Originally posted: July 18, 2006The new 'Gilmore' guy speaks
In contrast to the cuddly “Veronica Mars” session, the “Gilmore Girls” session had a feel of a cage match.
In one corner: New “Gilmore Girls” showrunner David Rosenthal, who was meeting the press for the first time
In the other: Members of the press who have written about and raved about and ranted about “Gilmore Girls” for a six seasons, many of whom were unhappy with where the sixth season ended up, and wondered how this new guy would be able to take over a show with such a specific tone and such specific voices.
It was a tough crowd. At least Rosenthal was flanked by the show’s two stars, Alexis Bledel, who didn’t talk much, and Lauren Graham, who talked a lot.
She specifically said that if the press reported her as saying negative things about Amy Sherman-Palladino or Daniel Palladino, the show’s former head honchos, she would be upset. But, having said that, she said she already had the first script of the new year, which appeared to be unusual by this point in the production process.
She also indicated that the process was more collaborative than it had been under the Palladinos. She added that though where she understood where Lorelai ended up and how she got there, she’d been unhappy with the way her character was written last season, and had expressed her concerns.
“It wasn’t my favorite stuff to play, to kind of be dictated to by Luke, but again it was a believable conflict and a believable obstacles between them. That’s why the ending [of the season] made perfect sense because she tried to kind of be in a place that wasn't natural to her, that wasn't who she is. And so ultimately she couldn't take it anymore,” she said.
“But I think you had to have that build-up to get to where we got. I mean, if everything had gone the way the fans wanted it to go in terms of that relationship, the show would be over, or I would just be calling Rory, like, ‘What are you doing tonight?’ … to me this is a relationship with a lot of built-in problems between two people who are very different, who are trying to find a common language, and so it made sense to me.”
Regarding whether she’d leave the show when her contract is up at the end of Season 7, Graham said she hasn’t made up her mind.
“I have felt that way but I haven’t been in this particular collaboration before and I think we’re all really excited to see where the show can go. I read the first script and I love it,” she said.
“I am a huge fan of Amy and Dan. I loved that writing. I had some of the best, most interesting, fun, great scenes ever. But I also think there is room for it to grow and, you know, there's all these people now where we had a more specific, smaller group working on it,” Graham said. “Now we have these people who I sat down with the other day who are so enthusiastic, who come in as fans, who come in as people who have kind of fresh voices to lend to it, and I think it's going to grow.”
Bledel said she’s also undecided about returning. “I really don't know what this year is going to be like,” she said. “I think it's going to be really different, and I'm just going to see what it's like and then decide how I feel.”
As far as capturing the tone of the show, Rosenthal said that he’s hired new writers and there are now a total of eight writers on staff, all of whom come to the show as fans of the Gilmores.
Rosenthal said he’s not treating this as the end of “Gilmore Girls,” but that if it emerged that this year was the show’s last, he’d try to find out from Amy Sherman-Palladino what she’d envisioned for the show’s last scene. She’s long said she has the last scene of the show mapped out in her mind, down to the show’s last two spoken words.
The session did turn extraordinarily frosty when one writer asked Rosenthal about some personal troubles he had that involved a fascination with Heidi Klum. He turned red in the face, and it felt like the temperature in the room instantly dropped 30 degrees.
“My personal life is not an issue here,” Rosenthal said. “It's not worth getting into. I'm just here to talk about the show.”
“How does it make you professionally the right person for this show?” the questioner persisted.
“It has nothing to do with anything. Next,” Graham snapped.
Later, Graham made a surprising admission. She doesn’t much like working with the dog who plays Paul Anka. But he will be back in the new season.
Nothing against that particular dog, she said, but “I just am not a fan of dog comedy,” she said.
After the session, Rosenthal spoke with several reporters. Part of the transcript for that session is
here, the other part is on the jump of this item.
What do you feel like your take is on the show is, that might be different than what went on in the past? What do you bring?
“I’ve brought in a whole new team of writers. We have one wonderful returning writer from last year, but everybody else is new [Rina Mimoun from ‘Everwood’ is one of the new writers]. And as Lauren said, they come in as real true fans of the show.
“I think that kind of passion and perspective is great for a show, especially for people who find themselves inside the show, a show that they’re huge fans of, a show that they’re invested in. So I feel like that perspective is exciting, it’s exciting for me to hear from them, for them to share their thoughts and ideas and opinions. That’s something I feel has really impacted us creatively in a very positive way.”
“Gilmore Girls” has one of the most passionate, vocal fan bases out there. Is it the kind of thing where you just have to make the choices that you make and you can’t worry about people’s reactions?
“I think it’s wonderful, believe me, the reason the show is still on the air and does so well and I think it may have had its highest ratings ever last year because of that passionate fan base, so I completely respect and love that they’re out there. But yeah, ultimately, we spend all day every day talking about this show and talking about the characters and working very hard, in a very focused manner on it. And ultimately we have to do what we feel is in the best interest of the show, both short term and long term, in terms of where the characters are going.
“And also, we have the benefit of seeing arcs. We have the benefit of seeing the future and knowing where we want to take them. So while something may be disturbing in the short run, or upsetting or confusing to a fan, we as the writers recognize that, yes, that’s upsetting but ultimately that’s the journey that this character has to go on, they’re required to do this or that. It can be hard to go through different experiences that can be hard on them or hard on the fans, but ultimately we’re interested in personal growth. Obviously if characters never went through difficult times or never suffered, or had to face obstacles it would be hard for them to grow.
“One of the beauties of the show and one of the reasons it continues to attract such a loyal fan base is that the characters are able to grow and change and develop, like Alexis said. I mean, she’s really grown and changed over the years as has Scott [Patterson, who plays Luke]. And so that’s something that I feel is a huge identity of the show.”
How does it feel to be on a different network? Is there a different energy?
“I gotta say, we’re on the same night, the same time, I know in Los Angeles we’re on the same channel. I would imagine we’re on the same channel across the country. For us the work is exactly the same and the effort is exactly the same and the show is exactly the same. So it’s really just a question of how it’s presented and how it’s marketed and how it’s broadcast and that’s not something that we really deal with. And I’m sure that [the CW folks] will do great.”
Is the character the Paul Anka, the real Paul Anka, is he going to be back on the show?
“There are no plans for him to come back, but he was terrific on the show, so it wouldn’t surprise me. I mean it was a dream sequence. But the dog will definitely be back, I promise.”
Will the rift between Lorelai and Luke be similar to the rift between Lorelai and Rory last year? The fans hated how that played out. Are you going to play this out differently?
“Yeah, we never want to what’s been done in the past, Luke and Lorelai, their relationship is unique, it’s not a mother-daughter relationship, it’s boyfriend-girlfriend or fiancés. So we’re going to explore that, we’re going to let the characters take us where they will. It’s not going to be like the Lorelai-Rory [situation]. I’m not saying it’s always going to be pleasant or pretty, I mean, they’re two adults and they’re going to have to deal with what’s happening.”
Was there any nail-biting at all or did you always know you would be on the new network?
“No, I don’t think there was ever any question. It always seemed a no-brainer to bring ‘Gilmore Girls’ along.”
I better not end up on the next Basement Jaxx album cover 
