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BuddyTV recently put together a list of “TV’s 50 Coolest Dads“, counting down such TV dads as Al Bundy, Homer Simpson
Coming in on the list at #37 is Luke Danes on Gilmore Girls! But even higher, we have Christopher Hayden at #8!! So, I’m guessing “coolest” doesn’t mean “best” dad ;)
Photos: TheWB.com & Patrick Ecclesine/The CW /©2006 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Why did they choose Luke? “Somehow his daughter became a genius, but Luke is at his coolest when he’s the surly proprietor of greasy food and bottomless cups of coffee.”
Why did they choose Christopher? “He might not always be there for his kid, but Christopher is cool whether he’s on a motorcycle or in a family-friendly sedan. He’s young and hip and can banter with the best of them, an important skill to have when you’re surrounded by Gilmores.”
What do you think of making Christopher more ‘cool’ than Luke?
Also making the list is Harry Wilson on 90210, played by Gilmore Girls alumn Rob Estes.
Wow Buddytv FAIL OF THE MOST EPIC KINDS.
Wow this is a terrible poll. To be a dad you have to actually be in the child’s life. Anyone can father a child, but it takes someone special to be a dad. Christopher spent most of the show trying to buy affection. The guy was an idiot. Right from the start of Lorelai getting pregnant, he was ok with riding on the Gilmore’s coattails and you know that would mean that someone else would be raising his daughter. He’s useless. He comes around when he feels like it, and leaves anytime things got even a little tough. A dad is there for their child no matter what. This guy is useless. So what, he has a motorcycle. Frankly, it still shows his inability to grow up enough to be a dad.
Luke on the other hand has always been a dad. Even though he didn’t know he was a father. He helped to raise his sister, after his mom got sick. He cared for Rory always. So what if he was clueless in the gift department. That just means that he doesn’t know how to buy affection, he just knows how to show it in other ways. People aren’t born know how to be parents. It’s what you learn when you are in the position of being a parent. Even when he had no children of his own, he was always the closest thing to a dad Rory ever had. Rory never even wanted Chris around as a dad, because she knew he was a complete loser. She was excited to see him when he was around but never really put her heart into it.
Eventually when April came into the picture, Luke proved over again how wonderful of a dad he could be. He pushed Lorelai away over his fear of April not liking him as much as her, but April knew from the start that her father was wonderful. Having a child is hard enough, but gaining a teenager is extremely tough, and he did a wonderful job.
Mac you are completely right. Christopher’s wit always came across dry and forced to me as well. He shouldn’t have ever even made the list. He was never a dad to anyone who mattered to the show. Gigi was superfluous and annoying. But even still, he was willing to ship her off to France sight unseen with a girl barely old enough to vote. Shows what a great “dad” he was. The people who did this poll should have actually watched the show.
Chercher la femme
I’m glad to see C with Luke.
I’m a big fan of Luke.
C was not that bad Lorelay never stop to put C down still run after him or call him all the times .
Marie and Clarie;
You both make me think more of what I have seen and what I think.
Yet I still have to disagree.
Luke was always loyal to Rory and there for every birthday and other life events.
Lorelai did not push Chris away from Rory, EVER!!
He was not there for her on his own. Chris admitted as much after coming in to money and wanting to do things for Rory.
Marie, wow!!! I have been thinking just that for some time but didn’t have the skill you do to express it!
Chris does have a raw deal in this show, as you point out it is repeatedly suggested that Lorelai pushed him away at the beginning (when she was obviously extremely unhappy) and tried to get him to make something of himself before they could be a family. Maybe he could have tried harder but I’m sure Lorelai would be a hard person to stand up to.
Chris is a perpetual presence in their life – he seems to know Lorelai’s erratic behaviour and he deals with it always trying to find the right moment to make his move. In season 1 Lorelai says that he calls them every week so I don’t think he has been as absent as people make out – maybe in the early years yes but he definatley tried to make up for that.
Luke, although I do like him, drives me crazy with his lack of sentiment, Lorelai is such a passionate person yet he seems to avoid physical contact with her & makes such little effort to keep up. As for his relationship with Rory, I don’t see it as fatherly at all – yes he does sweet things for her on occasion but that iis more through his friendship with her mother than anything else. When April comes along he does make the effort but as previously stated, her mother was SO adamant that Luke would hate to be a father that she didn’t tell him of her existence – for any woman to do that she must have been pretty sure of his reaction.
All in, I’d take Chris as a father over Luke anyday, someone who can teach you about the world, how to be passionate and loving and independant without being a loner. I think barring one episode Chris acts with dignity and perseverance where many others (I think including Luke) would have given up.
Marie, for as much as I don’t like Christopher, I don’t disagree with everything you say.
However I can’t let you say that Luke did things for Rory only to get to Lorelai.
He definitely loved them both and everything he did, he did it genuinely.
As for Anna’s decision not to tell Luke about her pregnancy because of his so-called hate for children, it’s still wrong.
Some people are not naturally all motherly or fatherly (I’m one of them) but when it happens to be yours everything is different. At least he deserved to know he had a child.
My final thought: I think Chris went back to Sherry only because Lorelai told him to…
Yikes – where is all this “Luke would always be there for me” stuff coming from – sounds like someone’s fantasy – since Luke is not anyone’s father but April’s, and despite trying to stack the deck against Christopher with the worst writing of the show, Christopher still has the better record of being a kinder and cooler human being than Luke ever was, not to mention more years of parenting and commitment to a child than Luke – that’s right, with Gigi.
Does Christopher get ANY credit for the fact that he gave up the love of his life to be there for Gigi – and does anyone NOT see that if Lorelai had LET HIM he WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE for Rory in just the same way? The show is pretty clear in Seasons 1-2, that it was Lorelai who repeatedly pushed Christopher away. He TRIED to marry Lorelai and be a father to Rory and she not only pushed him away, she RAN away – from Christopher as well as everyone else in Hartford. She could be a maid, but she wouldn’t let Chris sell insurance. He tried to marry her again, and she was more concerned about his profit and loss statement. She sent a message to him over and over that she didn’t need him until it was too late – as Richard said in the Season 3 opener, Christopher found a woman who would let him be a father for his child.
Of course, the people who fawn and gush over Lorelai – a woman who out of SPITE did not talk to her own daughter for six months – do not see what kind of effect she would have on someone she pushed away. This is a woman who broke off two engagements, first to Max and then to Luke, with horribly impulsive behavior, not to mention explosive rage. Do we have any reason to believe she was more welcoming to Christopher – to REALLY give him a chance? She claimed she “always had the door open to him” and then she joked and pushed him away after she slept with him in Season 1 and told him they couldn’t get married, allegedly because he wasn’t ready for marriage (as if she was). Why is it she could work as a maid but Christopher had to prove he could be a business success? She repeatedly pushed men out of her life, and even with the deck stacked against Christopher, it’s not hard to see why he turned to Sherry after Lorelai rejected him – setting up the events that shattered Christopher’s relationship with Rory. Now that’s good mothering.
Luke is JUST AS MUCH an absentee father as Christopher but, in completely manipulative style in Season 6, we blame this one all on the woman – and everyone forgets that her reason was that Luke HATED children so much that she assumed he wouldn’t want to know. Apparently he was SO HOSTILE that she did not believe he could be parental.
For all the hate and garbage dumped on Chris, he continues to forgive, continues to understand, and continues to try. And he was a cool father for someone who let him be that, and hung in there when she walked out on him.
Luke, who mostly did things for Rory to get to Lorelai, or because she manipulated him into it, has no real record to stack up to Christopher’s compassion and coolness in the face of massive rejection.
Chris change position with Luke :) but i like chris to.
Looked at the entire list, pretty ecclectic grouping. Get the impression that all one had to do to make the list was make one joke that the kid’s could laugh at. Sad commentary on how seldom adults are written in a way to interact intelligently with their kids on serial TV. Keith Mars at the top of the list strikes me as a pretty good choice. Chris Hayden at #8 shows superficiality at the highest level. Luke could have been a good top #20 choice even if we never knew about April.
Rory complained that she had “hot” parents, and maybe the whole “cool” thing is IMPLIED if you are hot, but come on, Chris is only “cool” by admiring which schools Logan got kicked out of, or for taking the kids at the Yale Daily News out for lunch. He’s NOT so cool in his abandonment of Rory, and he wanted to ditch GiGi too when he was stuck with her when his first wife took off to Paris, so he’s not much of a dad.
Luke, however, hasn’t been a dad that long and is still a little clueless, which is not cool, but he will always be there for his daughter, which is the most important thing. So he may not be the “cool” dad, but he is definitely the BETTER dad.
My God, Luke should have been #8 not that dumb smuck Chris, Chris should have been #100, cause he was a bad father & a Loser, I hate Chris that stupid Loser
What is the definition of cool?
If you say the more common things like a motorcycle,money,
very quick smart wit,.. you would have to pick Chris.
I like Chris for those things but I Love Luke for who he is.
I would hang with Chris but I would want Luke to be my Dad.
He would always be there for me and me 1st before anything else.
That is father love.
Christopher was voted cooler than Luke because of his age. I think where Lorelai and him had Rory so young he is still young and good looking when he’s older. He also had the motor cycle and a flash car and came into a lot of money.
Luke hadn’t been a father for as ong as Christopher becuase he didnt know about April. He didnt have any experience and just wemt with his gut instinct which was good when he fought to see April, but maybe not so ‘cool’ when it comes to birthday presents.
Personally, I prefer Luke as he his far more genuine and has always been sorted and reliable. He has his own business and hasn’t just been handed the things he has, he worked for them and built his business up from nothing.
I still don’t understand how Chris can get so many bonus points as a dad while he was never there for Rory… Plus his bantering always sounded so forced to me…
Luke found out very late that he had a daughter but he really tried to be a good father, to catch up and to spend as much time as he could with her… He would have been perfect if he hadn’t sacrificed his relationship with Lorelai…