Gilmore Girls Podcasts... and LiveTweeting?
Hello? Is this thing on?
For those of you unfamiliar with podcasts, they’re like pre-recorded radio shows made available on the internet, usually as part of a series that you can subscribe to and receive new episodes automatically. They occupy a niche in the medium of media and can be great for listening to on long journeys or in the shower. Or on a bike (see title pic).
Alysia from the comment boards turned me on to a couple of Gilmore Girls podcasts, which might be of interest.
The two offerings below both follow the same kind of format. Two girls / women talking about a Gilmore Girls episode and offering their points of view on what happens, explanations about the pop culture references and their thoughts and critiques.
The longer running of the two is Friday Night Dinner.
I listened to their review of Teach Me Tonight (s02e19) which featured Lorelai picking The Changeling as the Stars Hollow outdoor movie.
Serena and Scarlet discuss the episode over 39 minutes, blow by blow, scene by scene, reference by reference. They appear to watch it offline, make a tonne of notes, then they discuss their own notes. As if that wasn’t meta enough, I appear to be reviewing a review of their review.
They hit so much content, so fast, it’s a little like being on a Tour of the Star’s Homes. By the time you realise you just passed Kelsey Grammer’s house, you’re already looking in Gillian Andersen’s front window and admiring the ironwork guarding Brad and Jen’s old driveway. For that reason, it has the pace of the show and although not all the references are 100% accurate, it’s great as a reminder of the episode and they clearly, like, love the show. It’s for people who’ve seen the series maybe a couple of times and need a dose of Gilmore Girls, stat.
Return to Stars Hollow is a relative newcomer. I listened to their review of Rory’s Birthday Parties (s01e06).
Cordia and Celeste are now on episode 8 of the first series and an interesting selling point is that their review is ‘spoiler-free’, meaning they don’t discuss future episodes and events. It’d be neat if they were actually Gilmore Girls initiates on their first watch, which would be like watching a horror movie when the audience knows what’s round the corner but they don’t.
Their podcast is one and a half hours long and includes feedback on reader’s comments. Again, they, like, clearly adore all things Gilmore. Listening is akin to bathing in the show. Perfect for first time viewers who just want more, more, MORE.
My thoughts… what the two podcasts share is a politeness and niceness about their conversations, even when they’re being critical. This is a personal thing, but I think what I’d like from a podcast is a few buds watching the show, being alarmingly honest and going off-topic and being bitchy about Dean and stuff. Maybe acting out some of their favourite bits.
Both are also hamstrung by copyright, in that they can’t have the show, even the audio, on in the background – which would provide anchors for their discussions and inject a genuine link. I think there’s an opportunity here to make something snappy and funny – to condense the madness, so to speak. If the podcast still takes 45 minutes, you might as well just listen to the show. Perhaps you could watch it at double speed, with subtitles.
Hmm. Now I want to try that, just for fun. It’d be like being on Ritalin.
What I love about both is the enthusiasm they’re putting into their fanaticism. They love Gilmore Girls so much they want to create their own media, then share that with even more people – something we here at GilmoreNews hold very close to our hearts. And they’re reaching people… Friday Night Dinner is getting hundreds of listens, to each of their episodes.
A LiveTweet session might be a good medium. Anyone want to try that? We can all kick of the same episode at the same time and tweet as we go? Maybe once Netflix goes live… although I’m guessing you Gilmore Guys and Gals must already have the DVDs (and backup DVDs in case your first set wears out). We could do it on a Saturday to cover more timezones… like 1pm US West Coast, 4pm US East Coast, 9pm UK time… just a thought.
Do you do podcasts – listening or creating?
Do you have a favourite Gilmore Girls related podcast?
Do you have Gilmore Girls on right now as background noise?
Do you wanna LiveTweet an episode? Oh my goodness, how would we pick which episode? I’m feeling some season 2 / 3 love right now. Something with Dean and Jess in should get people showing their true colours!