A Year In The Life Broke A Tradition That Helped Define The Previous 153 Episodes

Although A Year in the Life was intended to be a nostalgic revival of Gilmore Girls, the Netflix miniseries was missing one major part of the original show’s appeal. Eight years after its release, it is fair to say that the dust has settled on Netflix’s Gilmore Girls revival A Year in the Life. The streaming giant enjoyed a lot of its biggest successes in 2016, including the debut of the cult classic Stranger Things. However, A Year in the Life didn’t recaptureGilmore Girls’ unique appeal, even if the miniseries did try out a few interesting ideas.

A Year in the Life’s problems could be attributed to its story and characters, with the revival stranding Rory in an unenviable career quagmire and making the show’s lead characters more self-absorbed than ever before. However, this critique ignores just how much the revival missed the mark. Gilmore Girls’ Lorelai and Christopher’s marriage proves that the original show’s run included moments that were both out of character and ultimately pointless in terms of plot progression. Instead, it was the tone and feel of the series that changed in the miniseries, and this is perfectly epitomized in its famous theme song.

The Story Behind Carole King’s Gilmore Girls’ Theme Song, “Where You Lead”

Carole King Re-Recorded “Where You Lead” For Gilmore Girls

Originally recorded for Carole King’s 1971 album Tapestry, “Where You Lead” was the theme song of Gilmore Girls throughout the show’s original run. In a 2016 interview with BuzzfeedNews, King’s daughter Louise Griffin explained that she and her mother re-recorded the track at the behest of the show’s creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino. Sherman-Palladino wanted to use the song as the show’s theme tune, but King wasn’t happy with the original track’s focus on a female narrator following her male love interest through thick and thin. As such, Griffin and King recorded the version that fans came to love.

Over time, thanks to the show’s influence, the Gilmore Girls theme song version of “Where You Lead” arguably eclipsed the original Tapestry recording in terms of influence and popularity. Moreover, the track became associated with the show’s themes of intergenerational bonds and female empowerment, fundamentally altering its message. Per Griffin, its central theme was now that “There is no distance that is too far to go be with your child.” This made the track’s absence from Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life hard to ignore or excuse after the song had played such a pivotal part in the original series.

Why Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life Didn’t Include Carole King’s “Where You Lead”

Netflix’s Gilmore Girls Revival Hoped To Established A Tone Of Its Own

A Year in the Life didn’t include the iconic Gilmore Girls’ “Where You Lead” song intro, and this was one of the earliest and most noticeable evidence of the miniseries changing the original show’s formula. “Where You Lead” was closely associated with the unique, sometimes sharp but always warm dramedy of Gilmore Girls as the song appears at the beginning of all 153 original episodes. Since A Year in the Life hoped to establish an atmosphere of its own that was distinct from the original show, the miniseries dropped this tradition and lost that instantly recognizable tone in the process.

While Gilmore Girls bringing back Jess or Logan for cameos and supporting roles was always going to be divisive among fans, the show’s revival itself was eagerly anticipated. The show couldn’t hope to keep everyone happy but, provided A Year in the Life felt like the original series, the miniseries could have been forgiven for any wild twists or surprising changes. This was where the revival fell flat, and the theme song was the first evidence of that. With longer 90-minute episodes, a gimmicky seasonal structure, and no theme song, A Year in the Life never felt quite right.

A Year In The Life Didn’t Quite Feel The Same Without Gilmore Girls’ Theme Song

Cutting The Theme Song Made A Year In The Life Feel Like A Knock-Off

A Year in the Life had its moments, but cutting the show’s iconic theme song made the series feel less like a legitimate follow-up and more like a cash-in. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life‘s comedy was zanier and broader than the original show’s run, but its drama was ironically darker and more cynical. Rory thought nothing of cheating on her fiancée and felt nothing when he unceremoniously dumped her, and this downbeat character work clashed badly with silly scenes like Lorelai attempting the Pacific Crest Trail. The missing theme song was an early indication of this haphazard tone.

While Mitchum was proven right about Rory, this twist felt more glib than intriguing. The revelation that Rory was a burnout with no ambitions could have been an interesting twist when her character was once so heavily motivated by external approval. However, A Year in the Life never did much with this premise and stopped short of making Rory’s life a genuine disaster. Instead, it was simply listless and lacking direction, much like Lorelei’s story in the revival. This further compounded the sensation that the series simply wasn’t the same show, exacerbated by the absence of “Where You Lead.”

Carole King Does Appear In Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life

The Gilmore Girls Theme Song’s Singer Ironically Put In An Appearance

To be fair to A Year in the Life, the Gilmore Girls revival does partially make up for the strange decision to drop its iconic original theme song. In A Year in the Life episode 3, “Summer,” King reprises her role as Stars Hollow resident/ easily annoyed music store owner Sophie Bloom in a brief cameo. Sophie was the shop owner who allowed Lane to practice the drums in her store before her mother knew about Lane’s secret rock band, and Sophie was later accused of hiding an affair with Zack when Lane was seeking out her love interest’s secret.

A Year in the Life improved things further when “Where You Lead” played in the final episode of the miniseries, “Fall.” If ever there was a time to bring back the theme song, it was in this final outing. Although this brief music cue was hardly enough to salvage the misjudged revival entirely, it was at least a brief reminder of the original show. Like Rory’s conversation with Jess in the revival, this moment was a nice throwback to the tone of Gilmore Girls that felt fitting and fun, something A Year in the Life was missing more broadly.

Source: Buzzfeed