Gilmore Girls: The Series Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros.)

Gilmore Girls is a 2000 coming-of-age television series co-written, directed, executive produced, and created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Bunheads). It was directed by Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader), Chris Long (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), Kenny Ortega (Hocus Pocus, Hocus Pocus: Begin the Magic, and Newsies), Lee Shallat Chemel (The Nanny), Daniel Palladino (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Michael Katleman (Primeval), Michael Schultz (Cooley High, Car Wash, The Last Dragon, and Which Way Is Up?), Gail Mancuso (A Dog’s Journey), Matthew Diamond (The Golden Girls), David Paymer (Lucifer), and many others. It was executive produced by Gavin Polone (Curb Your Enthusiasm, 8MM, Premium Rush, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Zombieland franchise, Panic Room, and Secret Window). It was followed by 2016’s Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Netflix. Stars Hollow is a charming, slightly off-center small town known for green lawns, clapboard houses, and enough quirky characters to fill every hayride, parade and picnic for miles. The headstrong 32 year old single mother Lorelai Gilmore (played by: Lauren Graham from Parenthood, Bad Santa, Twinless, Because I Said So, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Evan Almighty, Nightwatch, Sweet November, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life) carves out a comfortable, warm, caffeinated life for herself and her equally willful teen daughter Rory (played by: Alexis Bledel from Violet and Daisy, Post Grad, Sin City, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise, Tuck Everlasting, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Brass Teapot, I’m Reed Fish, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life). When Rory’s attention turns from dreams of Harvard to boys with adolescent self-reliance. Lorelai starts to notice more of her own rebellious youth in her daughter Rory and it makes her worry about her future!!!! Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is a 2016 TV mini-series directed, co-written, executive produced, and created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Bunheads). It was co-written, executive produced, and directed by Daniel Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Family Guy, Roseanne, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Bunheads, and Étoile). It was made for and it premiered on Netflix. Ten years after, Lorelai (played by: Lauren Graham from the Gilmore Girls, Max, The Z-Suite, and Vampirina) still runs the Dragonfly Inn and Rory (played by: Alexis Bledel from the Gilmore Girls, The Coldest Case, Jenny’s Wedding, and Mad Men) is now 32. She has experienced some career success. As Rory works through job-related struggles and Lorelai deals with some unresolved issues of her own. Emily Gilmore (played by: Kelly Bishop from the Gilmore Girls, Dirty Dancing, Friends with Kids, Private Parts, and Wonder Boys) is at a major crossroads in her life, recently dealing with a tragedy and she’s just trying to figure out what to do next. It forces Emily and Lorelai to finally reexamine their own fraught relationship once and for all!!!! Gilmore Girls is not my typical type of TV series that I would usually watch to be honest. I dated someone that was a huge fan of it so I ended up watching more episodes than expected but to my surprise….I enjoyed enjoyed it. It’s from the creative mind of Amy Sherman-Palladino, she did a little bit of everything on this dramedy production. It had several skilled directors behind the camera over the years, it looked better visually than most of it’s competition. There’s something special about the little community and overall appearance of Stars Hollow, it’s a massive part of the Gilmore Girls atmosphere. Lead actress Lauren Graham is perfect as momma bear Lorelai Gilmore. She’s probably the greatest television mother of all time and that’s a bold statement but it deserves that praise. She’s a smart, caring, creative, and ambitious person. She left her privileged life to raise her child at a very young age. She started her life over and she made something out of it. I liked the character for the most part but they really wanted to self sabotage her when things were right. The stunning Alexis Bledel is great as Rory Gilmore. I always had a crush on her when I was younger, those eyes are memorizing. Anyways, she’s highly intelligent and she has big goals for her future. Unfortunately, she gets bored with her planned life and she really starts to change. She dumps the nicest guy ever for a reckless bad boy. She continues to pick the worst possible partners throughout her journey in this. She still manages to achieve success even if those plans were altered along the way. I had a love and hate relationship with this character. She made some of the dumbest mistakes despite always having the potential to do more. She always had the viewer rooting for an amazing outcome but she was also a victim of self sabotage like her mother. She’s a quality character and a good human being but she was really put to the test during the entire run. The chemistry between these two as mother and daughter is top notch. It’s one of the best relationships between family that you’ll ever see anywhere. Scott Patterson (Saw franchise, Little Big League, Sullivan’s Crossing, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life) as Luke Danes is easily the best character when it comes to this wacky world. He always kept to his morals and he didn’t turn into something worse during this despite some of the situations around him. When he did some stuff differently for himself, it was always for the good. He had some serious bad luck. He tried to always do anything that he could to help friends and family. It took forever for anything to actually happen when it came to Luke and Lorelai, it was a huge tease for the longest time. It made the audience think it might never happen. It had excellent tension and build up to their story. Troma’a own Sean Gunn (Tromeo and Juliet, Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Superman, Peacemaker, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, The Belko Experiment, and The Suicide Squad) got his big break as the awkward Kirk Gleason. He’s the comedy relief when it comes to the show. He’s hilarious and he steals almost every scene that he’s in. It’s definitely a live action cartoon character and performance but it works for Gunn. He’s a huge part of Stars Hollow and he’s literally everywhere doing any possible job that’s needed. Jared Padalecki (Supernatural, The Boys, House of Wax, Friday the 13th, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life) is one of most trustworthy and loyal in the life of the Gilmores. Dean Forester is hard working and dependable, he is the first love of Rory Gilmore. He got screwed over when she started to change. I really don’t like how they ended up making him do things that didn’t fit his nature just to justify Rory’s bullshit. Comedy star Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Spy, The Little Mermaid, The Kitchen, Ghostbusters, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life) got her real legit shot as Sookie St. James in Gilmore Girls. She’s the best friend of Lorelai and she’s the chef that can make anything. She’s very quirky, she always gave quality advice and she is dependable when needed. I’m not surprised that she ended up blowing up as an actress. The potential was everywhere for this. Honorable mentions to Edward Herrmann (The Lost Boys), Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Kelly Bishop (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Emily Kuroda (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Matt Czuchry (The Resident), Keiko Agena (Prodigal Son), and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) for their stand out roles. They all made massive impacts on a variety of episodes and seasons over the years. The rest of the supporting cast includes Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Liz Torres (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Jackson Douglas (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Michael Winters (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Sally Struthers (All in the Family), Todd Lowe (True Blood), David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Shelly Cole (Boston Public), Rose Abdoo (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Danny Strong (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Aris Alvarado (Kickin’ It Old Skool), Kathleen Wilhoite (ER), Chris Eigeman (Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Michael DeLuise (Wayne’s World), Scott Cohen (The 10th Kingdom), Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), Wayne Wilcox (Rent), Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks), Gregg Henry (Guardians of the Galaxy franchise), Adam Brody (The O.C.), Arielle Kebbel (The Grudge 2), Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad), Brian Tarantina (Donnie Brasco), Michael York (Logan’s Run), Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween), Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks), Max Perlich (Beautiful Girls), Billy Burke (Along Came a Spider), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), Lance Barber (Young Sheldon), Nick Chinlund (Con Air), Kathy Baker (The Cider House Rules), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Melora Hardin (The Office), Nicole Eggert (Charles in Charge), Traci Lords (Cry-Baby), Madeline Zima (Doom Patrol), Rami Malek (Mr. Robot), and others. Gilmore Girls was loaded with known talent. I honestly felt like it was at it’s best for the first 5 seasons. 6 had it’s moments but it was pretty forgettable and 7 only got good towards the end. It had a great mix of drama, comedy, family, romance, love, and relationships over it’s 153 episodes. It’s really cool to experience so many people growing up during this and their full character development for it all. It truly gets the viewer invested in all of the major roles that show up in this interesting universe. I didn’t like it when it happened but I did appreciate that Gilmore Girls wasn’t afraid to display serious flaws and messed up scenarios while keeping it real. Coffee is hilariously beyond important and there’s so many inside jokes about it in this. The sharp dialogue and rapid deliveries really make these conversations even more entertaining on the screen. That’s always one of the strongest elements here. It’s one of those experiences that feels like they did whatever that was completely needed and the storyline finishes naturally. 2016’s Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life seemed like it was going to be a nostalgic throwback to this warm and funny environment but it really wasn’t needed after it was all said and done. I am thankful that it was only 4 episodes but they kinda played out like their own full length movie during each season featured for the Netflix reboot. It was awesome to see so many classic characters return and that was the greatest gift this follow up gave to the fan base. It’s packed with top notch cameos. It had it’s moments every once in awhile that worked and it made you smile. Honestly, it just felt forced and padded out for most of it. Some of the newer supporting cast included Alex Kingston (ER), Jackie Hoffman (Garden State), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Jason Mantzoukas (The League), Jason Ritter (Freddy vs. Jason), and Mae Whitman (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). They completely ruined Rory Gilmore in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. They made her amazing role awful, she’s kinda a bad person now with barely any direction in her life. They threw some surprises and twists that felt like deja vu. The ending has potential for a possible return someday which is fascinating but I think it should be over at this point. The original TV series really caught me off guard and it surprised me on how good it was. It’s worth checking out no matter what. It’s hard to ignore the sequel because it’s right there but I thought it was extremely disappointing. Just for the OG 5 seasons alone, RECOMMENDED!!!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and list the special features from Warner Bros Pictures! These 1080p (1.78:1) transfers on all 7 seasons and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life look amazing on home video. It’s definitely an upgrade from the last time that I watched the show. I love the vibe and atmosphere of Stars Hollow. It’s one of the main characters here, the location visually always shines. Just a warning, the original aspect early on was (1.33:1) so those were altered but it personally doesn’t bother me here. The original series has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English: DTS 2.0, and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for it’s 153 episodes. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on all 4 episodes. They both have English SDH subtitles. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was previously released on Blu Ray from the Warner Archive Collection. The original Gilmore Girls makes it’s HD home video debut here so it’s a big improvement over the older DVDs. This is a 30 disc set so it’s huge. Season 1 has “Welcome to the Gilmore Girls”. It has the “Gilmore Goodies and Gossip: Rory’s Dance” with on-screen factoids popping up the entire episode. It has “Gilmore-isms”. Season 2 has “A Film by Kirk”. It has the “International Success: How Other Countries Welcome the Girls”. It has the “Gilmore Goodies and Gossip: A-Tisket, A-Tastic” with on-screen factoids popping up the entire episode. It has “Who wants to Argue?”. Season 3 has “All Grown Up”. It has “Who wants to fall in Love?”. It has “Our Favorite 80’s”. Season 4 has the “Gilmore Goodies and Gossip”. It has “Who wants to get Together?”. Season 5 has “Gilmore Girls turns 100”. It has “Behind the Scenes of the 100th Episode”. It has the “Who wants to talk Gilmore?”. Season 7 has “Gilmore Fashionistas”. It has the “A Best Friend’s Peek: Inside the Gilmore Girls with Keiko Agena. It has “Who wants to talk Boys?”. It has “Kirk’s Tour of Stars Hollow”. Two big Blu Ray cases come inside in a high quality slipbox. It’s available everywhere right now including Moviezyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!