The new TV season doesn't start until the fall, and the WB has already canceled one of its new shows. And a midseason replacement show at that.
The untitled "Gilmore Girls" spinoff won't be spinning anywhere. The network and its sister production company, Warner Bros. TV, have announced that the show won't go forward because of prohibitive costs.
Well, at least that means that they'll save a lot of time trying to come up with a title for the untitled series.
What happened was that "Gilmore Girls" creator/executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, executive producer Daniel Palladino, insisted that the show not only be set on Venice Beach but that it be filmed there as well. And that proved to be too big a financial pill for the WB or Warner Bros. to swallow.
"Gilmore Girls," which is set in Connecticut, is shot on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank.
"GG" fans have already seen the now-jettisoned spinoff begin spinning. Toward the end of this past season, Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) left Stars Hollow and headed for California to live with the father (Rob Estes) he's never known. And, when last we left him, Jess was moving in with dear old Dad and his girlfriend (Sherilyn Fenn).
Obviously, things aren't going to work out. Jess will return to Stars Hollow, so Ventimiglia won't have to go looking for another job. Estes and Fenn, however, had better start auditioning.
The younger "Girl," Rory (Alexis Bledel), who's headed for Yale in the fall, is going to have a tough time leaving her past behind. Not only is Jess suddenly available again, but her first boyfriend, Dean, isn't going to be overly busy — the actor who plays him, Jared Padalecki, starred in a pilot for a "Young MacGyver" series, but it was not picked up by the WB.
(Of course, we'll have to wait and see if Dean actually marries his new girlfriend. I'm guessing it won't happen.)
I'm not sure that the demise of the spinoff is bad news. Although network TV would be a better place if there were more shows like "Gilmore Girls" on it, too often in the past, shows have suffered when their creator/writer/producer has tried to spread him or herself too thin. And launching a new show is a huge distraction.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com