BURBANK, Calif. — On the surface, "The Gilmore Girls" doesn't appear to be the most traditional of TV families. It's the story of a 32-year-old woman who has a 16-year-old daughter and a rather distant relationship with her own parents.
But appearances can be deceiving. This is a show that was nurtured by the advertiser-inspired Family Friendly Initiative — a show that's all about traditional family values in a world that's almost too good to be true.
"Gilmore Girls" (Thursday, 7 p.m., WB/Ch. 30) grew out of a conversation between creator/executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino and her producing partner, Gavin Pollone.
"Gavin had said, 'Wouldn't it be cool to have sort of a show where mom and teen are more like pals — more like contemporaries than mother and daughter?' " Sherman-Palladino said. "And the idea of having a very intelligent girl who took a little sidetrack and managed to carve out a really nice life for her daughter."
And "Gilmore Girls" is a really nice show — funny, sweet, thoughtful and utterly charming.
Loralai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) grew up a child of privilege, with a workaholic father, Richard (Edward Hermann), and a controlling mother, Emily (Kelly Bishop). When Loralai got pregnant at the age of 16, she broke with her parents and went out on her own, eventually working her way up from a job as a maid to running a small-but-charming inn in Connecticut — and devoting her life to her daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), who has grown up to be a terrific 16-year-old.
As the series opened, Rory was accepted to a prestigious-but-expensive prep school that Loralai could not afford, forcing her to turn to her parents for money. They ante up, but with a catch — Emily insists she and Richard be allowed into Loralai's and Rory's lives, including a weekly family dinner.
But that description doesn't do the show justice — these are well-rounded, believable characters who defy TV conventions and offer surprises at every turn. Even the grandparents are not what they at first appear to be — and the actors who play them are grateful.
"The interesting thing I found is, as the scripts have evolved, so has the character," Bishop said. "She has gotten deeper. . . . They've allowed us to grow."
"When you start tearing away the surface . . . you get into a very rich vein, and Amy really has it pegged beautifully," Herrmann said. "So we're very, very happy the way the characters are evolving."
Particularly charming is the growing relationship between grandparents and granddaughter — a relationship that's rarely seen on television in any form, let alone in one that's as loving and respectful as this one.
Perhaps more astounding still is the portrayal of 16-year-old Rory, a character more like someone you'd be likely to meet walking down the street where you live than watching "Beverly Hills, 90210" or "Dawson's Creek."
"This is a character that I've been wanting to get on the air for a very long time," Sherman-Palladino said. "Seeing the teens that are on TV — they all dress like they're 35 and on the cover of Cosmo, and they're all having sex at 12. And I'm, like, 'Wow. That was so not what I went through.' I thought somewhere in America there must be one or two kids running around that hadn't slept with somebody yet.
"I thought — let's cater to that audience because when you take a kid who's already sleeping with somebody, who's already dressing like Linda Evangelista, you're missing all the good stories. You're missing all the development and you're missing all the tears. And you're missing all the, 'What do I do?' "
Which fit perfectly into her idea of having a mother and daughter who were more like friends. Not that Rory is a 16-year-old who acts like an adult — or, worse still, is smarter than the adults as so often seems to happen on TV. The progression of her relationship with a teenage boy has been sweet, innocent, wonderful and utterly winning.
"When it comes to matters of the heart, especially because of how it turned out with Loralai's background, she is just, like — 'A beautiful boy. I don't know what to say or do,' " Sherman-Palladino said.
In a television environment in which fictional teens, if they're at all troubled about their relationships with the opposite sex, it's about with whom to have sex, "The Gilmore Girls" built an entire episode around Rory and Dean's first kiss.
"The first kiss is so charming because she's so, like, 'Ahhhhhh.' You're missing all that good stuff when you go straight for (the bedroom)," Sherman-Palladino said.
And, friendship or not, Loralai is not an overly permissive mother. Given her own history, she wants something different — and, as she often says, something better — for Rory. So when, in a subsequent episode, Rory doesn't come home one night from a date with Dean, Loralai is beside herself.
It was completely innocent — the young couple were reading a book together when they fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning.
"That was my favorite moment, when you've got two gorgeous kids sitting there, and they have a nice kiss. They look, they smile, and then they go back to reading Dorothy Parker, and they fall asleep," Sherman-Palladino said.
"It was so wonderful and so charming, and then the scene where she is so floored when her mom accuses her of doing anything other than that. Because in their existence, (Rory says) 'I don't do that. You know I don't do that.' That's the fun you get to play."
Loralai's open-but-loving parenting style is contrasted not only with her own parents' but with the parents' of Rory's best friend. Lane (Keiko Agena) is based on Sherman-Palladino's real-life best friend, with whom she grew up and who now works on the production staff of the show. Both Lane and her real-life counterpart are Korean-American daughters of very traditional immigrant parents.
"She comes from a Seventh-Day Adventist, very traditional Korean family, and she is more American than I am," Sherman-Palladino said. "She is rock 'n' roll. . . . They come from no drinking, no dancing. It's 'Footloose' in that house."
"People come over, they stick to their traditions, they hold onto their culture, and then they have kids and these kids are American. They're watching VH1 and MTV, and they're going out there and piercing things. And rather than play the normal, sort of I-hate-Mom, 'I'm-going-to-rebel, Menendez kind of thing, I wanted to play a kid that really loved her parents and wanted to make them happy and wanted to make them proud, but wanted to find her own way, also."
Like her real-life counterpart, Lane rebels a bit. In one recent episode, she tricked her mother and went on a double-date with Rory, Dean and a boy she liked, And, of course, her mother found out and blew a gasket. Lane wasn't happy when she was grounded indefinitely, but the episode did indeed make it clear that she loves and respects her parents — something that's not so clear among most TV teens with far less strict upbringings.
All of which leaves "Gilmore Girls" as an oasis of those hard-to-define family values.
"You know, this is a business," said WB chieftain Jamie Kellner, "but sometimes we have the opportunity to put a show like this on the air — something we're really proud of. And we're very proud of 'Gilmore Girls.' "
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com