hello. hello??? we were ROBBED
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from China

seen from Australia

seen from Singapore

seen from Malaysia
seen from China

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Hungary

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from China

seen from Singapore

seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Austria
seen from Singapore

seen from United States
hello. hello??? we were ROBBED
Okay, so obviously, the blurry footage that exists of Windward Circle, in addition to the CA stuff from “Here Comes The Son,” is a little cringey and doesn’t seem to make a ton of sense. (How and why DOES Jess know how to skateboard that well????? Why is everyone in California inexplicably an asshole to him?)
That being said, I am picking up on threads of what Windward Circle could have been had the network picked it up. Aside from the fact that shooting on location in Venice was never a feasible option, the show would have needed to set an entirely different tone from Gilmore Girls proper to actually succeed. Like, you can’t put Jess and Jimmy into a Rory and Lorelai look-a-like contest and expect an audience to respond in the same way. In other words, you can’t just make Gilmore Girls with “less skirts.”
The meat of GG is the evolution of their close mother/daughter friendship. I just can’t imagine Jimmy and Jess in the same light or situations. It would look a lot more like: the fight on the boardwalk AND the scene where they meet at the diner: yelling/fighting or uncomfortable silence.
Now, I would find THIS sort of show compelling, if ASP had struck the right tone, setting, and back-and-forth between them (i.e. turn down the quirk and amp up the edge). I am intrigued by the idea of Jess the New Yorker finding himself in Southern California with his absentee father and his new, pseudo-family. However, I also wonder how Jess the Character would have carried a show, considering just how often he internalizes things and how little he engages with most people. The draw of GG is the push-and-pull. It’s both the said AND unsaid from Lorelai, Rory, and their family and friends. How would monosyllabic Jess play against Sasha, Lily, Jimmy, etc.? How would he fit into a SoCal world?
He was a skater boy,
She said 'see you later boy'
He wasn't good enough for her
I will forever mourn the loss of windward circle, which would've been an absolutely perfect jess mariano spinoff.
Are there any good jess in California fics that exist? Its not a want it's a need
Last June, Alix Kermes (who played Lily) joined us to watch the backdoor pilot of “Windward Circle,” otherwise known as the Season 3 episode “Here Come the Son,” and she couldn’t stop raving about how amazing Milo Ventimiglia was with her 9 year old self. 🥰💕 He’ll always be Jesse to us now.
Find a lot more fandom content (including Gilmore Girls!) in our magazine!
A community-driven fandom zine exploring popular story franchises, creativity, and the fan-creator economy. Click to read rmrk*st | Remarkis
Really the thing I regret the most about the proposed Jess spinoff not getting picked up is that they were clearly setting Lily up to be a bookish Little Sister Figure for him, and seeing Jess begrudgingly bond with a little kid (whom he would have no doubt found annoying initially) would have been EVERYTHING. Absolutely EVERYTHING, do you understand?
I’m sorry I’m SORRY just imagine the effect Windward Circle would have had on the fandom
There’s literally a show about a character who was introduced 1) as a way to break luke and lorelai up (as in keep them apart) and 2) to be a love interest for Rory
And the show runners loved him so much they were like shit okay he needs to be the main character
IMAGINE everyone watching these two shows as they aired, the episodes with parallel plot lines Jess PINING forEVER
I don’t know what else to say ther than who else could be the endgame when 1/3 of the boyfriends GOT HIS OWN DAMN TV SHOW
IMAGINE TWO SEPARATE SHOWS WHOSE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE LOVE INTERESTS LIKE OK THATS LITERALLY LIKE READING A BOOK WHERE THE CHAPTERS ALTERNATE BETWEEN CHARACTERS
I’m sorry but sometimes it’s important to mourn what was lost