Jessica Ballance ’25 is a biology major (pre-pharmacy) and an anthropology minor. She is a member of Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Phi Omega as well as a tutor for the W&M TutorZone. Contact her at jjballance@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
This Sunday marked the first official day of fall! As the leaves begin to change and the weather starts to cool, fall finally feels like it has arrived in Williamsburg. Some of us are having withdrawal because watching “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “Mamma Mia” just does not feel the same as it did when you watched it after a day at the beach or your boring summer job. Others have been waiting, because it is now time for pumpkin spice lattes, apple cider donuts, crunchy leaves and Howl-O-Scream.
Although Halloween movies are a great way to get into the fall season, if you are looking for a TV show suggestion, then Gilmore Girls must be added to your Netflix list. Gilmore Girls is a comedy-drama series about a single mother Lorelai and her daughter Rory, who have a bond that resembles that of two best friends. Needing help to pay for her daughter’s private school education, Lorelai finds herself being forced to ask her parents for money. However, if Lorelai is to receive help, she and Rory must attend weekly dinners at the grandparents’ house. Lorelai and Rory must leave their eccentric town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, and go to Hartford for Friday night dinners. Lorelai’s childhood was filled with country clubs, cotillions and stuck-up prep school kids, and now she must face the life she has tried so hard to leave behind.
What screams autumn more than a small, idyllic New England town? Viewers are transported to a town filled with its fair share of quirky and nosy neighbors. There is a festival for just about everything. The storefronts, as well as the gazebo in the town’s main square, get decorated during the holidays. In several episodes and the main intro shot for the show’s theme song, there are scenes with beautiful and vibrant leaves of red and orange in the background. If you wish you were in Salem, Massachusetts this Spooky Season, then I suggest watching this show curled up in a blanket.
The mother-daughter duo that the show focuses on is most remembered for their obsession with coffee. They go to Luke’s Diner at least once a day (though usually more) for their caffeine fix. Scenes of Lorelai strolling through town with a coffee from Luke’s in hand will make you want to cross Confusion Corner to our own nearby Hallmark-like town. Fall is the perfect time to walk around Sunken Gardens or Colonial Williamsburg, with a to-go cup of hot cider or coffee from Aromas. Luke is known for his pumpkin pancakes with homemade cinnamon butter, and I am sure there are a plethora of pancake houses here in Williamsburg that could give him a run for his money.
Whether you are watching the early seasons when Rory is attending a prestigious high school or watching her Ivy League college years, it is easy for twamps to relate to Rory. During the first three seasons, Rory is surrounded by uptight, competitive high school students, all vying for spots at Ivy League schools. During the other four seasons, her college days are characterized by egregiously long readings, never-ending papers and great roommate stories. As college students, we are all too familiar with this life. After all, once October begins, it feels like we will be in exam season until finals. It is refreshing to watch a show where you can relate to what the characters are going through. At the same time, Gilmore Girls is a show with so many storylines that it also provides a great distraction from the stresses of being a William and Mary student.
No matter what season it is, this comfort show has a lot to offer its viewers. Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of the show, packs each 42-minute episode with witty banter, countless pop culture references and extremely fast dialogue.
And what early 2000s TV show is complete without the occasional love triangle? It becomes quite easy for viewers to get invested in the love lives of Lorelai and Rory. In fact, fans of Gilmore Girls have spent the past two decades fighting over which boyfriend’s “team” they are on. The show follows the lives of three generations of Gilmores, and the iconic weekly dinners often make Friday nights filled with family drama.
To be a true Gilmore Girls watcher, you must eat massive amounts of junk food while watching, as Lorelai and Rory are known for going all out on their movie nights. Watching the seven seasons of Gilmore Girls is best described by the words of Lorelai: “It’s a lifestyle. It’s a religion.”
Need more Gilmore? Each October, both viewers and actors of the show gather for a weekend-long fan festival. The festival is held in a quaint town in Connecticut, making fans feel like Lorelai and Rory. Lastly, for those of you who have seen Gilmore Girls and want to go straight to re-watching the fall episodes, here is a list of some:
Season 1: Episodes 6, 7
Season 3: Episodes 5, 7, 8, 9
Season 4: Episodes 5, 8, 9
Season 5: Episodes 7, 10
Season 6: Episode 7