Pop Culture Blind Spot: Dirty Dancing

Posted in Entertainment, Live Blogs by Traci

Warm up those hips and grab a watermelon because it’s time for another installment of Pop Culture Blind Spot! And today we’re heading back to family summer camp and celebrating Dirty Dancing, which was released on this day exactly 30 years ago. Even after three decades, the movie still holds up. Let’s dive right in and revisit one of the greatest movies that defined a generation.

Statements of note from the trailer:

“The heat is in the music. The music sets you dancing. The dancing sets her free.”

“She thought it would be just another summer vacation, but it turns out to be the time of her life.”

“What they learn from each other feels too good to be wrong.”

My knowledge of this movie: Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey do a lot of dancing. Kenny Ortega of High School Musical fame choreographed it. Kelly Bishop aka Emily Gilmore is also in it, but I always manage to forget this fact.

The reason I had never seen Dirty Dancing is from a lack of not wanting to see it. By nature, it should be a movie I love – romance, impressive dance sequences, drama, comedy. I just never got around to watching it. Thank God for Netflix, amirite, ladies? So here we are, almost 28 years to the day it was released on August 21st, 1987, and I’m sharing my thoughts with you on it for the very first time. Here goes nothing.

2:20 This movie takes place in 1963? Definitely did not know that. I thought it was just another 80s movie.

2:44 I remember that Kelly Bishop is in this movie. I know, I know. She’s a Tony Award winning actress of stage and screen, but to me she will forever and always be Emily Gilmore. And to quote the Gilmore Guys podcast, Bishop is Queen.

2:57 I knew there was greenery and cabin-looking structures in this movie, but I was not aware it takes place at a sleepaway camp for families. Does anyone go to this kind of camp anymore? Do these even exist?

3:24 The cars lining up to Kellerman’s camp legit looks like moving in day for freshman at my college.

3:54 Is Newman from Seinfeld in this? [the answer is yes]

5:00 MAMA KELLY BISHOP IS SERVING IN THIS DANCE SCENE, DESPITE THE FACT THEY’RE SMUSHED TOGETHER LIKE A BUNCH OF SARDINES.

7:20 I get Patrick Swayze now.

7:55 “You just put your pickle on everybody’s plate, college boy, and leave the hard stuff to me.” – Johnny Castle, an employee at a Jewish family camp, definitely NOT a porn star.

9:00 Baby is set up with some doofus who is the camp owner’s grandson, a dude named Neil who is going to Cornell for Hotel Management. Meanwhile, Baby’s got her eyes on going to Mount Holyoke to study the economics of underdeveloped countries and then enter the Peace Corps. Obviously well matched.

10:30 Johnny Castle and the blonde dance instructor Penny take center stage at this dance Baby and Neil are at, clearly auditioning for whatever the version of Dancing with the Stars was in 1963. However, they get cockblocked by the owner Max who wants them to dance with the guests instead.

13:37 After being forced to appear in a magic show and awarded a chicken for participation, Baby wanders into the staff quarters, which is a big no no. What a rebel.

14:30 Baby runs into a guy holding three huge watermelons, but they really just look like three prop pickles. There is no way he could carry three of those on his own. Come on.

15:00 Baby enters the secret staff dance party where the literal Dirty Dancing is going down. Basically this type of dancing is grinding on top of your partner with no room for the holy spirit at all. Which I guess doesn’t matter for the employees of this Jewish camp.

17:00 This soundtrack is amazing, by the way. I’m a sucker for 60s/Motown era music. Still blown away that this takes place in 1963.

20:00 Johnny teaching Baby how to roll her hips is the most awkward. It’s like she’s about to drop a deuce right on the dance floor. (GOD HELP ME I NEVER WANT TO SAY DROP A DEUCE AGAIN)

21:00 For some reason, an activity for the women at this camp is to try on wigs. What else is available at this camp – How To Cook A Proper Roast For Your Man or Top Tips For Cleaning Your Curlers?

25:00 Penny is pregnant. I was not aware there was a pregnancy twist in this film. Despite attempting to help a devastated Penny, she tells her to GTFO. And apparently the father of this baby is the asshole misogynistic server in the restaurant.

30:00 To remedy this, Baby asks her doctor dad Jerry Orbach for $300 to do a “non illegal” activity – aka she’s going to pay for Penny’s abortion??? This is a lot of money for someone she just met a day ago. Is she trying to prove something or is she just a good person? Or trying to prove she’s a good person?

33:42 Baby agrees to take Penny’s place in a dance competition since she’ll be recovering from her aforementioned abortion – is there really no one else qualified to take Penny’s place? A sub dance instructor at the camp, perhaps? Baby can barely roll her hips around, as we learned earlier. She’s worse than Julia Stiles learning hip-hop in Save The Last Dance.

37:00 Jennifer Grey is incredibly skinny. Penny is even skinnier. And the two skinny waists have a weird threesome with Johnny as they teach her how to dance. Uncomfy moment #3 – it’s the same feeling I get while watching ballroom trios on So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing With The Stars.

38:00 The closeups on the gyrating hips – not for me. Uncomfy moment #4.

I know I keep on bringing up Dancing With the Stars, but this B plot about Baby learning how to learn competitive-level dance is totally a parallel to DWTS. The fact that you have to pick up a foreign skill quickly then perform it under the (hungry) eyes of judges is just like in this movie. Which probably explains how she won season 11 of DWTS.

40:00 Johnny accidentally locks the keys to his car inside said vehicle, so he just straight up takes a pole out of the ground to smash his car window. With ease, he does this. It’s also raining, but it’s the fakest rain ever and the sun is shining like it’s 90 degree day, and all I can think is the rain machine is blowing the water horizontally at Patrick Swayze’s face. That handsome mug must be insured, this shouldn’t be happening to him.

41:00 This balancing on a log practice could be problematic. That is a ravine right there. Maybe don’t risk your life when you could easily do this on a dance floor? Also, I’m supposed to be shipping this right?

43:00 Johnny takes Baby to a field and subsequently the famous lake, which is much better than a log in the middle of the forest. But why isn’t Baby’s family concerned about her whereabouts? She just disappeared from camp. Isn’t her sister wondering why Baby didn’t show up to Wig Class?

47:00 Baby has somehow aged 10 years with her costume for the competition. She now looks like a New York Housewife competing in DWTS.

51:00 Uh oh. Penny’s not looking too hot after her shotty abortion. Baby comes to the rescue again by secretly getting her M.D. Dad to help her. Jerry Orbach (RIP) is quite the Doctor Detective. And quite upset with Baby’s interaction with the Dirty Dancing sexual deviants.

56:00 Welp Baby basically just confessed her love to Johnny. He’s already got his shirt off, so she asks him to dance… But on the real tho – this sex dance scene is still hot.

1:00 Penny clearly picks up the sex vibes that Johnny and Baby are putting down, and she warns him not to get serious with Baby. Which of course, in 80s movie terms, he obviously is.

This outfit is the reason I keep forgetting the movie takes place in 1963. This could either be 1987 or 2015, who the hell knows.

“What is with all this rain? Remind me not to have my honeymoon in Niagara Falls.” Baby’s sister

“So, you go to Acapulco, it’ll be fine!” – Queen Bishop

1:04 Baby and Johnny can’t stop boning. She’s technically a teenager, right? Since she’s “planning” to go to Mount Holyoke? Johnny’s obviously the type to skip college in favor of living out his dreams of being a camp dance instructor, so is this forbidden love even more forbidden?

1:07 Oh hey, a scene I actually have scene before. This makes sense in context now. Before I thought it was just some weirdo lip syncing to a song.

1:09 Neil, the annoying grandson, is like the Patrice of this movie. He wants Johnny to dance the Pachanga for the final show, and Johnny’s response is one that made me legit LOL: “He wouldn’t know a good idea if it hit him in the Pachanga” 1:12 Johnny’s bad boy side comes out when asshole waiter sees him kissing Baby, and the scene is like a fight between the Jets and the Sharks.

1:13 Baby’s sister singing I cannot.

1:18 There’s some side plot about Johnny’s cougar dance client setting him up as a kid who stole her husband’s wallet, but Baby comes to his defense by providing an alibi that he was with her at the time of the alleged theft. Not really important.

1:19 Baby goes to confront her upset father about basically admitted she slept with Johnny, and the whole conversation looks like a scene from The Bachelor when one of the final girls meets the bachelor’s dad for the first time to talk about how in love they are with their son.

1:22 Johnny’s heading out of town because of all the “trouble” he’s caused, and as he rides away, She’s Like the Wind plays in the background. Yes, the hit song by Patrick Swayze. TOO META. BTW, what exactly is Johnny’s accent? And does he not look like The Terminator in this scene?

1:26 This camp has its own theme song. This is just such a foreign culture to me that I’m having a difficult time believing it’s real. This tune is a cross between a traditional hymn and one of those camp songs you hear in like Troop Beverly Hills.

1:29 Ah yes, the iconic “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” scene. In my head she was in a literal corner of a room, sitting in a chair as if she had been punished. In addition, Johnny was gone for like 2 hours they’re all acting like it’s been years. ALSO Queen Bishop looks so hot rn!

1:30 So here’s my problem with Baby and Johnny dancing to Time of My Life – it’s a song that was made in the 1980s, but supposed to be set for a performance in 1963. This is why I’m confused. However, I will say that this song in context also makes so much more sense with the movie. Oh, and how did Johnny coordinate a flash mob so fast??

“I think she gets this from me.” KELLY FREAKING BISHOP

There are some interesting characters in the crowd, including the guy who predicted wearing sunglasses at night long before Corey Hart, the band leader dancing with Penny, and the two larger women happily dancing with each other. The movie ends with a pan out on the dance floor, with a spotlight on Baby and Johnny DIRTY DANCING. Bless. Also, it’s very reminiscent of the High School Musical 3 finale, because as you remember, Kenny Oretga is a mastermind of both these epic films.

(Previously posted in August, 2015)

28Nov2016

Gilmore Girls Revival Town Meeting: I Smell Snow

Posted in Entertainment by Cookies + Sangria

Well folks, we made it. Here we are, nine years after the series finale and over the weekend we were blessed with four new mini-movies that brought us back to the little corner of the world that is Stars Hollow. We went on a self-imposed social media hiatus to avoid spoilers over the weekend, so all this week, we’ll be recapping each season with our own thoughts, since we didn’t tweet as it was happening. And let’s be real, 140 wasn’t enough. We’re going in chronological (GG) order, starting with Winter. Here we go!

T: For the record, I pressed play at 12:01AM and couldn’t get myself to watch it until 12:19AM. I spent my last few minutes on social media (since I stayed off of it completely to avoid spoilers), went to the bathroom multiple times because I made coffee, and to psych myself up, I even said to myself, “IT’S JUST A TV SHOW” then later, “IT’S TOO STRESSFUL.” I eventually pressed play, only to pause it again when Amy’s name came up in the font. I’m a wreck.

M: Winter opens with some of the “greatest hits” lines from Gilmore Girls, in case we weren’t already high-level emotional. On rewatch I realize these lines also serve as a “previously on Gilmore Girls” in that we establish Emily and Lorelai’s relationship, the Luke/Lorelai thing, and also “oy with the poodles already.”

T: Netflix (per usual) has been great with PR and marketing for AYITL, and a day or so before the revival premiered, they released this video that made me legitimately tear up. Unbeknownst to everyone who watched that, it was the very first thing we heard from the 2016 iteration of Gilmore Girls and I teared up all over again. It was a perfect way to jump back into the show.

T: I HAD TO PAUSE IT AGAIN BC I STARTED CRYING AT THE LALAS AND THE FIRST SHOT OF THE SNOW-COVERED STARS HOLLOW SIGN.

i believe the phrase “ALL THE FEELS” was created for this moment

M: Rory just got off a plane and looks great; Lorelai theorizes that she’s “been Gooped,” the 2016 pop culture references are here. Rory rarely gets back to town because she’s living an itinerant journalist’s life; Lorelai sings Cats In The Cradle to make fun of the town/Emily’s reaction to Rory’s infrequent visits. We’re back.

T: Lorelai: “I’ve missed ya kid. It feels like years.” SAME, LOR. SAME. Aside: when writing down notes in my phone about this, I used this emoji 😭 to signify when I either tear up or cry. So if you see that, just know I’m emotional. Similarly, I used this 😂 when I lit’rally laughed out loud.

M: After the first time we watched this (yes, this is the second) we and our friend Tori spent a while puzzling about whether the theme song played. It’s like we were so dazed and stunned that we couldn’t even register the first five minutes. (It didn’t play, by the way.)

T: Rory, while running around the town square trying to get reception: “You coming?” Lorelai: “No, I just hit my steps.” As two people who are insane about their Fitbits, THIS RESONATES DEEP.

M: Kirk wants to start a ride service called Ooober. This is the moment that one of my Gilmore Girls fears was laid to rest. After Fuller House (which I liked!) I was disappointed that the tone of the show changed. It was all winks to the former series and modern references posed as punchlines unto themselves. Yes, Uber didn’t exist in 2007 and this certainly places us in a new Stars Hollow, but it wasn’t a modern reference for its own sake – this is still a very Kirk thing. This is when I realized A Year In The Life was going to stay true to the mixture of pop culture and more obscure cultural references that it always had.

T: Exactly. I also liked Fuller House, but I cringed so hard when they all broke the fourth wall and looked into the camera to basically call out the MK+A for not coming back for the new show. ASP + Dan Palladino’s storytelling style and clear idea for this Gilmore world is like it’s set in amber – these characters will always be as quirky as they have been, but they’re aware of trends and pop culture hashtags that make them relevant and up to do, but not change the core being of who they are.

M: Kirk is still so KIRK, always with a weird business venture that he is bad at: he drills holes in his car’s floor (two people passed out, but “they were old, so it could have been old people passing out” or carbon monoxide), then the car breaks down and he starts using a small cart.

M: First time I really started crying: when Lorelai smelled snow and the town troubadour started singing.

T: Yeah, the smelling of the snow, Grant Lee Phillips, and the Gilmore home all dressed in Christmas lights all got to me too. We were back and I was overwhelmed.

Dreaming of Stars Hollow. pic.twitter.com/B0TIpjUUrc

— Gilmore Girls (@GilmoreGirls) November 28, 2016

M: When we go to Lorelai’s house it truly does feel like going home again – like when I’d come home to visit and it was equally surprising that so much was the same and that little things were different.

T: Remember how awkward Luke and Rory’s hugs always were? Or maybe Rory is just a bad hugger. But when she comes home and he hugs her, it was much improved and seemed like a much more paternal welcome than ever before.

M: We get a satisfying answer – for me, anyway – as to who Rory is with: Paul, an eminently forgettable but nice guy. There’s a running gag throughout Winter that nobody remembers anything he says (like when he told Luke he’d bring him an antique crescent wrench), or where he is (when Lorelai and Rory forget he’s coming to Luke’s, and then that he’s there when they leave). The takeaway: we won’t miss this guy when he goes, and he WILL go.

T: One of my early predictions was that Rory was going to be with someone when the revival starts, but he’s insignificant. And even though IRL I’d be so annoyed with Rory for forgetting who her BF is after TWO YEARS of dating, I found it so amusing that NO ONE remembered who he was.

Luke re: Pete/Billy/Jeffrey/Paul: I just forgot the entire conversation we just had.

T: Fourteen minutes in and I already have 10 gif sets I need to find on Tumblr.

M: Lorelai’s new thing is those TV movie thriller/ horror things that air on Lifetime.

T: I mean, I knew that Luke + Lorelai were together (MY ULTIMATE OTP SO THIS IS MAJ), and I guess I figured they’d be living in her house, but it wasn’t real until he was working the DVR in their bedroom (which LOL at Luke with any sort of technology). Of course Lor only has Lifetime movies recorded, but I found it meta that they were poking fun of them when Scott Patterson was the star of one of them not too long ago (See: my recap of Kidnapped: Hannah Anderson here). Anyways, their domesticated life in this scene is literally the fanfic of my dreams.

M: Lorelai comes downstairs to Rory “stress-tap dancing” in the middle of the night. Lorelai has been worried about her mortality after Richard died, which I knew was happening but STILL. This is the moment I also realize that Lorelai and Rory are written as very anxious people, a trait that somehow never registered with me before. Michel agrees: “xanax was invented for you.” The fast talking, the coffee, the ruminating – and I’d say Rory’s even more like her mother now that she’s roughly the same age as early seasons’ Lorelai.

Rory: “You think I don’t know you? I have your eyes.”

M: Which brings us to: we’ve discussed this, and even though we’re just about the same age as Rory, now we relate most to Lorelai in the original series. For every moment when she seemed like an imperfect parent (dating Rory’s teacher, freaking out when she finds Rory with Dean), now I see somehow who has successfully raised a wonderful teenager by the time she’s my age, all while building a life and a career without any support. I just love Lorelai so much.

T: Same. I’ve always related to Lor a little bit more than Rory in general, but the revival has only reinforced that even more. Especially later on in this ep.

T: The running joke of Luke having WiFi but not giving out the correct password is SO Luke. The man has had a No Cell Phones sign for years, so what makes people think he’s gonna let them use WiFi for free? Also, he puts Rory’s New Yorker piece on the back of the new menu.

M: Love how proud he is of her. “There’s my piece (creaky voice:) wrapped in plastic.”

T: 😂 Lorelai throwing bagels at Kirk’s head is comedy gold. “Luke, you need to control your woman!” *gets hit with a lump of bread even harder*

T: Michel casually says Frederic wants kids, and I had to rewind to make sure he said “Frederic” and not “Frederique” and used “he” and not “she.” GOD BLESS. FINALLY. Also, Yanic fell right back into character and comes right out of the gate with classic Michel rants.

T: Melissa McCarthy’s absence is explained by her going on a sabbatical to work with Dan Barber at Blue Hill Farms (he basically made the whole farm-to-table trend a thing), and it totally makes sense. I think I like the pop up restaurant idea, but the fact that it really is famed LA chef Roy Choi in the scene is kinda taking me out – but not enough that I hate it?

T: Um. Guys. Emily’s new maid Berta is Gypsy (Rose Abdoo) in a wig. CANNOT UNSEE. (UPDATE: It’s definitely her. And Lauren gave insight!)

T: 😂 Emily doing housekeeper charades with the handyman is perfectly bossy Emily Gilmore.

M: Emily has a portrait of Richard that takes up the whole wall. Lorelai posits that she “Spinal Tapped the painting.” This leads into the story of Richard’s funeral, which was my cue to press pause and get some Kleenex.

T: Through the tears of the funeral flashback, there were moments of both levity and heartache, including the moment Jason ‘Digger’ Stiles reappears after attending his former business partner Richard’s funeral. I thought his brief yet touching scene with Lorelai was sweet and the perfect sendoff. Especially because she called him Digger again and he called her Umlaut.

T: Let me start off by saying LAUREN GRAHAM HAS NEVER WON AN EMMY. For Your Consideration: This drunk scene starting with her telling Richard and Emily’s friends about her “favorite memories” of her father. Lauren played completely wasted so well, without it being over the top or unbelievable. AND THEN, the showdown with her in Emily in the kitchen – it was like watching Michael Jordan and Larry Bird on the court (Sportsball ref?). They both had valid points, and as much as I love Lor, I love even more that Emily called her out on being selfish – because who else is going to be real with her like that and make as much an impact? It ends by Lorelai reaching for the door handle and saying, “Full. Freaking. Circle.” three words that gave me goosebumps. This now ranks as one of my favorite scenes of the entire series to date, and maybe a little too resonant in my ongoing identification as Lorelai IRL.

M: Signs Emily is changed: she’s had the same housekeeper for long enough to know who she is, lets a large extended family run about her house, wears jeans.

M: Brilliant cut to Kirk next to Lorelai at Emily’s table (his Ooober broke down) that makes you feel for a second like the whole thing is a dream sequence.

T: Luke comes to the rescue to pick Lor and Kirk up – but why isn’t he at Friday Night Dinner in the first place?

M: Lorelai and Luke have been together a long time: when they discuss whether they want a “fresh kid,” Luke explains that 5-6 years ago, he saw a kid at a Little League game and said “that’s the kid” (which is supposed to be his indication that he wanted a kid, because Luke). Luke and Lorelai discuss having a child, which I love as a viewer but sounds EXHAUSTING as someone who realizes that Lorelai is the mother of a THIRTY TWO YEAR OLD ADULT.

T: This conversation is also a part of the fanfic of my dreams, and also touches back on a conversation that they had in the season 6 premiere right after she proposed to him (“Kids would be great”). Lor actually mentions the aforementioned “Twickham house” scene, and yet again, a great way ASP acknowledged L+L canon without being annoying about it.

M: Anyway, Paris is the surrogacy specialist they meet with. This seems like a weird way to get Paris into the picture at first, and not really what I pictured Paris doing at all. Except – now that I’m a 30 year old with a few degrees, it actually seems super realistic that a smart, top-of-her-class person like Paris won’t necessarily be running the world. We graduated into the recession and it’s not necessarily reasonable that every person is going to be a UN representative. (I’m not saying being at the top of a huge surrogacy organization and being seemingly very wealthy is bad at all — but I mean the way the thing you end up doing isn’t what you would have guessed when you were 18.)

T: I am obsessed with the reveal of Paris, in that we only hear her yelling at first then have her enter the frame – because Paris Geller is a YELLER, and I love that it doesn’t matter what her occupation is, she’s still brilliantly shrill as ever.

M: The running gag that Luke isn’t sure whether he’s supposed to have sex with the surrogate is great.

T: Is it weird Paris’ Dynasty Makers reminds me of Orphan Black’s BrightBorn Technologies?

Paris keeps referring to Lor as a second mother, to which Luke asks: “How much time did you spend with this girl?”

M: Rory is in London discussing a ghostwriting/cowriting job with Naomi, AKA the always-delightful Alex Kingston (red flag: Rory asks if the lawyers will take care of payment and Naomi says it will be 50/50 – but girl, you better get that in writing). Rory is staying with her … friend. Her friend LOGAN with whom she has a “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” relationship. Read: they hook up whenever she’s in London. Oh, Rory. Rory, Rory, Rory. Anyway, he’s still cute with a nice apartment and we’re meant to like him more than Forgettable Paul. I will say that out of Rory’s former love interests, Logan felt like the most likely to cross paths with her in later life. Of course we all know who we’ll be seeing later on in A Year In The Life, so we’ll see.

T: Agreed. Rory and Logan always seemed like a better romantic match (Jess turned out to be a confidant type/the type that I would want to date me not Rory). But listen, why is Rory still stringing along Paul??? The joke was funny at first, but now that we find out she’s been casually sleeping with Logan, she’s technically cheating on Paul. Did she learn nothing from the Dean situation???

me at rory rn

T: Doyle is a screenwriter now and has become all Hollywood. THANK YOU ASP.

M: Meanwhile, Lane has exactly the garage band-y home you’d imagine she would, with band practice in the living room and lots of bright mismatched colors and adorable sons who she lets have fun. I mentioned before that I was really Team Lane and Team Paris, in that I figured that 10 years in the future, those are the people Rory will still be in touch with. Glad I was right on those counts!

T: #TeamParis shirt for me, please. Also, Lane and Zach moved into Sookie and Jackson’s, house right? Am I going crazy? Did they even explain why? Where is Jackson?

M: Amy Sherman Palladino made a blink and you’ll miss it Marie Kondo reference at the Gilmore Girls reunion panel, and it is so fun to see Emily trying to hold all her objects to see what “sparks joy.” (I did it. It sounds wacky but my house looks great and is always neat.) But just a moment for Kelly Bishop in jeans and a t-shirt? She looks SO GOOD.

http://gilmoresdaily.tumblr.com/post/153843227514

M: Lorelai observes that “nothing is going to bring you joy right now” which is pretty true, though. Also it’s going to be tricky when Emily realizes she doesn’t have chairs anymore. Anyway, Lorelai convinces Emily to go to counseling – “really Woody Allen the hell out of it” – and also makes Emily realize that she’s wearing jeans, which – good as she looks – is a tip-off that things aren’t going great with her.

Lorelai: “I did something right!” Luke: “Law of averages”

Stray Observations

Miss Patty’s dance studio, still with wide open barn doors in wintertime
I love that it’s this unspoken thing that Lorelai favors vintage/retro decor: her stove and fridge and chrome kitchen table now, the jukebox in the Firefly back in the day.
“I have many irons in the fire” “I heard, you should become a blacksmith.” Our girls are back.
I LOVE GYPSY.
The town got Kirk a pig because they heard him and Lulu talking about having kids and it worried them.
Lorelai: “People are dumb” – the truest sentence she’s ever said.
The Shonen Knife version of Top Of The World plays when Lorelai’s on the way to Emily’s, and my first thought is that this was SUCH an Amy Sherman Palladino soundtrack pick.
#LukeDanesDreamMan fixing the vent in the Gilmore house during the funeral
Kirk, the man who asked Luke to catch him if he had night terrors at the Dragonfly, who fell asleep in Luke’s dad’s boat in Lorelai’s garage, who was saved by Luke after not making a map for the Easter Egg hunt, continues to be the adult child to Luke and Lorelai in the revival.
Lorelai automatically filling the saltshakers at the diner and Rory going behind the counter to get coffee without Luke yelling at her – small signs that the Gilmore Girls have made the diner their home even more so in the past nine years ❤
Paris’ high-profile client is Neil Patrick Harris. Neil Patrick Harris. NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!@
The woman who asks for the WiFi password at Luke’s is Mara Casey, one of the OG casting directors for the show!

Taylor knows enough about YouTube stars that he name drops Zoella
Brian uses the spare room in Zach and Lane’s house? What is he doing with his life?
I want a video of Paris listening to Hep Alien practice on loop

Because 2016 was the year of feminism (until it wasn’t anymore), there’s a female town troubadour. And she is…. Louise Goffin! AKA Carole King’s daughter. Who calls herself the other troubadour’s sister. PLOT TWIST!!
Ending with Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again also feels like a very Amy Sherman-Palladino music pick
In Memory of Edward Hermann. Aw.
Despite the fact I kept stopping and starting Winter, I felt like I could’ve watched a solid 30-45 minutes more of Winter. That’s probably excessive, but whatever.

2Feb2016

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Stars Hollow

Posted in Entertainment by Traci

Guys, we did it. WE ALL DID IT. The Gilmore Girls revival, tentatively titled Gilmore Girls: Seasons, is confirmed, official, and currently in production – starting TODAY. Let’s go back a bit to October, when Patron Saint of GG news, Michael Ausiello, broke the news that a revival was in the works (check out our original thoughts on it in our town meeting here). Months passed by with no one (Netflix, Amy Sherman-Palladino, cast members, etc.) confirming any of it. Not a damn thing. As silent as Mr. Kim.

Late December, pictures started popping up from the WB lot of the reconstruction of Luke’s, prop pieces that said pick up for 1/11/16, and the real kicker – a Backstage.com listing for production. In between, cast members hinted that there was truth to the reports (Keiko, Milo *not YET*). In my mind, I knew it was happening, but I just needed confirmation. I needed this:

I CAN NOW CONFIRM: it's time for me, and this jacket I stole in 2007, to return to work.@netflix #GilmoreGirls pic.twitter.com/tBb07J9oO1

— Lauren Graham (@thelaurengraham) January 29, 2016

WE ALL NEEDED THIS. The tears came flooding back on Friday with LG’s tweet + subsequent posts from our boy Scott, Yanic (Michel), Keiko (Lane), and Sean (Kirk), Rose (Gypsy), Tanc (Finn) and Liza/Paris (via Kelly Bishop accidentally saying she’s in it), who’ve all confirmed they’re coming back. Oh and composer Sam Phillips, the creator of the La Las that you’re familiar with, is also coming back. Thank God (sidenote: I’m creepily taking notes of all the revival updates like a crazy person. Let me know if you want in on the insane person’s newsletter). Then, Ausiello, being the godsent that he is, managed to score the first interview with LG after their first table read (*SCREAMS INTERNALLY & EXTERNALLY), and it is one of the best things I’ve ever read in my life, article or not. Seriously, read it.

When I walked onto the set for the first time. We had to do a camera test and… the house. [She gets choked up] It’s on a different stage but it’s… the house. Alexis [Bledel] and I walked onto the set together and — I feel super emotional about a lot of it and I’m afraid I’m going to start crying at every turn — but walking onto that set really felt like something. It felt like a lot of time had passed and it felt like we were just there. It felt amazing.

*Cue waterworks* I’m basically just going to cry with every tweet, article, and picture posted re: GG Revival moving forward (BTW, read these interviews from Ausiello with Kelly and ASP for more tears, and Scott sans Ausiello talking about becoming Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap again). You know what else made me cry? Going onto the GG set at Warner Bros. WITH the GG sets up (or at least in the process of being put back up).

After I found out production was starting on February 2nd, I knew I had to go on the WB tour to see the sets before then, figuring my chances would be slimmer of seeing the GG sets if I went when they were in production. In full disclosure, I had been on the tour thrice before, and it wasn’t even until the third time that I got to see Stars Hollow/any GG sets. If they’re filming on a certain part of the lot, the tours aren’t allow to go anywhere near it, which is why it took three times before I saw the town square. Me and my two GG-loving friends went on about two Saturdays ago hoping we’d see more GG goodness IRL. Luckily, Grease: Live! hadn’t completely taken over yet – although we did get to see parts of it:

under that black tent is the front of Rydell High. The building to the right of it is the front of Stars Hollow High and currently Rosewood High from Pretty Little Liars.

And, I didn’t know this at the time, but Lorelai and Rory’s house was getting prepped to become Sandy’s house in Grease (where she sings Hopelessly Devoted to You). See: green and white bench on porch.

BUT ALSO, THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME AT THE GILMORE HOUSE. We forced our tour guide to drive us to their house, because in full disclosure, he wasn’t planning on showing it to us and told us another house around the corner was the Gilmore house (it wasn’t. we’re not new. we know things). Anyways, he let us out of the tram (no one else cared about it but us) to take pix, and we proceeded to freak out.

Obviously they were dressing the house for Grease, so I’m sure they’re already halfway done with making it back into the Gilmore house, if not completely done by now.

Another angle of the house, because why not

Here is the Gilmore garage, home of the Hug-A-World, Hep Alien rehearsals, and naked Kirk in Luke’s dad’s boat.

Fun fact: on the front side of the Gilmore house is Sookie and Jackson’s house. I just realized that if Melissa McCarthy doesn’t end up doing the revival (and per ASP, there’s a pretty good chance she won’t?), that probably means Jackson won’t be in it either (?), which would be a bummer. Unless they have him in it and just never show Sookie? ASP says in that article they explain her absence, so maybe she’s off at a cooking school or something, and Jackson is in Stars Hollow taking care of all their kids? Although that would be shitty of her too. Ugh. Either way, I’m hoping Melissa can do at least one of the “episodes”.

Moving right along, next door to Sookie and Jackson’s is Kim’s Antiques. 58 seats and 62 Koreans. Also, it’s Emily’s house in PLL and also the former Gellar house in Friends, particularly in TOW The Prom Video, where we see a young, curly-haired Ross devastated after finding out he wouldn’t be saving the day and taking Rachel to prom.

Just before getting to Stars Hollow (think of it as going to Hartford), there’s an area that’s lined with suburban-like houses, including this one, which was Christopher’s house as seen in S5 E11, Women of Questionable Morals. Rory and Lorelai separately show up to his house to console him about his father’s passing, Rory brings milk & cookies, Lor brings adult milk & cookies, fucks it up later by not telling Luke about it. Drama ensues. This is also Hanna’s house on PLL.

Ok now we venture back into Stars Hollow! Here we see the famous church (sometimes temple) home to a funeral, a couple weddings, a baptism, a break-in by Luke & Lorelai, and the town loner yelling akin to, “Stop the noodle scooz” in rebellion of… something.

imagine the gazebo sits right in the middle. also imagine the final scene in grease: live because that’s exactly where they danced in the middle of the carnival.

And here’s where it starts to resemble OG Stars Hollow, also this is when tears started to appear in my eyes, because, emotion.

Doose’s, the book store, a random car

There was nothing inside Doose’s, but it was clearly under construction. I’m sure Taylor is keeping an eye on it.

This street leads to nowhere. However that blue building does still house Sophie’s (Carole King’s) music shop!

Alright folks here’s when the revival excitement really kicked in. As previously mentioned, I had seen pictures of Luke’s diner being rebuilt but to see it with my own eyes was a whole different ball game.

I didn’t realize until later that the Jeep in the corner is eerily a lot like Lorelai’s Jeep, but it’s not. BUT LET’S PRETEND.

You can’t really tell from this picture, but inside the shelving is all back – the wall by the kitchen filled with mugs is back up and the window into Taylor’s ice cream shoppe was there, and a sure sign of Luke’s – those weird half-curtains in the window.

True story: my friend told me and my friend Jennie to pose for a pic as we slowly drove by Luke’s for the first time, but I was impatient and wanted to get pix on my own camera. Hence I am mid-hairflip in excitement and Jennie fell asleep. BUT LOOK INSIDE!!

Taylor’s place is shaping up nicely

Miss Patty’s got a fresh coat of paint. They actually filmed all the town meetings inside this.. building (?) and not on a separate sound stage, so it was particularly annoying in the LA heat when they were all holed up in there for hours with hot lights and a room full of actors.

We did manage to convince our tour guide to take us by the gazebo, which was again, not in the middle of the square yet because of the Rydell High carnival. Please note: Gazebo Parking Only.

ok, i’m not sure if this information is correct, but i’m pretty sure we saw Gilmore Girls parking signs right outside Stage 19, and possibly other sets being built inside. Cannot confirm this, but let’s just say this is where they’re shooting the revival. EDIT: a second source also confirmed stage 19 was where they were rebuilding the Dragonfly horse stables! And i def remember seeing that!

Last night, I took a route home that passes right by the WB lot, knowing full well I wouldn’t be able to see anything with a nighttime drive-by. But I was thinking how it must feel like Christmas Eve to so many of the returning cast and crew, to go back to something that meant so dear to them but never fully had a chance to find some closure. It also got me thinking of the personal path it took me from first starting my obsession with GG over 10 years ago to now, living minutes away from where Stars Hollow is, and all of it is just so overwhelming. To some people this revival is just another reboot of people sick for nostalgia, but for fans, it is that but so much more. It’s personal, it’s emotional, it’s a cozy blanket that makes you feel safe and comfortable. So today, and for the rest of this year leading up to its release, I have no shame in following every step on this GG revival journey. Where you lead, I will follow.