Gilmore Girls

Effortlessly shifting gears from screwball whimsy to bittersweet romance to lacerating multigenerational family conflict, the new/old Gilmore Girls is almost ridiculously satisfying. [21 Nov 2016 - 4 Dec 2016, p.18]

[A] very successful revival of one of TV’s all-time great series. A sequel that actually exceeds our expectations? Now that’s something to be thankful for.

Some of the best aspects of A Year In The Life are the ways the four episodes continue, and deepen, the show’s richest themes.

Yet for every misstep, there’s a moment from Graham or Bledel that makes you laugh or breaks your heart, or that cuts through the cuteness to ring absolutely true. And even at its most exasperating (as with those infamous “final four words”), there is so much talent and charm on display, you’re likely to be in a forgiving mood.

Bishop is just so authentic as a widow finding her way that she deserves an Emmy. Some things, of course, will never change, and fans wouldn’t have it any other way. Sherman-Palladino’s dialogue still races, stuffed with pop culture references.

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino manage to create a story that feels both fittingly current and just like the good ol’ days.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life feels like a summary statement about the characters and their relationship to each other, even as it ends on a note that says nothing ever ends or fully resolves, not really.

A Year in the Life won’t necessarily convert new viewers—like any revival, it’s making a play for a loyal fanbase, which should be more than enough to justify Netflix’s investment in the show. But as a salvage attempt after Gilmore Girls’ original bittersweet ending, it feels wholly justified.

It doesn't feel like a reunion, it feels like we've been away and we're rejoining old friends.

With A Year in the Life, there actually is a plot that propels the characters forward and that might be the highest praise possible for any TV revival.

Did portions of our Netflix marathon leave me underwhelmed, confused, and in gastrointestinal distress? Yes. Was it all washed away by the moments that worked, either as nostalgia or story progression, and a satisfying final episode ending in those much-talked-about four words that I’m not allowed to reveal? Yes.

The show retained enough of its integrity and beauty to make us want to follow again.

The ramifications of [Richard's] death drive all of the substantive storylines in the new episodes, storylines that mostly make up for all the obligatory reunion doohickies--endless, pointless cameos; the kitschy, cutesy antics of Stars Hollow, the most irritating faux–small town in all of fictional America; and Rory’s new boyfriend, Paul, who no one, including the audience, can be bothered to remember.

The rapid-fire patter gets more room to breathe, all the better for cheeky asides or pointed repetitions. That’s good news for those who come for the witty repartee, and bad news for the Luke Daneses in the audience who dread set-pieces featuring elaborate festivals or Stars Hollow town meetings.

The reboot is charming and fulfilling.

There’s a fine line between celebrating the past and exhuming it. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life stays, mostly, on the good side of that line.

Sherman-Palladino and company meet expectations by positioning familiarity as a jumping-off point rather than an end goal. As a result, A Year in the Life proves--in true Gilmore fashion--that the most challenging do-overs often offer the greatest rewards.

A Year in the Life is a perfectly timed, if imperfect, slice of holiday escapism that retains the original series’ signature mix of fast-paced banter, intimate family drama and small-town eccentricity.

Yes, it’s self-indulgent. But A Year in the Life succeeds despite its "getting the gang back together" vibe.

“What’s there not to love about the town of Stars Hollow?” the song asks, in what is both a sincere question and, perhaps, a swipe at the place’s provincialism. While watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, you may find yourself asking the same thing, and you may conclude that there is still plenty to love. But you also may find yourself looking more critically at this Main Street, U.S.A., and more easily spotting some of the flaws that co-exist alongside its charms.

Although it's plagued with structural problems and a questionable relationship to the passage of time, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is better than the season that fans were previously stuck with.

It’s an imperfect recreation of a show that, even at its dazzling best, was almost proud of its imperfections, and it’s the first reunion project in a long time to not make me regret the existence of it.

When it relies on the notable strengths of its core ensemble, it is television at its most warm and reassuring. ... [But] Everything Gilmore Girls tries to pack in--the wit, the whimsy, the pop-culture references, the family conflict, the perfectly calibrated insults, the set pieces that go on a bit too long--can feel pretty pummeling at a 90-minute running time. The show is sometimes too overstuffed for its own good.

The four-season structure actually creates some problems. At 90 minutes, the story tends to meander, providing lots of time for rat-a-tat banter (and references to things that weren't on the radar when the show signed off, like "Game of Thrones") but moving the plot along at a snail's pace.

It’s actually far from perfect. The revival has four 90-minute chapters, and it turns out that 42-minute episodes were the perfect amount of time before the famously sparkling dialogue and wacky plotlines start to drag--and characters’ flaws go from endearing to irritating. ... With extended time and producers’ creative freedom, it’s a veritable buffet of every “Gilmore” experience imaginable.

The story wanders into more than one expensive cul-de-sac and that far more attention seems to have been paid to finding something for a legion of returning actors to do than in forming a coherent narrative. The format--the equivalent of eight TV episodes in four seasonal chunks--doesn't serve the material very well, and makes bingeing less tempting than usual.