"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the American comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls. It originally aired on the WB in the United States on October 5, 2000. The episode was written by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
The episode introduces the two main characters, Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel), as well as Lorelai's parents (Kelly Bishop and Edward Herrmann) and residents of Stars Hollow. After Rory is accepted to the prestigious Chilton Preparatory School, Lorelai is forced to go to her wealthy parents for financial assistance. Her parents happily loan their daughter the money in exchange for an end to the estrangement and a family dinner every Friday night. Unfortunately, things hit a snag when a cute new transfer student flirts with Rory, leading the younger Gilmore to wonder whether leaving Stars Hollow High is really what she wants.
Plot
The show begins with shots introducing Stars Hollow, Connecticut, home of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. Lorelai is a 32-year-old single mother who is so close to her 16-year-old daughter, Rory, that many people mistake them for sisters. The show opens at the local diner Luke's, run by Luke Danes (Scott Paterson), where the girls go every morning. Lorelai has a special relationship with the owner and an addiction to caffeine. She squares off with the owner on a daily basis over just how much coffee she's allowed to have. While getting coffee, an unsuspecting male hits on both of the Gilmore girls, separately. This displays some of the quirky problems the Gilmore girls have. Clearly, there are hazards in being a mother and daughter pair so close in age.
Gilmore Girls is an American television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. Sherman-Palladino, her husband, Daniel Palladino, David S. Rosenthal and Gavin Polone served as the executive producers. The series debuted on October 5, 2000 on The WB to widespread critical acclaim, and remained a tent-pole to the network until its move to The CW on September 26, 2006. The series was canceled after its seventh season and ended its run on May 15, 2007.
The show follows single mother Lorelai Gilmore (Graham) and her daughter, also named Lorelai but who prefers to be called Rory (Bledel), living in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. The town is filled with colorful characters and is located approximately 30 minutes from Hartford, Connecticut (as stated in the show's pilot). Ambition, education, work, family, and questions of class constitute some of the series' central concerns. The show's social commentary manifests most clearly in Lorelai's difficult relationship with her wealthy, appearance-obsessed parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore, and in Rory's interactions between the students at the Chilton Academy, and later, Yale University.
"Girls" is a song by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released in 1987 as well as the music video as the seventh and final single from their debut album Licensed to Ill. Like "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)", this song was never performed live and it is one of the few songs on the album that are not in the vein of their standard rap songs.
Song structure and lyrics
The song is the shortest on the album, lasting just over 2 minutes long. The song's instrumental is relatively simple, consisting of a drum beat being played over a vibraphone loop, with occasional pauses. The song contains many similarities to the song "Shout" by The Isley Brothers.
Lyrically, the song talks about the narrator (Ad-Rock)'s desire for women. He recalls a experience from two years before with a woman who had an interest in the narrator's band mate MCA. MCA did not share her feelings and permitted the narrator to pursue her romantically. Ad-Rock takes the woman for a walk near a body of water and asks for her hand. The woman rejects his proposal. She moves to a far away location but in the present day the narrator sees her back in town showing interest in his other band mate, Mike D.
"Girls" is a song by British hip hop group N-Dubz. It is the third overall single taken from their third studio album, Love.Live.Life. The single was released as a digital download on 12 December 2010. The song was produced by Jim Jonsin and written by Tulisa, Dappy and Fazer, Jim Jonsin, Danny Morris, and Zachary Steiner Anderson. The single debuted on the UK Singles Chart on 5 December 2010, peaking at #23, based entirely on downloads from the album.
Music video
The music video premiered on T4 on 5 December 2010. The video begins with Dappy sitting on a throne, girls queue up two by two to kiss him. We see the group singing in front of lights throughout the video. The screen cuts to Dappy with a girl with snow falling on them. After the first chorus, Tulisa is seen playing poker with a group of men, she wins the game and kisses the female dealer, who is in fact Lady Ny, a fellow singer and one of Tulisa's best friends. Fazer is then seen in front of the same backdrop as the single cover, four screens with women dancing behind them. Skepta makes a cameo in the video wearing a Boy Better Know chain. The clean version has alternate shots for when the profanity words are edited out.
5 Girls is a documentary released in 2001 by Kartemquin Films for PBS's P.O.V. series. The film follows five strong young women between the ages of 13 and 17. Unlike the myriad reports, books and "specials" that focus on young women as passive and powerless, 5 Girls explores the ways these girls discover the resources necessary to successfully navigate the rocky waters of adolescence. It focuses on the positive ways girls learn to adapt to challenge in their lives by understanding and exercising choices, by believing in their strength when others do not and by resisting powerful cultural messages, which urge them to be silent.
Directed by Maria Finitzo, 5 Girls made its television premiere on PBS's P.O.V. on October 2, 2001.
At the time of the film's release, The New York Times praised 5 Girls for its "intimacy and candor". Reminiscent of Michael Apted's classic Up! series, the film unfolds into a bold "sociological portrait" showing the transformation of each girl into a woman. In 2002, 5 Girls was awarded the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film & Digital Media from the Council on Foundations. The film also took home The Silver Award from the Chicago Film & Television Competition.
The first season of 8 Simple Rules aired on ABC between September 17, 2002 and May 20, 2003, it consists of 28 episodes. On August 7, 2007 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD for the first time ever, on a 3-disc set.
Guest stars throughout season one include: Cybill Shepherd, Jason Priestley, Terry Bradshaw, Nick Carter, Shelley Long, Patrick Warburton, Thad Luckinbill, Billy Aaron Brown and Larry Miller.
Cast and characters
Main cast
Guest cast
Alcatraz is an American television series created by Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, and produced by J. J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions. The series premiered on Fox on January 16, 2012, as a mid-season replacement. Switching between eras, the series focuses on the Alcatraz prison, which was shut down in 1963 due to unsafe conditions for its prisoners and guards. The show's premise is that both the prisoners and the guards disappeared in 1963 and have abruptly reappeared in modern-day San Francisco, where they are being tracked down by a government agency. The series starred Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill, and Parminder Nagra.
The show was canceled by Fox on May 9, 2012.