Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between)

In this chapter, Lauren Graham unpacks her experiences of playing the role of Lorelai Gilmore, the quippy, fast-talking mom on the hit show Gilmore Girls. She states that she almost never watches her performances onscreen, since she doesn’t find it useful. She writes, “The Internet has already done its job in terms of ranking episodes and naming its favorites. My goal here is just to give you my take on what was going on personally” (66). From there, she explains her journey on the show.

She explains that Gilmore Girls faced many obstacles before reaching widespread success. When the show was in the planning stages, Graham was nervous because she “wasn’t actually available to do it. If NBC decided they wanted to keep going with M.Y.O.B. [another show that Graham was already involved in], [she would have] to be replaced on Gilmore Girls” (67). The time slot was also problematic because Gilmore Girls would have to compete with the highly popular sitcom, Friends. Eventually, Warner Brothers, who produced Gilmore Girls, made a deal with the producers of M.Y.O.B., and this development allowed Graham to keep the role of Lorelai. Then Gilmore Girls gained enough of a following that it earned a different time slot that did not conflict with Friends.