‘Gilmore Girls’: Kelly Bishop Enjoyed ‘Slapstick’ of Emily/Richard Relationship
The Gilmore Girls weren’t just Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel). Kelly Bishop was the third Gilmore girl as Lorelai’s mother, Emily. The show gave the Gilmore parents, Emily and Richard (Edward Hermann) a lot to do, too, and Bishop loved it.
Bishop and Hermann were part of a Television Critics Association panel for Gilmore Girls Season 5 in 2005. They expressed their pleasure at what the show allowed them to do.
Kelly Bishop embraced ‘Gilmore Girls’ slapstick
The aesthetic of Gilmore Girls was rapid fire dialogue. The show wasn’t above physical pratfalls either.
“Almost to slapstick,” Bishop said. “I finally got to do my physical comedy climbing out of the basement window. That was so much fun.”
Emily and Richard were relationship goals
Gilmore Girls Season 5 included the 100th episode, “Wedding Bell Blues,” in which Emily and Richard renewed their vows. Bishop appreciated the attention Gilmore Girls gave the senior Gilmores’ relationship.
“Those of you who are in long-term relationships will realize that you have those, of course, that initial lust/love and all that, and then it kind of settles down. And then it kind of hits a point sometimes in a relationship where you’re really bored with the other person. And then out of no place and for no particular reason, it doesn’t have to be a big function. You look at the person one day, and you are so in love with them all over again that you think, ‘How could I have even thought that?’ This happens through life.”
Kelly and Richard had already been married even longer than Bishop in real life. Creators Dan Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino couldn’t quite agree on how long that was, though.
“It changes a lot to suit our storytelling,” Palladino joked.
Sherman-Palladino initially said 39 years, then hedged.
“It’s 25 to 40 years,” she said.
Emily and Richard Gilmore’s relationship broadened the appeal of ‘Gilmore Girls’
By season 5, Gilmore Girls had moved from The WB to the recently formed CW when the former network merged with UPN. Bishop appreciated that a show on The CW devoted so much attention to her generation.
“It’s been really a fun year and one of the things I like so much about this show is I know The WB is known as a young network and viewed, I think, a little bit too much that way,” Bishop said. “This show is multi-generational. And frankly, it’s not about my own ego, but I wouldn’t be inclined to watch this show as a viewer if it weren’t for us, because I’m going to identify with an older person. I’m not going to be watching shows about teenagers because I’ve been there, done that. So it’s great fun. And actually, Amy and Dan have given us really good stuff to do this year, a lot of fun.”
Hermann concurred.
“The palette is rich,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff to talk about.”
