Gilmore Girls creator quits

A dark day indeed. The show, apparently, will go on, but without creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and hubby, executive producer Daniel Palladino.

There will most likely be a seventh season of "Gilmore Girls" on the still-forming CW network, but the duo have told TV Guide they couldn't reach a deal with Warner Brothers to continue, so have quit the show.

Is that a death knell? Probably not, but it's close enough to be worried.

I discovered "Gilmore Girls" about five shows or so into the first season on a friend's recommendation. When I turned it on, mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory were rather petulantly arguing about whose breasts were bigger. I had never seen a show that was so sincerely off-kilter and that moved so fast, and I was instantly hooked.

Since then, as Rory's gone off to Yale, left and come back again and Lorelai has struggled to find happiness in Stars Hollow, the fictional town has been populated with the kind of quirky but instantly identifiable characters you rarely find on TV or anywhere else.

Take the recent run-up to Lane Kim's wedding. It has featured some of the show's best writing ever, and has let a relatively minor character, Mrs. Kim, shine with some of the funniest lines (You let women ride horses?). It features the kind of cast that predecessors like "Northern Exposure" strived for but never found.

It shows that, after almost six seasons, the show is far from getting stale, like "Buffy" did after our heroine died (again) and was brought back (again) after season five.

There are still solid people around the Gilmores, assuming the cast is game for what will probably be a final season on the CW. David S. Rosenthal will stay on as show coordinator, and "Buffy" veteran Rebecca Rand Kirshner, a very funny woman, will still be around to write a lot of the scripts.

But you get the sinking feeling it just won't be the same without the genius who created all this. As for Amy and Dan, they had apparently pitched another show, described as a "Nick and Nora in Manhattan, with kids," to the former WB, but never got anywhere. It will interesting to see where they end up, and how Stars Hollow goes on without them.

And tonight, Kris Benson returns to New York to lead the surging Baltimore Orioles into battle against the Yankees. Bring em on.