Gilmore Girls

I've not seen Bunheads , i found
The Return of Jezebel James to be very lame

 

For me, one of Bunheads big problems is that it comes off like a pale imitation of Gilmore Girls, right down to Sam Phillips' music and Kelly Bishop basically bringing Emily Gilmore back to life--albeit a more hip-and-with-it Emily Gilmore. Her bickering with Sutton Foster's character was too reminiscent of the Emily/Lorelai battles, without the backstory that made those arguments believable. Again, I stopped watching after four episodes, so maybe their dynamic changed later on.

Another drawback for me is that I honestly couldn't care less about ballet and teen girls' issues regarding dancing. And that's a big part of the show. Also, there's no Luke-type character to bring some much-needed male perspective. Finally, when Gilmore Girls hit some rough patches plot-wise, I could still always enjoy looking at Lauren Graham. Sutton Foster doesn't do it for me in that regard (haha). So, that's a lot of strikes against Bunheads...

 

^ Not really selling me on giving the show a shot!

 

I made my wife sit through all seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond on DVD, so we did this one after that.. and I wasn't all that bored by it, but it definitely isn't something I'd reach for when I was bored. I wouldn't jump for the remote if it came on, but I wouldn't hesitate to find something else to watch if I was inclined.

 

I suppose not (haha). From the four-episode sample of Bunheads that I watched, I'd recommend you watch every episode of Gilmore Girls instead. Better yet, stop after the fifth season and spend time on the other great TV shows out there--past and present.

 

I have to admit, I love Gilmore Girls.

For me the supporting characters are the ones I watch it for: Kirk, Mrs Kim, Paris, T.J, etc.

Without them it would be a pretty ordinary show!

 

That's really the charm of the show. The universe in which Lorelai and Rory live.

Saw the episode with Kirk's film this weekend, which somehow I hadn't seen before. Hysterical.

 

I love that they included Kirk's whole film as a special feature on that season's DVD set!

 

Kirk's film...a classic! Another great bit (and this may even be from the dreadful sixth season) was Sebastian Bach singing "Hollaback Girl" while fronting Lane's band.

I wouldn't say the secondary characters made the show for me (Lauren Graham was the sole reason I started watching in the first place and the main reason I stuck around), but the townies, Paris, Richard, Emily and all the rest really added a lot. That said, can't say I cared much for Luke's sister and her dopey husband, T.J.

It's funny, every time I cycle through the episodes, I can't stand when Jess shows up in S2. But I always end up liking him as a contrast to Dean. The scene where Jess draws a chalk outline of a dead guy outside Doose's Market (I think it was outside there and not Luke's) and in the process creates havoc in the town never fails to amuse me.

 

Great moment! Getting Sebastian Bach to play a washed up rocker joining a rock band of teens was inspired. I really liked everyone in Lane's band. I liked both Dave and Zack with Lane, and the inhaler sucking bass player Brian could be pretty funny. I didn't buy the storyline of Mrs. Kim becoming their manager, but maybe that was one of those stupid plotlines ASP threw out there towards the end.

TJ was awful. Liz would have been frustrating to have as a sister, but I didn't mind her so much as a character. Not on her own, anyway. But TJ wasn't the least bit funny and Babette was just grating with no redeeming value, imo. I could have done without those two ever appearing.

Another side character I liked and could have taken more of was Francie Jarvis (Emily Bergl).

 

I think that was from the sixth season. I recently saw that on TV, and they were in the middle of showing the Luke's daughter storyline.

 

That was just for one episode in the middle of the series, and she didn't really became their manager so much as know a few Korean Seventh Day Adventist churches who were willing to have a real, live rock group play there as long as said group were also willing to have their material "vetted" for religious approval. I just saw it as showing all the uncomfortable compromises a struggling band had to make in order to keep afloat.

The stupid plotline I can't forgive is having Sookie's husband win an election to oust Taylor only to have it ignored in every subsequent episode. How did Taylor get back in charge and how did the entire town develop amnesia?

 

Jackson got so fed up with the townies' subsequent demands on his time that IIRC he gave the town selectman position back to Taylor. Been awhile since I've seen the episode--he may have just quit, and Taylor ended up back with the job one way or the other.

Regarding Babette, yeah, a little Sally Struthers went a long way, but Babette's husband was always amusing in the brief screen time he was allotted.

 

They once mentioned the Shaggs on Gilmore Girls!

 

Bunheads is a pale imitation (in so many obvious ways) of what made Gilmore Girls fresh and funny for the first couple of seasons. Same rhythm of banter, same character types (thirty-something heroine, teenage girl, older mother-type), same sort of pop culture references. And it's got the absolute worst title for a show in recent memory.

I liked Gilmore Girls a lot the first couple of seasons, and then the novelty wore off and it didn't seem to be going anywhere interesting. I stopped watching probably after season 3. Saw some later episodes and they seemed tired and dull.

 

Me too !! among my Favorites , seen all of the episodes many times A++++

 

I'm also a huge fan and no guilt. I own all the season sets and have been all the way through once and have started again. The show had a couple of rocky periods in seasons 5 & 6, but I thought it was getting its bearings again when they pulled the plug.

 

Yeah, I agree. I get the reference, but it's still an awful name.

 

I think it was only supposed to run 7 seasons (the length of the actors' contracts), so there was no plug-pulling. IIRC, Kelly Bishop (Emily) was interviewed afterward and felt that there should've at least been a shortened eighth season to tie up loose ends. Not sure what there was to wrap up though. The sense I got from Lauren Graham was that she was appreciative of the experience, but happy to move on. Getting all that dialogue down pat for 150+ episodes had to be somewhat of a chore for her.

Maybe after Parenthood ends (I'd imagine the current season would be it), LG would have time for that long-rumored Gilmore Girls movie. And since Bunheads only has 10-episode seasons, Amy Sherman-Palladino would presumably have the time to write it.

 

Still never seen a single episode of 'Bunheads' - Rogers cable just isn't carrying the channel here in Canuckland. I may take a chance and buy the discs when they come out, if they're not too overpriced. But after 'Jezebel James' I'm understandably reluctant to put too much faith just in the Palladino name. Not that I wouldn't buy a DVD set of 'Jezebel James' just out of curiosity to see how the unaired episodes turned out.

 

The version on Canadian channel CTS omits words like assets, like I've said before.

Each commercial break also has a segment with four or five "good" girls in a dorm room setting, pondering things like "shouldn't a child be raised by two parents?".

I now hit the Mute button during each commercial break.

 

^The only appropriate response.

 

I'm not really a fan of this show, but my wife is, so I thought I would bump this to let people know that Netflix has the entire series up for streaming and it's all in 16x9 HD. My understanding is that seasons 1-3 were originally 4x3 SD. Apparently the show was shot on 16mm and they went back to do a proper HD remaster for those first three seasons. In screenshot comparisons it looks like they've done a tiny bit of cropping on the top and bottom, but mostly opened the frame up more on the sides to achieve the 16x9 aspect ratio. The opening credits are still in 4x3 SD and look like they were finished on video. Guess they didn't want to bother with re-creating them from film.

 

Nice, though it would have been better if they left the aspect ratio untouched on those first few seasons. But that's nice that the later ones are full widescreen. I found it very annoying that even thought the show was being broadcast in widescreen HD, they only released it on DVD, and those DVD's were 4:3 for EVERY season.

I still miss this show. There hasn't been anything to measure up since.