Sorry, Thomas Wolfe, here's proof you can go home again.
Or at least we can go home to Stars Hollow, that idyllic setting for the beloved Gilmore Girls that ran on The WB from 2000 to 2007.
The Television Critics Association summer press tour is underway in Beverly Hills, Calif., and one of the first panel sessions was held by Netflix on behalf of Gilmore Girls, the sweet family drama that starred Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel as the mother/daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.
Netflix has announced its revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, will have all four 90-minute episodes debut globally Nov. 25.
The episodes, titled "Winter," "Spring," "Summer" and "Fall," will pick up eight years after the Season 7 finale and reunite Graham and Bledel with Melissa McCarthy, Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop and a host of others.
The Hollywood Reporter noted Graham told the TV critics that cast members picked up right where they left off.
"It was literally like no time had passed," Graham said. "It was not difficult. It was easy. It was joyous. It was the old show. There was no sense of having to resuscitate something. It was just like it was meant to continue. I can't believe I got to do it again."
Series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino added that she would have preferred that the four episodes be spread out because "it's such a build to the last four words and ... people are going to go right to the last four words and then put it on the internet and possibly spoil it for people who are going to take the journey."
Ah, yes. The mysterious and legendary "final four words" of the series. These are the cryptic words Sherman-Palladino and her producer husband, Dan Palladino, spoke of often, but never got to write because they skipped the final season over a contract dispute.
Many fans felt like Gilmore Girls' final season was poorer for them not being involved.
A major part of the revival will be how the characters deal with the death of Lorelai's father, Richard, played by the late Edward Herrmann.
Graham said that having Lorelai come to grips with the death of her father "gave the show a depth and emotional complexity that just felt to me like here's the show grown up."
In the years since the series ended, Graham, now 49, has gone on to enjoy success on NBC's Parenthood (2010-2015), and the 34-year-old Bledel married her Mad Men co-star Vincent Kartheiser and they had a son last fall.
Patterson, 57, who played Lorelai's romantic interest, Luke Danes, has kept busy, primarily with 90210 (2010) and NBC's The Event (2010-2011).
The 72-year-old Tony-winning Bishop (Lorelai's mother, Emily) was marvelous in the short-lived ABC Family comedy/drama Bunheads.
And, of course, the cast member whose career has taken off the most is McCarthy, who played Lorelai's best friend and Dragonfly Inn head chef Sookie St. James.
McCarthy, 45, has gone on to star in the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly (2010-2016), for which she won an Emmy, and staked out a memorable movie career in Bridesmaids (complete with Oscar nomination), Identity Thief, The Heat, Tammy, Spy, The Boss and the current playing Ghostbusters.
Of note: Forbes named McCarthy the third highest-paid actress in the world for 2015. Not bad for klutzy ol' lovable Sookie.
There was concern that McCarthy's busy schedule would prevent her from being in the revival, but Graham told the critics that it all worked out and her availability means the revival didn't feel incomplete.
"She came on one of our last days," Graham said of McCarthy, "and if that had not happened we would have felt a gap in what we were trying to do. The fact is that she got to come near the end and we had an incredible time. It made it perfect."
For the record, others who will reprise their roles (in parentheses) in the revival include Rose Abdoo (Gypsy), Sally Struthers (Babette Dell), Milo Ventimiglia (Jess Mariano), David Sutcliffe (Christopher Hayden), Jared Padalecki (Dean Forester), Matt Czuchry (Logan Huntzberger), Liza Weil (Paris Geller), Sean Gunn (Kirk Gleason), Keiko Agena (Lane Kim), Danny Strong (Doyle McMaster), Vanessa Marano (April Nardini) and Yanic Truesdale (Michel Gerard).
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 08/07/2016