TV Rant-let

So I'm watching my videotaped episode of "Gilmore Girls" last night. (Stop snickering; I like the writing, and I think both female leads are attractive. That's a manly enough reason for watching...right?) And I see something that has started happening this season and that leaves me a little ill at ease.

The episode is sponsored by "Aerie," the girls/ladies line of clothing at American Eagle. So at some point during each episode they have two minutes of inane commentary by "the Aerie girls"--six girls of appropriately diverse ethnicity and physical make-up (though none overweight, that I can remember... interesting). And they sit around a bland pastel living room on couches, comfy chairs, and pillows, and make painfully obvious comments about the goings on of the program.

The effect, I assume, is that you feel like you're watching the show with your "girlfriends" and are gabbing about what you like or don't like. Except that all your "girlfriends" are boring and incapable of deep critical thought. (And maybe yours are; I can't say.)

Example dialogue: "Lorelai better watch out for Christopher. He's hurt her before."

Wow. Didja come up with that all by yourself, or was a TV guide from two seasons ago consulted?

I think what bothers me most about these "Aerie girl" moments (okay, second-most, beside the achingly UNinsightful dialogue) is that it pretty much confirms what I and others like me have tried to deny: that "Gilmore Girls" is an irredeemably girly show. For guys, there's no way to justify watching it, where you don't feel like you're trying to excuse an embarrassing habit.

The "Aerie" phenomenon pushes the show clearly into the "Cinematherapy" vein of Lifetime-Network-like programming. And what does the Lifetime Network provide? That's right: "television for women."

The amusing irony is that these girls are exactly the type of girls that the main characters on the show would shun and summarily mock, using literary and pop culture references sure to elude the subjects of their derision.

Anyway, I'm just bothered by this a little.

Plus, Christopher is good for Lorelai right now. Luke should have developed some backbone and taken the lead in the relationship, instead of passively letting Lorelai set the tone and the terms.

So there.