179 Fun Facts About Gilmore Girls

Lorelai wakes Rory at 4:03 a.m. every year on which day?

Her birthday: Rory was born at 4:03 a.m. when Lorelai was 16, so each year Lorelai wakes her at that exact minute to retell the story of her birth.

What happened at the Revolutionary War battle that Stars Hollow re-enacts every year?

The redcoats never showed up: the local militia stood waiting for an enemy that never came, and the town still re-enacts the vigil each year while Luke mocks it and refuses to take part.

What does diner owner Luke Danes almost always wear on his head?

A backwards baseball cap and a flannel shirt are Luke's uniform behind the counter of the diner, which he created out of his family's old shop after his father died.

Where did Lorelai and baby Rory live when she became a maid at the Independence Inn?

In a renovated potting shed behind the Independence Inn, where Lorelai worked her way up from maid to manager; her mother is distraught when she finally sees it years later.

Which university did Rory dream of attending for most of her life?

Harvard was Rory's goal from early childhood, but after filling pro-and-con lists in season 3 she chose Yale instead, her grandfather's old university.

Who is Lorelai Gilmore's best friend and business partner?

Sookie St. James is Lorelai's loyal best friend and an incredibly talented chef. Together, they achieve their dream of opening and running the Dragonfly Inn.

Which secret prep-school sorority 'kidnaps' Rory for a dawn initiation in season 2?

The Puffs, the school's most elite secret sorority, take Rory in after the headmaster orders her to socialise, then get caught by him mid-initiation in his own office.

Where do Luke and his lawyer girlfriend Nicole marry on the spur of the moment?

On a cruise ship: Luke and Nicole wed on impulse at sea, file for divorce as soon as they are back on land, and Lorelai is shocked when he finally tells her.

Which elected office does Taylor Doose hold in Stars Hollow?

Taylor Doose is Stars Hollow's town selectman; in season 5 Jackson beat him for the post, then quit, handing it back to Taylor.

Which actor plays Kirk, the Stars Hollow oddball who works a seemingly endless string of jobs?

Sean Gunn first turned up in episode 2 as Mick, a DSL installer, and then as a man delivering swans, before the writers brought him back for good as Kirk.

What is the name of Luke Danes' sister?

Liz, played by Kathleen Wilhoite, is flighty and free-spirited; her teenage son is sent to live with Luke in season 2.

Who is Babette Dell's tall, quiet musician husband?

Morey plays piano and is rarely seen without his hat and sunglasses; when the couple's elderly cat dies in season 1, Lorelai and Rory join the neighbours at its wake.

Gilmore Girls first aired Thursdays against Survivor and which NBC hit?

Friends and Survivor made Thursdays tough for the newcomer, which was no instant ratings hit; a move to Tuesdays for season 2 helped it become one of The WB's highest-rated shows.

Which oft-married former showgirl runs the dance studio and the gossip mill in Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls?

Miss Patty's ballet studio doubles as the town-meeting hall, and it is where Rory and her date fall asleep after a school dance in season 1, setting off a furious family row.

What was Rory's first boyfriend's name?

Dean Forester is the new boy in town when Rory meets him in the pilot; on their three-month anniversary he says he loves her, she can't say it back, and he breaks up with her.

What did Luke keep in his wallet for eight years before his first date with Lorelai?

A horoscope she wrote for him the day they met, predicting he would meet an annoying woman and should give her what she asked for; she told him to keep it, and he did.

The name of Lane's band is an anagram of which real Gilmore Girls producer's name?

Helen Pai, a producer on the show and close friend of Amy Sherman-Palladino, whose own life inspired Lane's character; the band's name rearranges the letters of hers.

Which actress plays Lorelai's mother on Gilmore Girls?

Kelly Bishop was first hired for a small part in Dirty Dancing, then took over as Baby's mother when the original actress fell ill in the first week of shooting.

Which private prep school does Rory transfer to in the first season of Gilmore Girls?

Chilton is the elite prep school Rory enters in episode 2, a first day that begins with Lorelai oversleeping and meeting the headmaster in cut-off shorts and cowboy boots.

What does Rory's first boyfriend build for her as a three-month anniversary present?

A car: he is still building it when he shows it to her, and in season 2 it is wrecked in a crash with Luke's nephew at the wheel, leaving Rory with a fractured wrist.

Which ballad does Lorelai end up singing straight to Luke at a karaoke night in season 7?

I Will Always Love You: as she sings the Dolly Parton song Lorelai locks eyes with Luke, and he is hurt later when he overhears her say the serenade meant nothing.

What instrument does Lane Kim play in her band?

Drums: Lane falls for a kit at Stars Hollow's new music shop in season 2, decides rock drumming is her calling, and practises there in secret after school.

What kind of journalist does Rory dream of becoming?

Foreign correspondent is the goal Rory carries from school to Yale, which is why it stings in season 5 when a newspaper magnate she interns for says she lacks what it takes.

How do Emily and Richard Gilmore seal their reunion after separating in season 5?

By renewing their vows: Lorelai stands up as maid of honour and Rory as best man, and the party ends with Lorelai telling her mother that the two of them are through.

What do Lorelai's parents demand in return for the loan she requests in the Gilmore Girls pilot?

Dinner every Friday is the price her mother sets for Rory's school fees, a standing date that keeps three generations at one table for seven seasons and into the revival.

What is the surname of the headmaster of Rory's prep school?

Headmaster Hanlin Charleston shares a country club with Rory's grandparents, yet in season 2 he rules that she is too much of a loner and orders her to start socialising.

What does Lane's mother sell from the shop that doubles as the family home?

Antiques fill Kim's Antiques so completely that Lane grows up weaving between price-tagged furniture, under her mother's strict rule for customers: you break, you buy.

What is the first name of the first child born to the Dragonfly Inn's chef and her farmer husband?

Davey is born in season 4 after his overdue mother, set on a home birth with a formidable midwife named Bruce, starts to fear he will never come.

After stealing a yacht, what sentence does Rory receive?

300 hours of community service: her grandfather hires a respected lawyer to win a light sentence, but the judge hands down the full 300 hours, which Rory works off on a road crew.

Rory's first boyfriend moved to Stars Hollow from which city?

Chicago: newly arrived from the city, he tells Rory he noticed her because of how intently she reads, days before she leaves for a new school.

Besides the market, what other business does Taylor open in Stars Hollow?

A soda shoppe: Taylor's Olde Fashioned Soda Shoppe opens next door to the diner in premises he rents from Luke, who owns the building and fights him over it from the start.

What is the name of Lane Kim's band?

Hep Alien starts out playing covers and rehearses in Lorelai's cleared-out garage, far enough from Lane's home that her mother won't hear the noise.

Which actor plays grouchy diner owner Luke Danes on Gilmore Girls?

Scott Patterson plays Luke Danes in all seven seasons and returns for the 2016 revival, where Luke and Lorelai finally marry by slipping off to do it the night before their planned wedding.

Which concierge works with Lorelai at the Independence Inn and later the Dragonfly Inn?

Michel Gerard, the inns' sardonic French concierge, has little patience for guests, yet Lorelai's mother wins him over on a tour of Stars Hollow by chatting to him in fluent French.

What is the full name of the vegetable farmer who marries the Dragonfly Inn's chef?

Jackson Belleville grows the produce for the inn's kitchen and marries its chef in the season 2 finale; years later he quietly skips the vasectomy she books for him, hence baby number three.

Which singer-songwriter composed the score of Gilmore Girls for its entire run?

Sam Phillips built the score mostly from her own voice and an acoustic guitar; the 'la-la's came about because the show's creator wanted music that sounded like the girls' own thoughts.

When Lane's band stalls in season 5, what does her strict mother surprise them by arranging?

A tour of churches: the mother Lane spent years hiding her rock music from books the band a summer on the road, and they come home buoyed by its success.

Who becomes Kirk's long-term girlfriend in season 4, having once dated his brother?

Lulu, a third-grade teacher, takes Kirk's quirks in her stride; before their first night away together he recruits Luke to stand guard against his night terrors.

Which classmate is Rory's academic rival and eventual close friend through school and college?

Paris Geller was written for Liza Weil after she auditioned to play Rory; the character begins as Rory's fiercest rival and ends up her roommate at Yale.

What disaster strikes the Independence Inn in season 3, scattering its guests across Stars Hollow?

A fire breaks out while the Edgar Allan Poe Society is staying, so Lorelai finds the guests beds at her own house and around town and ends up spending the night at Luke's.

In season 6, Luke and Lorelai debate buying which house instead of fixing up hers?

The Twickham place is the house Luke wants to buy for himself and Lorelai; Kirk puts in a rival offer, and the town elders rule for Luke.

Which troubled teenager arrives in Stars Hollow in season 2 as Luke Danes's nephew?

Jess Mariano arrives sullen and angry with everyone except Rory; years later, in the 2016 revival, he is the one who persuades her to write a book about her own life.

What does Richard Gilmore secretly arrange for Rory during a family visit to Yale in season 3?

An admissions interview: Richard brings the family along to a reunion at his old university and springs it on an unprepared Rory, which leaves Lorelai furious at the ambush.

Lorelai's mother is notorious for doing what to her cooks and maids?

Firing them is such a reflex that a new maid answers the door at almost every visit; in the 2016 revival she finally keeps one, Berta, whose whole family moves in.

Which musician plays the recurring town troubadour of Stars Hollow?

Grant-Lee Phillips, who led the band Grant Lee Buffalo, plays the troubadour; in the season 1 finale a rival moves in on his turf and a town meeting votes him the one official troubadour.

Which singer shares his name with the dog Lorelai adopts in season 6?

Paul Anka is the shaggy, neurotic mutt Lorelai adopts at a Stars Hollow pet fair while she and Rory aren't speaking; the singer himself turns up in a later episode named after him.

Whom does Lane Kim marry in season 6?

Zack, her bandmate, marries Lane twice in one day: a Buddhist ceremony staged for her devout grandmother, then a church wedding, with the reception on the town square.

What business did Luke's father run in the building that became the diner?

A hardware store, William's Hardware, run by Luke's father; Luke turned it into the diner after his father died and kept the old hardware sign outside.

Lane's mother is a devout member of which church?

Seventh-day Adventist: the detail came from life, since the producer whose strict Korean-American upbringing inspired Lane's story was raised in that church.

Which character is Lorelai's on-again, off-again love interest and Rory's biological father?

Christopher Hayden is rarely around while Rory grows up, then elopes with Lorelai in France in season 7, a marriage the two accept is not working before the season ends.

Which season gives the first episode of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life its title?

Winter opens the revival in the months after Richard's death, with Emily deep in grief; the year then runs through Spring and Summer and closes in Fall with Rory's four-word bombshell.

Which real singer-songwriter plays Sophie Bloom, owner of the music shop Lane frequents?

Carole King plays Sophie Bloom, the gruff owner of Sophie's Music, who warms to Lane and lets her practise in the shop after school; King came back as Sophie in the 2016 revival.

Which of Rory's Yale classmates is heir to a newspaper-publishing family?

Logan Huntzberger's father Mitchum takes Rory on as an intern, then tells her she hasn't the makings of a reporter, the blow that sends her off to steal a yacht and leave Yale.

At which Stars Hollow event does Kirk go overboard preparing to play Jesus?

The Festival of Living Art has townspeople hold still as famous paintings: Kirk plays Jesus in The Last Supper, Lorelai gets stage fright, and the episode's makeup won the show's only Emmy.

Which instrument does Drella, the Independence Inn's rude house musician in season 1, play?

The harp: skilled but rude, Drella refuses guests' requests on principle and runs over the concierge's foot with her instrument, and she is gone after four episodes.

Who plays bass in Lane Kim's band?

Brian Fuller, the band's bassist, is the unwitting trigger for its season 6 break-up: a jealous bandmate decides Brian and Lane are flirting and wrecks their big showcase.

Lorelai Victoria Gilmore was named after whom?

Her paternal grandmother, known as Trix, was the first Lorelai; when Trix visits in season 1 and offers Rory a trust fund, Lorelai's mother fights it for fear of losing her daughter again.

Which subject does Richard Gilmore lecture on at Yale in season 7, with Rory in his class?

Economics: Richard takes up lecturing at his old university in season 7, and Rory is sitting in his class when he doubles over in pain and is rushed to hospital.

Who is Stars Hollow's blunt, wisecracking mechanic?

Gypsy is usually among the first to protest Taylor's schemes yet still pitches in at town events; in the 2016 revival the same actress also plays Berta, the maid at the Gilmore mansion.

What are the twin sons Lane gives birth to in season 7 named?

Steve and Kwan arrive late in season 7; Lane had dreaded telling her mother about twins, but her mother calls them a blessing, and Luke is asked to be the boys' godfather.

Which Connecticut city, half an hour from Stars Hollow, is home to Lorelai's parents?

Hartford, the state capital about thirty minutes away, is nicknamed the Insurance Capital of the World, a fitting home for a family whose patriarch made his career in insurance.

Which actress plays the Independence Inn's accident-prone chef on Gilmore Girls?

Melissa McCarthy played the chef for all seven seasons, years before Bridesmaids made her a film star; in the 2016 revival she turns up only in the last chapter, to bake a wedding cake.

Rory's grandmother serves as president of the local chapter of which organization?

The DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, later gives Rory an office job during her break from Yale; in the 2016 revival her grandmother walks out on it for good.

Who replaces guitarist Dave Rygalski in Lane's band after Dave moves to California?

Gil is a married sandwich-shop owner a good deal older than his bandmates; they nearly turn him down for being too old, until Lane overrules them.

What is the name of the concierge's dog whose death Lorelai marks with a memorial in season 7?

Chin Chin is one of the concierge's two chow chows, with Paw-Paw; Lorelai throws herself into planning the funeral to avoid facing her own failing marriage.

Which honour does Rory earn when she graduates from prep school in season 3?

Valedictorian: her fiercest classroom rival accepts being passed over, and Rory uses the speech to pay tribute to her grandparents and above all to her mother.

Netflix released Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life the day after which American holiday in 2016?

Thanksgiving fell on November 24 in 2016 and all four chapters arrived the next day; four years later The CW also picked Thanksgiving week to put the revival on broadcast television.

What is the name of the inn owner who initially mentors Lorelai when she arrives in Stars Hollow?

Mia owns the Independence Inn and gave teenage Lorelai a job; when Lorelai guiltily admits in season 2 that she wants an inn of her own, Mia cheers her on and decides to sell.

Which actor plays Lorelai's father on Gilmore Girls?

Edward Herrmann died on the last day of 2014, so A Year in the Life wrote his character's death into the story and built Emily's and Lorelai's arcs around their grief.

Rory gets her first kiss in an aisle of which local business on Gilmore Girls?

Doose's Market: all Rory can say afterwards is 'thank you' before she bolts from the store, accidentally shoplifting a box of cornstarch.

The Gilmore Girls pilot was shot in a suburb of which Canadian city before production moved to Burbank?

Toronto: the pilot was shot in suburban Unionville, Ontario; the series then moved to a Burbank backlot, where crews dressed the town square with fake leaves and fake snow to pass for New England.

At which real Connecticut inn was the creator of Gilmore Girls staying when she dreamed up Stars Hollow?

The Mayflower Inn in Washington Depot, where the show's creator stayed just after selling her mother-daughter pitch; taken with the small-town feel, she built Stars Hollow on it.

The Gilmore Girls theme is a duet between its songwriter and which relative?

Her daughter, Louise Goffin, sings it with her; the lyricist reworked lines of the 1971 song so that it would fit a show about a mother and her child.

Why did the Palladinos leave Gilmore Girls before its seventh and final season?

A contract dispute: the Palladinos could not agree new terms in 2006, so writer David S. Rosenthal ran season 7, and the ending they had planned from the start waited for the 2016 revival.

Which animated series did Daniel Palladino quit as a producer to work full-time on Gilmore Girls?

Daniel Palladino left Family Guy, where he had written and produced, to join his wife's show; he became an executive producer and wrote many Gilmore Girls episodes.

The actors who play Emily and Richard on Gilmore Girls each won which award in 1976?

A Tony Award: at the 1976 ceremony he won for Mrs. Warren's Profession and she for A Chorus Line, in a role drawn from her own life; 24 years later the two were cast as husband and wife.

Which brand-new WB series did Gilmore Girls lead into on Tuesday nights from its second season?

Smallville: when Buffy left for UPN in 2001, The WB moved Gilmore Girls from Thursdays into Buffy's old Tuesday slot, where it led into the new Superman series.

Which industry group's script fund helped pay for the Gilmore Girls pilot?

The Family Friendly Programming Forum was a coalition of big advertisers who wanted more family-friendly shows on television, so they paid for scripts themselves; Gilmore Girls was among the first to reach the air.

What does Luke stay up all night sewing for Rory's farewell party in the Gilmore Girls finale?

A makeshift tent: with rain forecast, Luke secretly rallies the town and stitches together cover for the party, and when Lorelai learns it was his doing, they kiss.

Which actor's exit for The O.C. led Gilmore Girls to write Dave Rygalski out of Lane's life?

Adam Brody played Lane's bandmate Dave, who once read the whole Bible in a night to win her mother's permission for prom; when Brody left for The O.C., Dave was sent off to college.

Which actor played Jason Stiles, Lorelai's season-4 boyfriend and Richard's business partner, on Gilmore Girls?

Chris Eigeman played Jason 'Digger' Stiles, who dates Lorelai in secret until Richard cuts him out of their firm; Jason sues, and Lorelai ends it.

Which Happy Days star played Richard's formidable mother, known as Trix, on Gilmore Girls?

Marion Ross, Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days, played the imperious Trix, then came back to the show in a second role as the family's cousin Marilyn.

Which hair-metal frontman joined Gilmore Girls in season 4 as the much older new guitarist in Lane's band?

Sebastian Bach, who fronted Skid Row in its late-1980s prime, plays the band's new guitarist; soon after he joins, they land a late-night gig at New York's CBGB.

Which future Jessica Jones star played Rory's Yale friend Lucy in season 7 of Gilmore Girls?

Krysten Ritter played Lucy, whose boyfriend turns out to be Rory's old friend Marty, pretending they have never met; Lucy is hurt when the secret comes out.

Which Twin Peaks actress played Anna Nardini, mother of Luke's daughter April?

Sherilyn Fenn, Audrey Horne on Twin Peaks, played Anna Nardini from season 6; she had earlier played Sasha in season 3's backdoor pilot for a Jess spin-off.

Max Medina proposes to Lorelai by having a thousand of which flowers delivered to the inn?

Yellow daisies: mid-argument, Lorelai says a real proposal should come with a thousand yellow daisies, and the next day Max has exactly that delivered to the Independence Inn.

What is the famous tagline of Gilmore Girls?

'Life's short. Talk fast' was the show's tagline, a nod to scripts that ran far longer than a typical hour drama because the dialogue was so rapid.

Which Gilmore Girls writer went on to create Orange Is the New Black?

Jenji Kohan wrote one first-season episode of Gilmore Girls; she later called the privileged heroine of Orange Is the New Black her 'Trojan horse', a way in to stories about women TV rarely showed.

Why did executives want an Oscar Levant joke cut from an early Gilmore Girls script?

They had never heard of him: executives said nobody knew the pianist, an actor in An American in Paris, but the show's creator refused to cut the line, one of her biggest fights of season 1.

What was Sherman-Palladino's storytelling motto, learned while writing for Roseanne?

'Make the small big, make the big small', a lesson from Roseanne: key incidents often happen off-screen and are revealed through conversation, while tiny moments get whole scenes.

Which Beverly Hills estate stood in for the exterior of Chilton?

Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills doubled for Chilton's exterior; Rory's Harvard visit was shot at UCLA and her first Yale visit at Pomona College.

Which All in the Family star plays Babette, Lorelai's cat-loving next-door neighbor on Gilmore Girls?

Sally Struthers, Gloria on All in the Family, plays Babette; when Rory minds Babette's new kitten for an evening in season 1, she uses the empty house to serve her boyfriend a 1950s-style dinner in costume.

How does twelve-year-old April Nardini work out that Luke is her father on Gilmore Girls?

A science-fair DNA test: for her project April tests three men who might be her father, and the result names Luke, who then hides her from Lorelai for two months.

Composer Sam Phillips performed part of which song in the season six finale 'Partings'?

Sam Phillips appeared in 'Partings' as one of the troubadours crowding Stars Hollow, singing part of her song 'Taking Pictures'; her 'la-la' cues were meant to sound like the girls' thoughts.

What is the name of Babette's cat, whose wake most of Stars Hollow attends in season 1?

Cinnamon dies in season 1, and Lorelai and Rory help throw the wake at the neighbors' house, which upends Lorelai's date that night with one of Rory's teachers.

Before Gilmore Girls was cancelled in 2007, what was the network considering instead?

A shortened final season of 13 episodes was on the table, but it never happened: the show's two stars felt tired and thought the story had reached its natural end.

At which event did the Gilmore Girls cast reunite in June 2015, building momentum for a revival?

ATX Television Festival, in Austin: on stage the show's creator told fans nothing was in the works, but the response to the reunion helped get everyone on board for new episodes.

How does Rory answer the surprise marriage proposal at her Yale graduation party on Gilmore Girls?

She turns him down: too shocked to answer at the party, Rory gives her no on graduation day, unwilling to put the marriage ahead of her career, and the two part.

Where does Rory first live after announcing she is dropping out of Yale on Gilmore Girls?

Her grandparents' pool house: Lorelai refuses to let Rory come home, so Richard and Emily take her in, and mother and daughter become estranged.

Which cable network first syndicated Gilmore Girls in the US in 2004?

ABC Family picked up Gilmore Girls reruns in 2004 and aired them for more than a decade; the show later turned up on Up TV among others.

In A Year in the Life, what do Emily and Lorelai begin attending together?

Therapy sessions: grieving for Richard, Emily starts seeing a therapist and has Lorelai join her, but it is Emily who soon stops coming, while Lorelai carries on alone.

What does Rory reveal to Lorelai in the final scene of A Year in the Life?

She is pregnant: the reveal comes in the final four words, an ending the show's creator had planned for years; Luke and Lorelai have just married quietly, the night before their planned wedding.

Which Broadway star plays Violet in the Stars Hollow musical in A Year in the Life?

Sutton Foster, star of the creator's earlier series Bunheads, leads the town musical; of the whole preview audience, only Lorelai seems to notice how bad it is.

Which CNN journalist cameos at the Dragonfly Inn in the Gilmore Girls finale, 'Bon Voyage'?

Christiane Amanpour appears as herself, checking into the Dragonfly Inn in 'Bon Voyage' and meeting a starstruck Rory, whose idol she had been since childhood.

Rory leaves Stars Hollow in the 2007 finale of Gilmore Girls to cover whose presidential campaign for an online magazine?

Barack Obama's: Rory lands the reporting job with only three days' notice, which is why the town's farewell party for her has to be thrown together in a hurry.

On which NBC drama did Lauren Graham play Sarah Braverman?

Parenthood: Graham took over the part of single mother Sarah Braverman after Maura Tierney left the show for cancer treatment, then played her for all six seasons.

Alexis Bledel won an Emmy for playing Emily Malek on which series?

The Handmaid's Tale: Bledel's guest turn as Emily, first known as Ofglen, won her the 2017 Emmy for guest actress in a drama, and the part was expanded to a regular role for season 2.

Milo Ventimiglia earned three Emmy nominations for playing Jack Pearson on which show?

This Is Us: his character dies after the faulty switch of an old slow cooker, a hand-me-down from an elderly neighbour, sets the family home ablaze.

Which future Best Actor Oscar winner made his screen debut in a 2004 episode of Gilmore Girls?

Rami Malek had no agent, so when the show's casting director phoned asking for one he answered 'speaking'; she saw through it, laughed and let him audition anyway.

Jared Padalecki left Gilmore Girls for which long-running role in 2005?

Sam Winchester in Supernatural: in season 4 Sam is led astray by a demon named Ruby, and Padalecki went on to marry Genevieve Cortese, the actress who played her.

Liza Weil later played Bonnie Winterbottom on which series?

How to Get Away with Murder: Weil's Bonnie is a law professor's loyal right hand, and the second season opens by revealing that she has killed a young woman to protect her boss.

The actor who plays Kirk on Gilmore Girls plays which character in the Guardians of the Galaxy films?

Kraglin, Yondu's second-in-command; he pulled double duty on the films, also providing the on-set performance capture for Rocket.

Who proposes to whom in the final moments of season 5 of Gilmore Girls?

Lorelai proposes to Luke: upset by a family crisis and moved by his unwavering support for Rory, she asks him on the spot; he accepts, though they put the wedding on hold.

The actor who plays Richard on Gilmore Girls was well known for portraying which US president?

Franklin D. Roosevelt: he played FDR in the TV films Eleanor and Franklin and again in the 1982 musical Annie, where his president talks the tycoon Warbucks into running a relief program.

Before acting, the man who plays Luke on Gilmore Girls spent seven years doing what?

Pitching in minor league baseball: drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 1980, he climbed as high as Triple-A, one step below the majors, before giving up the game for acting.

The actor who plays Luke on Gilmore Girls played Agent Peter Strahm in which horror franchise?

Saw: with his head sealed in a box that is filling with water, his FBI agent survives by performing a tracheotomy on himself with a pen.

The creator of Gilmore Girls gave up which career to write for Roseanne?

Dancing: she had trained in ballet since childhood and had a callback for Cats when the Roseanne job came through; her later series Bunheads went back to that world.

Which podcast, launched the day Gilmore Girls reached Netflix in 2014, went on to cover every episode?

Gilmore Guys paired a longtime fan, Kevin T. Porter, with a first-time viewer, Demi Adejuyigbe, and its guests came to include members of the show's own cast and writing staff.

Which lyricist co-wrote 'Where You Lead' with Carole King in 1970?

Toni Stern wrote the lyric to 'Where You Lead' for Carole King's Tapestry; Barbra Streisand took the song into the US Top 40 in 1971.

Which actress plays Lane Kim, Rory's best friend, on Gilmore Girls?

Keiko Agena was born in 1973, so she was 27 when the show began and playing a high-school student more than a decade younger than herself.

Where does Rory's fiercely driven Yale roommate choose to continue her studies in the final season of Gilmore Girls?

Harvard Medical School: accepted by a string of law and medical schools, she agonizes over the choice, then sets off with her boyfriend in the next-to-last episode.

What position is Rory unexpectedly elected to after returning from her break from college on Gilmore Girls?

Editor of the Yale Daily News: soon after Rory returns in season 6, the staff vote out an editor whose bullying has alienated the newsroom and choose Rory to replace her.

Who is Rory's easily forgotten boyfriend throughout A Year in the Life?

Paul: Rory keeps forgetting he exists and keeps meaning to end it, all while carrying on an affair with an engaged ex-boyfriend; her family cannot remember meeting him either.

Which Doctor Who and ER actress plays Naomi Shropshire, the eccentric author Rory ghost-writes for in A Year in the Life?

Alex Kingston, River Song to Whovians and Dr. Corday on ER. The book deal collapses, Rory gets fired, and she decides to write about her mother instead.

A ballad in Stars Hollow: The Musical inspires Lorelai to set off on which long-distance hike?

The Pacific Crest Trail, in the spirit of Cheryl Strayed's Wild; Lorelai sets out after a fight with Rory over the book idea but never actually starts the hike.

Alexis Bledel, who plays Rory, was born in which Texas city?

Houston: a shy child, Bledel was pushed into community theatre there by her mother to draw her out, and a talent scout later spotted her at a local mall.

Lauren Graham was born in 1967 in which city?

Honolulu: Graham was born there in 1967, but her parents divorced when she was five and she grew up with her father on the mainland, far from Hawaii.

What is the title of Lauren Graham's 2013 debut novel?

Someday, Someday, Maybe is a comic novel drawn from Graham's own years as a struggling actress in 1990s New York; the other three titles are her later nonfiction books.

Alexis Bledel, who plays Rory, grew up speaking which language at home?

Spanish: it was the language of her childhood home, and Bledel did not learn English until she started school.

Where in Stars Hollow are Luke and Lorelai quietly married in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life?

The gazebo wedding takes place just hours before the big town-wide celebration they had planned, with Stars Hollow's own Reverend Skinner officiating.

Taylor Doose presides over Stars Hollow's town meetings on Gilmore Girls inside which kind of business?

A dance studio doubles as the meeting hall, lent by the teacher who is second only to Taylor as the most influential citizen in town.

At which annual Stars Hollow contest, won yet again by Kirk, does Dean publicly break up with Rory Gilmore?

The dance marathon had gone to Kirk four times already, and Lorelai wanted his trophy badly enough to talk Rory into being her partner.

For the Spring Fling in season 7 of Gilmore Girls, Taylor Doose fills the Stars Hollow square with a maze of what?

Hay bales cost Taylor the whole festival budget and angered the town, but inside the maze Luke and Lorelai finally apologise for how their engagement ended.

Jess outbids Dean at a Stars Hollow charity auction on Gilmore Girls to win which item prepared by Rory?

A picnic basket comes with lunch beside its maker, so tradition obliges Rory to spend the afternoon with Jess, which starts a quarrel with her boyfriend.

Which annual Stars Hollow celebration on Gilmore Girls marks the legend of two lovers led to each other by stars?

The Firelight Festival marks the town's founding, though Luke scoffs that the two lovers never existed and the story was made up to look good on a poster.

Which Stars Hollow restaurant, never shown on Gilmore Girls, is where Lorelai and Rory mostly order Chinese food?

Al's Pancake World dropped pancakes for international cuisine a couple of years before the series begins, and kept the name only because its owner had already printed a million napkins.

Stars Hollow's cinema, where Lorelai Gilmore and Max Medina have their first date, is really which kind of shop?

A bookstore called the Black & White & Read turns into the town cinema in the evenings; Luke and Lorelai later double-date there at a showing of Pippi Longstocking.

In season 4 of Gilmore Girls, Kirk angers Taylor by failing to map where in the town square he hid what?

Easter eggs went astray because Kirk never drew a map of his hiding places, and it took Luke to come to the rescue of the town hunt.

In season 4 of Gilmore Girls, Luke and Lorelai team up to break which newly repaired Stars Hollow nuisance?

The church bells drive the whole town crazy once they are mended, in the same episode in which Lane sneaks out to play a 2 a.m. gig at CBGB.

On Gilmore Girls, Stars Hollow's single house of worship doubles as a Protestant church and as what else?

A synagogue shares the building, so Reverend Skinner and Rabbi Barans work side by side; the two are close friends with little patience for Taylor.

Luke Danes's sister marries T.J. in the Stars Hollow town square at a wedding with which historical theme?

Renaissance costume suits a bride who sells her jewellery at Renaissance fairs, though the groom discovers the main drawback of tights during the ceremony.

In season 2 of Gilmore Girls, what keeps the paying guests away so Stars Hollow can eat Sookie's Bracebridge Dinner?

A blizzard stranded the group that had ordered the historical feast, so Lorelai invited her friends instead, and at Rory's urging her own parents too.

Which Stars Hollow business on Gilmore Girls hides most of its stock behind a curtain after a complaint from Rory?

The video store moved almost everything behind a curtain and hung Rory's picture in the window, all because she asked for one racy cover to go on a higher shelf.

Whose death in season 3 of Gilmore Girls finally lets Lorelai and Sookie buy the run-down Dragonfly Inn?

Fran Weston, who also owned the town bakery, refused to sell the building while she lived; the friends kept the inn's name in her honour.

Stars Hollow's town troubadour leaves in the season 6 finale of Gilmore Girls to open for which rock star?

Neil Young's gig took him away, and word of the vacancy brought a stampede of would-be replacements to the square, several of them famous real-life bands.

In season 5 of Gilmore Girls, a late resident's will briefly turns his old Stars Hollow house into what?

A town museum with a diorama of local history drew so few visitors that Taylor shut it and sold the house, to the delight of Luke, who wanted to buy it.

Stars Hollow raises money to rebuild a bridge in season 7 of Gilmore Girls with a fundraiser devoted to which craft?

Knitting was meant to pay for the Muddy River Bridge, until a large donation from Lorelai's new husband brought the whole event to an early end.

When Taylor Doose revives Stars Hollow's original street names in season 6, which address does the Dragonfly Inn get?

Sores and Boils Alley was where the sick of the 18th century came to have their sores lanced, so Lorelai, who had found the plan charming, fights it.

Babette Dell holds a wake in season 1 of Gilmore Girls for Cinnamon, who was her beloved what?

Cat though she was, Cinnamon was treated as the couple's child, and after the wake they adopt a new kitten named Apricot.

The fussy concierge at Lorelai Gilmore's inn is devoted to the music of which chart-topping singer?

Celine Dion is one of his few passions, along with Destiny's Child and a diet that allows him exactly twelve blueberries at breakfast.

What does Luke Danes build by hand as a gift for Lorelai Gilmore's planned wedding to Max Medina?

A chuppah, the canopy a Jewish couple stand under at their wedding, was his present, and the sight of it later reduces Lorelai to tears.

Where does Lorelai Gilmore's widowed mother start a new life after selling the family mansion in A Year in the Life?

Nantucket suits her so well that she takes a job at a museum there, while keeping the memory of her late husband close.

Which relative of Lane Kim is mentioned throughout Gilmore Girls but only appears in A Year in the Life?

Her father is talked about from the very start of the series, yet he stays out of sight for all seven seasons while her mother runs the household.

The classmate played by Chad Michael Murray leaves Gilmore Girls in season 2 after his pranks get him sent where?

Military school in North Carolina is his punishment, and his sudden exit forces Paris to step in as Romeo on the night of the class play.

Rory, Paris and Lane get tipsy together in season 5 of Gilmore Girls on which speciality of Miss Patty?

Her punch loosens the three friends so much, as they sulk over their love lives, that they end up trying to contact the boyfriends in question.

Which future Parks and Recreation star appears on Gilmore Girls as Beau, the brother of Sookie's farmer husband?

Nick Offerman turns up twice as Beau, in 2003 and 2005, years before he became the deadpan Ron Swanson.

Which actress, once a nightclub comedian alongside her friend Bette Midler, plays Miss Patty on Gilmore Girls?

Liz Torres shares a showbiz past with her character: she earned two Emmy nominations for The John Larroquette Show before moving to Stars Hollow.

According to her friend Babette, how does Miss Patty hear the Stars Hollow gossip before anyone else on Gilmore Girls?

Her phone picks up calls made by other people, so Miss Patty sometimes hears the news first and her neighbour has to settle for second.

Dean tells Rory Gilmore in the pilot that he first noticed her because she was lost in which French novel?

Madame Bovary, Flaubert's debut, is a tale of infidelity, a theme that comes back to haunt Rory and Dean's own relationship in later seasons.

The production company behind Gilmore Girls is named after which wit, whose collected works Rory takes to a dance?

Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions shows its logo after every episode, and Rory admires her so much that the Portable edition goes along even on a date.

Rory Gilmore teases Jess for pocketing her book by calling him the Artful Dodger, a character from which Dickens novel?

Oliver Twist casts the Dodger as a cunning young pickpocket, and the nickname doubles as a little test of his reading, which Jess passes to her delight.

Rory Gilmore earns the first D of her life at prep school, then oversleeps and misses a big test on which writer?

William Shakespeare kept Rory and Lorelai up all hours revising, and missing the exam triggers a meltdown in which she tells off two of her classmates.

Which Tolstoy novel, one of her favourites, does Rory Gilmore lend Dean, who finds it long, confusing and depressing?

Anna Karenina runs to about a thousand pages, yet Dean agrees to try it a second time after Rory insists that Tolstoy wrote for the common man.

Jess secretly takes which book of Beat poetry from Rory Gilmore's shelf and returns it with notes in the margins?

Howl was no new discovery for a boy who claimed he did not read much: he says he has been through Ginsberg's collection about forty times.

Rory Gilmore urges Jess to read which American novel, which defeated her at ten but won her over at fifteen?

The Fountainhead takes Jess aback, since he thinks of it as a book for political cranks, but Rory says she simply enjoys it as a piece of literature.

What is the title of the short novel Jess hands Rory Gilmore in season 6, published by a small Philadelphia press?

The Subsect ran to only 500 copies, but its author's visit jolts Rory: he tells her that dropping out of college is quite unlike her.

Fans taking the Rory Gilmore reading challenge aim to read every book referenced on the show, widely put at how many?

339 books is the usual count, a shelf that runs from Russian doorstoppers to Beat poetry, though some published versions of the list are longer still.

Rory Gilmore bonds with her grandfather over which American journalist, whose rare anthology he tracks down for her?

H. L. Mencken chose the pieces for his own Chrestomathy; her grandfather's phone call about it makes Lorelai jealous, as he had never once rung her at work.

The morning after her first date with the diner's owner, Lorelai Gilmore fetches coffee downstairs wearing only what?

Luke's shirt drew surprisingly little gossip from the breakfast crowd until the next town meeting, where Taylor used charts to show what a breakup would do to Stars Hollow.

In the dream that opens season 3 of Gilmore Girls, Luke pushes decaf on a pregnant Lorelai, who is expecting what?

Twins by Luke are the punchline, and Rory's reading of the dream is blunt: her mother is lonely for his company and wants to have his babies.

Luke Danes pours coffee all day at his diner on Gilmore Girls, but how does he take it himself?

He doesn't drink it, as he says outright in season 4, and when he is offered a hot drink in season 1 he asks for peppermint tea.

On their first date, Luke reminds Lorelai Gilmore that they met when she did what at his diner?

Pestered him for coffee is the story: frantic for a cup during a busy spell, she would not leave him alone until he gave in and poured one.

What news in season 2 of Gilmore Girls makes Luke Danes give his whole diner free coffee?

Lorelai's wedding is off, Sookie tells him, and his joy pays for the round, though to the bride's face he only commiserates.

Which Twilight actor plays Alex, the would-be coffee-shop tycoon who takes Lorelai Gilmore fishing in season 3?

Billy Burke, later Bella's father Charlie Swan, plays a man planning a chain of coffee shops, and their first date is spent tasting different coffees.

For the 16th anniversary of Gilmore Girls, 200 coffee houses became pop-up copies of its diner in the US and where else?

Canada took part alongside the United States in the 2016 stunt, the same year an annual fan festival for the series began in Connecticut.

Lorelai and Rory Gilmore find the diner's coffee tastes different in season 1 once which girlfriend of Luke brews it?

Rachel, his globe-trotting photographer ex, uses the same beans in the same machine, which suggests that what the pair really love is Luke himself.

Sookie fills Lorelai Gilmore's mocha graduation cake with which caffeinated candy, said to be one of her favourites?

Chocolate-covered espresso beans, two pounds of them crushed, fill a mocha cake topped with a mortarboard for her college graduation.

When Luke Danes shuts up shop to go fishing, Lorelai and Rory endure tiny cups of undrinkable coffee at which rival?

The Hungry Diner makes customers queue and prints pictures on its menus, yet it turns out to be the regular breakfast spot of the inn's fussy concierge.

Taylor Doose takes it badly in season 4 of Gilmore Girls when Rory turns down which honorary Stars Hollow title?

Ice Cream Queen was the honour she declined on returning from Europe, shortly before discovering she had two days, not a week, to get ready for college.