‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Is Better Than ‘Gilmore Girls’: Don’t @ Me

As a guy who has been proclaiming my fandom of Gilmore Girls online since 2005 — way before it was cool for anyone who has a Y chromosome to do so — the headline of this article was tough to write. But as I’ve been watching the first season of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I keep coming away from each episode impressed, to the point where I’m starting to think that it may be better than AS-P’s signature show.

This could be just my personal connection to the material — the world of 1958 Manhattan that Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) inhabits doesn’t feel far off from what my parents, outer-borough folks who were only slightly younger than Midge, experienced — but Mrs. Maisel feels more mature than Gilmore ever did, and not just because the main character wears petitcoats instead of jeans.

It didn’t occur to me until about halfway into the eight-episode first season, but this is AS-P’s first show since the short-lived Fox sitcom The Return of Jezebel James that doesn’t center around teenagers. Since that show has been pretty much forgotten, most of my memories of her writing involve Gilmore and the brief but loved ABC Family series Bunheads. The main characters of both shows, Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and Michelle Simms (Sutton Foster), may have been in their 30s, but their emotional levels were most definitely still rooted in their rebellious years. And the teens in their care — Lorelai’s daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) and the girls Michelle teaches dancing to — are a huge part of each series.

So it stands to reason that AS-P’s signatures of rapid dialogue crammed with pop culture references that are tough to catch at times were used aplenty in both shows. But Mrs. Maisel is different. Sure, Midge talks as fast as Lorelai and Michelle. But, until her husband Joel (Michael Zegen) leaves her, she’s a dutiful Upper West Side housewife and mother, despite only being in her mid-20s. Because of that responsibility, there’s a hopeful but cautious demeanor to Midge that hasn’t been in one of Sherman-Palladinos main characters to this point.

Also, although the themes of empowerment from the show resonate in 2017, having to write to a certain time period has improved AS-P’s ability to provide her characters dialogue that’s clear, even if it’s dense. Yes, there are 1958-era pop culture references, mostly around the comedy scene (Nichols and May, Bob Newhart — heck, Lenny Bruce is a character on the show), but for the most part the dialogue is about Midge’s family, her crumbling marriage, and her attempts to jump-start her comedy career. Gilmore‘s early episodes probably feel a bit dated, given that the pop references are almost 18 years old; Mrs. Maisel’s dialogue is more timeless.

But for the most part, I’m just more interested in Midge’s journey. At times during Gilmore, I wanted to reach out to Lorelai — and especially Rory — put a hand gently on their shoulder and tell them to take their heads out of their butts. Rory was especially problematic; even the 30-something version that was in the A Year In The Life miniseries last year had no idea how to conduct herself in the world (I mean: she expected people to hand her jobs after one lucky New Yorker freelance placement? Really?).

As sheltered as Midge may seem, she has her feet firmly on the ground. She barrels into a job at the cosmetic counter of B. Altman, over the objections of her mother Rose (Marin Hinkle). She tries to forge her own life in an era when her father Abe (Tony Shalhoub) implores her to “fix her face” and go crawling back to Joel, even though he’s the one that left. Does she have doubts about her comedy career? Sure. But get her rolling in a crowd, and you can see the most confident character AS-P has ever written for whose name isn’t Roseanne.

We haven’t even touched on Midge’s friendship/business relationship with her “manager” Susie (Alex Borstein), or the fact that everyone can say the word “fuck” because the show’s not on broadcast TV. But it all contributes to a show that will likely have less cringeworthy moments, and less moments of snooty overprivilege, than Gilmore had. So, no matter how much I may have loved Gilmore Girls, if Amy Sherman-Palladino keeps Mrs. Maisel on the right path, she’ll produce her best series ever.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime Video