‘Gilmore Girls’ Revealed in Kelly Bishop’s New Memoir

Kelly Bishop had an impressive resume long before she took on the iconic role of Emily Gilmore on Amy Sherman-Palladino’s beloved comedy-drama “Gilmore Girls.” Beginning in the mid-1960s, Bishop appeared in numerous Broadway shows, winning a Tony Award for her performance as Sheila in the first iteration of “A Chorus Line.” In the ’80s, she starred as Frances “Baby” Houseman’s mother in “Dirty Dancing,” and in the years that followed she graced daytime TV on “One Life to Live” and “All My Children.”

But for all her career glory, Bishop is probably best known for her sharp, complex performances as the affluent New England matriarch on “Gilmore Girls” from 2000 to 2007, a period she beautifully chronicles in her new memoir, “The Third Gilmore Girls.”

In candid, realistic prose, Bishop, 80, recalls her early years as a trained ballet dancer, her move to New York and her Broadway career (then under her real name, Carole Bishop), her audition for Woody Allen’s one-act “Central Park West,” her transition to film in Paul Mazursky’s 1978 Oscar-nominated drama “An Unmarried Woman” and her time meeting Sherman-Palladino, with whom she would go on to work on “Bunheads” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

“There was no swagger, no guile, no political handshake or ambiguity about Sherman-Palladino,” Bishop writes in her book. “There was just a woman who knew the value of her work, the quality of her project, and was very clear about how to do it.”

Here are some additional revelations on the “Gilmore” theme from Bishop’s memoir:

Sorry, Jess and Dean fans — Bishop is Team Logan.

Ever since “Gilmore Girls” became part of the cultural conversation, viewers have been divided over which of Rory Gilmore’s (Alexis Bledel) boyfriends is the best. That debate led to Netflix’s 2016 “Gilmore Girls” revival. Typically, the battle boils down to Jess (Milo Ventimiglia), the emotionally avoidant but voracious “bad guy” of the team, and Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), Rory’s Yale classmate who becomes a self-actualized, published author. And then there’s Rory’s first boyfriend, Dean (Jared Padalecki), who is kind, stable, and outgoing but sometimes seems threatened by Rory’s Ivy League aspirations—not to mention cheating on Rory with his wife.

“I was always Team Logan,” Bishop wrote in her memoir. “All of the young actors on ‘Gilmore Girls’ were great on and off screen, but some of them looked boyish, while Logan had a more masculine approach, and I thought that was a perfect fit as Rory’s partner.”

When it comes to Lorelai’s romance arc, Bishop is Team Luke.

Fans also debated who was the best love interest for Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham), who began the series dating one of Rory’s private school teachers, Max Medina (Scott Cohen). Later, she was pinballed between Rory’s unreliable but charming father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), and Luke (Scott Patterson), a local diner owner with a blunt exterior and an undying passion for Lorelai.

“I was definitely Team Luke,” says Bishop. “It wasn’t just that Luke genuinely loved her. He also understood that he was dealing with a very quirky and special woman, and he ‘got’ her. I loved seeing them together.”

Bishop’s favorite Emily insult was the one aimed at Logan’s mom.

One of Emily’s defining traits was her endless judgment. Most of Emily’s criticism was directed at her mother-in-law, husband, and daughter, but in the season 6 episode “We’ve Got Magic to Do,” she took out her anger on Logan’s mother, Shira (Leanne Hunley), in a big way after finding out that the Huntzbergers had told Rory that she was “not raised properly” to date Logan.

Bishop wrote: “I kept a smile on Emily’s face so that from a distance it looked like she was complimenting She-Ra’s dress and asking who designed it, but really she was saying something like, ‘You were a two-bit money-grubber who took the bus from Hicksville and ran into (Logan’s father) Mitchum at a bar… Now enjoy the show. ‘”

“It was an absolute masterpiece by Amy and a joy to deliver, not only because it showcased Emily’s natural strengths but also because it showed once again the intense love she has for her granddaughter.”

Kelly Bishop (left) as Emily, Lauren Graham as Lorelai, Alexis Bledel as Rory and Edward Herrmann as Richard in a scene from the WB’s “Gilmore Girls” in 2002.

(Mitchell Haddad / WB)

Bishop didn’t like the final season of ‘Gilmore Girls.’

English: Few “Gilmore Girls” fans hold the seventh and final season, which ran from 2006 to 2007, in high regard. Contract negotiations broke down, and Amy and her husband/co-writer/executive producer Dan Palladino left the show after Season 6. Warner Bros. brought in a new writing team, but Bishop recalls that “Gilmore Girls” “seemed sleepy and tired from week to week, like the air was slowly letting out of a big, shiny balloon. No one wanted to say it out loud, but you could sense that the party might be over.”

Bishop also said, “As far as I know, Amy hasn’t seen a single episode of (Season 7) yet.”

But she loved Netflix’s controversial ‘A Year in the Life.’

When “Gilmore Girls” arrived on Netflix in 2014, its popularity skyrocketed. “Not only did the original audience jump right in and re-enjoy it, but a whole new generation was discovering it and falling in love with it,” Bishop recalls.

Renewed interest led to a 15th-anniversary panel at the 2015 ATX TV Festival, and a Netflix revival a year later. The four-part series, “A Year in the Life,” brought back Palladino, but the response was decidedly mixed. Critics generally praised the miniseries, but fans “were frustrated by the loose ends left behind,” Bishop writes.

One of those unsolved stories was Rory’s infamous “last four words” to Lorelai. “Mom?” “Huh?” “I’m pregnant.” Cut to black.

“Those mysterious ‘last four words’… struck me as more interesting than annoying because it sparked a debate among viewers about who Rory got pregnant from and what the consequences would be. Personally, I think it was Logan.”