The John Galt Line: Non-reality television

Not since the ‘A-Team’ has the American spirit been captured so perfectly on the television screen. Today, it’s difficult to find even mildly amusing programming. However, in the obscure town of Stars Hollow, depicted on an even more obscure channel (the WB), there thrives a dramatically and spiritually appealing world of make-believe. ‘Gilmore Girls’ has grown in critical and popular appeal but its status as the most romantic hour on television has passed well below the cultural radar.

‘Gilmore Girls’ is undoubtedly the most beautiful show on television. The anorexia-ridden cast of ‘Friends’ aside, the characters of Rory and Lorelei are the two most physically attractive specimens to live in the same house. The program unabashedly showcases these females as natural beauties and so much more. There’s comfort in knowing that despite years of ‘progress,’ not everyone who graces the television screen is your average Joe or a ‘real’ person. Television was never supposed to function as a mirror or a vapid tube, and from 8 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, it doesn’t.

Nihilism abounds in the entertainment world, but it isn’t welcome here. Work isn’t a nine-to-five trip through hell and back selling shoes but a way of life. And it pays off. Lorelei busies herself running her inn, Rory immerses herself in her studies and Luke devotes himself to the diner that is his pride and joy. The airwaves only have one collection of people who enjoy productive achievement so much. The true American heroes aren’t those who eternally trudge through the graveyard shift with nothing to show for it but thirst for drunkenness and we shouldn’t have to stare at them, week after week.

Rory’s intelligence, unparalleled work ethic and burning desire to succeed culminated in her acceptance to Harvard. Just the simple act of opening the mailbox to retrieve that acceptance letter was treated as a momentous event. To all those who were jealous rather than overjoyed when Rory realized that she was in: please find alternate fare. Art wasn’t intended for the likes of those who derive happiness from the roadside crash.

Rory isn’t the only successful character; Lorelei is on her way toward opening her own inn. The American dream of owning one’s own business has long been treated as archaic and foolish, but here it comes to life and is treated as the noblest of aspirations. When the day comes and it will where Lorelei holds the ribbon-cutting ceremony for her bed and breakfast, I’ll wish I could be there. I wish I didn’t have to wish and that this make-believe world was transpiring outside of my window. But on planet Earth, society preaches that dreams are best left in the hands of silly children; and the beer bottle is best glued to the hands of the mature.

There are no sermons or family chats around the dinner table, but ‘Girls’ is indeed a heavy dose of morality. This pair of teenager daughter and mother (who was a teenage daughter when she gave birth) swims against the current of the superficial values espoused by the family-friendly genre. The program is committed to a familial philosophy of substance over style in which ethical behavior is tied not to religious doctrine or normalcy but to independence and hard work. Rory isn’t played as a Bible-thumping caricature who solemnly swears off intercourse or as a slut whose whorish lifestyle was inevitable from the start. When deciding not to do the deed, she’s looking out for her own future, and what a future it’s going to be. Lorelei delights in knowing she’s ‘got the good kid.’ It’s nice to see good kids on television, and it’s even nicer still to see them idealized for it.

‘Girls’ rightly steers clear of any misplaced paradigms that have crippled other programs. Lorelei’s wealthy parents aren’t the heads of a ‘Dynasty’-like clan who destroy each other’s lives with the archetypical root of all evil, but diligent workers who actually earned the very expansive roof over their heads. Additionally, the single mother concept isn’t infected with feminism; Lorelei is a perfectly able caregiver but has romantic dreams of her own. Nothing would make her happier than to have the father of her child sweep her off her feet and make life even more perfect.

The cops and prosecutors keep our airwaves lawful and ordered, and biting satire wouldn’t have a home if it weren’t for ‘The Simpsons.’ But it’s an asset that we can turn on television each week and actually walk away feeling more uplifted than crabby smiling more than frowning and knowing that happiness and success are not mere fiction. Knowing that getting into a prestigious university and owning a thriving company are possible even if there is no Stars Hollow.