美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Gilmore Girls' Returns On Netflix, Just In Time For A Holiday Binge

'Gilmore Girls' Returns On Netflix, Just In Time For A Holiday Binge

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Netflix brings back "Gilmore Girls" today. There are four new "Gilmore Girls" movies, which brings back the television series from years ago and excites many "Gilmore Girls" fans. To talk about the deep love for the show, we're joined by NPR pop-culture correspondent 3 Linda Holmes - is in our studios. Hi, Linda.

LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE 4: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: Are you among those who love this program?

HOLMES: I am. I watched this when it was on. And I watched it later again on DVD. So...

INSKEEP: Again and again and again - are these the kind of things that bear watching more than once?

HOLMES: They do bear watching more than once because the reason people loved this show in a lot of ways was the way that the people in the show talked, right? It's about this small town and this mother and her daughter. And the way that all these people talk to each other is a very stylized, musical, rhythmic 5 kind of dialogue. And I brought a little bit of that for you to listen to.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GILMORE GIRLS")

ALEXIS BLEDEL: (As Rory) Mom...

LAUREN GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) Now, look, Rory, I know you've never really dated.

BLEDEL: (As Rory) What are you talking about? I've dated.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) Who did you date?

BLEDEL: (As Rory) Dean 6.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) You and Dean did not date. You had a relationship.

BLEDEL: (As Rory) Well, Jess.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) Was relationship number two.

BLEDEL: (As Rory) So maybe I've never dated. But you haven't, either.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) I have dated at least once.

BLEDEL: (As Rory) You had me with dad - relationship.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) Yes.

BLEDEL: (As Rory) Max - relationship. Dad again - relationship.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) OK, fine. I may not be the world's best dater. But I do it. And you should give it a shot. I mean, you're in college now. What else is there to do in college but date?

BLEDEL: (As Rory) I'm going to go wash my clothes now.

GRAHAM: (As Lorelai) Wait. Was that it? Is this conversation over? Sorry, did I win?

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: So that's Lorelai Gilmore, the mother, talking to her daughter, Rory, who she had when she was 16. So she's a young mom.

INSKEEP: I love it. It's like staccato sentences, like an old Humphrey Bogart movie or a film noir. But it's women talking.

HOLMES: That's what people really love about this show - is the dialogue. So to bring it back and give people an opportunity to hear all these people talking to each other again is really lovely.

INSKEEP: Is it still relevant years and years - it was nine years since this thing has been around.

HOLMES: Yeah, it is relevant. And I think it has a better reason to come back than most because the creator of the show, Amy Sherman-Palladino, who wrote a lot of that wonderful dialogue, left the show before the final season. So she never got to really wrap it up on the terms she wanted.

So this is an opportunity for her to have the ending that she envisioned. It's a little different 'cause it's happening when they're older. But it's still the ending that she envisioned.

INSKEEP: So what happens then in these new four movies?

HOLMES: Well, you get to check in with Lorelai and with Rory. And, you know, it started off when Lorelai was, you know, an early-30s mom, and Rory was a high-school student. Now they're kind of both adults. And they both have adult problems.

Edward Herrmann, who played Lorelai's father - wonderful actor - has passed away since the show ended. So the death of that character is also brought into these movies. And you get to see how that's affected 7 Lorelai's mom.

And those mother-daughter relationships - Lorelai and her mom and then Lorelai and her daughter - were always kind of the emotional engine of the show. And that's really still at the center.

INSKEEP: I'm liking 8 the idea of letting the characters get a little bit older because it's reminding me of the movie "Boyhood," where the characters go over a dozen years.

HOLMES: There is a sense of that. And you do get an opportunity to check back in with these people and kind of see what's happened since then and how they've matured and changed or haven't changed.

INSKEEP: So does it work?

HOLMES: It does work. People will quibble about, you know, how much time do you spend with these people, catching 9 up with them versus 10 - there's so many characters in this town. People will quibble about where the time is spent. But I think, ultimately 11, the core of it is well worth revisiting.

You know, Netflix has revived 12 a bunch of series - "Arrested Development" and "Full House." And there's a bunch of different efforts like this. This, to me, is one of the better and more satisfying ones.

INSKEEP: Well, Linda Holmes, I'm going to spend the rest of the day going around talking in very short sentences.

HOLMES: I recommend that.

INSKEEP: Thanks. Sounds good. Glad you came by. That's NPR's Linda Holmes.

HOLMES: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHERE YOU LEAD")

CAROLE KING: (Singing) If you need me to be with you, I will follow...