Gilmore Girls (2000–2007)
Trivia
Alexis Bledel hates coffee, but Rory, her character, loves it. Whenever you see her drinking "coffee" in the series, she is actually drinking Coca-Cola out of her cup.
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Spoilers (16)
Liza Weil originally tested for the role of Rory and did not get the part, but the producers liked her so much that they wrote her the role of Paris Geller.
Scott Patterson, who plays Luke, was not originally hired to be a series regular. He was only signed on for the pilot episode, but it was only after the discovery of the undeniable chemistry between he and Lauren Graham that he was contracted for more episodes, and quickly became a series regular.
Milo Ventimiglia and Alexis Bledel (Jess and Rory) actually dated in real life for three and a half years.
Lane's band's name is "Hep Alien". The writers named it after producer Helen Pai; "Hep Alien" is an anagram of her name.
Rory occasionally speaks Spanish with Ezsperanza, where she's shown to be moderately-fluent, using basic conversational phrases. Ironically, Alexis Bledel is Hispanic (of Argentinian descent) and speaks Spanish fluently, having grown up in a Spanish-speaking household. Bledel has stated that her second language was English and she did not learn it until she attended school.
Carole King (who sings the theme song) guest stars in season 2 as the music "rock" store owner who lets Lane use her store drum set for practice.
In the show they mention Dirty Dancing (1987) several times. Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) stars in the movie as Marjorie Houseman.
When the character Brad Langford (Adam Wylie) returns to Chilton Academy after an absence of several months, he explains that he was away playing Jack in "Into the Woods" on Broadway. Wylie really was away from the series to play Jack in the 2002 Broadway revival of "Into the Woods".
In the season 5 opener, "Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller," when Luke leaves Lorelai messages on her answering machine, he states his phone number is (860) 294-1986. This number was used as a bid for donations toward the new Children's and Maternal Hospital at Hopkins to which the number belongs. Luke is played by Children's Center Director George Dover's brother-in-law, Scott Patterson.
A common joke is that townie Kirk Gleason (who is portrayed by Sean Gunn) is always working at a new job. In total Kirk has 62 different jobs over the course of all seven seasons.
The character of Lane Kim is based on Helen Pai, a co-producer of the show and the best friend of creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.
Milo Ventimiglia was originally supposed to make only a few guest appearances as Jess, Luke's nephew. The producers liked him so much they offered him a 6 season contract as a series regular. He asked to be signed for only 2 years.
Luke's character was originally written to be played by a woman, but the producers figured that "there wasn't enough testosterone" in the series and that resulted in Scott Patterson turning the character around.
Logan's very wealthy family runs a venerable publishing empire. Their last name, Huntzberger, is a reference to the Sulzberger family, who have owned The New York Times since Arthur Hays Sulzberger succeeded his father-in-law Adolph S. Ochs as publisher in 1935.
Because of the unusually longer scripts to fill in fast-paced dialogue, the actors could not improvise or ad-lib any of their dialogue.
Due to the fast pace speech in the show, the average script for an episode of the show runs 75-80 pages, as opposed to 45-50 for a standard hour-long television show. During the 101st episode, a black and white movie from the 1930s is being shown. Lorelai looks at the movie and says they "talked fast" in those movies.
The town of Stars Hollow is based on Washington Depot, Connecticut. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino stayed there while on a trip with her husband to look at Mark Twain's wallpaper.
The exterior shot of "The Dragonfly Inn" was also the home of TV's The Waltons (1972).
Sean Gunn, who plays Kirk, made his first appearance in episode 1.2 ("The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton"), but not as Kirk. His character was named "Mick" and he was installing a DSL line at the Lorelais' home that was ordered by Emily.
In a November 2020 New York Times article by Saul Austerlitz, Scott Patterson (Luke) said that he and Lauren Graham (Lorelei) both realized soon after starting to appear on the show that if they hoped to have the lung capacity needed to keep up with the ultra-quick pace of the patter-type dialogue, they would both have to quit smoking: "she needed her wind, and I needed my wind," he said.
In a November 2020 New York Times article by Saul Austerlitz, Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) recalled that when the show started filming, Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore) was so inexperienced as an actor that she sometimes didn't even understand which camera she should face. Bishop said, "I remember saying to Lauren at one point, 'I love when I'm watching the show, how you're always touching her,' [and Lauren] said, 'Actually, the reason I started doing that was because I wanted to get her to her mark.'"
Jackson Douglas, who played Jackson Belleville, directed 3 episodes and Lauren Graham produced 11 episodes.
In real life, Sookie's house is actually the backside of Lorelai's house. They are the same house. They make a nod to this in S3E1 "Lazy-Hazy-Crazy-Days" when Lorelai shows Rory a "shortcut" from their house to Sookie's.
In October 2015, it was reported on TVLine that Netflix struck a deal with Warner Bros. to revive the series in a limited run, consisting of four 90-minute episodes. Amy Sherman-Palladino was in charge of the new episodes.
Lorelai and Christopher are driving to Friday night dinner at the Gilmores. During the drive they are listening to Skid Row's "18 and Life". The lead singer of Skid Row is Sebastian Bach who is Gil the guitarist of Lane's band Hep Alien.
Marion Ross plays two characters in the Gilmore Girls: Lorelai "Trix" Gilmore (Rory's great-grandmother) as well as Marilyn Gilmore. When Trix dies, Marilyn comes to the wake and introduces herself as Trix's niece.
The character of Jess (played by Milo Ventimiglia) was supposed to have a spin-off called "Windward Circle" which was picked up by the WB for midseason 2004, in which the character moves in with his estranged father (played by Rob Estes) and his father's girlfriend (played by Sherilyn Fenn) from Connecticut to California. But due to the high cost of filming on location in Venice, California, the WB changed their minds and decided not to go forward with it.
Lauren Graham found out the show was cancelled when she was having dinner at a restaurant. Her agent phoned in to the restaurant, because she had her cell phone off, and told her the news.
Liza Weil known as Paris was very bad at school as a teenager unlike her character who is obsessed with her education.
Lorelai and Rory's house bears a remarkable resemblance to Lorelai's childhood doll house, which is said to be one of the few things Lorelai cherished from her upbringing.
After casting Liz Torres as Miss Patty, the producers were convinced they had to cast Sally Struthers due to their presence together in All in the Family (1971).
During a June 2015 cast reunion on "The Today Show," Alexis Bledel was asked if she thought Rory would now be with Dean, Jess, or Logan, and her answer was "none of the above": "I think she'd be seeing someone new, or she'd be single and focused on her career. I don't think she'd be married." Lauren Graham then interjected, "that's the best answer ever!"
Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino originally wanted Sherilyn Fenn to audition for the role of Lorelai Gilmore but she was appearing in Rude Awakening (1998) at the time. Fenn later guest starred as Sasha, Jess' father's girlfriend and then played the recurring character Anna Nardini.
At the end of season 3 in the episode "Say Goodnight, Gracie" Fran Weston passes away. Melissa McCarthy's future husband Ben Falcone plays Mr. Brink, a Weston relative and pallbearer in the procession.
In the episode, "Lorelai's Graduation Day", we discover that Lorelai's middle name is Victoria. Rory's given first name is also Lorelai, but her middle name is Leigh. "Lorelei Lee" is the name of a main character in "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" (played by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production and by Marilyn Monroe in the movie version).
Cherry danishes are often mentioned in various episodes. It is actually Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel's (Lorelei and Rory) favorite.
In season 7, Luke often wears a new hat. It's a hat for the Connecticut Defenders, a now-defunct minor league baseball team.
Both Liz Torres (Miss Patty) and Sally Struthers (Babette) are theatre trained and have performed on Broadway. Probably why they are so often seen singing.
The girl who played the younger Lorelai in season 3 had to wear blue contacts due to her natural eye color being brown. As a result, it made her eyes look purple.
Nathan Wetherington was originally cast to play Dean instead of Jared Padalecki. Alex Borstein was originally cast to play Sookie instead of Melissa McCarthy.
In season 6 episode 18 "The Real Paul Anka" Richard and Emily tell Lorelai that they are in town antiquing. They also say that they plan to hit up Washington Depot, which is the town that Stars Hollow is modeled after.
In almost every episode when Rory and/or Lorelai visit the grandparents' house, there is a new maid.
The exterior shots of the girls' home and the foyer and hallway are all filmed on the outdoor set, while nearly all of the interior house scenes are filmed across the studio front lot in a sound stage, where the entire first floor of the home is built to scale.
The number of years that Richard and Emily have been married changes. In S2E3 it's 34yrs, S5E13 it's been 40yrs. In episode 18 of season 2 they have been married 35yrs, that's also how long Richard has been in the business world, yet in episode 6 he tells Dean 30 years.
Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Scott Cohen (Max Medina) were in the same "Law & Order" episode arc (Season 7 Eps 15-17) three full years before GG began to air. However, they never were in a scene together.
On Netflix, the show's English subtitles are heavily edited to omit some lines or parts of dialogue (usually superfluous details). Presumably, this is to accommodate those who cannot read fast enough to keep up with the spoken dialogue.
Both Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars use the same set and also have an episode titled "Welcome to the Dollhouse".
The town troubadour is Grant Lee Phillips formerly of Grant Lee Buffalo, a successful band in the 90s.
Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy & American Dad) appeared in Season 2 Episode 21 "Lorelai's Graduation Day" as Zach, a fellow graduate.
Kelly Bishop and Edward Herrmann both won Tony awards in the same year, 1976. Bishop was awarded best featured actress in a musical for "A Chorus Line" and Herrmann was awarded best featured actor in a play for "Mrs. Warren's Profession."
The top view of the whole town is used in Pretty Little Liars, Witches of East End, The Carrie Diaries, Gilmore Girls, Bitten and Hart of Dixie. The set itself is used on Pretty Little Liars, Gilmore Girls, and Hart of Dixie.
In season 1, episode 5 ("Cinnamon's Wake"), Lane is found in Rory's room "skanking to Rancid". In season 4, episode 19 ("After Boom"), Lane's band Hep Alien perform that same song at their gig.
Carole King who wrote the theme song 'Where You Lead' appears in three episodes of the show as Sophie Bloom, owner of the music store.
Sean Gunn (Kirk Gleason) and Gregg Henry (Mitchum Huntzberger) have both appeared in the movie 'Guardians of the Galaxy''. They played Kraglin/On Set Rocket and Grandpa respectively.
After the sixth season, the show was picked up by The CW because The WB merged with UPN to form The CW.
Jared Padalecki (Dean) and Chad Michael Murray (Tristan) also star together in House of Wax (2005). They play characters that dislike each other too.
The theme song of the show was first released in 1971, which is almost 30 years before the show first aired. For the show some lyrics were changed, because the old lyrics were deemed 'outdated' or 'politically incorrect' by the singer.
Seasons 4-7 were filmed and aired in HD widescreen. The DVDs were released in the cropped full screen format however, reportedly because Amy Sherman-Palladino didn't like widescreen. When the reruns air on HD networks they can be seen in widescreen, and in 2010 the 16:9 versions were put on iTunes.
Gilmore Girls initially screened on Nickelodeon (UK) in 2003. Only the first three seasons were shown, with episodes edited for content and some, like "The Big One", dropped entirely.
In episode 18 season 3 Luke is speaking to Nicole about meeting her parents he exclaims that he is "spotless" and less than a second afterwards a spot (film burn) blips up on his face. No other blips appear in the rest of the episode, so its almost as if it's an omen of things to come.
Jared Padalecki's character in the series is named Dean. He would later go on to star in the TV show Supernatural (2005) and his on-screen brother is named Dean.
Gilmore Girls uses the same set as ABC Family's original TV drama Pretty Little Liars. Buildings commonly used on both are the church, the court house, the Gilmores house is the Hastings house, Luke's diner is the Apple Rose Grill, Mrs. Patty's is seen a few time throughout Pretty Little Liars
Jill Brennan, the actress who plays "Crazy Carrie" (Luke's alleged high school hook up) also stars in the pilot episode as Rory's teacher, Mrs. Traister, at Stars Hollow High.
Emily Kuroda's (Mrs. Kim) middle name is Keiko. Her on-screen daughter Lane is played by Keiko Agena.
Richard's mother (Trix) and Marylyn (Richard's cousin) are both played by the same actress, Marian Ross.
At one point Jason (Chris Eigeman) sarcastically states that he's a hologram. Eigeman played Arnold Rimmer in the first pilot of the ill-fated Red Dwarf (1992) (a version of the British sit-com Red Dwarf (1988)). The character of Rimmer is a hologram.
Lorelai's dog is named Paul Anka, after the 60's rock and roll artist.
When Luke checks out April's website in season 6, episode 11, she's had 1337 page views. That's a special number for computer hackers and enthusiasts as it means elite ('leet).
In episode 13 S4 when Lorelei asks Rory what's she thinking while they are at the stove. She makes reference about Jess can pull a personification of Rocky (She says Adriaaan). Two years later Milo plays Rocky's son.
It was a coincidence that Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel both have brown hair and blue eyes. At the ATX TV Festival for Gilmore Girls' 15-Year Reunion (2015), creator Amy Sherman-Palladino even stated, "it was just lucky that the two of them had blue eyes, and dark hair... that was, I don't know, that was just pixie dust, I don't know how the hell that happened."
In S02E06, when Rory and Dean have dance lessons at miss Patty's, Lorelai and Chris come in. Rory explains they are not good at dancing and Lorelai says "nobody puts baby in the corner". This is a famous quote from the movie Dirty Dancing. Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) stars in Dirty Dancing as Baby's mother.
In season 2 episode 14, Lorelai and Sookie comment on how Madchen Amick's character Sherry must be a witch because her dress is wrinkle-free. Madchen Amick later went on to play witch Wendy Beauchamp in Witches of East End.
The ear of the "g" in Girls, dots the "I" starting in the second season intro, cleaning up the look.
Matt Czuchry (Logan) & Edward Herrmann (Richard) also worked together on The Good Wife (2009) as Cary Agos & Lionel Deerfield respectively.
Kelly Bishop (Emily) & Matt Czuchry (Logan) also worked together on Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016) and three episodes of The Good Wife (2009).
The OD jacket that Luke wears throughout the series, even though the tag says US Army. The outline for the stripes on the sleeves clearly show it was worn by someone in the US Air Force.
Edward Herrmann (who plays Richard Gilmore) has a small recurring role in The Good Wife. In S04E02 he has a scene with Dakin Matthews (who plays headmaster Charleston).
The character of Michel Gerard is French. The actor who plays Michel, Yanic Truesdale, is actually French-Canadian, born in Québec, where the official language is French. Even so, unlike his character, he doesn't really have a French accent when he speaks English; he based Michel's articulation on a Parisian accent.
Liza Weil (Paris Geller) & Dakin Matthews (Hanlin Charleston) also worked together on Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016) as the same characters, as well as on The West Wing (1999) as Karen Larson & Simon Blye respectively.
Lauren Graham (Lorelai) and Scott Patterson (Luke) both appeared on "Seinfeld" but different episodes.
Both 'Gilmore Girls' and 'Hart of Dixie' were filmed in the same location. Liza Weil (Paris Gellar) has appeared in the TV show 'How to Get Away with Murder' with Wilson Bethel, playing Bonnie Winterbottom and Charles Mahoney respectively. Wilson played the character of Wade Kinsella in 'Hart of Dixie'.
The town of Stars Hollow that we see on the show is actually a standing outdoor set on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank California, where it is known as Midwest Street. Built in 1939, it first gained prominence in the popular 1962 movie musical "The Music Man", where it appeared as River City, Iowa, the turn-of-the-century small town bamboozled by the charismatic con artist Professor Harold Hill. The town set looked virtually the same in that movie as how it looks in "Gilmore Girls". The most memorable song from "The Music Man", "Ya Got Trouble!", was performed by Robert Preston in the same grassy plaza where the Stars Hollow gazebo was located. And River City's City Hall later became Stars Hollow High School in "Gilmore Girls". Midwest Street is still a part of Warner Bros. studio's back lot, and can be seen by the public when taking the studio's guided tour.
Spoilers
Alex Borstein, who was originally cast to play Sookie, has several appearances including Drella, the Harp player at the Independence Inn, and Miss Celine in the season 5 episode "Come Home". Borstein is married to Jackson Douglas, who played Jackson Belleville on the show. During the series, the characters of Sookie and Jackson eventually get married.
Lane's boyfriend, Dave (Adam Brody), left the show after his first season. To explain his absence, Lane claims that he went to university in California. Brody left the show in order to play the part of Seth in The O.C. (2003), which takes place in California. Also, when Chad Michael Murray (playing Rory's Chilton classmate, Tristin Dugray) left the show, his absence was explained by the character being sent to military school in North Carolina, which is where Murray filmed his recurring role on "Dawson's Creek" and later "One Tree Hill".
Only Lauren Graham (Lorelai) and Alexis Bledel (Rory) appear in all the 154 episodes.
At the end of season 5 after Rory steals a yacht, Lorelai says that Rory's court date is June 3rd. That is the same day Lorelai sets as her wedding date to Luke later in season 6.
Sookie's pregnancy in season 7 was written into the show to accommodate Melissa McCarthy's real life pregnancy.
Edward Herrmann (Richard Gilmore) died December 31, 2014 from brain cancer. In the revival the explanation for Richard's disappearance from the show was that he died suddenly from a heart attack.
The exterior "Midwest" sets, which incorporate Stars Hollows' town square, the Gazebo, Luke's Diner and Doosey's Market, are also featured prominently in The Dukes of Hazzard (1979). They can also be seen in a scene in the original theatrical version of The Music Man (1962). There are several subtle references to this fact, including in season 7, Rory's friend referring to Stars Hallow as the perfect small town where "you expect Harry Hill to come to town and con people into buying band instruments" and in season 1, episode 14 in Luke's when Taylor says, "We've got trouble my friends," to which Lorelai responds with, "Right here in River City." And, Hart of Dixie seen on Netflix, prominently uses the same gazebo.
The song "Reflecting Light" that plays during Luke's and Lorelai's first dance, also plays when Lorelai and Christopher decide their marriage is over, and again when Lorelai and Luke are married in the revival.
Sherilyn Fenn was to have starred alongside Milo Ventimiglia and Rob Estes in the California-set spin-off "Windward Circle". After The WB dropped the project, "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman-Palladino wanted to work with Fenn again and wrote the character of Anna Nardini with Fenn in mind, in order to bring her back into the series. The character of Anna was originally to have a strong enough presence to be a potential threat to the character of Lorelai. However, after Sherman left the show, the producers changed the direction originally intended for the character, as instead making her a villain in a custody battle.
Daniel Palladino, series writer, producer, and husband to creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, made an appearance on the pilot of the show. He can be seen in the first scene in Luke's Diner as he walks behind Lorelai to leave the shop.
Lisa Weil sleeps with a professor named Asher. As does her character Bonnie in the television show "How to Get Away With Murder".
The old lady's house, where Luke keeps his father's boat, later becomes the house that Lane and her band mates move into.
Of all the decisions made by the writers in season 7, the only one where Daniel Palladino and creator Amy Sherman-Palladino weren't involved, the latter said that the only one she didn't like was making Lane and Zack parents.
June third was used as a date of Rory's yacht case "trial", as well as Lorelai's and Luke's wedding date.
Jared Padalecki's character in the series is named Dean. He would later go on to star in the TV show Supernatural (2005) and his on-screen brother is named Dean. Jared's nemesis on GG is Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) where as on Supernatural his girlfriend (pilot episode) who is killed which insights him back into hunting is named Jess (Adrianne Palicki).
