, as he talks about "Hot Pockets."
I'm not much of a television watcher, but that which I do watch I watch religiously.
My favorite show right now is by far NBC's The Office, with Steve Carrel. If you like to laugh but don't appreciate standard sitcom humor ("Look, the husband has done something dumb again ... that's so funny"). OK. Now, you know when you here from like half a dozen people that something is "SO FUNNY," and you're not sure, so it makes you stay further away from watching it for some reason, and then one day you tune in on your own & you discover that it REALLY IS funny? THIS is THAT show. So if you've never watched The Office, give it a try. And I recommend that you start from the beginning ... go buy it on DVD. You will love it; I promise.
The BEST show you aren't watching.
OK, to preface what's coming next -- I am a man, and I am indeed heterosexual. One of my favorite shows is Gilmore Girls. I've really been disappointed with the trajectory of this show over the last several seasons, however. When it first began, Lorelai was eye candy, Rory was the innocent girl that reminded you of all that's right with women, & Luke was the one normal guy on television who was a good guy and who always came through in the clutch. Now, Lorelai is still eye candy, but is aging. Rory lost her virginity on the show and has never been the same and is slowing becoming all that is wrong with women. And the writers have made Luke into sort of a jerk. I just watched my first episode of the season last night, and it was a rather joyless experience. But I've invested myself into the first 6 seasons, I've gotta watch this last one, right? Maybe. We'll see ...
Those were my only two until I recently discovered ABC's new drama, Six Degrees. It is everything that is right with TV -- beautiful women, excellent plot development with believable writing, & likeable characters (with solid character development). I've been very impressed so far. If you haven't seen it, and are interested, you can catch the first three episodes in full on-line at ABC.com for free.
In music, I'm really excited, and unsure, about a new rock band: Hinder. I love pure rock & roll. Not head-banger stuff. Not punk rock. Not pop rock. ROCK. And Hinder has said publicly that they are making it their mission to bring rock back. I'm so happy about that. They also say they want to bring back the "Sex & Drugs" element back with it. I'm not sure if they're joking or serious. So, tread lightly there. But their music seems pretty good so far.
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