“Oy with the poodles already.”

When speaking amongst friends about what TV shows they watch I like to sit back and listen. I hear mentions of this and that, of whatever new Netflix-featured show there is, and then the room becomes silent. Everyone in unison turns to me and someone belts, “What are you watching right now, Bella?”. I usually try to avoid the answer, until I finally give up and admit to watching Gilmore Girls, again- for the fifth time. Groans always immediately fill the room.

I faintly remember many years ago, my sister and mom watching a TV show that they were constantly laughing at. Being in high school at the time and in a phase where being near my family made me ill, I never joined in. Years later, whilst scrolling through the many pages of Netflix, I came across Gilmore Girls. “Was it Gilmore Girls, or Golden Girls?”, I asked myself, and then taking a leap of faith selected the pilot episode. The rest, is history.

Set in the most charming town called Stars Hollow, where everyone knows everything about everyone, the show centers around a family known as the Gilmores. The story unfolds revealing a tense intergenerational family dynamic, that is presented through satire and absolute comedy. You learn within the first episode that there are a plethora of intriguing characters that range from a coffeeholic to an angry diner owner. The most gripping fact about this show is that you end up building a relationship with almost EVERY character. The marriage of relatability and yet absolute absurdity, create a dynamic that grasps viewers in. For myself, it has turned into an obsession.

The true comedian of the bunch has to be Lorelai, the mother of Rory, and her sense of style, taste, and thought is unparalleled to any other. She is a single mother who birthed young, and is raising her daughter the only way she knows how: on good music, junk food, and by being her daughter’s best friend. You realize immediately that one cannot live without the other and although one story is being told, both characters grow in their own regard.

Is there character variety you ask? The overbearing mayor who is everywhere you don’t want him to be...meet Taylor. The grandparents who use blackmail as family bonding time...meet Richard and Emily. Oh and did I mention, the romance? Not only do you go through the adolescent innocence with Rory while she is dating through high school and then college, but you get to see Lorelai’s relationships with men unfold. Really the only person you’re routing for in the end is Luke, which I decided after episode one was the perfect match for Lorelai, and my dream man.

Another gem of this show, is the old-town charm. Imagine living in a picturesque and quaint town. One the has Knit-a-thons, only one grocer, and a ceremony for the installation of their first stop light. A town where your neighbors, Babette and Miss Patty, somehow know more about you then you know about yourself. Where Kirk, the quirky town everyman, literally has worked in every job position offered in any establishment. A place where a restaurant called ‘Al’s Pancake World’ does not serve pancakes, and Luke’s is ran by a coffee bearing, grumpy, and yet caring man. This is Stars Hollow, baby, and I wish it was my home every day.

I discovered this show later than most and honestly I wish it would have been sooner. It is always my go-to when I need a good laugh or to get away to the fictional and yet welcoming world of Stars Hollow. Getting frustrated at Rory for making silly decisions, watching Lorelei and Luke fall in and out of love, and having a front row seat to all of the town events in the show take my mind off reality even for a little while. Escapism is something everyone needs every so often throughout their life, and for me Gilmore Girls provides that.

Although the show went through a few years of dormancy, Netflix released a four episode special set a decade after the original show’s end. I thought that the cliff-hanger at the end that still has me frustrated, or the fact that Rory doesn’t live out the life you would expect would put a sour taste in my mouth. However, the story as a whole will never be anything less that superb in my eyes.

What I’m really saying is if you haven’t already, give Gilmore Girls a chance. I’m not here to convince you to make this your most-watched show, as it is for me. However, I one hundred percent recommend diving into shows that some might think are overrated, because you never know what may come of it. My leap of faith quickly became my guilty pleasure, that is how easy you can find yours too!