Can We Please Give It Up for Amy Sherman-Palladino?
When a reporter of the Jewish Journal of Greater L.A. asked Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator and executive producer of WB’s acclaimed series Gilmore Girls, whether she’d be introducing more Jewish characters into her TV show, Amy replied: “By year seven, everyone on the show will be Jewish,” she says. “Believe me, it’s going to be the Chabad telethon.”
I guess the line is funnier if you know Gilmore Girls—a show about a single mom raising her teen daughter—is set in a fictional WASPy Connecticut town.
It’s this kind of fast shtick and patter that has made the Gilmore Girls so beloved among its cult-like following for the past six years. It was announced recently that Amy, who wrote or had her hands in writing every single of episode of the series, is leaving the show over a dispute with the network. (No, not over money, but about being denied more staff to help ease the insane schedule of her and co-executive producer Dan Palladino.)
I just wanted to give props to 30-something Amy, who brought us some of the most fabulously funny and emotionally rich females—wait, make that all characters—on TV. I watched as young mother Lorelei navigated the ups and downs of raising a daughter who was also her best buddy; as daughter Rory handled the emotional tug-of-war that came from going off to college, her life’s dream, while leaving her mom to cope; and the often volatile relationship between Lorelei and her parents, filled with passive-aggressive jokes, hurt feelings, and surprising moments of sweetness.
Yes, Gilmore Girls will go on next year under a new head writer, but it can’t possibly be the same. Amy, wherever you are, thank you for fighting to make the show follow your original vision in a world known for formulaic gunk, staying true to character development (even when fans wanted fairy tales), and showing us that a project with meaningful substance and humor is possible. You are my Jewish inspiration.
If she is your Jewish inspiration, I suggest you go back and watch the many inappropriate and, quite frankly, anti-semitic references in Gilmore Girls. If that doesn't change your tune, perhaps you're just as bad as she is.
I agree that she is an amazing writer and she and her husband are chiefly responsible for the success of the Gilmore girls. I knew she was jewish, so maybe I caught on to a few things others missed - for example, there are jewish characters on the show. there's a town rabbi, actually, and multiple references to judaism and jewish cultural icons (challah, bar mitzvah, etc). There's also a poster of Israel on the wall of Rory's bedroom.
anyways - there are plenty of jews in show business, but amy sherman-palladino has really broken the mold, by all accounts a unique and free-thinking individual. I hope she goes on to do other shows - she's too talented to languish.
I was unaware that Amy Sherman-Palladino was Jewish as well...but I guess the Gilmores' regular Friday night family dinners could have been a nod to her Jewish heritage. Of course the Gilmores' annual 4th of July pig roasts confuse the matter. I'm kidding about the pig roasts.
I didn't know that Amy Sherman-Palladino is Jewish, and that makes me like her even more (and I liked her a lot already). As a fellow Gilmore Girls fan, I agree that she will be sorely missed. It makes me proud to know that a Jewish woman ran such a wonderful show for so many years. Although a few Jewish characters to spice things up would have been fun! Maybe in her next endeavor...