Amy Sherman-Palladino has said she pitched “Gilmore Girls” as a half-baked idea for a TV show: “There’s this idea of a mother and daughter, but they’re more like friends than mother/daughter.” Two decades later, Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai Gilmore’s (Lauren Graham) dynamic has become one of the most iconic relationships in TV history.
The titular Gilmore Girls — and their cast of eccentric Stars Hollow neighbors — captured the attention of audiences for seven seasons and a four-episode revival. Despite contract disputes that kept the original creative team away from the last season, both Sherman-Palladino and her husband, producer and director Daniel Palladino, reunited with their cast for the Netflix continuation limited series in 2016.
To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the “Gilmore Girls” premiere, Variety revisited and ranked the best 30 episodes of the franchise.