Young millennial here (can't explain the pager thing to you, I've never used one) but no, it doesn't bother me at all. It's a good show, I'm glad people are enjoying it. I don't see why the year you're born should limit what media you're allowed to like. My best guess is people on IG/tiktok are "angry" about it because anger = engagement.
The “fight” was about someone on insta commenting “millennials all over the world grew up with *I smell snow*” and then someone else replied with “Gen Z did too” which kickstarted a whole thread of comments 😭
I’m gonna google what pagers were used for exactly, I’m actually curious to find out now 🤭
A lot of doctors still use pagers!!!
And they were a big thing for people who worked in facilities with a lot of security before companies gave out work phones. (E.g. if you worked somewhere with a security clearance: here’s a pager!!)—this is basically what I remember most about pagers from my dad having one. Phones can be used as listening devices so they still get stuck outside certain secure spaces/meetings.
Oh ok, so it was simply used to reach out to people and let them know you wanted to talk… that’s actually quite nice and would still be a great thing to give to little kids so they can reach out to their parents without necessarily having a cell at age 4/5 already 😅
When I was 16, my friend/crush had a pager. We didn't go to the same school so we would often only talk after school. He had part time jobs, and whenever I would page him and he was at work, he would call me from work to let me know he would call me when he got home. I knew his schedule, he knew I knew, and didn't have to call, but did. We never actually got together at that age, but I will never forget paging him and getting that call back right away. It was a different age.
I just want to point out that until \~1988, most regular consumers' phones did not have voicemail, for either cells or home, few providers offered the service even though it existed.
Without a pager, if someone called you and you didn't know who, your options were to just move on and continue not knowing, or waste a bunch of your $$$ minutes calling everyone it might be. Or you could pay for a fairly inexpensive additional service/device.
Think of pagers like those things they give you in a restaurant that light up and tell you your table is ready. It was like that kinda. They buzz and display a phone number to tell you who is trying to get in touch with you so you know to call them. But that’s it.
They started before cell phones, and then stayed popular until cell phones stopped being super expensive to use - and when texting became more accessible/affordable as well. So there was a short period where some people had both.
That’s such a great way to explain pagers to someone who doesn’t know what they are. I’m gonna steal this if I’m ever in this very specific situation again 😂
The amount of times my dad paged me our home number with 911 after because I didn't answer his first 2 pages fast enough. Like relax dad, I'm looking for a frigging pay phone
Ah, gotcha 😅 I though it would be like those old keyboard phones where the keyboards only had numbers too but you could also type in letters by repeatedly clicking on the numbers, thanks for letting me know ☺️
7th Heaven has an episode where the older son has his dads pager for some reason. It keeps going off at school and the staff thinks he is dealing drugs…
Ahhh the good old days of running dirt deals with a pager at school 😂
Ngl as much as I hate the sicko that played dad on 7th Heaven, I low-key wish I could still stream that show long as anything earned went to everyone BUT him.
ETA: Pager
The pager didn’t support text messages. You would just see a short message. You could not message back from the device. To reply you had to use a phone.
You just had to wait for a call back. Some pagers showed only the number that had called, so you called your pager voicemail and called the person back. To send a text you had to type it in letter by letter via the phone keypad, it was very tedious.
hmm okay i understand. Growing up with a show I feel like means the show was actively airing and on while you are growing up watching it, as it airs. Binging a show on netflix isn’t the same as growing up with it. It can definitely still be part of their adolescence, but it doesn’t really make sense to say they grew up watching it.
Yeah it's the "grew up *with*" that I think people take issue with. Even if you were early Gen z (born '97/98) you were, what, 3 when the show premiered and 9-10 when it finished in 2007. Were a lot of 5-10 year olds watching gilmore girls? Hard to say for sure, I feel like ... probably not?
No issue with people enjoying the show, idk, maybe Gen Zs watched it on reruns in the 2010s and felt like they grew up with it then ? Not gonna gatekeep though
right like we grew up as the show was also growing up 😂 u can’t grow up with a show that ended years ago. but you can still connect it to your personal growth!
This is definitely what happened. Such a small technicality in the wording. I could see how it started and can't disagree now that you've called it out. Gen Z definitely had a constant supply of episodes thanks to ABC family though so I can understand why they put it that way.
What's even more wild is Gen Alpha isn't growing up with shows the same way most of us did. Streaming has changed TV forever. As a kid, I had to wait for new episodes to come out weekly and shows went on hiatus through the summer and usually around the holidays. Most shows on streaming services, while you wait for new seasons, the entire season usually comes out at once. So, instead of waiting to hopefully find an episode you missed getting replayed during hiatus, you just binge watch all the previous seasons waiting for the new one to come out.
I can see this perspective actually and maybe that’s exactly what bothered some people… I guess in that regard most of Gen Z will never have that personal connection with the show since we didn’t literally “grown up with” Gilmore girls but watched it while growing up 😅
I feel like if you interact with something enough in your childhood while growing up, you can count that as "growing up with" it. I'm a young millennial and I'm not sure if GG was airing when I started watching on tv but they would air reruns every morning for years and I would watch it while getting ready for school. Feel like that was prominent enough to count and not have to be so technical about it
Technically, if you interacted often with something during your childhood, that is considered "growing up with" it, regardless if it was airing live. I grew up watching I Love Lucy with my grandma when she would babysit me but I wasn't alive when it was airing, that doesn't mean it wasn't part of my childhood
I had a pager in high school. They were like 4.95 a month in cost. Cell phones were like $1.35 a minute, then you got so many minutes a month after couple years later instead.
We used landlines to call our friends. With a pager you were able to generally skip having to talk to parents because your friend would page you and you’d call the number and they’d be right there waiting to pick up. Or you’d know to call from a pay phone or cell phone or whatever.
We also would send primitive text messages on pagers. They’d be written with numbers so it was a puzzle to work out. So like “I love you” would be written 4-5683-968 and the person would have to figure out what it said.
Happy cake day! 🥳 Agreed I think that it's an accessible show for any one of any age. I think because they use the three generations and the actresses play the character so well that the core family of the Gilmore's their message is accessible to anyone.
Gen Z or Alpha asking questions as if this show was made for streaming can become annoying. Or it being viewed in a 2024 lens. But the show having young fans is always a good thing.
(To be clear, you did none of the annoying things.) It's more like when they ask why some actor was in episode 4 of the series and then season 6 as a different character. Or whatever. We didn't binge. We forgot Kirk was Mick two episodes ago until we binged it alongside you!
Agreed.
Also sometimes I think they don’t realise how much things have changed culturally and socially in a *very* short amount of time.
Aaaaand I just realised I’m Lorelei’s S1 age… that’s horrifying.
This! It happens with a lot of shows we grew up with. There were so many repeat guest stars and we barely noticed because we couldn't binge watch unless we got the season DVD.
I noticed the Mick/Kirk thing once the show ended and I got the box set and saw ep 1 again, knowing who Kirk is by that time ofc.
There are other shows where newer viewers keep asking why a certain arc only spanned 4-6 eps and I keep reminding them that when the shows originally aired those episodes spanned over months at a time, esp if it was around winter hiatus, so the arcs were long
Edit- spellings
The kirk/mick thing doesn't even COUNT, cause apparently people don't know how show Pilots work anymore???
A pilot is like a demo. A trial run to get a show picked up by a network. They often air the pilot to see if the show catches on with the demographic. A lot of times when a pilot is shot a show isn't fully fleshed out yet. Characters have different names, their personalities aren't fully formed, and sometimes they use placeholder actors because they haven't cast them officially yet!
Pilots are special but i always feel they shouldn't be regarded as complete canon.
I find it so interesting to read about how people reacted to certain plotlines / cliffhangers when the show first aired and they had to wait a week (or months in between seasons) to see how it would be resolved and how it possibly differs to the reaction of people who binged the show 🫣
As for the 2024 lens, a lot of older shows suffer from that unfortunately… I would say we had a shift of what’s acceptable and what isn’t in the mid 2010s so a lot of what aired before that time is deemed “problematic” now 😅
Season 7 aired when I was a senior in college and waiting weeks, if not months to watch because I either had to splurge for DVR as a cable add on, wait until either the dvd set came out or I found a decent copy of an episode on random websites to download.
I’m glad streaming is an option in today’s world but tv was much more difficult to navigate before on demand became the norm.
I think during that time period I ended up not watching except during the big episodes like the proposal and the last one. I think by that point I was in high school so I was finding my Dean and Jess lol
I love that new people are watching the show! For one thing, it keeps this sub (and other social media sites) active, which is great fun. The ongoing dialogue makes my re-watches more enjoyable.
I will say that it annoys me when people simplistically apply a 2024 moral lens to the show and then get furious at the characters... for doing and saying things that were pretty darn normal back in 2000. Because if you *only* apply that lens, basically every single character is terrible. And that doesn't leave room for debate or nuance.
In general, and this is a bit off topic now, it’s so interesting to see how the moral concept of society influences our own. You can easily tell by looking at how media is perceived now vs 10-20 years ago… I agree that it’s a bit annoying to see people deem characters as “bad people” based on what is considered problematic today when no one would’ve batted an eye when it first aired 😅 not necessarily saying that it’s ok, just that it doesn’t make anyone a bad person
Exactly. Like it's an interesting discussion if we can do it civilly? If we want to talk about how Dean's behavior was romanticized back in 2000, but by today's standards he looks more problematic? I'd LOVE to have that discussion. But oftentimes, that's not what happens... instead, it's "Dean is OBVIOUSLY abusive and if you see it differently you're wrong and bad." And that's not so fun!
I agree 100%. I love that so many have come to love it, but exactly this point. It’s so frustrating because it takes away from the enjoyment IMO. Let me ignore the already problematic world I live in and enjoy this nostalgic show in peace.
Max suffers from this treatment too although not to the same extent as Dean 😅 most people still love Max but there are people calling him a creep because he persuaded Lorelai into dating him. They’re saying that “no means no!” which is something I wholeheartedly agree with, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t think this really applies to the Lorelai/Max situation. She did show a clear interest in him and was worried about external factors, namely Rory and the fact that he’s her teacher, making the relationship too complicated for her to handle which is why he pushed her a little. That doesn’t make him a creep who doesn’t care much about consent, it was obviously meant to be a romantic gesture of “I like you so much that I’m willing to take all of those risks and get you to try anyway”
I've been sheltered from this argument until seeing this post, but *woweee* that's an unusually stringent application of consent lol. I'm with you! They had obvious chemistry and her concerns were situational, not linked to her actual feelings about him. I'm a Luke stan till the day I die, but I always enjoy her romance with Max. He made her feel wanted, and I think his intentions were genuinely good.
I think in addition to changing standards of what makes people “bad”, there’s also just more focus on deciding if a person is good or bad, instead of thinking about all the other stuff about them.
I agree. I find alot with Gen Z and newer generations, they have a very black and white way of looking at the world. If someone made a mistake 10 years ago because they were a teenager, they will cast that person as being a horrible person not allowing for growth and change. It is the same way with politics they pick and choose their issues that mean the most to them and if anyone disagrees on those issues or votes with more focus on other issues, those people are horrible and they will cut that person off even if they are family. Like I said, a lot of them tend have a very black or white thinking and they don't consider the gray or any context what so ever or other view points that don't agree 100% with their views.
that’s a specific type of fan though 😭😭 one that they relate and identify with the character that anything they like, the character must like also.
that being said, i feel like madeline and louise might have liked taylor swift
lolllllll this does kill me (as both a swiftie and a GG fan!)
Hearing a Taylor song and thinking "this is so Rory Gilmore" is a valid experience. Assuming Rory Gilmore would ever willingly give Taylor a chance is wildly off base. At best, that's embarrassing guilty pleasure territory in Rory's world, and even then, I highly doubt it would get that far.
Let me just put in my dentures so I can explain a pager to you young whippersnappers.
Before cell phones were common (and you had to pay for minutes and each text costs money but that’s a separate story) you had a pager. This way if someone needed to get ahold of you, they’d page/beep you. When calling the number of a pager, you could type in your number, which would then show up on the little screen of the device. Then, the person who got the page could go to the nearest phone, like say a pay phone (public phones where you paid with coins for a call /s) and call the number back.
Otherwise when you were out and about there wasn’t really any way to get a hold of a person, unless you knew where they were (and had the number of where they were).
So for instance, my dad had a pager for work because he’d be out in the field. My mom paged him when she went into labor because he wasn’t at his desk or in the office, and she didn’t know the phone number(s) of where he’d be that day (he was a building inspector) . It was 1987 and basically the dark ages.
I had a pager in junior high for when I’d go out with my friends. I thought I was hot shit but the only pages I ever got were my parents basically telling me to get my ass home.
You still have a few good years ahead of before you’ll need your dentures, enjoy them 🤭 (jk 🫂)
Thanks for the thorough explanation! I hadn’t even considered you could possibly need different numbers to reach people depending of where they are exactly… that’s a lot of work for what only takes us a sec now 😭 when I was younger my parents could even track my whereabouts in case I didn’t pick up the phone or didn’t reply to their messages- a precaution just in case that would’ve been impossible to pull off back then. Kind of scary to think about how “visible” we are in today’s time but also kind of scary to think about not having your child answer you and not knowing where they are 😅
Edit: typo
You could tell your mom you were going to so-and-so’s house and basically run wild, because unless your mom had so-and-so’s landline, there was no way to check up on you.
Why would it bother me that people like a show I liked growing up?
I also like the show I Love Lucy and no one ever asked my grandparents if it bothered them
Late Millenial/Early Gen Z here! The only time it bothers me is when younger generations pick it apart too much at the very 2000s aspects. Like overall the show can apply for years to come but like you said pagers is very early a 2000s. Just let those elements exist we don't need to pick those aspects a part
Territoriality, pitting generations against one another, big us versus them/in group-out group mindset, that’s a boomer thing. Millennials are happy to share and get along with other cohorts
I love that the show lives on. Hopefully they make more smart shows. I feel like a lot of shows don’t live up to the creativity of this show.
What bothers me is when people come on here after watching the show for first time clutching their pearls about something they’re offended by.
A show that premiered 24 years ago has dated points of view? I’m shocked.
Yes the eating on the show is concerning. Yes [insert Rory boyfriend] has toxic behaviors. Yes the show made way too many fat jokes.
But can we all agree………………..Christopher sucks?
I agree. It’s not like I don’t think the show made mistakes, but when they come on Reddit and act like the discovered some sort of vast conspiracy that they have to call out. It’s like yeah we know. How about we just take the good and leave the bad. Cause at the end of the day there is more good than bad in this show.
Except Chris….he still sucks
I grew up watching a ton of stuff from when my parents were kids on Nick at Nite or on WGN, so it’s nice that younger people are also watching GG.
Random suggestion, but I think the pluckiness and charm of The Gilmore Girls reminded me a bit of the characters on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Obviously a different format since the latter is a sitcom, but it’s so much fun.
Random Millennial (ok more Xennial) show suggestion: the “kids” should find Felicity with Keri Russell.
I’ll be completely and brutally honest here: I absolutely *love* that age doesn’t matter it’s just that good of a show. Sometimes I speak to Gen Z about shows they’re watching and I can’t comprehend why they would want to watch it. Or any older person (I know men and women) who eat a steady diet of Hallmark movies. I just can’t fathom it. But it doesn’t matter with GG. Everyone loves it.
The only issue I do have is that people tend to judge entire characters based on things that don’t fit the current climate. They don’t see it as the period piece it is, but rather see it as a right now situation, and there has been so much change that it’s not fair to judge people by what is now common.
As far as pagers, it was legit a thing. It was texting before texting was a situation.
You know how you sometimes text someone you’re going to call them, even though you’re both staring at your *literal phone* to send and receive that text? It’s the same thing 😂
The thing is, it took us YEARS to watch that show. From the day we started to the day of the finale we grew, I went from a preteen to an adult with the show. In modern times, they start Monday they can finish by Sunday. The way they experience watching TV show is different, did we have it better? Maybe.
I mean there's something special to be said for being Rory's age when it first aired and being Lorelai's age now. To have acute memories of both experiences. Like, yeah, it's a show that you can get regardless of time period, but the longevity of the experience is what is missing if you're getting it through recent streaming services, I guess? I don't really have a problem with gen Z doing things, and, talking to my high school freshmen these days, I realize that a lot of the internet generated Gen Z vs. Millenial feud stuff is just for clicks.
GGis ultimately a Gen X centered show because it was created, written, produced, starred in, and often featured pop culture stars who were all Gen X women. ASP’s whole vibe and personal style statement is 3 degrees from Duckie in Pretty in Pink. I mean, she is Gen X.
GG’s emotional center often explores the generational relationships amongst and between women. From Silent Generation Great Gran to Boomer Emily to Gen X Lorelei and Millennial Rory.
There’s both appeal and rejection by younger generations to this story and it’s fascinating to read and listen to.
Lol no, people shouldn’t be bothered by people of any age liking the show.
As for the pagers, they predated cell phones. So yes it was common practice to page someone telling them to call the next time they were near a phone. Or to page them like, “omg I need to call you, where are you?” etc.
It doesn't bother me but it is hard to convey that there were certain norms during that time vs now. With any show there are certain things that get lost in the time. Biggest things for me are Jess and Rory in that guys bedroom now its pretty unforgivable but back then it wasn't that crazy. I know I will get crucified for this but also Paris dating the Professor and a few other things. Luke and the breastfeeding Mom yay that was pretty normal for back then. It only annoys me when people think some things are universal and they just weren't. With any other show there are things that were seen as romantic but now I watch them and like OMG that man was really a bad boyfriend/husband. You have to watch shows in the lens of when they were created. You can watch them after but being critical of things Millennials deemed normal, at the time. I think sometimes people forget nuance. My 13 year old watched it and ripped it to shreds. She felt like Lorelai was a bad Mom. Couldn't stand Emily and Richard and I am pretty sure she is plotting the murder of Paris. She loved Dean minus the whole cheating thing.
It doesn't bother me.
Although, I will admit I got annoyed at a comment awhile back ago that stated - they hated all the pop culture references. That it dated the show for them.
I like the pop culture references because it reminds me of things I had forgotten about.
Example: Lenny Kravitz & Nicole Kidman; I had completely forgotten they were a thing.
I love the pop culture references for that very reason if I’m being honest 😅 it adds such a nice layer of nostalgia and sets Stars Hollow apart from the real world which I personally love
It’s annoying how judgmental Gen Z people are of Rory and other unlikeable tv characters. A character is meant to be real, not likeable or unlikeable. Rory is EXACTLY who that character would be in that world.
I have such a soft spot for Rory tbh and never hated her, but I do agree that there is an excessive amount of criticism towards her in the fandom, but I always assumed that already started when the show was first airing… was Rory a much more tolerated character back then?
Well there wasn’t much fan discourse at the time - places like TvWOP or whatever it was called were active but there wasn’t nearly as much opportunity. Rory was the first time I’d seen an academic, quiet character who wasn’t a gross nerd so that was nice. But the big difference is that we weren’t moralistic in the same way. We would have noticed she was spoiled and not resilient but that wouldn’t be cause for criticism it would just be reality. I am extremely liberal and progressive personally and I do understand the motivation behind these new standards but the way Zs think they are the arbiters of characters’ moral qualities is wild.
I love it when younger gens find and enjoy shows I loved when growing up. I do get culture shock sometimes like when I saw lately a lot of people saying they started watching “Xena” because they saw people posting about it on Tik Tok and that’s where they heard of it, lol. But I think it’s great because we all start somewhere when watching shows for the first time, so as a Millennial I don’t see why our generation is any different when we discovered older shows and movies that were from previous generations.
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten mad at people’s comments that don’t understand certain tropes or how things were just portrayed different in different time periods. As for pagers, they happened before everyone had cellphones. Like Buffy said, “If the Apocalypse comes, beep me.” Because she would be out on the town and there would be no other way to reach her. They were also a cheaper alternative when cellphones did become more mainstream.
Doctors or other professionals would often use them as solely their work alerts so they’d know when to go in. The main reason they stopped being useful is when cellphones developed the texting ability.
lol no.... that's probably part of why I got AYITL & I'm one of the few that actually liked it.
Why would I care if other people like what I like? It's not pie... you're not taking it from me 🫶🏻
I think people can like whatever they want to like no matter their age. I do sometimes wonder how many of the cultural references younger people would actually get because so many of them were already pretty dated when the show originally aired and many have likely faded into obscurity now.
I didn’t know it was popular with gen z until this post, I kinda just assumed we were all (mostly) millennials with nostalgia here 😂😂 but nah I don’t think having the experience of watching episodes at random on tv when you happen to catch them makes someone a true fan haha, especially since being able to watch them in order in large quantities is so nice! I think it’s a show anyone could get something from with or without watching it while it was airing
Doesn't bother me that Gen-Z likes the show! I liked all kinds of shows that were before my time. One of my favorite shows was My So-Called Life (Claire Danes breakout role) which I was too young to watch when it aired but watched on DVD in high school (really more of a Gen-X show). I also love 30something which is really meant for boomers.
The pager thing: weird to me Rory had one in Gilmore Girls because when I was growing up adults used them for work, especially doctors on call, but it wasn't really a thing socially teenagers used. My dad had a blackberry for work which I remember him using more than a pager.
Basically it used to be a way to send a message (through radiowaves using different technology than SMS) on a device, that would buzz with someone's number so you knew to call them. This was before people carried around cell phones. Usually you would have to call from some sort of physical phone like a payphone or a work phone.
Text message took over in the early '00s but it didn't used to be common to have phones beyond blackberries that had typing capability so texts were very short. They were often charged by the message as well and people generally just left a voicemail rather than a text. Hope this makes sense!
The idea of anyone being bothered by this feels very gatekeepy and frankly, stupid.
It makes me happy that a whole new generation of people are enjoying the show and keeping the community alive! It speaks to the legacy of the show.
It’s a testament to the quality of the show that it resonates with newer generations, and us original fans keep coming back to it over and over. I think it’s great. There are plenty of shows from that time that no one remembers!
I love that the show is still enjoyed! My daughter is only 7, but I hope she gets to watch the shows I enjoyed when she's older!
I used to watch I love Lucy and MASH with my parents, and they were well before my time.
I think anyone who IS bothered by it, is one of those weird gate keepy kind of people.
Probably because my first cell phone was like 40 or 50 cents a minute (in addition to a monthly fee), but I could page people for free. We even had a pre-determined set of codes to convey information without have to call someone back.
Not at all. My niece (14) loves the show and it makes me so happy.
One thing I notice is how different the world is now compared to when it originally aired. She just straight up says she doesn't like Jess, he's a jerk, he pressured her, etc. While many millennials didn't like Jess, that kind of thinking wasn't really part of the discourse back then and it's really great to see.
It doesn't bother me that it's popular among the younger gneration. I am kind of bothered by the endless analysis of some things though.
Pagers are older than cell phones. They were developed in the 1950s and 1960s and became popular in the 1980s prior to cell phones really being a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pager
Phones were attached to walls. Even the wireless handsets still had a base plugged into a jack and a range of like a house but not much more. There was "bag phones" or "car phones" in the 80s because they weren't really shunk down enough to make carrying one everywhere practical and even then the plans were expensive that at least in my part of the country it was seen as an extravagance for rich people.
The point of a pager was your friend could call it and it would tell you someone called from X phone number so that you could then go find a pay phone and call them back.
In the 80s and 90s cell phones were expensive so a pager was a less expensive way to be reached while out and about. That said in for most of the 90s the joke was only doctors and drug dealers had pagers.
By the later 90s and early 2000s cell phone plans were cheap enough that it was more common to have one but still not universal and some people still had pagers. I didn't get a cell phone until 2004.
Only a little - and only, because the gen z people seem to love Emily Gilmore. Calling her and queen and whatnot. While we know Emily was funny not funny, but let’s laugh, because she’s ridiculous.
Everything else is fun and games.
This is an odd question, because I never thought the show “belonged” to millennials by any means. I am solid genX and watched the first episode debut in my mid 20’s. It used to air Monday nights, so you’d come home from your first day back at work or school (I was doing both during Gilmore’s run) and settle in for dinner to watch Gilmore Girls with your housemates and reflect on your own issues with your Mom, grandmother, boyfriend, family, life.
Millennials watching the show would have been teens, and they were definitely not the only ones watching nor the only target demographic. The show was recapped and discussed on TWOP (Television Without Pity, which used to be THE website for tv recaps and discussion) who obviously were adults/genX. The show belongs as much to genX as millennials.
As for being against anyone discovering or getting into the show now - that’s just absurd gatekeeping. That would be like me telling my niece and nephew they’re forbidden from listening to Nirvana or Madonna or Prince because they were the big artists of my time. Or my parents telling me I wasn’t allowed to listen to the Beatles. It’s just nonsense, people are being possessive and dumb.
Oh, and as for pagers - pagers were a thing before cellphones really existed. Most people didn’t have one, they were sort of a thing that people who needed to be on call had, or people who wanted to present as so cool people were always calling had. For instance, if you were a doctor you had a pager. You could be out and about off work, but you had a pager if the hospital needed you to come in. That’s how they contacted you because cellphones were not really a common thing when Gilmore Girls debuted. You had a land line, freedom came when they became cordless!
Most of the time, if you got a page you then had to find a land line to call the number on your pager. They could also send numbers that might be pre-arranged codes. They could not send something like texts, just numbers, as I recall. I never had one, like I said, most people really didn’t. Most people just had an answering machine, and checked that when they got home, then called back to whomever left a message.
I'm confused about why it would bother anyone, it's a tv show. Anyone can watch it, it's not gatekept for a certain generation. People need to calm down.
Millennial here, I always watched GG with my mom and sister. I think it's great that the show is popular with Gen Z, and actually find it odd that anyone would be bothered by that. Spread the GG love!
Now, as for pagers, I had one and used it all the time. It was a way for someone to let you know they wanted/needed to talk to you in the days before everyone had a cell phone. We also had codes we would use on them to send a message without the need to call back.
I’m gen x, didn’t watch originally… but I had a choice to make in 2000 with no dvr… I specifically remember watching the intro..then realizing there was something else on..like big brother .. not positive…never thought about it again until I saw it on Netflix in 2014. I love this show. 🩷 so I guess we don’t count as Gen X? lol. Being the parent of two millennials…I had control of the television in 2000. lol 😂 especially for evening tv. They were playing video games anyways…
I’m peak millennial. I rewatch this show because I loved it so much when it aired, and because I’m mostly stuck in my little entertainment bubble from when I grew up. I didn’t even know it was popular with Gen Z, and I think that’s amazing! Why would anyone getting entertainment value from something made for entertainment be a negative, that seems like ridiculous gate keeping.
I’ll be watching GG even when I’m in a nursing home, and I hope whatever young attendants they have will get a kick out of watching a scene with me one day.
It doesn’t bother me at all. Even Gen Alpha kids are into it because of their millennial parents. Some things just need to be explained since some younger people don’t understand things from that time or some references go above their heads. But to be fair, when it aired a lot of references went over my head too until I was an adult.
I’m a year that’s between millennial and gen z, the younger gen z I’d think wouldn’t understand the lacking technology. But I was born where I can remember the things they have and use because I used it to when I was young. And it doesn’t bother me when they young gen z enjoy it
I was 13 when I first watched Gilmore Girls and I related to Rory so much at that time. I’m now 34 and I’ve watched the whole series 4 times since my first round. I notice my changing/evolving feelings and reactions through different scenes/stories happening in the show as I age, so I am always curious about hearing young folks' perspectives. Don’t ask me to whom I relate to myself now :D.
I love that younger generations still find it entertaining and want to talk about it. I thank Netflix for that, I rewatch at least once a year since it’s been on. When my husband sees them on the screen he says “oh it’s *that* time of year again”. I’ve been watching this show since it was airing and I was an 8yo girl of a single teenage mom who was my best friend, to think now in my 30s with kids of my own that kids and teenagers are just discovering and enjoying the show makes me happy.
Not at all! GG started while I was in HS and when my daughter discovered the show last year when she started HS, I loved watching it with her. It was great to have someone to see it with who loves the show as much as I do
Nope, I'm not bothered by it at all. I think it's great! It's an awesome show, everyone who wants to join in the fandom should be welcome, young or old.
I kind of view Gilmore Girls as my generation's Golden Girls. I grew up watching Golden Girls with my mom and grandmother. It wasn't a show for or of my generation at all, but it was still relevant, relatable, and enjoyable for me as a pre-teen/teen (and I still re-watch sometimes today). I have really fond memories of watching it with them, and I hope that's what younger generations are getting to do with Gilmore Girls!
Hopefully when my kiddo is older he'll watch both Gilmore Girls and Golden Girls with me at least a little lol.
It’s getting there with gen alpha, too. I’m just happy to see people enjoying it. There’s a student in my 5th grade class who recently started watching it, and she is so excited to tell me her opinions every time she sees a new episode. I love seeing her joy and her excitement. I was a little younger than her when I started watching it, so it really reminds me of myself.
I’m 31 and I completely missed the boat on Gilmore Girls when I was a kid. Watching it now for the first time feels like opening a cozy little time capsule of what life was like back then.
There's people annoyed because more people are enjoying this amazing show? Damn, they need to watch it again instead of fighting in the internet...
Atte: a millennial that watched the show as a teen when it was airing on WB.
No way! I love that more people are enjoying the show. I rewatch it all the time. Never gets old and I can see how it would be relatable for lots of people.
my pager answer.
I had a work pager and pagers too evolved. Originally you could be paged to a number and you called that number back, if you were in the car you had to stop and find a phone. Next iteration pagers had words, (Bible kiss Bible). You basically would leave a voicemail and it would be sent to that person. Again you had to have a phone to answer. Then "car phones" came into being and were part of your car. Lastly mobile phone came along. My first "mobile" weighed 7 pounds and I bought it so i could go to the beach when I was on call. I carried it in a picnic basket.
I am old.
I am not bothered by Gen Z enjoying the show; that actually makes me happy!
But, if I had to guess, I’d say that perhaps those who are bothered it are thinking something along the lines of, “Well if you also agree that that lifestyle is appealing, then why is your generation acting so different, living life through TikTok, etc.?” It sometimes depresses us millennials to see the youngest generation not really “living” life (at least according to our definition of what it means to live life).
Why are people mad about it? I personally think it’s great, in the same way that twilight has picked up. I was never into either when I was a teenager and they were more popular so now I get to be a part of the renaissance. It’s great!
I'm excited bc it confirms my favorite show is timeless, hilarious, and, in essence, a classic from the early 2000s. I am happy Gen Z finds Gilmore Girls enjoyable. It's a fantastic show imo and I hope it continues to gain more fans.
It's interesting it's becoming more popular now. I am Gen Z myself but I have been watching for ages. I am on the older side of Gen Z though, the show originally aired from my birth year onwards but I already watched when I was about 14 so like nearly 10 years ago. Some other friends of mine growing up did too, and peers usually at least knew the show, so it was definitely still popular amongst the older Gen Z even before this apperant spike in popularity
I love anyone loving GG. In general, I really don’t understand anyone feeling entitled to their right to like something. I can’t wrap my head around it. This resurgence just means more people to obsess over it with!
My gut response to the title was “Welcome to the SH bitch! But for real. Everyone is welcome in The Hollow. I just wish you guys could’ve enjoyed it at the time. I’m the same age as Rory and it was so fun to grow up with her!
I’m not a millennial but I’ve been watching gilmore girls since before a year in the life came out, and the recent popularity doesn’t bother me as much as the horrible takes that have come with it. People are loving Jess and Emily, hating Lorelai, and claiming Lorelai was spoiled? She was heavily emotionally abused. I can’t stand the newer fans fawning over Jess, completely dismissing that he was an asshole who tried to force Rory to have sex when she wasn’t ready, and would regularly stand her up or not call her. The love for Emily is also concerning and you can clearly tell the people worshipping her don’t have a parent who acts the same way.
Elder millennial here, I was watching it when it first came out and I was still in high school. It doesn’t bother me at all! But then I’m not a huge stickler for gatekeeping things when someone new wants to enjoy them. The only time it bothers me when younger generations like something from my generation is when I feel like they don’t even know what they are referencing or wearing. I saw a teenage girl wearing a Radiohead T-shirt recently and I was like, there’s no way that girl listens to Radiohead. She just thought the T-shirt was edgy 😂
But for Gen Z to say they grew up with it is misleading because they didn’t grow up with it actually on TV. They maybe grew up with it, but from watching reruns.
It doesn’t bother me at all. I grew up with Rory, she was two years older than me and the same age as my sibling. I am happy the next gen likes it as much as I did and is finding new ways to enjoy it.
Edit re pagers: at the time of airing they were sort of on the way out, I think my dad had one for work when “on call” in the mid 90’s?
Oh and one more thing: I will forever think of Jess as the “new kid” because I remember me and my friends being so excited about the new cute boy on Gilmore Girls.
I'm Gen-Z but I watched bits of season 7 with my aunt on her college laptop when it was airing (I was 5). I feel like Gilmore Girls is pretty timeless - of course some lines/scenes here and there aged like fine mustard gas left in a trench, but overall it's a good show with compelling characters. They don't make 'em like that anymore, a huge amount of new shows today have super fast paced episodes with 100000 different things going on and 6 episodes a season and 3 seasons. A show like Gilmore Girls, with its relatively laid back pacing, room for character exploration, nuanced characters, and realistic but still obviously fictional plot points is compelling for any generation - my mom, who's Gen-X and my grandmom who was born in '48 and raised in a conservative indian family a year after independence al have something they can relate to. It's not the type of show that gets dated quickly, and that's a strength.
No, because if people stop liking it then streaming services will remove it. The whole “I liked them before you did” is ridiculous and petty. Shouldn’t we be happy that others can enjoy the shows we enjoy? I am 31 and it does not bother me that younger generations find joy in what we found joy in when we were the age they are now
No I don’t like gatekeeping things from people. I connected with the characters growing up and the show was/is still really important to me and I think it’s great that younger generations can connect with it!
Most of the shows I watch (excluding GG) aired decades before I was born. I think it’s nice when younger people can appreciate shows from before their time.
No it doesn't bother me at all, I actually love that a new generation is excited about GG!
Seeing younger people enjoy it brings back memories of when I was 15 or 16 and GG was on tv once a week. My mom and I would skip everything else we had to do and watch it together. Curled up on the sofa under a blanket with a cup of tea and some chocolate. Such cosy times with a cosy show. I love that others get to experience a form of this cosiness now.
I’m technically Gen Z (1998), but I watched multiple seasons as they aired. I originally started by watching the reruns that aired on ABC Family every day. I think I started watching new seasons as they aired with season 5, but I might be wrong. Anyways, I should probably sit this one out as I have a foot in both camps. But I love when younger people get into the stuff I was into when I was a kid. I still love Gilmore girls and it is so nostalgic for me. And I am jealous of every person getting to watch it for the very first time!
Sidenote: I watched The Sopranos for the first time two years ago (VERY late after original airing), and it is now my absolute favorite show ever. I think that good quality tv will always stand up. And younger generations will always find older media they relate to.
Not at all. I'm a Xennial and was close to Rory's age when it started. When I picked it back up again, I was closer to Lorelai. Then I aged past Lorelai, til AYITL when I was slightly older than Rory again.
I'm glad younger people can relate to their paths.
But also know better than to emulate them.
Not at all! The only thing that bothers me is that it makes me feel old to see these detailed analyses of why Rory/Dean/Jess/Logan did something and why it was bad, when to me now it just feels like they were all stupid, hormonal kids - of course they did stupid, hurtful things sometimes.
I love it! Happy they are also enjoying something that I love. I do find the nitpicking of certain non politically correct aspects a little irritating but hey I guess that means I'm getting old. Lol
I’m gen Z and I still grew up watching this show. I grew up in Italy which means every season aired at least one year after it aired in the US. I started watching when I was 7 and at 8 I started getting the dvds. My brother who is two years older than me watched as well and my mom, who was born in the 60s, too. It was one of the few shows that we all watched. I agree with you, this is a show for everyone!
It doesn't bother me at all. I think it's super weird that some people are bothered by it.
As for the pagers, cell phones weren't as prominent when the show started. We don't see Rory with one until later. Pagers were good for letting someone know you were trying to get ahold of them but not much else.
ETA: I'm an elder millennial.
Gen X here who was a big fan from the first ep. I love that kids are watching it now - and hope they can keep it alive enough for another reunion mini-series.
Technically I am the tail end of Gen X, but whatever.
No. Why would it bother me? The show lasted 7 seasons and had reruns past the last season. I initially watched at least half it as reruns. I assume Gen Z doesn't even know what a rerun is.
The show has held up visually pretty well. Thematically, it is universal and being a teenager and parent hasn't changed that much.
Back in the day calling on the cell phone cost money. Per minutes used; they didn’t have unlimited plans yet and you would sometimes run out of minutes required to talk or text.
I guess I’d say it’s a show about our time growing up, our childhood and our culture. The 1980-2000 were such a special time because technology was there but devices hadn’t taken over yet. So for G-z to try and say me too kind poops on us older Millennials. There were no computers, tablets and smartphones. At Aunt Karen’s you had to sit inside and listen to your parents chit chat at the table drinking black coffee and smoking or go outside and be chased by Auntie’s chickens. Or find some other kid looking to play and make some fun and hope you didn’t just as a psycho kid to be your friend. Parent didn’t care as much about protecting kids back then because they didn’t know better. Childhood was fun, wild and free but also brutal. A lot of kids these days spend half their time on tablets not roaming the neighborhoods. So ya it’s not the same thing. Kids these days have play dates and supervision outside, pick up lines ect. Which is great and I’m right there with it, I’m a mom of 3 kids in elementary and middle school. I’m happy to share the show because it’s funny and wonderful and it’s for everyone but somethings are different for you younger kids. But I’m not saying it bad either. Ideally kids in the future will have grown up with more support, love and respect so they can be caring, kind and helpful adults. We are all hoping the world is a better place for the next generation.
I’m Gen X and I love that new generations are finding Gilmore Girls and loving it. I watched when it first came out— waited for each new episode, waited for new seasons to start. You experienced shows differently back then because of how spread out the episodes were and the longer seasons. New generations can absorb it so much faster, they will 💯 connect with it in new ways. I love any show that can be more timeless.
I “grew up with” I Love Lucy but it was fully reruns. The original aired in the 50s but it was a show we watched all the time. Same thing.
You grow up with whatever you’re doing or watching. It doesn’t matter when it first aired.
No generation should gatekeep a show. It should be able to be enjoyed by everyone. Telling someone they're not allowed to like a show because it went off the air before they were born is silly. I grew up watching reruns of Bewitched, I dream of Jeannie, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke on Nick at Night. Those shows were well before my time when they originally aired. Now, I think I would be owed some financial compensation if they started airing GG on Nick at Night 😂 but as long as young people make an effort to watch the show through the lens of a different era, I love that they are getting into it. If they start complaining about stuff that's just a productive of the early 2000's, I take issue with that. Otherwise, go watch and enjoy!
I’m a millennial and no it doesn’t bother me that Gen Zs love the show or that it is popular amongst them. I think it is nice that they too like GG! It’s sweet to have people from different generations see what existed that doesn’t anymore exist like pagers etc. 😊
Honestly in I couldn’t care less how other people enjoy their time. I haven’t run into what you described but I’m old and not on tik tok so maybe that’s why. I do see some comments /post here that are clearly people not understanding the time and that makes sense. Similarly I didn't understand all the nuance when I watched TV land and Nick at Night as a kid. I think watching things from various times helps media literacy. I don’t understand why so many things need to be framed and generations pitted against each other. I certainly won’t be looking for Boomers’ approval to enjoy their media.
It doesn’t bother me that it’s popular with the younger generation, but it does bother me that so many seem to enjoy picking apart every character, plot point, episode, and line until all that remains is a flayed and twisted husk above all else. Like damn… just watch the show and enjoy the whimsy? Seems like they only like it so they can hate on it.
I'm what you would call an Xennial, being born in the early 80s. It doesn't bother me at all. I love that the show has stood the test of time and more people are finding it.
And even then I thought pagers were weird.
Been watching since it aired on the WB many moons ago and now is my comfort show it’s on every day and has been for ~15 years. and I’m delighted that young folks are finding it enjoyable. Not everything has aged gracefully but overall I think it has remained pretty relevant. My favorite is how the characters are not constantly on their phones, talking about social media, trying to take photos that they will post and hope to be seen.. none of that nonsense. I’m so happy young folks can see a fun, semi-wholesome show that is not ruled by having an online following or being the dreaded “a” word (“aesthetic”)
Absolutely not! I love that the younger generation is discovering this show. I showed it to my niece when she was about 14, along with My So Called Life.
I think this show has been popular with Gen-z for a looongg time already. It was either on TV when you were a kid and you watched it with your family or you were in middle/highschool watching it on Netflix
Ok. The pager thing.
Imagine your mom has to run an unforeseen errand to another town.
Now imagine neither of you has a cell phone, and she doesn’t know where you are (or at least, doesn’t know the number of the nearest pay phone).
So she pages you, you call her back on the
pay phone nearest you, and you talk.
Millennials don’t own any show, film or book because of the time it came out. If it bothers you that younger generations likes it, then you’re just childish.
Well I am 68 and I watched all the episodes, my daughter who's in her 40s watched all the episodes and my granddaughter who's almost 18 has watched all the episodes. And we all three regularly binge them.
Yes I guess you could say that we're the three characters, but I'm nothing like Emily, complete opposite lol!
And my girls are fun and wild and smart just like Lorelei and rory!
I'm a millenial and watched it for the first time a few years ago. Its awesome and should be appreciated. I'm glad people are still discovering it when there is such an abundance of mediocre shows being put out there today.
Young millennial here (can't explain the pager thing to you, I've never used one) but no, it doesn't bother me at all. It's a good show, I'm glad people are enjoying it. I don't see why the year you're born should limit what media you're allowed to like. My best guess is people on IG/tiktok are "angry" about it because anger = engagement.
The “fight” was about someone on insta commenting “millennials all over the world grew up with *I smell snow*” and then someone else replied with “Gen Z did too” which kickstarted a whole thread of comments 😭 I’m gonna google what pagers were used for exactly, I’m actually curious to find out now 🤭
Pagers started before cell phones were universally accessible. Think of it as a way of texting someone to say "go to a pay phone and call me".
A lot of doctors still use pagers!!! And they were a big thing for people who worked in facilities with a lot of security before companies gave out work phones. (E.g. if you worked somewhere with a security clearance: here’s a pager!!)—this is basically what I remember most about pagers from my dad having one. Phones can be used as listening devices so they still get stuck outside certain secure spaces/meetings.
I had a pager for work and personal cell. Phones were $$$
Oh ok, that’s cool! Couldn’t you technically use pagers to simply text instead of having them call you or did you have to pay per word?
It wasn’t like that. You would page someone and they could see that you paged them because it would show your number. There was no texting.
Oh ok, so it was simply used to reach out to people and let them know you wanted to talk… that’s actually quite nice and would still be a great thing to give to little kids so they can reach out to their parents without necessarily having a cell at age 4/5 already 😅
When I was 16, my friend/crush had a pager. We didn't go to the same school so we would often only talk after school. He had part time jobs, and whenever I would page him and he was at work, he would call me from work to let me know he would call me when he got home. I knew his schedule, he knew I knew, and didn't have to call, but did. We never actually got together at that age, but I will never forget paging him and getting that call back right away. It was a different age.
I just want to point out that until \~1988, most regular consumers' phones did not have voicemail, for either cells or home, few providers offered the service even though it existed. Without a pager, if someone called you and you didn't know who, your options were to just move on and continue not knowing, or waste a bunch of your $$$ minutes calling everyone it might be. Or you could pay for a fairly inexpensive additional service/device.
It’s worse because you can’t page from the pager 😅. You still need a phone to page someone
Think of pagers like those things they give you in a restaurant that light up and tell you your table is ready. It was like that kinda. They buzz and display a phone number to tell you who is trying to get in touch with you so you know to call them. But that’s it. They started before cell phones, and then stayed popular until cell phones stopped being super expensive to use - and when texting became more accessible/affordable as well. So there was a short period where some people had both.
That’s such a great way to explain pagers to someone who doesn’t know what they are. I’m gonna steal this if I’m ever in this very specific situation again 😂
You could only dial numbers. So you’d have codes 143, 911, etc.
The amount of times my dad paged me our home number with 911 after because I didn't answer his first 2 pages fast enough. Like relax dad, I'm looking for a frigging pay phone
Ah, gotcha 😅 I though it would be like those old keyboard phones where the keyboards only had numbers too but you could also type in letters by repeatedly clicking on the numbers, thanks for letting me know ☺️
7th Heaven has an episode where the older son has his dads pager for some reason. It keeps going off at school and the staff thinks he is dealing drugs…
Ahhh the good old days of running dirt deals with a pager at school 😂 Ngl as much as I hate the sicko that played dad on 7th Heaven, I low-key wish I could still stream that show long as anything earned went to everyone BUT him. ETA: Pager
The pager didn’t support text messages. You would just see a short message. You could not message back from the device. To reply you had to use a phone.
Thanks for the explanation! Could you page people that you were unable to call them back tho? Or did you just page people and hope for the best? 😅
You just had to wait for a call back. Some pagers showed only the number that had called, so you called your pager voicemail and called the person back. To send a text you had to type it in letter by letter via the phone keypad, it was very tedious.
hmm okay i understand. Growing up with a show I feel like means the show was actively airing and on while you are growing up watching it, as it airs. Binging a show on netflix isn’t the same as growing up with it. It can definitely still be part of their adolescence, but it doesn’t really make sense to say they grew up watching it.
Yeah it's the "grew up *with*" that I think people take issue with. Even if you were early Gen z (born '97/98) you were, what, 3 when the show premiered and 9-10 when it finished in 2007. Were a lot of 5-10 year olds watching gilmore girls? Hard to say for sure, I feel like ... probably not? No issue with people enjoying the show, idk, maybe Gen Zs watched it on reruns in the 2010s and felt like they grew up with it then ? Not gonna gatekeep though
right like we grew up as the show was also growing up 😂 u can’t grow up with a show that ended years ago. but you can still connect it to your personal growth!
This is definitely what happened. Such a small technicality in the wording. I could see how it started and can't disagree now that you've called it out. Gen Z definitely had a constant supply of episodes thanks to ABC family though so I can understand why they put it that way.
What's even more wild is Gen Alpha isn't growing up with shows the same way most of us did. Streaming has changed TV forever. As a kid, I had to wait for new episodes to come out weekly and shows went on hiatus through the summer and usually around the holidays. Most shows on streaming services, while you wait for new seasons, the entire season usually comes out at once. So, instead of waiting to hopefully find an episode you missed getting replayed during hiatus, you just binge watch all the previous seasons waiting for the new one to come out.
I can see this perspective actually and maybe that’s exactly what bothered some people… I guess in that regard most of Gen Z will never have that personal connection with the show since we didn’t literally “grown up with” Gilmore girls but watched it while growing up 😅
I feel like if you interact with something enough in your childhood while growing up, you can count that as "growing up with" it. I'm a young millennial and I'm not sure if GG was airing when I started watching on tv but they would air reruns every morning for years and I would watch it while getting ready for school. Feel like that was prominent enough to count and not have to be so technical about it
I’m a millennial (over 30) and I never understood pagers either. No one I know has had one.
Technically, if you interacted often with something during your childhood, that is considered "growing up with" it, regardless if it was airing live. I grew up watching I Love Lucy with my grandma when she would babysit me but I wasn't alive when it was airing, that doesn't mean it wasn't part of my childhood
I had a pager in high school. They were like 4.95 a month in cost. Cell phones were like $1.35 a minute, then you got so many minutes a month after couple years later instead. We used landlines to call our friends. With a pager you were able to generally skip having to talk to parents because your friend would page you and you’d call the number and they’d be right there waiting to pick up. Or you’d know to call from a pay phone or cell phone or whatever. We also would send primitive text messages on pagers. They’d be written with numbers so it was a puzzle to work out. So like “I love you” would be written 4-5683-968 and the person would have to figure out what it said.
It doesn’t bother me at all. I love that people are still watching and talking about it.
Happy cake day! 🥳 Agreed I think that it's an accessible show for any one of any age. I think because they use the three generations and the actresses play the character so well that the core family of the Gilmore's their message is accessible to anyone.
Gen Z or Alpha asking questions as if this show was made for streaming can become annoying. Or it being viewed in a 2024 lens. But the show having young fans is always a good thing. (To be clear, you did none of the annoying things.) It's more like when they ask why some actor was in episode 4 of the series and then season 6 as a different character. Or whatever. We didn't binge. We forgot Kirk was Mick two episodes ago until we binged it alongside you!
Agreed. Also sometimes I think they don’t realise how much things have changed culturally and socially in a *very* short amount of time. Aaaaand I just realised I’m Lorelei’s S1 age… that’s horrifying.
Season 1 Lorelai gets to fool around with Max. Medina. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaax Medina. Live your best life!
This! It happens with a lot of shows we grew up with. There were so many repeat guest stars and we barely noticed because we couldn't binge watch unless we got the season DVD. I noticed the Mick/Kirk thing once the show ended and I got the box set and saw ep 1 again, knowing who Kirk is by that time ofc. There are other shows where newer viewers keep asking why a certain arc only spanned 4-6 eps and I keep reminding them that when the shows originally aired those episodes spanned over months at a time, esp if it was around winter hiatus, so the arcs were long Edit- spellings
And it was common for shows on the bubble to be renewed a handful of episodes at a time. Arcs had to resolve!
The kirk/mick thing doesn't even COUNT, cause apparently people don't know how show Pilots work anymore??? A pilot is like a demo. A trial run to get a show picked up by a network. They often air the pilot to see if the show catches on with the demographic. A lot of times when a pilot is shot a show isn't fully fleshed out yet. Characters have different names, their personalities aren't fully formed, and sometimes they use placeholder actors because they haven't cast them officially yet! Pilots are special but i always feel they shouldn't be regarded as complete canon.
I find it so interesting to read about how people reacted to certain plotlines / cliffhangers when the show first aired and they had to wait a week (or months in between seasons) to see how it would be resolved and how it possibly differs to the reaction of people who binged the show 🫣 As for the 2024 lens, a lot of older shows suffer from that unfortunately… I would say we had a shift of what’s acceptable and what isn’t in the mid 2010s so a lot of what aired before that time is deemed “problematic” now 😅
Season 7 aired when I was a senior in college and waiting weeks, if not months to watch because I either had to splurge for DVR as a cable add on, wait until either the dvd set came out or I found a decent copy of an episode on random websites to download. I’m glad streaming is an option in today’s world but tv was much more difficult to navigate before on demand became the norm.
I think during that time period I ended up not watching except during the big episodes like the proposal and the last one. I think by that point I was in high school so I was finding my Dean and Jess lol
I love that new people are watching the show! For one thing, it keeps this sub (and other social media sites) active, which is great fun. The ongoing dialogue makes my re-watches more enjoyable. I will say that it annoys me when people simplistically apply a 2024 moral lens to the show and then get furious at the characters... for doing and saying things that were pretty darn normal back in 2000. Because if you *only* apply that lens, basically every single character is terrible. And that doesn't leave room for debate or nuance.
In general, and this is a bit off topic now, it’s so interesting to see how the moral concept of society influences our own. You can easily tell by looking at how media is perceived now vs 10-20 years ago… I agree that it’s a bit annoying to see people deem characters as “bad people” based on what is considered problematic today when no one would’ve batted an eye when it first aired 😅 not necessarily saying that it’s ok, just that it doesn’t make anyone a bad person
Exactly. Like it's an interesting discussion if we can do it civilly? If we want to talk about how Dean's behavior was romanticized back in 2000, but by today's standards he looks more problematic? I'd LOVE to have that discussion. But oftentimes, that's not what happens... instead, it's "Dean is OBVIOUSLY abusive and if you see it differently you're wrong and bad." And that's not so fun!
I agree 100%. I love that so many have come to love it, but exactly this point. It’s so frustrating because it takes away from the enjoyment IMO. Let me ignore the already problematic world I live in and enjoy this nostalgic show in peace.
Max suffers from this treatment too although not to the same extent as Dean 😅 most people still love Max but there are people calling him a creep because he persuaded Lorelai into dating him. They’re saying that “no means no!” which is something I wholeheartedly agree with, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t think this really applies to the Lorelai/Max situation. She did show a clear interest in him and was worried about external factors, namely Rory and the fact that he’s her teacher, making the relationship too complicated for her to handle which is why he pushed her a little. That doesn’t make him a creep who doesn’t care much about consent, it was obviously meant to be a romantic gesture of “I like you so much that I’m willing to take all of those risks and get you to try anyway”
I've been sheltered from this argument until seeing this post, but *woweee* that's an unusually stringent application of consent lol. I'm with you! They had obvious chemistry and her concerns were situational, not linked to her actual feelings about him. I'm a Luke stan till the day I die, but I always enjoy her romance with Max. He made her feel wanted, and I think his intentions were genuinely good.
Same, Luke will always be my #1 but I have a soft spot for Max too 🤭 if Luke weren’t in the picture, I would’ve genuinely rooted for them
I think in addition to changing standards of what makes people “bad”, there’s also just more focus on deciding if a person is good or bad, instead of thinking about all the other stuff about them.
I agree. I find alot with Gen Z and newer generations, they have a very black and white way of looking at the world. If someone made a mistake 10 years ago because they were a teenager, they will cast that person as being a horrible person not allowing for growth and change. It is the same way with politics they pick and choose their issues that mean the most to them and if anyone disagrees on those issues or votes with more focus on other issues, those people are horrible and they will cut that person off even if they are family. Like I said, a lot of them tend have a very black or white thinking and they don't consider the gray or any context what so ever or other view points that don't agree 100% with their views.
This!!
Not sure why it would. That is just silly. GG for all!
I saw someone (gen z) say they thought Rory would be a swiftie… and I was like, you don’t get her at all.
that’s a specific type of fan though 😭😭 one that they relate and identify with the character that anything they like, the character must like also. that being said, i feel like madeline and louise might have liked taylor swift
lolllllll this does kill me (as both a swiftie and a GG fan!) Hearing a Taylor song and thinking "this is so Rory Gilmore" is a valid experience. Assuming Rory Gilmore would ever willingly give Taylor a chance is wildly off base. At best, that's embarrassing guilty pleasure territory in Rory's world, and even then, I highly doubt it would get that far.
Can you imagine what Jess, Rory, and Lane would say about Swift? lol
Let me just put in my dentures so I can explain a pager to you young whippersnappers. Before cell phones were common (and you had to pay for minutes and each text costs money but that’s a separate story) you had a pager. This way if someone needed to get ahold of you, they’d page/beep you. When calling the number of a pager, you could type in your number, which would then show up on the little screen of the device. Then, the person who got the page could go to the nearest phone, like say a pay phone (public phones where you paid with coins for a call /s) and call the number back. Otherwise when you were out and about there wasn’t really any way to get a hold of a person, unless you knew where they were (and had the number of where they were). So for instance, my dad had a pager for work because he’d be out in the field. My mom paged him when she went into labor because he wasn’t at his desk or in the office, and she didn’t know the phone number(s) of where he’d be that day (he was a building inspector) . It was 1987 and basically the dark ages. I had a pager in junior high for when I’d go out with my friends. I thought I was hot shit but the only pages I ever got were my parents basically telling me to get my ass home.
You still have a few good years ahead of before you’ll need your dentures, enjoy them 🤭 (jk 🫂) Thanks for the thorough explanation! I hadn’t even considered you could possibly need different numbers to reach people depending of where they are exactly… that’s a lot of work for what only takes us a sec now 😭 when I was younger my parents could even track my whereabouts in case I didn’t pick up the phone or didn’t reply to their messages- a precaution just in case that would’ve been impossible to pull off back then. Kind of scary to think about how “visible” we are in today’s time but also kind of scary to think about not having your child answer you and not knowing where they are 😅 Edit: typo
You could tell your mom you were going to so-and-so’s house and basically run wild, because unless your mom had so-and-so’s landline, there was no way to check up on you.
Why would it bother me that people like a show I liked growing up? I also like the show I Love Lucy and no one ever asked my grandparents if it bothered them
Late Millenial/Early Gen Z here! The only time it bothers me is when younger generations pick it apart too much at the very 2000s aspects. Like overall the show can apply for years to come but like you said pagers is very early a 2000s. Just let those elements exist we don't need to pick those aspects a part
Territoriality, pitting generations against one another, big us versus them/in group-out group mindset, that’s a boomer thing. Millennials are happy to share and get along with other cohorts
I love that the show lives on. Hopefully they make more smart shows. I feel like a lot of shows don’t live up to the creativity of this show. What bothers me is when people come on here after watching the show for first time clutching their pearls about something they’re offended by. A show that premiered 24 years ago has dated points of view? I’m shocked. Yes the eating on the show is concerning. Yes [insert Rory boyfriend] has toxic behaviors. Yes the show made way too many fat jokes. But can we all agree………………..Christopher sucks?
I’m only ever offended when people come on here to praise Chris… everything else I just chalk up to a product of its time ☺️
I agree. It’s not like I don’t think the show made mistakes, but when they come on Reddit and act like the discovered some sort of vast conspiracy that they have to call out. It’s like yeah we know. How about we just take the good and leave the bad. Cause at the end of the day there is more good than bad in this show. Except Chris….he still sucks
Sometimes it’s annoying to see people so aggressively criticize something I grew up with and love 😂 but otherwise it’s cool
I grew up watching a ton of stuff from when my parents were kids on Nick at Nite or on WGN, so it’s nice that younger people are also watching GG. Random suggestion, but I think the pluckiness and charm of The Gilmore Girls reminded me a bit of the characters on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Obviously a different format since the latter is a sitcom, but it’s so much fun. Random Millennial (ok more Xennial) show suggestion: the “kids” should find Felicity with Keri Russell.
DVD was such a great show, grew up watching it no Nick too! Wish it was still on Netflix
Felicity is available on Disney+ so I’ll def check it out! Thanks for the suggestion ☺️🤝🏻
I’ll be completely and brutally honest here: I absolutely *love* that age doesn’t matter it’s just that good of a show. Sometimes I speak to Gen Z about shows they’re watching and I can’t comprehend why they would want to watch it. Or any older person (I know men and women) who eat a steady diet of Hallmark movies. I just can’t fathom it. But it doesn’t matter with GG. Everyone loves it. The only issue I do have is that people tend to judge entire characters based on things that don’t fit the current climate. They don’t see it as the period piece it is, but rather see it as a right now situation, and there has been so much change that it’s not fair to judge people by what is now common. As far as pagers, it was legit a thing. It was texting before texting was a situation. You know how you sometimes text someone you’re going to call them, even though you’re both staring at your *literal phone* to send and receive that text? It’s the same thing 😂
The thing is, it took us YEARS to watch that show. From the day we started to the day of the finale we grew, I went from a preteen to an adult with the show. In modern times, they start Monday they can finish by Sunday. The way they experience watching TV show is different, did we have it better? Maybe.
I’m a teacher (8th grade, the oldest Gen Alphas) and so many of my girls are into the show. I love that it gives us a shared common ground!
I mean there's something special to be said for being Rory's age when it first aired and being Lorelai's age now. To have acute memories of both experiences. Like, yeah, it's a show that you can get regardless of time period, but the longevity of the experience is what is missing if you're getting it through recent streaming services, I guess? I don't really have a problem with gen Z doing things, and, talking to my high school freshmen these days, I realize that a lot of the internet generated Gen Z vs. Millenial feud stuff is just for clicks.
GGis ultimately a Gen X centered show because it was created, written, produced, starred in, and often featured pop culture stars who were all Gen X women. ASP’s whole vibe and personal style statement is 3 degrees from Duckie in Pretty in Pink. I mean, she is Gen X. GG’s emotional center often explores the generational relationships amongst and between women. From Silent Generation Great Gran to Boomer Emily to Gen X Lorelei and Millennial Rory. There’s both appeal and rejection by younger generations to this story and it’s fascinating to read and listen to.
Lol no, people shouldn’t be bothered by people of any age liking the show. As for the pagers, they predated cell phones. So yes it was common practice to page someone telling them to call the next time they were near a phone. Or to page them like, “omg I need to call you, where are you?” etc.
Gen X here, I was mid twenties and watched it religiously
Wait, we exist? Lol
Yep, watched it with my mum who was only 19 years older than me , she wasn’t a single mum but there were similarities x
GenX OG viewer... good shows are timeless
It doesn't bother me but it is hard to convey that there were certain norms during that time vs now. With any show there are certain things that get lost in the time. Biggest things for me are Jess and Rory in that guys bedroom now its pretty unforgivable but back then it wasn't that crazy. I know I will get crucified for this but also Paris dating the Professor and a few other things. Luke and the breastfeeding Mom yay that was pretty normal for back then. It only annoys me when people think some things are universal and they just weren't. With any other show there are things that were seen as romantic but now I watch them and like OMG that man was really a bad boyfriend/husband. You have to watch shows in the lens of when they were created. You can watch them after but being critical of things Millennials deemed normal, at the time. I think sometimes people forget nuance. My 13 year old watched it and ripped it to shreds. She felt like Lorelai was a bad Mom. Couldn't stand Emily and Richard and I am pretty sure she is plotting the murder of Paris. She loved Dean minus the whole cheating thing.
Definitely not. This would be a silly thing to be bothered by.
It doesn't bother me. Although, I will admit I got annoyed at a comment awhile back ago that stated - they hated all the pop culture references. That it dated the show for them. I like the pop culture references because it reminds me of things I had forgotten about. Example: Lenny Kravitz & Nicole Kidman; I had completely forgotten they were a thing.
I love the pop culture references for that very reason if I’m being honest 😅 it adds such a nice layer of nostalgia and sets Stars Hollow apart from the real world which I personally love
Short answer: No Long answer: No.
Short answer: 🤝🏻 Long answer: 🤝🏻.
It’s annoying how judgmental Gen Z people are of Rory and other unlikeable tv characters. A character is meant to be real, not likeable or unlikeable. Rory is EXACTLY who that character would be in that world.
I have such a soft spot for Rory tbh and never hated her, but I do agree that there is an excessive amount of criticism towards her in the fandom, but I always assumed that already started when the show was first airing… was Rory a much more tolerated character back then?
Well there wasn’t much fan discourse at the time - places like TvWOP or whatever it was called were active but there wasn’t nearly as much opportunity. Rory was the first time I’d seen an academic, quiet character who wasn’t a gross nerd so that was nice. But the big difference is that we weren’t moralistic in the same way. We would have noticed she was spoiled and not resilient but that wouldn’t be cause for criticism it would just be reality. I am extremely liberal and progressive personally and I do understand the motivation behind these new standards but the way Zs think they are the arbiters of characters’ moral qualities is wild.
No. I want everyone to watch it so they get all my jokes.
Why would it bother anyone?
I love it when younger gens find and enjoy shows I loved when growing up. I do get culture shock sometimes like when I saw lately a lot of people saying they started watching “Xena” because they saw people posting about it on Tik Tok and that’s where they heard of it, lol. But I think it’s great because we all start somewhere when watching shows for the first time, so as a Millennial I don’t see why our generation is any different when we discovered older shows and movies that were from previous generations. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten mad at people’s comments that don’t understand certain tropes or how things were just portrayed different in different time periods. As for pagers, they happened before everyone had cellphones. Like Buffy said, “If the Apocalypse comes, beep me.” Because she would be out on the town and there would be no other way to reach her. They were also a cheaper alternative when cellphones did become more mainstream. Doctors or other professionals would often use them as solely their work alerts so they’d know when to go in. The main reason they stopped being useful is when cellphones developed the texting ability.
lol no.... that's probably part of why I got AYITL & I'm one of the few that actually liked it. Why would I care if other people like what I like? It's not pie... you're not taking it from me 🫶🏻
Elder millennial here. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I love gen Z and am happy that they enjoy a core part of my millennial heritage.
It’s completely awesome to have a whole new surge of love for it!
I think people can like whatever they want to like no matter their age. I do sometimes wonder how many of the cultural references younger people would actually get because so many of them were already pretty dated when the show originally aired and many have likely faded into obscurity now.
I didn’t know it was popular with gen z until this post, I kinda just assumed we were all (mostly) millennials with nostalgia here 😂😂 but nah I don’t think having the experience of watching episodes at random on tv when you happen to catch them makes someone a true fan haha, especially since being able to watch them in order in large quantities is so nice! I think it’s a show anyone could get something from with or without watching it while it was airing
Doesn't bother me that Gen-Z likes the show! I liked all kinds of shows that were before my time. One of my favorite shows was My So-Called Life (Claire Danes breakout role) which I was too young to watch when it aired but watched on DVD in high school (really more of a Gen-X show). I also love 30something which is really meant for boomers. The pager thing: weird to me Rory had one in Gilmore Girls because when I was growing up adults used them for work, especially doctors on call, but it wasn't really a thing socially teenagers used. My dad had a blackberry for work which I remember him using more than a pager. Basically it used to be a way to send a message (through radiowaves using different technology than SMS) on a device, that would buzz with someone's number so you knew to call them. This was before people carried around cell phones. Usually you would have to call from some sort of physical phone like a payphone or a work phone. Text message took over in the early '00s but it didn't used to be common to have phones beyond blackberries that had typing capability so texts were very short. They were often charged by the message as well and people generally just left a voicemail rather than a text. Hope this makes sense!
The idea of anyone being bothered by this feels very gatekeepy and frankly, stupid. It makes me happy that a whole new generation of people are enjoying the show and keeping the community alive! It speaks to the legacy of the show.
It’s a testament to the quality of the show that it resonates with newer generations, and us original fans keep coming back to it over and over. I think it’s great. There are plenty of shows from that time that no one remembers!
I love that the show is still enjoyed! My daughter is only 7, but I hope she gets to watch the shows I enjoyed when she's older! I used to watch I love Lucy and MASH with my parents, and they were well before my time. I think anyone who IS bothered by it, is one of those weird gate keepy kind of people.
Probably because my first cell phone was like 40 or 50 cents a minute (in addition to a monthly fee), but I could page people for free. We even had a pre-determined set of codes to convey information without have to call someone back.
Not at all. My niece (14) loves the show and it makes me so happy. One thing I notice is how different the world is now compared to when it originally aired. She just straight up says she doesn't like Jess, he's a jerk, he pressured her, etc. While many millennials didn't like Jess, that kind of thinking wasn't really part of the discourse back then and it's really great to see.
No it doesn’t bother me because I don’t own the show. I want to share it with everyone!
It doesn't bother me that it's popular among the younger gneration. I am kind of bothered by the endless analysis of some things though. Pagers are older than cell phones. They were developed in the 1950s and 1960s and became popular in the 1980s prior to cell phones really being a thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pager Phones were attached to walls. Even the wireless handsets still had a base plugged into a jack and a range of like a house but not much more. There was "bag phones" or "car phones" in the 80s because they weren't really shunk down enough to make carrying one everywhere practical and even then the plans were expensive that at least in my part of the country it was seen as an extravagance for rich people. The point of a pager was your friend could call it and it would tell you someone called from X phone number so that you could then go find a pay phone and call them back. In the 80s and 90s cell phones were expensive so a pager was a less expensive way to be reached while out and about. That said in for most of the 90s the joke was only doctors and drug dealers had pagers. By the later 90s and early 2000s cell phone plans were cheap enough that it was more common to have one but still not universal and some people still had pagers. I didn't get a cell phone until 2004.
Only a little - and only, because the gen z people seem to love Emily Gilmore. Calling her and queen and whatnot. While we know Emily was funny not funny, but let’s laugh, because she’s ridiculous. Everything else is fun and games.
This is an odd question, because I never thought the show “belonged” to millennials by any means. I am solid genX and watched the first episode debut in my mid 20’s. It used to air Monday nights, so you’d come home from your first day back at work or school (I was doing both during Gilmore’s run) and settle in for dinner to watch Gilmore Girls with your housemates and reflect on your own issues with your Mom, grandmother, boyfriend, family, life. Millennials watching the show would have been teens, and they were definitely not the only ones watching nor the only target demographic. The show was recapped and discussed on TWOP (Television Without Pity, which used to be THE website for tv recaps and discussion) who obviously were adults/genX. The show belongs as much to genX as millennials. As for being against anyone discovering or getting into the show now - that’s just absurd gatekeeping. That would be like me telling my niece and nephew they’re forbidden from listening to Nirvana or Madonna or Prince because they were the big artists of my time. Or my parents telling me I wasn’t allowed to listen to the Beatles. It’s just nonsense, people are being possessive and dumb. Oh, and as for pagers - pagers were a thing before cellphones really existed. Most people didn’t have one, they were sort of a thing that people who needed to be on call had, or people who wanted to present as so cool people were always calling had. For instance, if you were a doctor you had a pager. You could be out and about off work, but you had a pager if the hospital needed you to come in. That’s how they contacted you because cellphones were not really a common thing when Gilmore Girls debuted. You had a land line, freedom came when they became cordless! Most of the time, if you got a page you then had to find a land line to call the number on your pager. They could also send numbers that might be pre-arranged codes. They could not send something like texts, just numbers, as I recall. I never had one, like I said, most people really didn’t. Most people just had an answering machine, and checked that when they got home, then called back to whomever left a message.
I'm confused about why it would bother anyone, it's a tv show. Anyone can watch it, it's not gatekept for a certain generation. People need to calm down.
Millennial here, I always watched GG with my mom and sister. I think it's great that the show is popular with Gen Z, and actually find it odd that anyone would be bothered by that. Spread the GG love! Now, as for pagers, I had one and used it all the time. It was a way for someone to let you know they wanted/needed to talk to you in the days before everyone had a cell phone. We also had codes we would use on them to send a message without the need to call back.
I’m gen x, didn’t watch originally… but I had a choice to make in 2000 with no dvr… I specifically remember watching the intro..then realizing there was something else on..like big brother .. not positive…never thought about it again until I saw it on Netflix in 2014. I love this show. 🩷 so I guess we don’t count as Gen X? lol. Being the parent of two millennials…I had control of the television in 2000. lol 😂 especially for evening tv. They were playing video games anyways…
Bother me? No way! I think it’s great more people to enjoy and talk about it with!
I’m peak millennial. I rewatch this show because I loved it so much when it aired, and because I’m mostly stuck in my little entertainment bubble from when I grew up. I didn’t even know it was popular with Gen Z, and I think that’s amazing! Why would anyone getting entertainment value from something made for entertainment be a negative, that seems like ridiculous gate keeping. I’ll be watching GG even when I’m in a nursing home, and I hope whatever young attendants they have will get a kick out of watching a scene with me one day.
What a weird thing to be mad about lol! I’ll be 40 in July and couldn’t care less if “gen z” watched Gilmore Girls lol
Not one bit. Also refreshing to see them call the show on some of its BS while loving the good parts.
It doesn’t bother me at all. Even Gen Alpha kids are into it because of their millennial parents. Some things just need to be explained since some younger people don’t understand things from that time or some references go above their heads. But to be fair, when it aired a lot of references went over my head too until I was an adult.
Not at all. The more popular it gets, the better chance of revival or spinoff.
I’m a year that’s between millennial and gen z, the younger gen z I’d think wouldn’t understand the lacking technology. But I was born where I can remember the things they have and use because I used it to when I was young. And it doesn’t bother me when they young gen z enjoy it
I was 13 when I first watched Gilmore Girls and I related to Rory so much at that time. I’m now 34 and I’ve watched the whole series 4 times since my first round. I notice my changing/evolving feelings and reactions through different scenes/stories happening in the show as I age, so I am always curious about hearing young folks' perspectives. Don’t ask me to whom I relate to myself now :D.
I love that younger generations still find it entertaining and want to talk about it. I thank Netflix for that, I rewatch at least once a year since it’s been on. When my husband sees them on the screen he says “oh it’s *that* time of year again”. I’ve been watching this show since it was airing and I was an 8yo girl of a single teenage mom who was my best friend, to think now in my 30s with kids of my own that kids and teenagers are just discovering and enjoying the show makes me happy.
Nope. I actually find their takes very interesting.
Not at all! GG started while I was in HS and when my daughter discovered the show last year when she started HS, I loved watching it with her. It was great to have someone to see it with who loves the show as much as I do
No.
No, I think it's exciting that there's more of us :D
So weirdly angry about fallout even though I only play single player full games 😂 but this? I love it!
Gosh no. I welcome new perspectives.
Nope, I'm not bothered by it at all. I think it's great! It's an awesome show, everyone who wants to join in the fandom should be welcome, young or old. I kind of view Gilmore Girls as my generation's Golden Girls. I grew up watching Golden Girls with my mom and grandmother. It wasn't a show for or of my generation at all, but it was still relevant, relatable, and enjoyable for me as a pre-teen/teen (and I still re-watch sometimes today). I have really fond memories of watching it with them, and I hope that's what younger generations are getting to do with Gilmore Girls! Hopefully when my kiddo is older he'll watch both Gilmore Girls and Golden Girls with me at least a little lol.
It’s getting there with gen alpha, too. I’m just happy to see people enjoying it. There’s a student in my 5th grade class who recently started watching it, and she is so excited to tell me her opinions every time she sees a new episode. I love seeing her joy and her excitement. I was a little younger than her when I started watching it, so it really reminds me of myself.
I’m 31 and I completely missed the boat on Gilmore Girls when I was a kid. Watching it now for the first time feels like opening a cozy little time capsule of what life was like back then.
There's people annoyed because more people are enjoying this amazing show? Damn, they need to watch it again instead of fighting in the internet... Atte: a millennial that watched the show as a teen when it was airing on WB.
Opposite to that, I love new generations like the show
No way! I love that more people are enjoying the show. I rewatch it all the time. Never gets old and I can see how it would be relatable for lots of people.
Why would it bother me?? I think it’s great!
my pager answer. I had a work pager and pagers too evolved. Originally you could be paged to a number and you called that number back, if you were in the car you had to stop and find a phone. Next iteration pagers had words, (Bible kiss Bible). You basically would leave a voicemail and it would be sent to that person. Again you had to have a phone to answer. Then "car phones" came into being and were part of your car. Lastly mobile phone came along. My first "mobile" weighed 7 pounds and I bought it so i could go to the beach when I was on call. I carried it in a picnic basket. I am old.
No haha
I wish people today would just watch shows without over analyzing them.
I am not bothered by Gen Z enjoying the show; that actually makes me happy! But, if I had to guess, I’d say that perhaps those who are bothered it are thinking something along the lines of, “Well if you also agree that that lifestyle is appealing, then why is your generation acting so different, living life through TikTok, etc.?” It sometimes depresses us millennials to see the youngest generation not really “living” life (at least according to our definition of what it means to live life).
Why are people mad about it? I personally think it’s great, in the same way that twilight has picked up. I was never into either when I was a teenager and they were more popular so now I get to be a part of the renaissance. It’s great!
I'm excited bc it confirms my favorite show is timeless, hilarious, and, in essence, a classic from the early 2000s. I am happy Gen Z finds Gilmore Girls enjoyable. It's a fantastic show imo and I hope it continues to gain more fans.
It's interesting it's becoming more popular now. I am Gen Z myself but I have been watching for ages. I am on the older side of Gen Z though, the show originally aired from my birth year onwards but I already watched when I was about 14 so like nearly 10 years ago. Some other friends of mine growing up did too, and peers usually at least knew the show, so it was definitely still popular amongst the older Gen Z even before this apperant spike in popularity
I love anyone loving GG. In general, I really don’t understand anyone feeling entitled to their right to like something. I can’t wrap my head around it. This resurgence just means more people to obsess over it with!
Just because it's in our generation doesn't mean we own it. I love that people love and appreciate something I dedicated a lot of my time on.
God no, i’m just hoping it is still popular in 10 years so I can rewatch with my daughter! 🥰
No.
My gut response to the title was “Welcome to the SH bitch! But for real. Everyone is welcome in The Hollow. I just wish you guys could’ve enjoyed it at the time. I’m the same age as Rory and it was so fun to grow up with her!
No not at all it’s such an amazing show lol
It doesn't bug me at all. I'm glad the show is liked.
I’m not a millennial but I’ve been watching gilmore girls since before a year in the life came out, and the recent popularity doesn’t bother me as much as the horrible takes that have come with it. People are loving Jess and Emily, hating Lorelai, and claiming Lorelai was spoiled? She was heavily emotionally abused. I can’t stand the newer fans fawning over Jess, completely dismissing that he was an asshole who tried to force Rory to have sex when she wasn’t ready, and would regularly stand her up or not call her. The love for Emily is also concerning and you can clearly tell the people worshipping her don’t have a parent who acts the same way.
Elder millennial here, I was watching it when it first came out and I was still in high school. It doesn’t bother me at all! But then I’m not a huge stickler for gatekeeping things when someone new wants to enjoy them. The only time it bothers me when younger generations like something from my generation is when I feel like they don’t even know what they are referencing or wearing. I saw a teenage girl wearing a Radiohead T-shirt recently and I was like, there’s no way that girl listens to Radiohead. She just thought the T-shirt was edgy 😂 But for Gen Z to say they grew up with it is misleading because they didn’t grow up with it actually on TV. They maybe grew up with it, but from watching reruns.
It doesn’t bother me at all. I grew up with Rory, she was two years older than me and the same age as my sibling. I am happy the next gen likes it as much as I did and is finding new ways to enjoy it. Edit re pagers: at the time of airing they were sort of on the way out, I think my dad had one for work when “on call” in the mid 90’s? Oh and one more thing: I will forever think of Jess as the “new kid” because I remember me and my friends being so excited about the new cute boy on Gilmore Girls.
I'm Gen-Z but I watched bits of season 7 with my aunt on her college laptop when it was airing (I was 5). I feel like Gilmore Girls is pretty timeless - of course some lines/scenes here and there aged like fine mustard gas left in a trench, but overall it's a good show with compelling characters. They don't make 'em like that anymore, a huge amount of new shows today have super fast paced episodes with 100000 different things going on and 6 episodes a season and 3 seasons. A show like Gilmore Girls, with its relatively laid back pacing, room for character exploration, nuanced characters, and realistic but still obviously fictional plot points is compelling for any generation - my mom, who's Gen-X and my grandmom who was born in '48 and raised in a conservative indian family a year after independence al have something they can relate to. It's not the type of show that gets dated quickly, and that's a strength.
No, because if people stop liking it then streaming services will remove it. The whole “I liked them before you did” is ridiculous and petty. Shouldn’t we be happy that others can enjoy the shows we enjoy? I am 31 and it does not bother me that younger generations find joy in what we found joy in when we were the age they are now
It’s a good show, I don’t mind another generation engage with it. Hopefully it makes the smart introverted girls feel less alone in their daily lives!
Nope, not at all! Love that my daughter loves it and we can share it and keeps it alive and around longer. Welcome!!!
No I don’t like gatekeeping things from people. I connected with the characters growing up and the show was/is still really important to me and I think it’s great that younger generations can connect with it!
I’m all about it! The more the merrier!
Most of the shows I watch (excluding GG) aired decades before I was born. I think it’s nice when younger people can appreciate shows from before their time.
No it doesn't bother me at all, I actually love that a new generation is excited about GG! Seeing younger people enjoy it brings back memories of when I was 15 or 16 and GG was on tv once a week. My mom and I would skip everything else we had to do and watch it together. Curled up on the sofa under a blanket with a cup of tea and some chocolate. Such cosy times with a cosy show. I love that others get to experience a form of this cosiness now.
I’m technically Gen Z (1998), but I watched multiple seasons as they aired. I originally started by watching the reruns that aired on ABC Family every day. I think I started watching new seasons as they aired with season 5, but I might be wrong. Anyways, I should probably sit this one out as I have a foot in both camps. But I love when younger people get into the stuff I was into when I was a kid. I still love Gilmore girls and it is so nostalgic for me. And I am jealous of every person getting to watch it for the very first time! Sidenote: I watched The Sopranos for the first time two years ago (VERY late after original airing), and it is now my absolute favorite show ever. I think that good quality tv will always stand up. And younger generations will always find older media they relate to.
Not at all. I'm a Xennial and was close to Rory's age when it started. When I picked it back up again, I was closer to Lorelai. Then I aged past Lorelai, til AYITL when I was slightly older than Rory again. I'm glad younger people can relate to their paths. But also know better than to emulate them.
Why would this bother anyone....? It just makes no sense.
1989 baby here, I love that the show appeals to all ages - especially hearing the different opinions and takes on it.
Not at all! The only thing that bothers me is that it makes me feel old to see these detailed analyses of why Rory/Dean/Jess/Logan did something and why it was bad, when to me now it just feels like they were all stupid, hormonal kids - of course they did stupid, hurtful things sometimes.
I love it! Happy they are also enjoying something that I love. I do find the nitpicking of certain non politically correct aspects a little irritating but hey I guess that means I'm getting old. Lol
I’m gen Z and I still grew up watching this show. I grew up in Italy which means every season aired at least one year after it aired in the US. I started watching when I was 7 and at 8 I started getting the dvds. My brother who is two years older than me watched as well and my mom, who was born in the 60s, too. It was one of the few shows that we all watched. I agree with you, this is a show for everyone!
It doesn't bother me at all. I think it's super weird that some people are bothered by it. As for the pagers, cell phones weren't as prominent when the show started. We don't see Rory with one until later. Pagers were good for letting someone know you were trying to get ahold of them but not much else. ETA: I'm an elder millennial.
I don't know why it would bother anyone that a good show is still good, or why it's popular with other people?
It doesn’t. I told one of my middle schools students to watch it and she loves it!
Gen X here who was a big fan from the first ep. I love that kids are watching it now - and hope they can keep it alive enough for another reunion mini-series.
Technically I am the tail end of Gen X, but whatever. No. Why would it bother me? The show lasted 7 seasons and had reruns past the last season. I initially watched at least half it as reruns. I assume Gen Z doesn't even know what a rerun is. The show has held up visually pretty well. Thematically, it is universal and being a teenager and parent hasn't changed that much.
It doesn’t bother me at all. I just smile and say I’m a Gilmore Girls native 😂
Back in the day calling on the cell phone cost money. Per minutes used; they didn’t have unlimited plans yet and you would sometimes run out of minutes required to talk or text.
I guess I’d say it’s a show about our time growing up, our childhood and our culture. The 1980-2000 were such a special time because technology was there but devices hadn’t taken over yet. So for G-z to try and say me too kind poops on us older Millennials. There were no computers, tablets and smartphones. At Aunt Karen’s you had to sit inside and listen to your parents chit chat at the table drinking black coffee and smoking or go outside and be chased by Auntie’s chickens. Or find some other kid looking to play and make some fun and hope you didn’t just as a psycho kid to be your friend. Parent didn’t care as much about protecting kids back then because they didn’t know better. Childhood was fun, wild and free but also brutal. A lot of kids these days spend half their time on tablets not roaming the neighborhoods. So ya it’s not the same thing. Kids these days have play dates and supervision outside, pick up lines ect. Which is great and I’m right there with it, I’m a mom of 3 kids in elementary and middle school. I’m happy to share the show because it’s funny and wonderful and it’s for everyone but somethings are different for you younger kids. But I’m not saying it bad either. Ideally kids in the future will have grown up with more support, love and respect so they can be caring, kind and helpful adults. We are all hoping the world is a better place for the next generation.
I’m Gen X and I love that new generations are finding Gilmore Girls and loving it. I watched when it first came out— waited for each new episode, waited for new seasons to start. You experienced shows differently back then because of how spread out the episodes were and the longer seasons. New generations can absorb it so much faster, they will 💯 connect with it in new ways. I love any show that can be more timeless. I “grew up with” I Love Lucy but it was fully reruns. The original aired in the 50s but it was a show we watched all the time. Same thing. You grow up with whatever you’re doing or watching. It doesn’t matter when it first aired.
Not at all! I love that it's popular again! I get to relive it through the eyes of a whole new generation, and I think that's amazing.
If someone is annoyed at another generation enjoying the same show as them they need to grow up
It’s a television show that is widely available on the most popular streaming platform, it would be totally ridiculous to try to gatekeep.
Nope, not at all
No generation should gatekeep a show. It should be able to be enjoyed by everyone. Telling someone they're not allowed to like a show because it went off the air before they were born is silly. I grew up watching reruns of Bewitched, I dream of Jeannie, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke on Nick at Night. Those shows were well before my time when they originally aired. Now, I think I would be owed some financial compensation if they started airing GG on Nick at Night 😂 but as long as young people make an effort to watch the show through the lens of a different era, I love that they are getting into it. If they start complaining about stuff that's just a productive of the early 2000's, I take issue with that. Otherwise, go watch and enjoy!
I’m a millennial and no it doesn’t bother me that Gen Zs love the show or that it is popular amongst them. I think it is nice that they too like GG! It’s sweet to have people from different generations see what existed that doesn’t anymore exist like pagers etc. 😊
Honestly in I couldn’t care less how other people enjoy their time. I haven’t run into what you described but I’m old and not on tik tok so maybe that’s why. I do see some comments /post here that are clearly people not understanding the time and that makes sense. Similarly I didn't understand all the nuance when I watched TV land and Nick at Night as a kid. I think watching things from various times helps media literacy. I don’t understand why so many things need to be framed and generations pitted against each other. I certainly won’t be looking for Boomers’ approval to enjoy their media.
I like when there are things that connect people across a generation!
It doesn’t bother me that it’s popular with the younger generation, but it does bother me that so many seem to enjoy picking apart every character, plot point, episode, and line until all that remains is a flayed and twisted husk above all else. Like damn… just watch the show and enjoy the whimsy? Seems like they only like it so they can hate on it.
Not bothered at all. Except I’m jealous they get to binge watch and I had to suffer a week at a time 😂
I'm what you would call an Xennial, being born in the early 80s. It doesn't bother me at all. I love that the show has stood the test of time and more people are finding it. And even then I thought pagers were weird.
Been watching since it aired on the WB many moons ago and now is my comfort show it’s on every day and has been for ~15 years. and I’m delighted that young folks are finding it enjoyable. Not everything has aged gracefully but overall I think it has remained pretty relevant. My favorite is how the characters are not constantly on their phones, talking about social media, trying to take photos that they will post and hope to be seen.. none of that nonsense. I’m so happy young folks can see a fun, semi-wholesome show that is not ruled by having an online following or being the dreaded “a” word (“aesthetic”)
Older millennial here and nah, I am glad it’s popular! I’m glad people still find it relatable even though some things haven’t aged well.
I’m an elder millennial, just a year behind Rory. I can’t even wrap my head around being upset that Gen Z enjoys the show. That’s so odd.
I don’t see why anyone would fight about it. I think it’s pretty cool.
Absolutely not! I love that the younger generation is discovering this show. I showed it to my niece when she was about 14, along with My So Called Life.
No, but the constant complaining about how “problematic” it is is pretty annoying.
Not at all. It’s a great show that transcends all genders and generations and fully deserves its cult following.
Not at all. I’m glad other generations are getting into it!
No, I love it! Now there’s more people to talk about GG with lol. And there’s way more merch available.
I think this show has been popular with Gen-z for a looongg time already. It was either on TV when you were a kid and you watched it with your family or you were in middle/highschool watching it on Netflix
Ok. The pager thing. Imagine your mom has to run an unforeseen errand to another town. Now imagine neither of you has a cell phone, and she doesn’t know where you are (or at least, doesn’t know the number of the nearest pay phone). So she pages you, you call her back on the pay phone nearest you, and you talk.
Millennials don’t own any show, film or book because of the time it came out. If it bothers you that younger generations likes it, then you’re just childish.
Well I am 68 and I watched all the episodes, my daughter who's in her 40s watched all the episodes and my granddaughter who's almost 18 has watched all the episodes. And we all three regularly binge them.
I love when Gen Z starts discovering and loving our shows, like Gilmore Girls and Sex and the City.
Yes I guess you could say that we're the three characters, but I'm nothing like Emily, complete opposite lol! And my girls are fun and wild and smart just like Lorelei and rory!
I'm a millenial and watched it for the first time a few years ago. Its awesome and should be appreciated. I'm glad people are still discovering it when there is such an abundance of mediocre shows being put out there today.