Well all this post reveals to me is that I watch way too much television. But the interesting thing I have discovered in watching most of the first four seasons of Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing" and Amy Sherman Palladino's "Gilmore Girls" is that while these shows may have different themes among them, their are many commonalities when it comes to the pace of these shows. For one both of these producers have a focus on the fast walking and talking while at the same time. Furthermore, the main protagonists in the show always seem to be in a rush or having a deadline to get something done, be it packing for Yale, passing a Bill, or getting the funds to a major brand name school.
But even with these similarities both of these shows have very different themes. For instance with "West Wing" it is a democrats fantasy and escapism from reality since the show started in 2000 and ended in 2006 and about this time George Bush junior had been elected as President. Even though I would cut it off at 2003 because Soorkin stopped producing for the television show from season 5 to 7.
The show "The West Wing" became to represent for some democrats their version of White House life that was ran by liberal democrats who just wanted to help people, and not try to sacrifice their moral integrity in the process. This perspective can be further shown when one of the main character Sam comments that in terms of education that "The schools should be palaces and that teachers should be treated like kings". This even more element in military skirmishes that take place in the situation room because our fictional President Bartlett played by the charismatic Martin Sheen does not want to get involved in wars with his fellow countries and at the very least wants to try to be diplomatic and peaceful before the United States is reduced to having to fight against another country. These would be seen as tenets of a president with seemingly liberal democratic leanings that Soorkin is notorious for portraying in all of his television shows. This show takes a political commentary hope for viewers while giving hope to fifty percent of population for a democratic president in the future at the time.
But with this "Gilmore Girls" their are hints of political commentary, but it seems to be more of a social/cultural commentary in my opinion. I have seen all the episodes of this show two to three times over and I would exclude season seven since Palladino had no hand in producing it. This can be seen in the episode "Application Anxiety" in season three where Rory gets her Harvard application and she and her mom are watching a Brady Brunch singing and dance special when that morning Rory has been reading Gogol's "Dead Souls". There is a strong contrast between the high and low culture in this show, but the great thing about these figures is that they are smart and can adapt to both of these seemingly different worlds. This can further seen by the contrast between Rory/her mom when compared to the grandparents.
This becomes evident in season one episode six called "Rory's Birthday parties". We see this contrast when Lorelai's parents throw Rory a high class catered party for their friends and her classmates, and the next night she has this casual affair with her stars hallow family and friends. But even with the differences between high and low culture through out the show I think that they can be related to one another, the best example of this I can give is through fashion when the couture designs on the runway trickle down to the budget wears that one will find at the mall, Target and Ross.
Now even though these shows are different in terms of themes, and similar in their approach, this has me wondering if Palladino and Sorkin have ever met. I say this because I have seen Palladino's show "Gilmore Girls" many times over and the first season of her new show "Bunheads", and I have watched Sorkin's "Sports Night", "The West Wing", "Studio 60 on the sunset strip", and some of "The Newsroom", and they seem so similar to one another.
Also I am wondering if these two should collaborate to make a show that is so good, that any major or cable network would have no reason to reject such a proposal. But before this occurs I would like to know if anyone can find out if they know whether Sorkin and Palladino have met in the past, I have done my research online and have not found anything. So if anyone has any information about this be it an article or expose please, can you please post it as a comment for this blog. So readers I have to ask do you think Soorkin and Palladino should collaborate and make a kick ass show? Why or Why not?
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