Amy Sherman-Palladino

It hurts me so much to write this post, because the fact is, The Return of Jezebel James should be my new favorite TV show. It stars Parker Posey, one of my favorite actresses of all time, alongside Lauren Ambrose, who absolutely stole my heart as Claire Fisher on Six Feet Under. It has an intriguing plot: The sister who has her life together (Posey) can't have children, so she asks her screwed-up younger sister (Ambrose) to carry a child for her. And the whole thing is created and written by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who made her mark with Gilmore Girls.

So it hurts me, truly, to say that I didn't like The Return of Jezebel James. When I talked to Amy Sherman-Palladino at the TCA press tour last summer, she said she wanted Jezebel to be a return to her sitcom roots, when she was a writer on Roseanne. But Sherman-Palladino's quick and witty dialogue just doesn't seem to lend itself well to a show with a laugh track. Both Posey and Ambrose — but especially Posey — feel too big for the very two-dimensional world of Jezebel. And, maybe worst of all, the two don't quite have a believable chemistry as sisters. That last part, I believe, would come with time — but, given the show's other problems and the fact that Fox has already cut its order to seven episodes and socked it into a killer Friday night time slot, I'm not sure the actresses will ever have that chance.

It's possible my expectations were just too high. Maybe I'm being too hard on poor Jezebel; maybe it is a return to the days of Roseanne (or, as Posey suggested, Family Ties) and nothing more. But I wanted more, and Jezebel just didn't deliver for me. Still have faith? The show's first two episodes air tonight starting at 8 p.m. EDT and PDT. To watch a preview, just read more

Who's that lady wearing the funny hat?
Why, that's Amy Sherman-Palladino, the writer/producer behind "Gilmore Girls" and the upcoming Fox series "The Return of Jezebel James."

Great. Now, what's she doing with SJP?
The TV writer extraordinaire has recruited Sarah Jessica Parker for a starring role in her first feature film, an adaptation of the Amy Cohen book The Late Bloomer's Revolution.

What's the story?
The book is a memoir about what happens when the author's mother dies and she sets out to become closer to her father — while they're both testing the waters of the dating pool.

Sounds perfect for these two.
As Sherman-Palladino told Variety: "Character stuff is what I do best, and there is an interesting lady at the center of this who explores a relationship with her father, who'd always been the silent guy in the corner watching TV when her mom was around. The humor is key here, and Sarah Jessica is a great comedienne."

There's even a "Sex and the City" connection!
Like Bushnell, author Cohen was a sex columnist for the New York Observer, so SJP should be dealing with some familiar territory.

Source

The "Gilmore Girls" won't be gone for long if series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has her way. When TV Guide's Michael Ausiello tracked her down at Fox's Upfronts party last week, she told him she was hoping to write a two-hour TV movie to tie up all the loose ends from the show's finale.

Of course, that would be contingent on the cast coming back for the project — and given that the show was canceled because stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel didn't sign contracts to return, I doubt that's a sure thing. Still, when Ausiello checked in with the major stars, they at least seemed intrigued, if not completely sold. Bledel said she'd have to read the script and see how she felt at the time, while Scott Patterson said he'd consider it if Sherman-Palladino is serious and Graham said she'd do it just to learn the mythical four words that were supposed to end the series.

So, what do you think? Did "Gilmore Girls" wrap up well enough for you, or are you still curious to see where the characters might end up?

Not to be outdone, by the way, "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas said he might take a stab at a "Mars"-related feature film, though with all the rumors that have swirled around that show recently, I'm not sure I believe anything anymore.

Photo courtesy of The CW