‘Gilmore Girls’ gives new look to family TV

Family programming is too often viewed as a derogative term. If a show is tame enough for the whole family to watch, how good can it be?

If the “Gilmore Girls,” which debuts at 8 p.m. on The WB, is any indicator, quite good indeed. The drama is based on a different sort of family, but ends up being a layered, multigenerational story all the same.

Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (“Roseanne”), “Gilmore Girls” is the first show to make it to air from the Family Friendly Forum’s Script Development Fund, an initiative between some of the nation’s top advertisers and The WB intended to offer additional family programming.

The series focuses on 32-year-old Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham, “Townies”) and her 16-year-old daughter Rory (newcomer Alexis Bledel). At 16, Lorelai became pregnant and decided to raise Rory on her own, a decision that alienated her from her wealthy family.

Lorelai is now the manager of a quaint inn in a picturesque Connecticut town. Her dream is to open her own bed-and-breakfast with her best friend, the clumsy culinary genius Sookie (Melissa McCarthy).

That dream gets sidelined again when Rory gets accepted to a prestigious private school. The steep tuition forces Lorelai to ask for a loan from her parents. They agree, on the condition that they can be more a part of Lorelai and Rory’s lives, including a weekly dinner at their mansion.

Despite the obvious tension between Lorelai and her mother, she swallows her pride and does what’s best for her daughter. Graham’s Lorelai is a woman who fears not only losing her close relationship with her daughter, but also that Rory will be attracted to the upper-crust lifestyle which Loralei walked away from.

Graham heads up a strong cast, which includes uber-WASP Edward Herman and Kelly Bishop as Lorelai’s snooty but well-meaning parents and Bledel as the mature-before-her-time Rory. A scene-stealer is Yanic Truesdale as the hotel’s haughty French (is that redundant?) concierge Michel.

“Gilmore Girls” manages to avoid the sappiness and weepiness that affects such other women’s shows as “Providence” and “Judging Amy.” The Gilmores’ experiences ring true, which is the highest accomplishment that a TV show can manage.