[pinkpaisley]

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[pinkpaisley]

Team Palladino Says "Goodbye, Girls", 04.20.06 ...

My fellow Gilmore Girls fans, the news we've all been dreading has now been made absolutely, 100 percent, painfully official: Series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has opted not to renew her contract and will be leaving at the end of the season — and she's taking husband Dan with her.

"Despite our best efforts to return and ensure the future of Gilmore Girls for years to come, we were unable to reach an agreement with the studio and are therefore leaving when our contracts expire at the end of this season," said Amy and Dan in a statement. "Our heartfelt thanks go out to our amazing cast, hard-working crew and loyal fans. We know that the story lines from this season will continue into the next, and that the integrity of the show will remain long after we leave Stars Hollow."

(Crickets)

Yeah, I'm speechless, too. I've had more than a week to mentally prepare for this outcome — heck, I even wrote a story and watched helplessly as it was accidentally pushed live for a brief period last Wednesday — but I still can't believe they're actually leaving. The thought of Gilmore Girls heading into what is likely to be its final season (and its first on a brand-new network) without its mama or her right-hand man is unfathomable. But it is happening. And it's a total bummer.

I won't know for sure why they're bolting until I actually ask them (hopefully in the next few days), but as I reported on Friday, the primary sticking point was apparently the length of Gilmore Girls' renewal. AS-P wanted a two-year pickup, a demand that Warner Bros. refused to meet since Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel are only on board for one more year. Instead, the studio was ready to pay them just shy of $5 million for a one-year deal, an offer that was apparently good enough to refuse.

According to a statement released by Warner Bros., "While we are disappointed that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino have decided not to stay with the show next season, we are very confident that Dave Rosenthal, an experienced writer/producer with the show, will make the transition seamless moving into the seventh year of Gilmore Girls. We want to thank Amy for creating and nurturing this wonderful series for the past six years and giving us one of the most memorable mother/daughter relationships in television history."

(Crickets)

For now, I leave you with this quote from Graham, given to me around this time last year when it looked like the Palladinos might not return this season. I think she sums the whole thing up pretty well:

"I think it would be terrible [if Amy and Dan left]. We've had our ups and downs, but it's not a show that has ever had anyone else with the vision that she and Dan, who really are a force together, have. You can feel when someone else is trying to write Gilmore Girls-ish dialogue, you can just feel that it's... I know some people think that we talk too much, or the tone is not for everybody. Sometimes I just want to take a breath or have a reaction shot. I get it. But this is the person who is telling the story. So someone would be stepping in trying to replicate that, and I just think it's a bad idea."

(Crickets)
Credit: Michael Ausiello of TVGuide.com

[Conny]

Well, if they are able to leave their "baby" like that for money reasons or whatever, their heart doesn´t seem to be with the show anymore anyway. So who knows, it might be better that way. For the show and for us who´ll watch future episodes.

[Java_Angel86]

Originally Posted by Conny Well, if they are able to leave their "baby" like that for money reasons or whatever, their heart doesn´t seem to be with the show anymore anyway. So who knows, it might be better that way. For the show and for us who´ll watch future episodes.

Cheers to that. For a woman who apparently had the last two lines of the show written years ago I find it hard to believe she left for money reasons, WB were offering 5 million...that would have bought her enough hats to last a year or two lol. I just feel like the season hasn't been near the GG standard we're used to and now they're jumping ship.

[pinkpaisley]

I would love to hear ASP explain why they are leaving though. I think it's more than just a monetary thing. It has to be.

[Folie]

I heard Aussielo would try and get an interview from them so and ask them such questions so I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Have your read anything about the new guy? I read some stuff. Most of it is kinda weird actually.

[heartღaflutter]

Dave Rosenthal.. yeah I heard some stories about him. Though I don't pay attention to those... IMO he did a fantastic job on 6.03 The Ungraduate and I truly believe that he can pull it off.. There must be a reason why they chose him..

[llanoestacado]

Am I weird in that I'm not at all freaked out by them leaving? I have faith Maybe that makes me naive, but I have faith.

[Brilliant Disguise]

David S. Rosenthal wrote the next GG ep too

He has also written/produced for:
"Hope & Faith"
"Good Morning, Miami"
"Arsenio"
"Spin City" (tv series)

[Java_Angel86]

Funnily enough I was watching a show the other day, can't remember now what one it was but it said David Rosenthal at the start and for once I knew who it was! Can't wait to see his writing for this next ep

[pinkpaisley]

Posted by Juli on the GG board. It's Ausiello's interview with Amy and Dan. It contains no spoilers and give a pretty good idea why they are leaving.

Team Palladino: The Interview
I'm going to dispense with the fancy introductions just this once and cut right to the chase: Just moments ago I hung up with exiting Gilmore Girls show-runners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino and I'm pasting the Q&A below as I can transcribe it. That's right, you're getting it in real time, 24-style. Just please be patient with me. I'm a hunt-and-pecker, so this could take a while.

Ausiello: So, let's start with the obvious question: Why are you leaving?
Amy: Oh my God! Nobody told me! I just bought new curtains!

Ausiello: I was hoping this was all just a big punking.
Amy: Ashton Kutcher is standing behind me.
Dan: The short answer really is that we just could not come to terms with the studio for a new contract.
Amy: And we tried. We went to them very early — what was it January? — to say let's talk about this now.

Ausiello: Well, let's get into the longer version of the story, shall we?
Amy: Oh, you're adorable.

Ausiello: The word on the street is that you guys wanted a two-year pickup. True?
Amy: I don't think pickup is the right word, because this was a personal deal; this had nothing to do with the show. Our deal ends, or ended, already. Basically, what the f—k am I doing in editing? I should be home. So, we, personally as writers individually did not have a deal going forward. The show is picked up and the actors have a deal but we didn't have a deal. It wasn't so much about a pickup. We have gone year-to-year-to-year and this year we decided that this charade is ridiculous. We want to be able to be around to protect the show for next year, the year after, for how ever long the show is up and running.
Dan: We were doing one-year contracts for the last two years and we felt like…
Amy: It's very exhausting to do a one-year contract.
Dan: We felt like we wanted to be able to see more than 300 days into the future; we felt like we had earned that. And that was definitely one of our points. We wanted to play a significant role on Gilmore Girls for at least two more years, because as Amy has told you before, we feel like this show… it can weave and bob and change and mutate and keep going, because it's about family, it's about relationships, and it could keep going for two, three, who knows how many years.
Amy: We're also looking at the realities of they have to launch a new network. And they need product. Maybe they'll be very lucky and they'll have like 12 hits shows right off the bat this year, but we sort of felt like… we find ourselves in the position every year of doing this. Every year, it's like, 'Oh, it's the last year! One more year! Come back for one more year!" And it's like, you know, kids, don't tell me one more year anymore. I'm so tired of hearing one more year. It's exhausting. I firmly believe that as long as… I mean, Lauren Graham, every show she does something different. She grows more as an actress. These actors aren't done with their journey yet. And we feel like, sure, maybe it's the last year, but chances are, if it's a solid lead-in, if it does good numbers, if it helps them launch something, why wouldn't they want another year? That's not insane.

Ausiello: From the studios standpoint, the cast isn't committed for an eighth year. So, why would they go ahead and give you guys a two-year deal without a guarantee that any of the actors will be back?
Amy: Because we're special. Well, but you also get development. It's not like they're paying us to sit around and have cocktails. Because, believe me, if I was asking them to pay me to sit around and have cocktails, I'd understand them being a little upset. Look, it's business. Every time you pick up the trades and you read that some show-runner is getting a two-year deal, that show could be cancelled the following year and then that deal continues. Also, deals have options… there are all sorts of things that go into deals. What we were asking for was not crazy. It was not insane. It was not the moon. It was really about, frankly, protecting the show and about keeping us around so that as the show goes forward they don't have to every year panic, "Well, how do we move the show forward and who's going to be at the helm?" It would allow us to plan for one year, it would allow us to plan for two years. You know, a big part of making new deals with the actors would be telling them what that second year would be. Telling them what their stories will be. Telling them what their lives would be like. That's all stuff that we could have provided for 'em.

Ausiello: If the show didn't end up coming back for that eighth season, what would have happened?
Amy: Then we would have cleaned [Warner Bros. TV president] Peter Roth's house for a year. For a whole year. I would do the laundry and Dan would dust the CDs.
Dan: We never event got that far into the process. They just wanted to sign us for one year. We never got to talk about the logistics. We just sort of hit a wall with that request.
Amy: My biggest frustration, actually, was the fact that there was no dialogue. It was like we went to them and said, "This is what we would like," and they came back and said, "This is what we'll give you — take it or leave it." There was no chance for Dan and I and the studio to talk about what any of that would mean. And that's a little sad, a little frustrating, but you know what? It's business. They have a business model they need to stick to here and we understand that.

Ausiello: When I spoke to you guys last year, Amy, you said you conceived this show as a seven-year show, ending with Rory's graduation. Did you change your mind?
Amy: It's not that. I conceived this show to be able to go seven years, because that's the whole point of conceiving a show. To me, if you're going to pitch a show and it can't go seven years, go back to the drawing board and figure out a different pitch. So, for me, if you're going to end the show at Year 7, that's fine, that is great. It would have been great to end at Year 7. It would have been, frankly, great to end at Year 6, because we could have found an end this year.
Dan: But we wanted to break Bonanza and Gunsmoke's record.
Amy: Yeah! Also, when you look at 7th Heaven being around for 10 years, there's no reason this show couldn't have gone on for 10 years. You know, if I felt like the show was just this train wreck, if I felt like the actors were sluffing off, if I felt like people were asleep at the wheel, it would've been different. But when you see stuff happening, and when scenes and moments happen that you didn't think could happen before, and when you add a kid like Matt Czuchry to the show and all of a sudden it brings in different layers and different stories and different textures, it's like, it doesn't have to end. And I'm not saying that next year won't be the last year. It could be or it could go on. But from a business stand point, us doing year-to-year deals at this point in our careers did not make any sense. It just didn't make any sense. And, frankly, it's very stressful for me every year to not know, "Do I end it this year? Do I not end it this year? What do I do?" Which has been the way it's been every single freakin' year.

Ausiello: From the fans' POV, you've been with the show for six years, next year could be the final year, you have the chance here to wrap things up in a nice bow, tell this whole story, give everyone closure, the whole thing… When it became clear that the studio wasn't going to budge on the two-year deal, did you every consider going, "Look, **** it. We're going to stick around for this last year anyway. We're going to make it a great year. We're going to send the show out on a high note."
Amy: Honey, there were many other issues that weren't about the two years. There were many production issues that we simply, physically could not continue the show without certain production issues, certain production concessions from the studio. And that, frankly, is a reality also.

Ausiello: Can you say what any of those were?
Dan: For the six years, we've been working seven days a week, 'cause we knew all aspects of the show. We'd break every story, we'd edit, this last year we directed seven between ourselves, we have written 90-something scripts…
Amy: We also take a pass at all scripts that go out and by the time our season ends, by the time I'm done editing and by the time I'm done with sound mixes and everything like that, it's mid-May. We start back June 1. We work through every holiday, Christmas, Thanksgiving... it's been quite a load.
Dan: So, having done that for six years, we really wanted to expand our personnel base. We wanted more writers, more bodies in that writers room, we wanted a director on staff, which I think every other hour-long show has except for us. Not having that director on staff means Amy and I have to be down on stage more supervising other directors, which leads to the seven-days-a-week thing. So we were needing more personnel. And we never got around to convincing people that that was absolutely necessary.
Amy: And part of the reason we went to the studio so early in the game, is because we wanted to be able to go out and find writers then. And find a director-producer then. So that everything would be in place the following year. Because at this point in time, shows are being picked up, people are putting their schedules together, the marketplace is thin. Great people are being snapped up. And we went to the studio and said, look, give us a chance to get everything in place now. Let's have everyone sign up for next year. Let's start working on next year this year. I think it's a couple of things. Business-wise, we spoiled them, because why spend money on other writers when you don't have to? (Laughs) There's a little bit of that. And I also think that everybody thinks that everybody's playing poker, and who's going to blink first? And we were like, very honestly, like, in an Andy Hardy movie going, "No, seriously, we really want to put on a show in the barn if you just listen to us, mister!" And it just never got to that point. And it wasn't until things really came to a head that suddenly people realized, "The insane people are actually serious about this."

Ausiello: Separating from the business part, how does it feel to be passing the show off to some else before what could potentially be its final year.
Amy: It's horrifying. It's like a freaking nightmare. But, you know what? And I know I speak for Dan, too... well, maybe I don't but I am speaking for Dan now, if we can't ensure the quality... Every year we've tried to push the bar higher. For better or worse, whether people like it or don't like it, we tried to make our stories more complex, we try and push the quality higher. When we go on location we want to make more of that. We want to do more interesting things.

Spoiler:

You know, this year we did our troubadour thing, which has been a long time coming.

We personally push everything higher, and a lot of times in Year 6 or 7, a show-runner or show-runners take steps back. Their lives are easier. And our lives only get harder. And partially it's because we want to make things better and better and better until there's no more better to make. But also, if we can't do that as the kind of creative people we are, it's something... I can't be a part of something that I can't ensure that I'm giving 100 percent anymore. If I'm saying, "I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I feel like I'm going to flip out and be a Margot Kidder in the hedges with my teeth gone at Episode 6 if I don't get some help, somebody should listen. Because, seriously, me without my teeth is even scarier than me with my teeth. We really wanted to be able to say, "Here's how we ensure the show — for the life of the show." If it's next year or the year after, we can ensure it. We have been begging for these things every single year, and every single year it gets harder and harder and harder, and it got to the point where it's like, "No. We've done a lot for you. We've done a lot for you. We've done a lot for this network and we've done a lot for this studio. We need you to do something for us. We need some relief. We need more writers, we need a director-producer, we need to know that this isn't the year that you get the last year of your show and I end up drooling into a cup."
Dan: I was willing to give 110 percent, which is 10 percent more than Amy.

Ausiello: Let's talk about the $5 million figure that's being thrown around. It sounds like they backed the Brink's truck up and you told them to move it.
Amy: First of all, it was all in shekels. Ha! Ha! Shekels! It's a funny word.
Dan: We would never comment on the specifics of money.
Amy: We were raised better than that.
Dan: I haven't even told my parents how much our house cost nine years ago. We never talk about money. It's gauche, it's not classy. But having said that, I can tell you that we've never been unhappy with what we've been paid on this show.
Amy: Ever.
Dan: Ever. We were compensated very generously by the studio. What broke this deal was not at all in any way shape or form about our compensation.
Amy: It was a non-issue.

Ausiello: Let's talk about the creative. I don't know how much you guys read what's out there, but there's been a rocky reception to some of the stuff that's happened this season, specifically regarding Luke and Lorelai and the return of Christopher. What is your reaction to what you may or may not be hearing?
Amy: Look, we went through this in Season 4. We've been through this before. People love you, they hate you, they love you, they hate you. That's the nature of drama. We don't read a lot of that stuff because, frankly, we don't have the energy to do that. I will say what I've said before in this position, which is we've only done storylines that felt to us like the true place to take the characters. I think that if you don't grow and move you die. I've always felt that. Luke and Lorelai are two very complex human beings. They are two people in their late 30s who, for some reason, have never co-mingled with anyone, never lived with anyone, never been married. And that kind of person brings baggage to a relationship. If you ignore that baggage and say, "Now they're in love and happy and they're skipping around the town square and everything's delightful," then I think you're doing a disservice to the characters and the storyline and, in the end, I think we'd be getting slammed for, "Oh, Luke and Lorelai are so boring! All they do is skip in a circle now." I think that no matter what you're going to do, it's going to go up, it's going to go down. I feel that Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel have done some of the best work of their careers this year. And I think they deserve storylines that take them to new places. We have a responsibility to our actors who are here 24 hours a day, who can't eat a pretzel because you have to be perfect and thin and gorgeous in front of the camera, and who have never let us down. Who have never stopped committing to the stories. And if they're going to do that then we've got to make sure that the stories are digging deeper, are getting more complex, are pushing forward, otherwise everybody will just sort of take a nap. While I never like people to be upset, especially our fans, because our fans have been so unbelievably loyal to us and have kept us where we are now... I mean we're up against the biggest year of American Idol ever and someone's still tuning in. So we're very fortunate to have these people in our lives and hopefully they will, as they've done before when they've gotten upset, hang around long enough to find out that things that go up, go down, go sideways and eventually come back around again. But I think I feel very comfortable in saying we did the right thing for the characters that we've created and we stayed true to who they were and we took them to new places. And that's also how you extend the life of a show. If you just kept them static and everything was happy and everybody was like, "Mama, look, a pretty tree!" How long can you look at a ****ing pretty tree before you want to kill yourself.


ETA: I'm adding this response by Amy because I think its important. I can't post the question because I didn't read it all because it seemed to be leading toward a spoilery thing that I do not care to know about just yet. However, this answer has NO spoilers in it:

Amy: And also I just really want to stress, we did not quit. Everything we put in place this year, we put in place so that we could continue it next year. And that's just the bottom line. This entire story line was in place so that Dan and I could continue it next year. So, if anyone thinks that I threw something at the fans — and why I would want to throw something at the fans to make them upset when all they've done is support the show — it's a little nutty. We threw the story line out there because we knew where we were going next year. Dan and I knew. Now, it's open now to many different places for the next crew that comes in. I know it's not up to us to tell them where to go. They have to make that decision on their own. But everything we put into place we put into place fully expecting to continue it. This has been a very awful, heartbreaking thing. When a deal falls apart because somebody wants a gazillion dollars and I demand that my parking space be painted pink and that every time I show up somebody sings "Once in Love with Amy" then fine. Walk away. But what we asked for from the studio had nothing to do with money. Dan and I never even got around to discussing price, because we just wanted our other issues to be talked about first. We earned that, we deserved that, we should've gotten that and we should've been coming back next year. And that's my feeling. I'm very, very sorry we're not. This show has been my heart and my soul for six years. I dragged Dan away from a lovely room of boys doing fart jokes over at Family Guy to come play with the girls and, between the two of us, we have kept this show as fresh and alive and as hopping as it has been. And we have done nothing but devote every single aspect of our lives for the last six years to this show. We haven't had time to do anything else. We haven't breathed anything else. It never occurred to us. And now that it's over, we're very, very sad. But I need it very clear out there that we did not walk away. And what we asked for was absolutely, ridiculously within our rights to get. And I feel like without it, the show really would've not done well next year because we just couldn't have maintained this high-wire act that we've been on for this long.

This is just the first part, I believe. This is my favourite line: "Mama, look, a pretty tree!" How long can you look at a ****ing pretty tree before you want to kill yourself?

[Conny]

If someone else would have given that interview, I´d have called them arrogant and overly convinced of their own abilities. But in this case I can´t even blame them to talk like that since they created the show and dealt with it 24/7 for 6 years. Not quite buying the 'it´s not at all about money' part since it´s usually for sure about money in some way in this business, but I´d have thought the studio would consider giving them what they want. I guess the studio holds all the rights for the show, which must be frustrating as the creator.

Can you imagine how strange it must be to watch your show developing totally differently in the next season than you had planned it? It will even bother me as the viewer and will feel as if someone manipulated the destiny of the people of Stars Hollow.

[Folie]

Well they didn't convinse me (I'm spoiled so I've read the whole thing).....There are several points in there that I totally think they are either deluding themselves with or basically conider us, the fans, idiots.
And bringing up 7th Heaven? Are they SERIOUS!

[sidhe-seer]

Originally Posted by Folie Well they didn't convinse me (I'm spoiled so I've read the whole thing).....There are several points in there that I totally think they are either deluding themselves with or basically conider us, the fans, idiots. And bringing up 7th Heaven? Are they SERIOUS!

I agree!! I had a strange feeling as if they were just making fun of us doing this interview and some of the replies just make me feel they have absolutely no respect for the fans..

[pinkpaisley]

Originally Posted by Fojbe I agree!! I had a strange feeling as if they were just making fun of us doing this interview and some of the replies just make me feel they have absolutely no respect for the fans..

I doubt they don't have any respect for the fans. Just because they are putting their needs first, doesn't mean they don't respect us. They do realise that some fans will always hate them and love them and hate them again. By admitting that they can't give 100% anymore and therefor need to step back, they are thinking of the fans.

I just hope that the show will be what they had wanted it to be next season.