Gilmore Girls: Fun Facts

Welcome back, Gilmore Girls… Real fans have to read this post!

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts Open
The Gilmore Girls are back! As you must have heard, the series finally returns with four new 90-minute episodes, and we’re super excited.

If you want to know when and where to watch the new episodes on Netflix, you’re in the right place. We’re already preparing the party!

In order to celebrate this iconic show, and to prepare for the new episodes, here are the most interesting fun facts you’ve probably never heard before. We’ve also got great photos, videos and a recap of the cast then and now!

 

Gilmore Girls: Surprising Stories You Must Read and Share!

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts With the Guys
Did you know this? #1 Alexis Bledel can’t stand coffee, but her character Rory loves it. Her coffee cup is filled with coke.

Did you know this? #2 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 him and Lauren Graham that he was contracted for more episodes, and quickly became a series regular.

Did you know this? #3 Hollywood agent-turned-producer Gavin Polone worked with creator Amy Sherman-Palladino to develop Gilmore Girls, and he has said part of the inspiration for the show’s focus on the mother-daughter relationship between Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) was the 1999 movie Drop Dead Gorgeous, which he produced, and the relationship between characters played by Ellen Barkin and Kirsten Dunst.

 

Can you believe Luke was originally a woman? Do you know why it’s called Gilmore Girls?

Do you know why it’s called Gilmore Girls?

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts Grass
Why the name Gilmore? Gilmore Girls was the original show title, though it was briefly changed to The Gilmore Way before finally being locked in as Gilmore Girls. The inspiration for the Gilmore name: the Gilmore Bank at the Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles, which merged with (and changed its name to) Grandpoint Bank in 2013.

  • What was really in Rory’s coffee cup?
  • Luke was almost a woman?
  • Did you notice the pre-Mad Men Jon Hamm?

The surprising answers to these questions and many more are ahead.

 

Are you ready for the Gilmore Girls new episodes?

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - everything
This is a long article for real fans! Many of the pages have beautiful photos and rather heavy animated images (like this adorable one here, awww). If you don’t see an animated image in black and white here, please give it a few seconds to load.

So why the next button? I couldn’t fit all content and photos into one page or the page would have loaded too slow and get stuck. So you have to every three stories, not too often. OK?

Thank you! If you like the post and want to say thanks, please share the link on Facebook. You can tag friends who would like to watch the new episodes as well.

 

Can you believe Luke was originally a woman?

Which of the cast members do you miss most?

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Cast
Did you know this? #1 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.

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Sherman-Palladino was a writer and producer on Roseanne. She earned an Emmy nomination for co-writing the classic Season 4 premiere “A Bitter Pill to Swallow,” in which Roseanne agrees to take daughter Becky to the doctor for birth control pills. Also writers on Roseanne: Sherman-Palladino’s future husband and Gilmore executive producer Dan Palladino, and Mike Gandolfi, who Sherman-Palladino hired to play Stars Hollow Books owner Andrew.

 

How do they look now?

Gilmore Girls Cast – Then and Now

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 1 - Lauren Graham

Did you know this? Lorelai Gilmore Now: Since the series ended in 2007, star Lauren Graham, who played Lorelai Gilmore, went on to star in NBC’s “Parenthood” as another loving single mom. She also appeared in a holiday comedy with the late Robin Williams, “A Merry Friggin’ Christmas”. In each of the following pages, the fist fun fact would be about one of the cast stars today. And then another two fun facts!

Did you know this? #2 The exterior shot of “The Dragonfly Inn” is actually the home of TV’s The Waltons (1971).

Did you know this? #3 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”.

 

I love Rory Gilmore & Alexis Bledel

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 2 - Alexis Bledel
Did you know this? #1 After she left the super-smart Rory Gilmore behind, Alexis Bledel reprised her role as Lena in 2008’s “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.” She’s also starred in films like “Post Grad” and “The Kate Logan Affair.” In 2012, Bledel had a recurring role on “Mad Men” that had her act alongside her now-husband, Vincent Kartheiser.

Did you know this? #2 Roseanne was often a notoriously contentious place to work. At one point, star Roseanne Barr assigned the writing staff T-shirts with numbers on them, referring to them by the numbers so she didn’t have to remember their names. In Season 6’s “Just Like Gwen and Gavin” episode of Gilmore Girls, Yale Daily News editor Paris Geller (Liza Weil) gives her newsroom staffers hats with numbers on them for the same reason. Still, Sherman-Palladino credits her experience on Roseanne with teaching her to “make the small big, and the big small,” a hallmark of GG scripts.

Did you know this? #3 Alex Borstein, who was originally cast to play Sookie, has many appearances, including Drella, the Harp player at the Independence Inn; and Miss Celine, who is in the season 5 episode “Come Home”. Borstein is married to Jackson Douglas, who played Jackson Belleville on the show; during the run of the series, the characters of Sookie and Jackson eventually fell in love and got married.

 

Melissa McCarthy is the Best, Right?

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 3 - Melissa McCarthy
Did you know this? #1 Melissa McCarthy’s career has taken off since she played lovable chef Sookie St. James on “Gilmore Girls.” From her underrated roles in “Samantha Who?” and “Life as We Know It” to her scene-stealing performance in “Bridesmaids,” the “Mike & Molly” star never fails to make us laugh. McCarthy also co-starred with Bill Murray in the drama/comedy “St. Vincent.”

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Lane and Zach named their twins Kwan and Steve.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 4 - Jared Padalecki
Did you know this? #1 After playing Dean Forester, Rory’s first boyfriend, Jared Padalecki went on to star in films like “Friday the 13th” and TV shows like “Supernatural,” which is in its 10th season.

Did you know this? #2 Graham was hired to play Lorelai just a week before the pilot episode was scheduled to be shot in the Toronto suburb of Unionville, and just a month before Gilmore Girls was scheduled to be announced as part of The WB’s fall schedule at the 2000 Upfronts in New York.

Did you know this? #3 Bledel had no TV experience when she was cast to play Rory. To help her get used to starring in a series and dealing with life in Hollywood, Gilmore producers asked Edward Herrmann, who played Rory’s grandfather, to act as her mentor. He would take her for regular dinners at Musso & Frank, the old school Hollywood eatery that’s been featured in movies like Ocean’s Eleven, Ed Wood, and The Day of the Locust.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 5 - Keiko Agena
Did you know this? #1 Since playing Lane Kim, Keiko Agena has appeared on “Private Practice,” “Castle,” “Scandal” and other popular series.

Did you know this? #2 Milo Ventimiglia and Alexis Bledel (Jess and Rory) actually dated in real life for three and a half years.

Did you know this? #3 Herrmann and Kelly Bishop (Lorelai’s mother, Emily) both won Tonys in 1976, her for A Chorus Line and him for Mrs. Warren’s Profession.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 6 - Kelly Bishop
Did you know this? #1 Kelly Bishop, who played Emily Gilmore, returned to work with “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino in 2012 for an ABC Family series called “Bunheads.” Bishop portrayed Fanny Flowers, the owner of the Paradise Dance Academy. The series, executive produced by Sherman-Palladino, unfortunately ended after one season.

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 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.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 7 - Edward Herrmann
Did you know this? #1 After Richard Gilmore, Edward Herrmann showed up on shows such as “30 Rock” and “The Good Wife.” He also appeared in movies like 2009’s “The Six Wives of Henry Lefay” and 2011’s “Son of Morning.”

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Sherman-Palladino’s dad, Don Sherman, was her inspiration to create the Gilmore character Kirk (played by Sean Gunn). Don was a TV actor and writer, who appeared on shows like Gimme a Break, Maude, and The Monkees and wrote episodes of Love Boat and Bridget Loves Bernie.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 8 - Yanic Truesdale
Did you know this? #1 Yanic Truesdale hasn’t done much in show business since his days at the Independence Inn as Michel Gerard. He’s since appeared in Canadian series like “Rumeurs” and “Mauvais Karma.”

Did you know this? #2 Keiko Agena (Lane Kim) was 26 playing a 15 year old in Season 1.

Did you know this? #3 Alexis Bledel was 19 years old when she began portraying 15-year old Rory.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 9 - Liza Weil
Did you know this? #1 Liza Weil has appeared on “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” after her turn as Paris Geller. She recently played the recurring role of Amanda Tanner on “Scandal” and Milly Stone on “Bunheads.” She also starred in Shonda Rhimes’ “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Did you know this? #2 Gilmore Girls scripts tended to be 35 percent longer than scripts for the average one-hour TV series. For the first few seasons of the show, Bledel recorded herself reading pages of limericks as fast as she could, to train herself to be able to deliver that trademark Gilmore rapid-fire dialogue every week.

Did you know this? #3 In the show they mention Dirty Dancing (1987) several times. Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) stars in the movie as Marjorie Houseman.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 10 - Scott Patterson
Did you know this? #1 After leaving his Stars Hollow diner behind, Scott Patterson, who played Luke Danes on the series, went on to appear in the short-lived series “Aliens in America” and “The Event.” He’s also shown up in some of the “Saw” movies and a few episodes of “90210.”

Did you know this? #2 Alex Borstein was originally cast as Sookie (ultimately played by Melissa McCarthy), but had to drop out when Gilmore Girls was picked up as a series because of her commitment as a cast member of MADtv. She returned to Gilmore Girls for guest appearances as crabby harp player Drella and Emily Gilmore’s stylist, Miss Celine. Borstein, in real-life, was married to GG star Jackson “Jackson Belleville” Douglas, until he filed for divorce in 2014.

Did you know this? #3 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”.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 11 - Milo Ventimiglia
Did you know this? #1 Milo Ventimiglia played another of Rory’s loves, Jess Mariano, on the series. The actor has since played Peter Petrelli on “Heroes” and appeared in films such as “Grown Ups 2” and “Grace of Monaco.” He also appeared in a crime drama with Jason Statham and Sofia Vergara called “Wild Card.”

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Gilmore producer Helen Pai — who is also the best friend of Amy Sherman-Palladino — was the inspiration for Lane Kim (Keiko Agena), Rory’s BFF.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Then and Now 12 - Sean Gunn
Did you know this? #1 Sean Gunn played quirky Kirk Gleason on the series. He has since appeared on episodes of “Bunheads” and “Glee,” and most recently appeared in the blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Did you know this? #2 Lane’s father lives with Lane and her mother, but never appears in the show.

Did you know this? #3 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.

 

So, it’s a show? It’s a lifestyle. It’s a religion!

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - lifee style religion
Did you know this? #1 There were three Deans. The actor originally cast was let go before the pilot was shot. Actor Nathan Wetherington portrayed Dean in the pilot, but producers didn’t think he was quite right for what they had in mind for the character. Jared Padalecki, who was a Texas college student at the time, took over the role when Gilmore Girls got the official thumbs up from The WB.

Did you know this? #2 Lane’s band’s name is “Hep Alien”. The writers named it after producer Helen Pai; “Hep Alien” is an anagram of her name.

Did you know this? #3 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.

 

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Did you know this? #1 Scott Cohen, who played Lorelai’s fiancé (and Rory’s teacher) Max Medina, had co-starred with Graham in a pre-Gilmore three-episode arc of Law & Order in which he played a murderous movie director and she played a movie studio executive who wanted to have a fling with Benjamin Bratt’s Detective Rey Curtis.

Did you know this? #2 The entire town of Stars Hollow is the Warner Bros Studios backlot set called “Midwest Street” built in 1946 for the film Saratoga Trunk (1945) (a small section usually unseen on the show – behind the church – was added in the early 1990’s for no particular television or film project). The residential street attached is called Kings Row and was built in 1941 (predating the town set) for the Ronald Reagan film of the same name. No new structures have been added to the backlot for the “Gilmore Girls,” although the backlot set remains dressed for the show throughout the television shooting season (July through March or April).

Did you know this? #3 The set of Stars Hollow is often seen as Rosewood on Pretty Little Liars as well as the town in Ghost Whisperer.

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Did you know this? #1 In the season 5 opener “Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller”, when Luke is leaving 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.

Did you know this? #2 Lorelai’s dollhouse is the same dollhouse shown in the 20% Off section in Kim’s Antiques.

Did you know this? #3 Because of the unusually longer scripts to fill in fast-paced dialogue, the actors could not improvise or ad-lib any of their dialogue.

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Did you know this? #1 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!” Don’t miss this reunion video towards the end!

Did you know this? #2 Sally Struthers and Ted Rooney, who played Lorelai and Rory’s neighbors Babette and Morey, are both from Portland, Oregon and went to the same high school, more than a decade apart. In fact, Rooney’s dad was All in the Family Emmy winner Struthers’s math teacher at Grant High School. Much comedy was wrung from the height difference between Babette and Morey on Gilmore, and for the record, he is 6’6.5” while she is 5’1”.

Did you know this? #3 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.

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Did you know this? #1 Nathan Wetherington was originally cast to play Dean, instead of Jared Padalecki. Alex Borstein was originally cast to play Sookie, instead of Melissa McCarthy.

Did you know this? #2 The wonderful Weil, a.k.a. Paris Geller, originally auditioned for the role of Rory. She wasn’t right for the part, but Sherman-Palladino liked her so much that she created the role of Paris just for her. Actor Wayne Wilcox didn’t audition for the role of Rory’s could-have-been Yale love interest “Naked Guy” Marty. The part was written for him after Sherman-Palladino and her husband Dan saw him while he was working as a waiter at the Mercer Hotel in New York. She thought he looked like a young Tom Hanks.

Did you know this? #3 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).

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - rolling eyes
Did you know this? #1 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 server at the Lorelais’ home that was ordered by Emily.

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Before Nick Holmes landed the four-episode guest gig as Robert Grimaldi, Logan’s frenemy and Life and Death Brigade cohort (and Rory’s date for Finn’s Pulp Fiction party), he’d auditioned to play Dean, Tristan, and Jess. Rose Abdoo originally auditioned for the role of Sookie, before landing the role of Stars Hollow mechanic Gypsy. Biff Yeager auditioned to play Taylor Doose before signing on as Stars Hollow’s best contractor, Tom.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - books
Did you know this? #1 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).

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Speaking of Jess (Milo Ventimiglia), Season 3’s “Here Comes the Son” was supposed to launch a spin-off series that would revolve around him called Windward Circle. Sherilyn Fenn, who played the girlfriend of Jess’s dad, Jimmy, in the episode, would return to Gilmore Girls in Season 6 as Anna, Luke’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of the daughter he didn’t know he had until she was almost a teen.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - problems
Did you know this? #1 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.

Did you know this? #2 The mountain often seen on the show is actually Mount Hollywood.

Did you know this? #3 Still holding a grudge against April for being a major snag in the Luke/Lorelai relationship? Vanessa Marano, who played Luke’s daughter, was a Gilmore Girls fan, but not a fan of April either. “When I got the breakdown for the role, I was like, ‘You’re giving Luke a daughter! This is going to break them up. Oh, my God!’” Marano told The Gilmore Girls Companion author A.S. Berman. “I mean, I hated myself. How can my character do this?”

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - coffee
Did you know this? #1 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 in 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 they decided to make her a villain in a custody battle.

Did you know this? #2 Carole King (who sings the theme song) guest stars in season 3 as the music “rock” store owner who lets Lane use her store drum set for practice.

Did you know this? #3 The planned Jess spin-off wasn’t the network’s first choice for a Gilmore Girls follow-up. The WB asked Sherman-Palladino to spin Luke (Scott Patterson) off into his own show, but she 1) didn’t think the character would leave Stars Hollow, and 2) she didn’t want to split up Luke and Lorelai (well, geographically speaking, anyway).

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - eat
Did you know this? #1 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.

Did you know this? #2 Jackson Douglas, who played Jackson Belleville, directed 3 episodes and Lauren Graham produced 11 episodes.

Did you know this? #3 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer also guest-starred in Season 5’s “Norman Mailer, I’m Pregnant!” The title tells the story — Sookie realizes she’s pregnant while the author is being interviewed at the Dragonfly Inn’s restaurant. Mailer’s interviewer was played by his son, Stephen, a friend of one of the GG writers, which is how the surprising appearance came about. The self-proclaimed “cantankerous curmudgeon” Mailer thought the Luke and Lorelai storyline on the show was “cute,” and of the experience of filming his appearance he later said, “I was not miserable.” Interesting coincidence: one of Mailer’s two Pulitzers was awarded to him for the classic nonfiction book The Executioner’s Song, which told the story of executed murderer Gary Gilmore.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - love
Did you know this? #1 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.”

Did you know this? #2 Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel are the only two to appear all of the 153 episodes.

Did you know this? #3 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”), “Hep Alien” performs that same song at their gig.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - guy
Did you know this? #1 Do you remember these other Gilmore Girls guest stars: pre-The O.C. Adam Brody, pre-Mad Men Jon Hamm, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Seth MacFarlane, pre-Breaking Bad Krysten Ritter, Empire co-creator Danny Strong, pre-Community Danny Pudi, CNN journalist (and Rory’s career heroine) Christiane Amanpour, former porn star Traci Lords, pre-Parks and Recreation Nick Offerman, Mary Lynn Rajskub (who made appearances before and after she began playing Chloe O’Brian on 24), pre-Heroes Masi Oka, pre-Glee Jane Lynch, and music legend Carole King, who also performed the show’s theme song, “Where You Lead,” with her daughter, Louise Goffin?

Did you know this? #2 At the end of season 3 in the episode “Say Goodnight, Gracie” Fran Weston’s passes away and at the funeral Melissa McCarthy’s future husband Ben Falcone plays the role of Mr. Brink and a pallbearer in the procession.

Did you know this? #3 Cherry danishes are often mentioned in various episodes. It is actually Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel’s (Lorelei and Rory) favorite.

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Did you know this? #1 The girl who played the younger Lorelei 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.

Did you know this? #2 If you think you can’t appreciate the show more than you already do, consider this: Gilmore Girls workdays often ran 21-hours long (really!), which meant crew members, who didn’t have their own personal trailers, would race to use their break times to grab a nap on set couches and beds, or even in their cars, which were parked on the streets of Stars Hollow.

Did you know this? #3 In season 7 episode 3, Luke is wearing a new hat. It’s a Columbus Clippers hat; the team Scott Patterson (Luke) last played for in his professional baseball career.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - jealous
Did you know this? #1 Seth McFarlane (creator of Family Guy & American Dad) appeared in Season 2 Episode 21 “Lorelai’s Graduation Day” as Zach a fellow graduate.

Did you know this? #2 In Season 3’s “Happy Birthday, Baby,” Rory commissions a giant pizza for mom Lorelai’s birthday celebration. The prop was made of foam and covered with real sauce and toppings, and in his book The Gilmore Girls Companion, author A.S. Berman reveals one of the GG crew members did a bellyflop onto the faux pizza once filming wrapped.

Did you know this? #3 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.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - pizza
Did you know this? #1 After the sixth season, the show was picked up by The CW because The WB merged with UPN to form The CW.

Did you know this? #2 How serious was the Gilmore crew about making everything seem as authentic as possible on the show? For the Season 3 episode “I Solemnly Swear,” in which Paris and Rory have a very brief showdown during a Chilton fencing class, producers gave Weil time off so she could take fencing lessons.

Did you know this? #3 Lorelai’s dog is named Paul Anka, after the 60’s rock and roll artist.

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Did you know this? #1 According to the town sign (shown in season 1, episode 2), Stars Hollow has a population of 9,973.

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 Liza Weil known as Paris was very bad at school as a teenager unlike her character who is obsessed with her education.

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Did you know this? #1 Among the directors who helmed episodes of Gilmore Girls: Nicole Holofcener, actor David Paymer, Gilmore Girls star Jackson Douglas, Leonard Nimoy’s son Adam, and High School Musical trilogy director and choreographer Kenny Ortega. Ortega, who also directed the Michael Jackson’s This Is It concert film, directed Season 3’s “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?” in which Rory and Dean break up during the big Stars Hollow dance marathon.

Did you know this? #2 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.

Did you know this? #3 The Warner Brothers studio lot that houses the Gilmore Girls set had also been used in The Dukes of Hazzard, The Partridge Family, Growing Pains, and The Waltons.

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts - Animated GIF - kiss
Did you know this? #1 The ear of the “g” in Girls, dots the “I” starting in the second season intro, cleaning up the look.

Did you know this? #2 Music was a huge part of the show, but it wasn’t always easy — nor cheap — to procure the tunes Sherman-Palladino wanted. In Season 1’s “Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers,” John Lennon’s “Oh My Love” is the soundtrack for what ends up being Rory and Dean’s breakup at the scrapyard, but only after Yoko Ono read pages from the script and producers coughed up a cool $20,000 check for the privilege.

Did you know this? #3 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 Fun Facts Blue Eyes Smile
Did you know this? #1 Outrageous, yes, but true: the only Emmy awarded to Gilmore Girls in seven seasons was a 2004 statue for Outstanding Makeup for a Series, for the Season 4 episode “The Festival of Living Art.”

Did you know this? #2 Emily Kuroda’s (Mrs. Kim) middle name is Keiko. Her on-screen daughter Lane is played by Keiko Agena.

Did you know this? #3 Gilmore Girls owes its existence, in part, to another WB series: 7th Heaven. The success of Heaven led advertisers like Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson to form the Family Friendly Programming Forum, which would fund the development of similar series. Both Graham and Sherman-Palladino have said “Family Friendly Programming” made them nervous. “I would be more comfortable if it were called the Dysfunctional Family Friendly Form,” Graham told Entertainment Weekly in 2000. But after giving GG $1 million in seed money, the FFPF was hands-off. “It’s not a right-wing thing,” Graham said. “It’s mainly supporting shows with a multigenerational element that you could watch as a family.”

Gilmore Girls Fun Facts Blue Eyes
Did you know this? #1 After her split with the network, which saw Season 7 of Gilmore Girls in the hands of showrunner David Rosenthal, Sherman-Palladino says she’s never seen the last season of the show.

Did you know this? #2 Rory and Lorelai both have blue eyes.

Did you know this? #3 The Gilmore girls – Graham, Bledel, and Bishop – reunited, along with Sherman-Palladino and several other cast members, at the 2015 ATX Television Festival in Austin. Missing at the reunion: Herrmann, who died on December 31, 2014. He was 71.

 

What’s next? The Videos!

Behind the Scenes of Gilmore Girls

Lean back, click play and enjoy 5 minutes from behind the scenes of episode #100…

 

And there’s another exciting video for true fans…

Gilmore Girls Cast Reunion

There is a full hour version, which is a bit too long right now… But here are just a few minutes from the cast reunion.

 

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