TVSquad

It seems like everyone's been blogging from the TCA press tour this year. But one of the guys who's been blogging from the tour for a couple of years, Newark Star-Ledger critic Alan Sepinwall, seems to focus in on the more... uh... interesting elements of the event in his NJ.com blog. For instance, he recounts the scene at the Gilmore Girls session: he fights another reporter for microphone time, Lauren Graham gives a snippy retort to a reporter who asks about new show-runner Dave Rosenthal's checkered past, and the non-answers given by the stars during what Sepinwall calls "The Scrum", which is where the reporters gather around the stars in a more intimate fashion after the press conference is over. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

(S06E20) After I read the awesome interview Mike Ausiello of TVGuide.com conducted with Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, I began to understand the TV business a little better. First of all, it seems like what the Palladinos were seeking from Warner Brothers was a) a little security, hence the request for 2 years, even if the show was only going to last just one, and b) a little help, because they didn't seem to have the extensive writing and producing staff that other hit shows seem to have. They got neither, so they walked.

What also struck me about the interview is how fiercely they defended their creative vision of the show (something they won't at all be involved with in Season 7, by the way... no pay, no guidance) despite what many feel has been a down season for Gilmore Girls. To them, the characters need to develop and grow, and everything isn't going to be hunky-dory all the time, especially with Luke and Lorelai.

But that's still not an excuse for... this.

If you've shut off your TV for TV Turnoff Week -- and really, why would you? -- you're missing a lot, especially if you're a Gilmore Girls fan. Why? Because the show's going to give its loyal fans a "sneak preview" this week, one that they didn't even know they were going to get after watching the last episode.

What do I mean by that? Well, Tuesday's episode, named "Super Cool Party People", was written by Dave Rosenthal, who just happened to be named the new executive producer of the show, effective next season. It also, if the TV listing for it on the WB's website is any indication, will advance one of the more annoying storylines of the season in a way that the fans may actually enjoy.

So if you want to get an idea of what GG is going to be like without the Palladinos, pay close attention to tomorrow's episode. Even though it'll still have AS-P's fingerprints all over it (she and her husband rewrtie scripts they don't write themselves), it might still provide some clues.

Bob beat me to the punch with the news that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino are going to leave Gilmore Girls at the end of the year, so I didn't get to post my reaction to the story. Well, I've read Mike Ausiello's story, digested the comments, and slept on it. After all that -- and I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats -- here is what I think of the move:

Eh.

Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Dan have left the WB show because they couldn't come to an agreement on their contracts with the studio. They are going to leave at the end of this season.

It looks like the show will go on though. Dave Rosenthal, a producer and writer on the show already, will take over when the show returns next year (?) on the new CW.

[via Lee Goldberg]