From Deseret News archives:
Luke, Lorelai still smokin'
"Altoids," Patterson said. "Lot more Altoids."
Pretty much from the day the show premiered in 2000, fans could see that Luke and Lorelai were perfect for each other. Luke and Lorelai, however, did not. And there was one of those will-they-or-won't-they things going on.
Given the history of TV, there's the inherent danger that once they do get together, the spark will disappear. But creator/executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino has managed the nearly impossible so far — the characters did, and the relationship is still smokin'.
"We took our time," Sherman-Palladino said. "I think people rush to get couples together. We had four years of these people walking past each other in the street going, 'Hmmmm.' "
Lorelai and Luke each had other relationships. They supported each other and came to each other's rescue.
"We got to see them grow as friends. And it is the old cliche that friends make the best lovers," Sherman-Palladino said.
They're still friends. And they still treat each other the same, which is the key to the success in bringing them together.
"I expected Luke and Lorelai to be more, like, 'Goo-goo, ga-ga, honey, mwah-mwah,' " Graham said — a sentiment her character expressed in one episode. "He's still kind of gruff and how he is. And they tease each other."
They still have that "contentious kind of friendship" because it "might be sickening" if it was "too saccharine."
Sherman-Palladino agreed. "If, all of a sudden, it was this very soft, smushy, music swells, birds flying by, flowers drifting, after a while you're, like, — Augh! I wonder what's on 'American Idol.' "
She said the "key to keeping them together is keeping them exactly the same people. A lot of times people worry that the conflict is going to go out of their relationship because suddenly they're in love. But, if anything, love usually adds more conflict because you're still the same person, but now you're trying to mesh who you are with somebody else."
While the producer promises that the Luke-and-Lorelai relationship won't devolve into a break-up-to-make-up cycle, that doesn't mean there won't be challenges. Like in Tuesday's 100th episode of the series (7 p.m., Ch. 30), when Christopher, the father of Lorelai's daughter, gets between the two. And Sherman-Palladino isn't promising that the new relationship will last forever.
