Do Amy Sherman-Palladino's Recent Remarks Mean We Shouldn't Consider Gilmore Girls's Seventh Season Canon?

[Primetimer]

Nick Rheinwald-Jones is not a crackpot for thinking that the creator herself has made the final determination on that Palladinoless season, even if we need to read between the lines to see it.

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[mrsdalgliesh]

Usenet still exists?? :::boggle:::

[FictionLover]

I didn't really get that. She did say previously she wouldn't do that to the fans and also there was one thing she wouldn't have done.

[ChlcGirl]

I fall on the "it's canon" side but I can't even think of anything more because you brought up FUCKING SEASON 6 which is the WORST. Idiotic Rory. Stupid April. Lorelei and Luke getting MARRIED. BLAH.

Now I have rage.

[kieyra]

34 minutes ago, ChlcGirl said:

I fall on the "it's canon" side but I can't even think of anything more because you brought up FUCKING SEASON 6 which is the WORST. Idiotic Rory. Stupid April. Lorelei and Luke getting MARRIED. BLAH.

Now I have rage.

Do you mean Christopher?

[ChlcGirl]

10 minutes ago, kieyra said:

Do you mean Christopher?

No.  I meant Lorelei & Luke attempting to get married in S6.  I worded it wrong because of the fluster brought on by rage. The only issue I had with Christopher & Lorelei was how they made him such a weenie in S7.  Prior to that, Lor & Christopher had such a sparkling relationship.  They just got each other.

37 minutes ago, Nick Rheinwald-Jones said:

Yes, April was the worst. But (and maybe this is the subject of yet another Crackpot) I thought the Lorelai/Rory estrangement was handled perfectly, and was some of the best stuff they did on the show.

I really liked the estrangement, I just detested Rory's weakness.

[clack]

The article's premise confuses me.

Because AS-P and DP didn't watch Season 7, does that means that Lorelai and Christopher never married? Luke and Lorelai never reconciled? Or if they did reconcile, the reconciliation happened in some way other than what we saw onscreen?

Logan never proposed, and Rory never rejected the proposal?

[HereKitty]

The "brilliant lady" was not exactly a blameless, passive party to this crazy mess. She was very much in charge during the sowing of a lot of the seeds that grew into the festering compost pile of season 7. Whether she knew things were headed for a blowup or just wanted to be able to take (figurative) hostages during negotiations for a new deal, she betrayed a LOT of her own storytelling long before Warner Bros started playing hardball.

[FictionLover]

ASP has said she didn't see it but friends told her about it. Then she says she saw some of it on ABC Family.  I don't believe for a second that she didn't watch it especially going into these new episodes. 

[cuddlingcrowley]

Quote

ASP has said she didn't see it but friends told her about it. Then she says she saw some of it on ABC Family.  I don't believe for a second that she didn't watch it especially going into these new episodes. 

I've dying to discuss ASP's remarks on season seven so I'm ecstatic this thread has been created!

I confess I also have a VERY hard time believing she hasn't watched season 7. But since the article takes as a premisse her telling the truth, then I'll play ball because at the end of the day that's irrelevant to whether it's canon or not.

 

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But no, she didn't do that; instead, she called up some people who had watched the seventh season and simply asked them whether any of her ideas for the revival would "step on" events from the intervening episodes. And from the sound of things, she decided to alter one of her proposed storylines as a result of what she heard. (...) So, to recap: Season 7 of Gilmore Girls was made without Amy Sherman-Palladino's involvement or approval, and she's proceeded with her story for these characters without viewing it herself. In the absence of an official statement from her (which I'm sure we'll never get), I think the case for those episodes' not being canonical is pretty solid.  

This is a very fun article but I'm sorry, but the writer lost me there.

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ASP's desire to avoid contradicting anything from the seventh season isn't remotely the same thing as wanting to incorporate that season. Plenty of people who tune in to the Gilmorerevival in November will have watched all seven extant seasons, and there'd be nothing to be gained by baffling them with a storyline that explicitly overrules what they've already seen. Being pragmatic about something isn't the same thing as creatively acknowledging it.

 

How in the what?

Personally, I don't expect to see in the Revival a whole lot of callbacks to season 7 or any at all given what we know. That said, the fact that ASP, at the very least, isn't activelly trying to contradict the events of season 7 means season 7 is canon. Frankly, I don't think she has a choice in the matter.  The show, as a complete product, has been out there for consumption for a decade now and I'd be willing to bet a good chunk of the fanbase doesn't know about the behind the scenes drama. I'm pretty sure I didn't know ASP didn't pen season 7 back when I watched it live.

She has to be pragmatic about it and by being concerned over not contradicting s7, IMHO, means she's creatively acknowledging it. Even if she's not inspired by it.

I'm all for canon relativism, man. I love that shit. I'll deny canon like a pro if the writing quality isn't up to standard and/or contradicts previously established facts/character traits. To this day, I refuse to accept the Rory/Jess relationship, as it was writen in S3,  or Dean/Rory falling in lust with each other (S4). Just to name a couple of things. But I don't buy your argument.

Edited August 19, 2016 by cuddlingcrowley

[cuddlingcrowley]

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It doesn't mean she thinks everything in S7 is valid, just that she doesn't want to look like she's stirring up shit for no reason.

We certainly agree on that. 

[kieyra]

3 hours ago, ChlcGirl said:

No.  I meant Lorelei & Luke attempting to get married in S6.  I worded it wrong because of the fluster brought on by rage. The only issue I had with Christopher & Lorelei was how they made him such a weenie in S7.  Prior to that, Lor & Christopher had such a sparkling relationship.  They just got each other.

I really liked the estrangement, I just detested Rory's weakness.

Weird, I guess I blocked out anything having to do with Luke and Lorelai and marriage. 

[ChlcGirl]

Goddamn.  I wish I could.

[Captain Carrot]

I'm sorry, but S6 was a hot mess. I had no problem with the character of April, but the use of her to manufacture drama, her mom not being called on her BS, and Lorelei ending up with Christopher were just horrible ideas. I haven't watched it in years, but my memory of S7 was that it had to spend half the season getting back to the status quo, and the episodes after that were...OK. I actually preferred the last few episodes of S7 to a lot of S6. (That being said, neither season holds a candle to GG at it's best).

[langway]

5 hours ago, Captain Carrot said:

but the use of her to manufacture drama, her mom not being called on her BS

This was a BIG issue of mine. After the sleepover fiasco during my recent binge watch, I had to take some time because I was so irritated by her reaction. "April will never meet anyone I date until I marry them" like wtf you don't even wanna see if they can get along? Because if they don't, that's a whole other can of worms there, mama. Plus, she made it sound like if Luke and Lor even got married, she still wouldn't be comfortable with the idea of Lor being in April's life. I understand she was apprehensive and trying to look out for her daughter, but just because she wants to live life with no life partner doesn't mean Luke should have to. 

But yes, season 6 was awful all around except for Friday Night's alright for fighting. Honestly one of my favorite episodes of the series. The back and forth of fighting and getting along had me rolling. Especially Emily telling the story about Logan's mom. "oooh! That's my mother's version of the c word!" 

[junienmomo]

Whatever was in ASP's head about season seven is now ASP's head canon, not GG canon. The real season seven is every bit as much canon as the BS the Palladinos wrote for season six.

Unless ASP addresses it in the revival, we don't know if Lorelai was weak when she went to Christopher, if he pushed her after getting her drunk, or if she just fucked him because she really is unable to be in an adult relationship without deliberately screwing it up. Personally I think she wrote season six Lorelai going into bipolar disorder, and she wrote it that way on purpose.

The season seven writers had written episodes in previous seasons, and their work is not bad. The major plot points of Christopher and April make season seven bad. It's just not the quality of the first few seasons, but then neither was ASP's last season. I don't watch it because I hate who Lorelai became after mid season six.

[JayInChicago]

I'm more interested on exactly which Rory we will be getting. I don't like the estrangement between L and R because I don't think it was particularly pleasant to watch Rory become who she became. I like season 7 better because it walks some of that change back, actually.

[txhorns79]

9 hours ago, junienmomo said:

The season seven writers had written episodes in previous seasons, and their work is not bad. The major plot points of Christopher and April make season seven bad. It's just not the quality of the first few seasons, but then neither was ASP's last season. I don't watch it because I hate who Lorelai became after mid season six.

I would agree.  There were plot points during ASP's tenure that were just a mess.  The entire April storyline was handled about as poorly as I think it could be handled.  Season 7 likely didn't end up how ASP would have done things, but that's kind of neither here nor there.  ASP may want to pretend none of it ever happened, but I think for the purposes of the show, it did happen and it can't just be erased.  

[Kohola3]

I agree as well. For all of ASP's denigration of Season 7, Season 6 was an absolute cesspool.  Seven had a few tepid redeeming moments but she really screwed us over the year before.

[clack]

While there is no need to reference most of the S7 events, I have to think that the fact that Rory and Logan's relationship ended 9 years previously when Rory rejected Logan's proposal is not something AS-P can ignore.

[Viqutorious]

I think the Logan Rory proposal is the easiest to be rewritten. She changed her mind and her life took a different direction than we were left with.