'Gilmore Girls' say goodbye to sixth season, creative masterminds
By Alissa Ponchione, Staff Writer
April 20, 2006 | 4:33 p.m.
With the season finale of the sixth season of the “Gilmore Girls,” it seems like the audience is back at the beginning of the season when Lorelai and Rory were separated by their awful fight.
It was unbearable to watch the dynamic and witty duo live separate lives without each other. It just wasn't right. And neither is the separation of the writing Palladino duo from their television masterpiece.
The show's creator, producer, writer and creative mastermind, Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, writer/director Daniel Palladino, are leaving the show after their sixth season with the “Gilmore Girls.” The separation of the Palladinos from the Gilmores could change the show forever. The fast-paced and smart dialogue, as well as the compelling relationship between Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai (Lauren Graham) makes the show one of the most underrated dramas on TV. Also, the hilarious subplots and supporting characters allow for the attainable suspension of disbelief.
This shocking leave by the creators of a show that has nurtured one of the most compelling mother/daughter relationships stems from contract disputes with the WB.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Daniel Palladino said that he and his wife had been working the past two years on one-year contracts. They were looking for some security in the network and asked for a two-season pickup for them, not necessarily the show.
If the show did end after a 7th season, the Palladinos would still be involved in developing new shows for the network, which will be changed from the WB to the CW next fall.
The couple also asked for a bigger staff of writers and a staff director for the set everyday, which most hour-long dramas have.
“We felt like we wanted to be able to see more than 300 days into the future. We felt like we had earned that. And that was definitely one of our points,” Daniel Palladino said. “We wanted to play a significant role on ‘Gilmore Girls’ for at least two more years because, as Amy has told you before, we feel like this show... it can weave and bob and change and mutate and keep going, because it's about family, it's about relationships, and it could keep going for two, three, who knows how many years.”
As for the 7th season being the last of “Gilmore Girls,” Amy Palladino said that she always had plans for how the series would end, but she could see it going on forever because there are so many routes for both Rory and Lorelai.
The writer who will take the Palladinos' place was handpicked by the Palladinos. Daniel Rosenthal, who's mostly known for his crazy antics and weirdly fanatical obsession with model, Heidi Klum, will take the reigns from the pair.
So, who is this guy that's supposed to take the smartly written show and sail into the sunset for the possible last season next year?
Rosenthal joined the “Gilmore Girls” staff during the 2005-2006 season and has only written two episodes to date. Before he came on the “Gilmore Girls” he wrote for a couple sorry sitcoms like “Hope & Faith” and the horribly short-lived “Good Morning, Miami.”
But he also wrote for “Spin City,” a reputable sitcom in its day. And he became quite famous, rich and successful at a very young age. In the midst of his success, however, Rosenthal went on a downward spiral. He divorced his wife, quit his deal with Fox entertainment and wrote a harrowing play about his desire to marry and have sex with Heidi Klum. He was then committed to a mental institution by his father.
The Palladinos have faith in Rosenthal to keep the “Gilmore Girls” in tact for at least one more season, allowing Lauren Graham to finally win the Emmy she deserves.
The season finale tonight proved that things will never be the same and good-byes and break-ups are always difficult.