Well, this is just depressing. And no, I don't mean this eye-crossing wardrobe malfunction. Coordinating outfits isn't just for lesbian twins, girls.

It's bad enough that Gilmore Girls is off the air (and that its last two seasons were senselessly awful); it's bad enough that some humorless moron thought TV audiences wouldn't understand that Amy Sherman-Palladino is funny without mutilating setting her snappy bantering dialogue to a laugh track. Now, the Ausiello Report brings grim tidings that the original order for 13 episodes of The Return of Jezebel James — our only hope for the return of Palladino's humor and the presence of Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose on our TVs — has been slashed to seven.

According to Ausiello, Fox declined to explain the slash to the episode order. Instead, they discussed how very, very busy they are launching new shows while making room for returning hits such as 24 and American Idol (not to mention banning Buffy sing-alongs). However, they promise that they have just enough room to spare for those seven episodes and that they

“are big fans of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino and the extremely talented cast and are looking forward to airing the show."

Talk about damning with praise. But then again, to be honest — and I'm waiting for lightning to strike while I say this — I didn't really love the show's premise myself. If you aren't familiar with it, you can pretty much glean the whole story from this clip (see the official trailer here).

I know, I know: It's bad to judge based on rough cuts of footage. And yet I can't help it. The thing I'd add to Dorothy Snarker's list of snap judgments is this: Ambrose is adorable in her oversized jacket, so the whole “dirty” thing is a bit condescending. That's not dirty, y'all: That's what I like to call underemployed twenty-something chic. A look I know well.

On a less negative note, Ausiello speculates that a possible reason for the shortened season may be Sherman-Palladino's newly announced (and first big-screen) project, a Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle based on the Amy Cohen novel The Late Bloomer's Revolution. That would make me happy for Sherman-Palladino, though not for me (I'm rather apathetic to Parker, a consequence of being an airline economy captive audience to four consecutive showings of Failure to Launch). It may also mean there's no shot at a return — or even an entrance — for Jezebel James.

Yeah, Lauren, much as the pilot made me cringe, I'm with you.