‘Gilmore Girls’ Fans Scolded Rob Estes Over Jess’s Dad
By the time Rob Estes appeared on Gilmore Girls, he was already a veteran of Melrose Place. Estes was supposed to lead a Gilmore Girls spinoff with Milo Ventimiglia. Since the spinoff didn’t go forward, Estes’s two appearances on Gilmore Girls were the only signs of Jess (Ventimiglia)’s father, Jimmy (Estes), but fans still had stern words for Estes.
Estes was a guest on Scott Patterson’s I Am All In podcast on Sept. 18 to discuss his role on Gilmore Girls. He shared the confrontation he had with a Gilmore Girls fan over being Jess’s father.
‘Gilmore Girls’ fans welcomed Rob Estes mostly
When Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino first cast Estes, he remembers a warm reception. His initial casting came with buzz about the potential spinoff, which excited Gilmore Girls fans too. But, even actors who were only on one episode still get talked about. Linda Gehringer, for example, still reports Gilmore Girls fans quoting Lorelai at her.
“I remember, the loyalty to Gilmore Girls was unbelievable,” Estes said on I Am All In. “So I’d be in the market or whatever and the reaction was ‘Oh my God! Hey, what’s going to happen with this?’ And I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I think it’s going to be on the show.’ It was great.”
The ‘Gilmore Girls’ fan who had a strong opinion about Jess’s father
By the time Estes would appear at the end of Gilmore Girls season 3, fans had heard a lot about Jess’s father. Jess was living with his uncle, Luke (Patterson), but Luke couldn’t fill the void of Jess’s parents. The two episodes that closed season 3 could have set up the Jess and Jimmy spinoff. In the end, Jess came back to Stars Hollow to remain on Gilmore Girls, but fans were looking out for Jess.
“I remember distinctly at Gelson’s, somebody kind of saying to me, ‘You’d better be a good dad to him. You’d better be there for him,’” Estes said. “I was like what? There was no preamble, there was no ‘Hey, I’m a Gilmore Girls fan, you’d better be there for him.” And I was like, ‘I don’t know you. What?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, on the show.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ Good group.’”
Some of the spinoff scenes ended up on the show
Estes reported that Sherman-Palladino rejected The WB’s low episode count for the spinoff. She wanted to do more so instead of settling for less, she just killed the whole spinoff. Not all of it went to waste, though. Estes said some of the scenes filmed for the spinoff ended up in Gilmore Girls.
“That’s why I’m shocked to see some of the scenes sprinkled in,” Estes said. “I think that’s from the pilot. The pilot never aired.”
