Season finale: Where “Oy with the poodles already” was born! I’ve said it on command for you in airports across the land, but honestly I forgot where exactly in the show it appeared. Now I remember!
For you speed nerds, note how over the course of this year, the pace of the show increased exponentially, and everyone began talking a whole lot faster. This was around the time when we started to be known for that. Watch the first and last episodes back-to-back, and it’s super-evident. I was sort of talking that way already, but it starts to become Stars Hollow–wide. This resulted in our already lengthy scripts getting even longer. Also, I remember having an audition this year and being asked before I went in if I could “talk normally.” Ha!
Also, in general, how great is Liza Weil as Paris? Discuss.
SEASON THREE
Ah yes. Here’s the episode “Eight o’Clock at the Oasis,” where I single-handedly launched Jon Hamm’s career by casting him as Peyton Sanders. Just kidding—I had nothing to do with his casting or any of his success to come. But I do remember thinking what a talented, foxy dude he was.
In the episode “Lorelai Out of Water” my fishing-gear looks are truly upsetting, that’s my friend Billy Burke playing my beau, and Adam Brody is so charming as Dave Rygalski.
Times were different: In the second episode this year, someone *69s our cassette-tape-based answering machine!
Fashion and hair: In the opening scene this season, I’m wearing a nightgown—or is it a slip dress? Lots of floral prints this year. And it looks like I was giving curly hair another go. Let’s see how many episodes I last before abandoning this folly—will I never learn?
What I love: The speech in the first episode where Lorelai confesses to Luke she’s worried she’ll never have “the whole package” now that she and Christopher have broken up. It was timely for Lorelai, and I think for me too. Amy wrote and directed this episode, and Luke consoles Lorelai in such a generous way, even though you can tell it’s causing him pain to do so. Well played, Scott Patterson. And in the episode “The Big One,” Liza gives her fantastic “I’m not going to Harvard” speech. Amy wrote this one too. She really is the master of moments that are heartbreakingly funny.
Season finale: That’s my sister Maggie sitting right between Rory and Paris at the Chilton graduation.
Over the years, many family members made cameos, in fact. My cousin Tim still talks about his favorite episode: “The one about the guy carrying flowers through the lobby of the Dragonfly.” He (obviously) starred in it as The Guy. I’m sure it’s your favorite episode too.
Rory’s speech to Lorelai at graduation gets me every time. Oh, and the season began with Lorelai having a dream about being with Luke, and ends with Luke having one about Lorelai. I never noticed that parallel before!
SEASON FOUR
In the second episode this year, that’s our dialogue coach, George Bell, playing Professor Bell at Yale. One of my favorite pieces of dialogue actually happens a few episodes later, in this exchange between Kelly and me regarding my logo sweatpants:
EMILY: You have the word “juicy” on your rear end.
LORELAI: Well, if I’d known you were coming over, I would have changed.
EMILY: To what—a brassiere with the word “tasty” on it?
Getting my makeup done for “The Festival of Living Art” episode every day for a week taught me that I would never want to be in an actual Festival of Living Art. Torture. However, our makeup artists won an Emmy for this episode, which was pretty darn cool.
Times were different: Rory realizes she wrote her Yale moving-in date down wrong when she double-checks her Filofax day planner.
Fashion and hair: The season opens with Lorelai and Rory returning from their backpacking trip through Europe. I’m proud yet horrified to tell you that the entire outfit I’m wearing in the first scene—the kelly-green EVERYONE LOVES AN IRISH GIRL T-shirt, the Ireland soccer jacket, and the oversized knit pom-pom hat with the word DUBLIN on it—were all from my personal closet. Oh, and the gold clover necklace was mine too. I was really hitting the Irish thing hard.
Not sure what I did to my hair in Episode 15, “Scenes from a Mall,” but it’s suddenly Grand Ole Opry–level voluminous.
What I love: This was a great season for hunky Milo Ventimiglia as Jess facing off against hunky Jared Padalecki as Dean. They are both so talented and equally compelling as suitors, I can see why “teams” formed. I love Michel’s devotion to his chow-chow too. This was probably the year Amy and Dan got theirs, to whom they were also extremely dedicated. I also love little clever things, like Rory waking up with a Post-it on her head that Lorelai left as a reminder, and that a tipping point in Lorelai’s feelings for Luke is the discovery that “Luke can waltz,” embellished with lots of eyebrow wagging on my part, for emphasis.
Season finale: In general, I remember being worried about what would change when Rory went off to college and Lorelai and Rory didn’t live together anymore, but I think it was handled well. By the end of this season, Luke and Lorelai (finally) kiss, and Dean and Rory reunite, although he’s still married, which is the start of trouble between mother and daughter. All our guys are at bonkers hotness levels this season. And it was so much fun to have my New York–based friend Chris Eigeman, who played Jason Stiles, in town for a while.
SEASON FIVE
This is basically a whole season of Rory and Lorelai having tension, Emily and Richard having tension, and Dean and Lindsay having tension. Fight, fight, fight!
Times were different: Lorelai says something about being worried there’s anthrax on her bagel. Anthrax was terrifying at the time, but it seems like a relatively mellow threat given what we face now. Can you imagine being all that worried today about something coming toward you at the speed of the post office? Also, at a Friday night dinner gone wrong, Lorelai asks one of Emily’s maids for a phone book so she and Rory can order a pizza.
Fashion and hair: Shrugs—little mini-sweaters—are very big this year. Also, wearing short-sleeved shirts layered over contrasting colored long-sleeved shirts. Thankfully, I seem to have managed to tame my country singer hair a bit. I’m wearing my own glasses in “We Got Us a Pippi Virgin,” which makes me look a little like Tina Fey, I think. Here I am doing “Weekend Update”:
What I love: Talented Matt Czuchry joins the cast, further complicating whom you’d choose as Rory’s Destiny. And we hit one hundred episodes this year, which was quite a milestone. To celebrate, they brought the cast and crew down to one of the stages, where we took a big group photo and were given a giant cake to share. At the time I thought this was sort of anticlimactic. Like, “Thanks for the hundreds of hours of work; please enjoy this vanilla icing!” Later I learned that a one-hundred-episode cake is the standard tradition. Every show that gets there does it. We got a cake on Parenthood too. So it’s a nice thing. But if I ever get close to hitting a hundred episodes again, I’m going to try to bump this tradition up to diamonds, or a chocolate fountain at least.
In our one hundredth episode, Emily and Richard renew their wedding vows. Ed’s face as Kelly walks toward him down the aisle is just beautiful.
Season finale: Rory tells Lorelai she wants to take time off from Yale. Lorelai is upset and doesn’t want her to move back home. Luke tries to help Lorelai, and her response is “Luke, will you marry me?” And before he even has time to answer her, it’s the end. Wow. As season finales go, that’s a pretty exciting one.
SEASON SIX