Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
Returns Friday | Netflix
Do not, repeat, do not, watch all four of these 90-minute installments of Gilmore Girls (technically its eighth season) in a single binge. But you’re going to, anyway. This return to Stars Hollow has everything a Gilmore Girls fan could possibly want, and Lorelei (Lauren Graham) and Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) caffeinated banter hasn’t lost a beat since the end of the original WB/CW series nine years ago. Like all nostalgia wallows, however, A Year in the Life has a few problems balancing ‘Member This? with Here’s a New Thing! plot points. But it still hits all the feel buttons with a sentimentally-deadly accuracy. Maybe stretch it out over the Thanksgiving weekend, because this a lot of Gilmore Girls to (re)absorb, and they’re not as perfect as you remember. Except Paris (Liza Weil). She can do no wrong.
Christmas List
Friday 7 pm | Hallmark
You know that this year’s crop of new Hallmark Christmas movies began airing in October, right? TV’s most egregious ho-ho-offender is already five weeks into Santa season, and I pity the fool who has to write these plot synopses. To wit: “In Christmas List, Isobel (Alicia Witt) plans a storybook Christmas with her boyfriend. But when the boyfriend goes AWOL, a tempting new romance turns her life upside-down. Will Isobel have a White Christmas ending under the mistletoe?” First, “AWOL”? Military jargon is not Christmas-y. Second, “new romance”? Isobel moved on fast.
A Heavenly Christmas
Saturday 7 pm | Hallmark
Let’s continue the copywriter analysis with A Heavenly Christmas: “Upon her untimely death, Eve (Kristin Davis) finds herself tethered to her guardian angel (Shirley MacLaine), learning to become a Christmas angel in Heaven. Eve is assigned the difficult task of helping a struggling singer Max (Eric McCormack) use his musical gifts to heal old family wounds. As Max begins to overcome his issues, Eve begins to embrace the meaning of Christmas, and perhaps find love along the way.” OK, she’s dead, and she’s going to “find love” with a still-alive singer who’s a bit old to still be “struggling”? Kinky.
Incorporated
Debuts Wednesday 9 pm | Syfy
Is now the best time to introduce a sci-fi series about class warfare taken to corporate and technological extremes? In this 2074-set drama, the world is split into two distinct halves: The Green Zone is a sealed corporate utopia that resembles American Psycho sponsored by the Apple Store and Ikea, wherein company loyalty is rewarded/demanded. The Red Zone is the lawless, dirty dystopia that dozens of YA novels have warned you about. It’s all very slick and dazzling—so much so that Incorporated’s central story of an outsider (Sean Teale) infiltrating the Green Zone to save his girlfriend almost feels like an afterthought. Wait a minute. Green Zone… Red Zone… Christmas Incorporated?!
Bill Frost writes about television for Salt Lake City Weekly.
