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In her first series regular role since Gilmore Girls, Alexis Bledel is set as the female lead opposite Jason Ritter in Friends & Family, Fox‘s single-camera comedy pilot from writer David Rosen, Sony TV and BBC Worldwide Prods. Based on the UK series Gavin & Stacey, Friends & Family focuses on the key life moments for Gavin (Ritter) and Stacey (Bledel), who try to maintain their relationship while combining their polarizing families’ lives. Bledel recently did an arc on Mad Men. Meanwhile, Ritter recently recurred on NBC’s Parenthood opposite Bledel’s Girlmore Girls co-star Lauren Graham.
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Alexis Bledel is an enormously talented and nuanced actress. That wasn’t always clear from the dopey cutesy-poo dialogue that Amy Palladino wrote for her on “Gilmore Girls,” but it’s evident in all of her other roles. Looking forward to this.
oh, GREAT casting!
She has the best eyes on tv
It will be very nice to see her in a starring role. I knew her arc on Mad Men would mark her return to TV.
Hopefully she’ll be as lucky as Lauren Graham and Melissa McCarthy and the show will be a success.
I didn’t want Jason Ritter to leave Parenthood, but now I’m all for this.
Best casting ever! Now get Lauren Graham onboard to play Gwen and Melissa McCarthy as Nessa!
Sadly, now all three actresses will be working for different networks: Alexis for Fox, Lauren for NBC and Melissa for CBS.
Oh well, at least they all will be working.
Anyone else weirded out that Lauren Graham’s TV boyfriend will be playing her TV daughter’s boyfriend now?? Sheesh those Gilmore Girls get around!
I don’t think it’s so much that the Gilmore Girls get around as it is Jason Ritter being a Gilmore Fanboy. At least, that’s what I tell myself because that’s what I’d do if I were Jason Ritter.
Next on the Gilmore checklist, in alphabetical order:
Keiko Agena
Arielle Kebbel
Krysten Ritter — Although that might be awkward because the uninformed would mistake a Ritter-Ritter pairing onscreen for incest.
Rob J., you made me laugh! Thanks for the great post. Gilmore Girls was an incredible pool for emerging talent. Just think of all the actors who got their major break on that show: Melissa McCarthy, Jared Padalecki, Chad Michael Murray, Matt Czuchry, Riki Lindhome, Krysten Ritter, Danny Strong (now a successfuly Hollywood writer) – the list is long!
because the casting people and the producers were talented, had great taste, for once the network let them do their jobs and didn’t demand crappy “name” actors who had deals be offered roles that they weren’t right for just for ratings.
I’ll always associate Danny strong with Buffy!
Me! I think it’s weird! It is really hard to imagine her and Ritter having chemistry. He’s so mature, it was easy to picture him with an older woman, and Bledel has that baby voice – I just can’t see it! Also…..Bledel….comedy?
Finally, she is way too talented and beautiful to be on the sidelines for so long, and even though I love Ginnifer Goodwin, I couldn’t help but picture Bledel as Snow White in Once Upon A Time, I think she would have been perfect and then I couldn’t help but wonder that I would be probably much more interested in the Quinn/Lindsay character on ‘Scandal’ if someone like Alexis Bledel played the part. Anyway, nice to see her back in the game !
Awesome. Love Alexis.
She’s an A+ talent. Great range – everything from Gilmore to Sin City, Tuck to Sisterhood, Post Grad to Mad Men. She’s done a little bit of everything since Gilmore – a good chance now to circle back to television series work with that other experience now under her belt. The pilot team is lucky to have her and Ritter on board, and I’m sure they realize it. I think Fox will green-light this effort for fall’13.
This is wonderful news. Alexis Bledel is a fantastically talented actor, and, also, a genuinely nice, sincere, kind human being. It’s distressed me that she hasn’t had a series role in so long (her Mad Men appearance was all too fleeting).
Most people have no idea how incredibly hard she and Lauren Graham worked on Gilmore Girls. I think this partly explains why she took such a long break after that show ended – she was just so fatigued from the experience. Just rewatch an average episode of GG and see how many lines she had to memorize – outside of an Aaron Sorkin show, GG was one of the talkiest dramas in TV history – and how much screentime she had.
And yet, she did it all fantastically well, and was robbed of any major awards. Hopefully that will change soon. Go, Alexis! (P.S. Gavin & Stacey is an adorable, affectionate, funny show. I hope this is one of the transatlantic adaptations that work – an Office rather than a Coupling.)
Are you her mother? Sounds like it.
I hope its going to be good – Gavin & Stacey is hilarious but I’m not hopeful it will translate.
Interesting casting.
Craptastic title – the original is a non-starter….why, exactly? (Too close to Ned & Stacey, perhaps?)
She has no screen presence and no charisma. She was lucky to be in Gilmore Girls – the material made her look much better than she actually is.
As a huge fan of GG and having seen every episode at least twice, I gotta say I agree.
Exactly the opposite. The Gilmore material was treacly crap–precious, self-satisifed wisecracks slung back and forth between cardboard characters like so much dinner-theatre Sorkin. And yet Bledel managed to shine.
She got exposed in Sin City. Not a film actor at all. No depth, no technique. Blowing up GG was dumb dumb. Best job she was ever going to have because lightning never strikes twice.
Alexis is phenomenal. The script is fantastic. I hope this goes to series!
I’m guessing she’s always going to be known as Rory Gilmore and Jayson Ritter Jack Rotter’s son and the whole show is just another remake of a UK hit. I love the cast so I hope it succeeds but lay off the actors man they’re just trying to pay the hustle and pay the bills without going the “Celebrity Apprentice” or E! channel route. So look kids off your high horse because I believe some new episodes of “The Bachelor” and “Real Housewives of why is this show still on” is waiting!