Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

Fans can breathe a sigh of relief: Lorelai and Rory are the same as they ever were in this limited-edition return of the much-beloved series. They'll know from the very first lines of the very first episode of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. "Hey!" says Rory. "That's how you look when you get off a plane?" says Lorelai. "You've been stuffed in a glorified tin can for seven hours, surrounded by people with consumption, diptheria, scabies, hummus dip, rabid dogs." Pause for huge breath before moving on to Broadway showtune references, a home remedy for pimples, and a Gwyneth Paltrow zinger.

Stars Hollow is the same, too. Though Luke is currently giving out fake passwords to the W-Fi that doesn't exist in his diner, the tiny town is still as cutesy as ever, with sweetly lit-up Christmas decorations, pet pigs, a town father obsessed with replacing septic systems with sewers, a small-town newspaper, and citizens who spit out pop culture references like machine-gun fire. The cynical might find it a cesspool of Prairie Home Companion-like twee, but the already charmed will be warmed by the prospect of sitting down and spending a few more hours with their favorite hyperliterate (and just plain hyper) mother-and-daughter pair -- as well as delighted by how many characters, major and minor, have been coaxed to return.