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Image of Madchen on Sept 15/07 at the EW Emmy Party: used with permission by Newscom
Mädchen Amick only made 3 physical appearances on Gilmore Girls, and yet her character Sherry Tinsdale had a huge impact on the show. Like in "The Great Stink", Sherry was a central element to the evolution of Christopher & Lorelai’s relationship, and Lorelai’s ability to trust Chris (and herself).
Sherry represented the "perfect" woman (in some ways), but the "imperfect mom" on Gilmore Girls, a contrast in every way to Lorelai. For a while, she represented "the other woman" to Lorelai, the one who ruined her chance at love again with Chris. She lent comic relief for her lack of preparation for being a mom, and for her eagerness, and gave us someone to get mad at when she left Gigi.
Since those episodes on Gilmore Girls, Mädchen (pronounced may-chen) Amick has primarily acted on television, including recurring roles on Freddie, ER, and Viva Laughlin. In 2008, Mädchen appeared on Shark and on The Verdict.
Although I didn’t know this when I started to write this post, news has it that Mädchen Amick will be on Gossip Girl! She’ll take on the role of a married woman who has a fling with Nate.
How do you think Mädchen’s character on Gilmore Girls, Sherry Tinsdale, affected the lives of the main characters? Why did they make her the way she is? What do you think of Sherry and her decisions?
I can’t believe that Madchen Amick was in only 3 episodes of Gilmore Girls (although it might technically be 4, because in “The Bracebridge Dinner” if you pause on the photo Christmas card that Christopher and Sherry sent – when Rory turns it toward the camera – the picture looks like the actors David Sutcliffe and Madchen Amick holding a dog … which is mentioned by Lorelai and Rory in that conversation, but the dog is never seen or heard from again – hmmmmm). I’ve obviously seen the DVDs way too many times!
The character of Sherry Tinsdale had a much bigger impact on the series than these three appearances by Madchen Amick would indicate … she is mentioned in conversation before she appears, is talked about by others (like Emily) while Sherry and Christopher are together, and then leaves a mess in Christopher and Gigi’s lives when she takes off for Paris. I thought that Amy Sherman-Palladino did a masterful job of keeping “Sherry” alive as a character for several seasons (haven’t done a complete count of the mentions of Sherry, but they were plentiful).
Her disappearance certainly gave scope to the story line of Christopher having to experience single parenthood, and getting to have a taste of what Lorelai was handling for so many years (although Lorelai managed without nannies and inherited wealth …)
only 3 episodes? i seriously thought she was in a lot more than just 3— good thing. i hated her character. eventhough it wasn’t much of an appearance– she did have a huge impact on the show. it showed the jealousy in Lorelai when we first met her, and of course the great stink mentioned above.
and im not looking forward to seeing her on Gossip Girl (her voice is annoying and i don’t want her with Nate!!)
[...] we reported earlier, Gilmore Girls’ Sherry, Mädchen Amick, is making an appearance in Season 2 of Gossip Girl. [...]
[...] Amick continues to film scenes for Season 2 of Gossip Girl. Her character, as previously noted and shown, is that of a "cougar". Mädchen plays a woman named Catherine Mason who has an [...]
[...] the Gossip Girl set filming scenes with Chace Crawford. We’ve posted about Mädchen’s role, and other photos, here and here. In the scene below, "Nate" and "Catherine" go [...]
[...] marathon by donating to The Actors Fund charity. Mary Frances put together the Sherilyn Fenn and Madchen Amick posts and [...]
At first I didn’t anything against Sherry’s character. I was glad that she was in C.’s life so that Lorelai could finally move on with her life.
But then, in my mind, she’s the one responsible for the Luke & Lorelai debacle. If she had not been irresponsible, if she hadn’t walked out on C. and Gigi, C. wouldn’t have resorted to Lorelai and blah blah blah.
I know this is a shortcut but I just wish they stayed happily ever after so that C. was no longer an option!
As you can understand from this post, I really don’t like Christopher.
It’s strange I’ve just realized Sherry was portrayed by Amick. It’s also strange, to me at least, that you don’t mention her “other most famous character” (imo), that of Shelly Johnson from 1990’s smash hit, Twin Peaks, the series by David Lynch and Mark Frost that kind of revolutionized the “soap” genre. (For some reason I think even the creators of Gilmore Girls paid a kind of tribute to TP through Sherry’s character: SheRRy – SheLLy, Tins_dale_ – Dale Cooper of TP… but it might be just me imagining things. Having just rewatched TP and entered a kind of “fan mode”, it’s easy to do that.
)
Anyway, cool article, thank you. Now you made me want to rewatch Amick’s episodes from GG too.