Copyright Screen Rant
Gilmore Girls has a great pilot episode, but it’s not the original one, and that one would have completely changed two beloved characters. One of the best TV shows of all time, and one of the best and most popular comfort shows you will find, is Gilmore Girls, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. Set in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Gilmore Girls follows the everyday lives of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel). Gilmore Girls has a small-town vibe with a good dose of drama, comedy, and a cozy feeling, with Lorelai and Rory being accompanied by some truly colorful and memorable characters. Gilmore Girls has one of the best pilot episodes of all time, but it has an original, unaired pilot episode – and had this been the definitive version, it would have completely changed two secondary but beloved characters. Gilmore Girls’ Unaired Pilot Had A Different Sookie & Dean Gilmore Girls’ pilot episode introduces the audience to Lorelai and Rory as they learn that the latter has been accepted into the exclusive prep school Chilton, as Rory dreams of attending Harvard. Lorelai comes across a big problem as she can’t afford the enrollment fee and the first semester’s tuition, so she asks her wealthy parents for help. Lorelai has a strained relationship with her parents, but they agree to pay for Rory’s education on the condition that they all have dinner together every Friday. However, when Rory meets the new kid in town, Dean (Jared Padalecki), she says she won’t be going to Chilton anymore, but agrees after learning that Lorelai asked her parents for help. The pilot episode of Gilmore Girls introduces recurrent characters that are key to Lorelai and Rory’s stories, such as Luke (Scott Patterson), Sookie (Melissa McCarthy), and Dean, but not all of them were the same in the unaired pilot. Although the original pilot of Gilmore Girls follows the same story, it had Alex Borstein as Sookie and Nathan Wetherington as Dean. Borstein couldn’t play Sookie again due to contractual reasons with MADtv, though she went on to have minor appearances throughout the show’s run. As for Wetherington, it’s unknown exactly why he was recast. How Gilmore Girls’ Original Pilot Would Have Changed The Show Had Gilmore Girls’ pilot not been reshot, the show might not have had the same impact as it ended up having. While Borstein is a great comedic actress, she doesn’t have the softness that a character like Sookie requires, instead having a stronger, sometimes a bit aggressive style and energy. Although the original pilot of Gilmore Girls never aired, bits of it have been released online, including some of Rory’s scenes with Dean. There was no chemistry between Wetherington and Bledel, and the former’s performance felt forced and uncomfortable (though it’s understandable, as it was his first TV role).
