I figured out why I like the Gilmore Girls

- 2 minutes read - 238 words

I like shows that involve tight dialog with quirky people in small towns….

BUT there is one caveat, if the work rests on the lazy screenwriter’s crutch of “put them in the South” I will reject the work like B+ kidney in an A- bloodstream.

The archetype of a show of this type is “Northern Exposure”. Tight dialog, interesting plots, quirky characters - not in the South.

GG: Tight dialog, interesting plots, quirky characters - not in the South.

It just seemed that everytime some Hollywood grass chewer wanted to make characters quirky and justify why they were quirky he put them in the South.

“Hm, these women are concerned about their hair and makeup a lot, let’s put them in the South (Steel Magnolias)”

“Hm, these quirky women are going through menopause, let’s put them in the South (Fried Green Tomatoes)”

“Hm, I’m a talentless hack whose feeble attempt at inflammatory, ill-timed tongue-in-cheek comedy is sloppily used to get me airtime on CNN” – oh wait, sorry Tucker Carlson worked his way into this diatribe. Sorry. ahem

Where was I?

“Hm, let’s make the old lady indomitably proud for no apparent reason – but she’s also really sensitive – especially to – black people (Driving Miss Daisy)”

It’s much easier to say “she’s Suthun, that’s why” than explain the character, or better yet as a screenwriter, to create scenes which explain the character to the audience visually.