During the age of “bingeing,” people have been drawn to watching shows that encapsulated a picture perfect reality that allows themselves to detach from the problems they face. Almost twenty years after its premiere, “Gilmore Girls” has risen in popularity with more than 703 million people streaming the show. The feel-good show introduces people to a perfect small town world filled with quirky and engaging side characters. 

Unfortunately, the show is far from perfect.

The single-mother and daughter friendship that is formed between Lorelai and Rory Gilmore seemingly shapes their characters to be compassionate and relatable. However, these characters are impossible to sympathize with as they are constantly tearing people down in order for themselves to succeed.  

Throughout the series, Rory and Lorelai often complain about their financial problems and the difficulties they face in the working class. However, Lorelai seems to conveniently ignore this fact whenever she finds herself in financial trouble as she runs home for help from her wealthy parents. Lorelai ran away from home as a teenager after trying to escape the burdens she felt living under a roof of wealth. Now in her adult years, she is rushing back to the financial blanket her parents provide. After deeming her daughter too smart to attend public school, she enrolls Rory into a fancy, snobby preparatory school named Chilton, which of course is paid for by her parents. However when she is not using her parents money, she spends her time calling her parents cruel names and vowing she will never turn out to be as elitist as they are. 

Rory’s competition throughout the series is with classmate Paris Geller. Paris, like Rory, has big academic dreams but unlike Rory she has actually built an Ivy League resumé. Rory gets into all the colleges of her choosing while somehow Paris gets rejected from her dream school. Rory, throughout her college search, is nothing but obnoxious and egotistical. Paris is painted out to be the villain throughout much of the series, when in reality she is only put in that position as her work ethic and smarts makes Rory look inferior. And of course, the viewers are supposed to root for Rory since she came from a “tougher” life than Paris, invalidating and dehumanizing Paris’ teenage struggles. Like mother, like daughter, Rory never feels any sympathy for any of Paris’ hardships. 

Without the two main characters, the show has the potential to be a cute small town comedy. However, the annoying and vain main characters take away from the enjoyment of the show as their exaggerated problems are hard to bear. The only relatable thing about the show is how self-centered people can be.