Before GG stood for Gossip Girl, it was what those-in-the-know abbreviated Gilmore Girls to. The early noughties series was centred on a mother/daughter relationship in a small American town in Connecticut and yep, it sounds twee, and yes it was twee, but in an amazing way.
Growing up, it was sort of like Marmite, you had your friends who watched it religiously and then you had others who wanted to gag every time you mentioned it. I didn’t trust those latter people very much because even though I’m a fan of a dark HBO show, sometimes you do just need some feel-good TV in your life. Naturally, I watched most of it with my mum because it was almost never NSFM (not safe for mums) even though it dealt with all the usual teenage dramas – it was packaged in a quaint town, posh private school and had clever, sassy dialogue.
Lauren Graham who played thirtysomething mum, Lorelai, was single-handedly one of the best characters on TV. She basically raised a generation with her wise words: 'I’m attracted to pie. It doesn’t mean I feel the need to date pie.' She could even predict the future, stating forecasts like “Justin is so dreamy. He just can’t marry Britney.” So, to give you some background, Lorelai got pregnant when she was a teen, ran away from her super-privileged upbringing to make it on her own and the whole series is about how her and her daughter, Rory (played by Alexis Bledel) are BFFs. You see Rory grow up from slightly annoying schoolgirl to University hotshot and boy, does a lot happen in-between.
Here are just a few of the reasons why it’s necessary to relive Rory’s teen years, K?
It introduced the world to Melissa McCarthy
The show wasn’t just about mother/daughter dynamics, or high-school boyfriends, it was really about female friendships in general. Melissa played Lorelai’s quirky best friend Sookie and was all about the one-liners and physical comedy, so we can conclude that Bridesmaids wouldn’t have been the same without Gilmore Girls.
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You’ll be engrossed by the many love lives of Rory and Lorelai
Not only were we glued to Rory’s three main boyfriends which included her first love, Dean (*Supernatural’*s Jared Padalecki) who the world titled ‘Basic Dean’ because he was just a bit wet, wasn’t he? (He did make her a car from scratch, though.) Then, there was Jess (Heroes’ hunk Milo Ventimiglia) who read too much Jack Kerouac and was all misunderstood AKA: trouble. Oh, and don’t get us started on her Yale beau, the uber-charming, ridiculously rich, Logan (The Good Wife’s Matt Czuchry) who, gasp, got between Rory and Lorelai and was involved in Rory’s dark, downward spiral of a quarter-life crisis. As if that wasn’t enough, Lorelai’s lovelife wasn’t any quieter. She had an on-going saga with Rory’s dad, Christopher, who was a great father – when he rolled up into town twice a year – and only wanted Lorelai when she was happy with someone else.
It’s a literary education
A total of 334 books were mentioned by Rory during the series including Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. I liked to call this Rory’s reading list and anything her character read was a good enough reason for me to read it too. And, towards the later series, I also looked to Rory for hair-spiration (her fringe was epic) and style ideas because she always managed to look like a walking Anthropologie mannequin.
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Bonus: The cameos
Yes, that is Lucas from One Tree Hill, Seth Cohen from The O.C and Jon Hamm from Mad Men. Oh, and Barack Obama’s political campaign trail plays a major part, too.
Enjoy and be happy.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.