The following contains a few general spoilers for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
I'm a die-hard Gilmore Girls [1] fan; I've nursed a serious crush on Jess Mariano for more than half my life, I own a "Babette Ate Oatmeal" t-shirt, and attending Gilmore Girls Fan Fest [2] is on my bucket list. Naturally, I've been searching for a show that gives me the same feeling I experienced when I watched Gilmore Girls [3] for the first time, but everything I've watched since 2007 (including the Netflix reboot) has fallen short . . . that is, until I found Gilmore creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's new Amazon show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel [4].
As I watched the first episode, I couldn't help but compare the two quick-witted, female-centric shows. I found myself checking items off a mental list of things I love about Gilmore Girls, and soon enough I was texting my mum (the Lorelai to my Rory) and telling her that she needed to watch ASAP. I binged Mrs. Maisel in a single sitting, yearning for more episodes after I reached the season finale in the wee morning hours.
If you're a Gilmore Girls fan who hasn't yet taken the plunge, whether it's because you don't have Amazon Prime or some other reason, I'm here to tell you why The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel needs to be your next TV show commitment . . . and not just because of the fast-talking, side-splittingly funny writing you can always expect from Amy Sherman-Palladino!
It's like Gilmore Girls . . . without the network censorship.
Lorelai and Rory managed to get away with a lot [5] during their time on air, but there's no denying that network TV censorship can affect the humour in a show. Where Lorelai Gilmore embarrasses herself by showing up to Chilton in tie-dyed and cutoff jorts (not too embarrassing in the scheme of things), Midge Maisel experiences mortified regret about exposing her breasts for a stand-up bit while she's plastered drunk.
The lack of censorship in the made-for-internet-streaming show suits the subject matter — a woman breaking barriers with edgy stand-up comedy during a time when it simply wasn't done — to a T, and Mrs. Maisel wouldn't be nearly as successful if it were limited by "general audiences" rating standards.
Rachel Brosnahan is absolutely electric.
There's a reason Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Midge Maisel, won the Golden Globe for best actress in a TV musical or comedy. You don't want to pull your eyes away from her when she's on screen, and her comedic timing is impeccable — much like Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore.
It explores off-kilter family dynamics just like Gilmore Girls.
At first glance, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is the opposite of Gilmore Girls [6]; it's all about a married couple and their strait-laced nuclear family in the '50s. But (spoiler alert!) things very quickly go to sh*t, resulting in the titular character navigating the world as a newly single lady without any marketable skills. She's forced into spending lots of time with her neurotic parents, interacting with her ex, and forging new relationships that are anything but ordinary.
Midge's dad is a lot like Richard Gilmore.
It's not just the generally off-kilter family dynamics in Mrs. Maisel that will remind you of the Gilmores — it's the main character's father! Much like Richard Gilmore, Abe Weissman (played by Tony Shalhoub) is a scholar who regularly retreats to his study. But more than that, he is a solid pillar of the family who offers advice (whether it is solicited or not) and will go to great lengths to look out for the ladies in his family. You'll find yourself loving Abe just like you always loved Richard.
The wardrobe is iconic.
If Lorelai's creative outfits were your favourite part of Gilmore Girls [7], then you'll love watching Midge's style throughout season one of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The retro glamour is truly a sight to behold!
It's got cute guys you'll love to hate.
While nobody will ever stack up to Jess in my mind, Mrs. Maisel has a couple of dudes who offer the same brand of "cute as hell, but oh so frustrating." In fact, one might even argue that there's a Dean (Joel, Midge's wayward husband) and a Jess (Lenny, a bad-boy comedy jailbird she meets in the New York stand-up scene).
You'll recognise a familiar face from Gilmore Girls.
Midge's talent manager and friend, Susie, is played by Alex Borstein — who also appeared in Gilmore Girls [8] in several different roles. Much like the disgruntled harpist, Drella, whom Bortsein plays in season one of Gilmore Girls, Susie doesn't mince words or mess around. But in the scope of Mrs. Maisel, we'd say Borstein carries herself a bit more like Luke Danes; she's perplexed by frippery, doesn't understand feminine social norms, and rocks the hell out of a hat. (Not to mention her affinity for diner food.)
As a bonus casting nod . . . Bailey De Young, who plays Midge's friend Imogene Cleary, also appeared as one of the 30-something gang in Netflix's Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life!
The show is arguably more feminist.
While a 1950s housewife isn't the shining beacon of radical gender subversion you'd expect, Midge's unfolding story is of a woman journeying from submissive sidekick repeatedly nursing her husband's fragile ego to the fierce protagonist of her own life. Midge's whole shtick becomes sticking it to the man — she's a woman breaking into the male-dominated world of comedy, she's learning to provide for herself, she's discovering her own political views, she's telling guys to shove it in various capacities — and the show has been called a "foul-mouthed antidote to the patriarchy" [9] in reviews.
This isn't to say that Gilmore Girls [10] isn't feminist — merely that feminism and shirking patriarchal bullsh*t are more at the forefront of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Like Gilmore Girls, everybody in this show is flawed.
The most lovable aspect of Gilmore Girls [11] is how every character — even goody-two-shoes Rory — falls from grace at some point, struggling with their own flaws in a relatable way. Midge and company all possess this same appealing type of imperfection, making bad choices that will make you yell at your screen the same way you did when Rory dropped out of Yale and Lorelai ran back to Christopher.