Professors normally do not encourage watching TV, but this one is making a notable exception!

Warner Brothers' program Gilmore Girls, features the eccentric mother-daughter team of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.  This adorable duo, along with the rest of the show's cast, offer a delightful, albeit occasionally—alright, predominantly—cynical commentary on life. 

In my favorite episode, Like Mother-Like Daughter, poor Rory is being black mailed by judgmental school administrators to develop more social relationships in school--the condition for a good letter of reference to Harvard. These bozos seem to take exception Rory's unapproachability during lunch, sitting alone reading while shutting out the environment by the music glaring in her headphones. By accident, Rory sits down at the table of the Puffs, coolest underground sorority on campus, and quickly earns an induction into the group.  Unfortunately, by tradition, the initiation takes place clandestinely in the principal's office, and this is the year where the group gets caught.  Learning of the sanctions that are anticipated by the administration, Rory vents her frustration of doing exactly what she was asked to do, only to face punishment for her diligence.  As the leadership of the Puffs learns with astonishment that Rory ended at their table by chance, the principal, to his credit, quickly realizes the error of his ways, suggesting that he may have been too hasty to judge this "excellent student."  As things settle down in the aftermath, Rory is joined at her table by another lunch time reader.

My Blog Entry Entitled "The Bozos Cancelled Gilmore Girls!"

Not being a clinician, I do not allow myself to diagnose actual people, but I do think it is safe to suggest that there are several characters in the show who demonstrate clear Asperger's traits.  An undeniable case is represented by Kirk, the town eccentric (and by the standards of Stars Hollow, where few if any normal people live, it is no mean feat to achieve this status).  In the episode above, Kirk overhears Rory and Lorelai discussing how administrators are accusing Rory of being a loner, a charge that they vehemently dispute in equating loners with people who sullenly carry duffel bags around.  As Kirk reminds the duo that he, too,  used to carry around a duffel bag and "turned out just fine," the concern suddenly seems a bit more warranted.  Kirk, who in his late twenties or thirties still lives with his mother, also names his new cat Kirk since he likes the name.  He protests that this is unlikely to cause confusion since he knows when he is calling.  There could, of course, be a problem with calls from his mother, so Kirk is wondering if he can get her to call out "Human Kirk" and "Cat Kirk" as appropriate.

The second most extreme case may be Paris, Rory's classmate who is unquestionably the nerdiest person on campus.  On the campus, only Rory is remotely within the league of Paris' intellectual academic firepower, but Paris is—to put it mildly—rather clueless about social circumstances.  And her personality tends to be rather inflexible.  Luke Danes, the owner of town diner, and Taylor Dosey, the town grocer and de facto mayor, also show a decidedly non-neurotypical perspective on life.

In the Eastern and Pacific North American time zones, Gilmore Girls is shown on the WB on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 p.m., with reruns of "the early days" on Sunday at 7:00 p.m.  The show's official web site can be found at http://www.thewb.com/Shows/Show/0,7353,||159,00.html .