The best trips down memory lane are the ones that take you past Luke's Diner, Miss Patty's School of Ballet, and, of course, the Dragonfly Inn. So it's no surprise that Stars Hollow — the fictional Gilmore Girls town that inspires autumnal wanderlust every year — was born out of a memory of a trip. En route to New York at the turn of the millennium, Amy Sherman-Palladino drove through Washington, Connecticut, and realized she was in a town so idyllic, it might as well have been fantasy.
"We're driving by, and people are slowing down saying, 'Excuse me, where is the pumpkin patch?'" she said back in 2001. "And everything is green and people are out, and they're talking. And we went to a diner and everyone knew each other and someone got up and they walked behind the [counter] and they got their own coffee because the waitress was busy, and I'm, like, 'Is this out of central casting? Who staged this thing for me?'"
So Sherman-Palladino put the fantasy on television and gave us Gilmore Girls, one of the most well-crafted series to ever hit The WB, and one of the most well-crafted series to never get the acclaim it deserved because it was on The WB. But, thanks to subsequent DVD rewatches, and, of course, Team Jess, Gilmore Girls secured its place in nostalgic TV history, even locking in the 2016 Netflix follow-up, Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life.
But what was life like in the years Gilmore Girls was on the air? That's the topic of our latest episode of TV. Watch. Repeat., in which my co-host Allison Piwowarski, this week's special guest Sam Bush (aka @bravohistorian and Gilmore Girls superfan) and I take a look at some of the best TV pilots and the history of beloved series. And wherever Gilmore Girls leads, we will follow — and come armed with plenty of fun facts.
So grab your coffee, coffee, coffee and enjoy our latest episode of TV. Watch. Repeat., sponsored by ZocDoc, on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And be sure to check out our daily pop culture podcast, Pop Chaser, for all your entertainment headline needs!
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