Arts Goodbye Girls
If you value the smart, funny writing that informs the WB series Gilmore Girls, then you won’t be too happy to hear that series originator Amy Sherman-Palladino (who was also the critical force behind the groundbreaking first few years of Roseanne) has left the building, apparently making her one of the first casualties of the merging of the UPN and WB networks. Full story here. Granted, the quality was starting to slip this season anyway, but Sherman-Pallandino’s brain was the source of all those fantastic pop culture references (nods to the dialog of Chinatown, the excesses of Dorothy Parker, and the virtues of Fugazi, just to name a few), so I can’t imagine they’ll rebound from this too easily.
Amy S-P and her husband made the decision to leave the show before the merger--they apparently were shopping around a new show that she described as involving a dramedy featuring a Nick and Nora - type couple in New York, I believe. And writing aside, Amy S-P is directly responsible for the utterly ridiculous story arcs of the last two seasons, so I'm hoping the final season might feature less in the way of rich assholes, surprise daughters and further Luke Danes character assassination.