History Trivia / GilmoreGirls

* StarMakingRole: The show was the first step in launching the careers of Creator/AlexisBledel, Creator/LaurenGraham, Creator/ScottPatterson, Creator/MiloVentimiglia, Creator/JaredPadalecki (who is actually more associated with ''Series/Supernatural'' nowadays), Creator/MattCzuchry and Creator/MelissaMcCarthy.

* StarMakingRole: The show was the first step in launching the careers of Creator/AlexisBledel, Creator/LaurenGraham, Creator/ScottPatterson, Creator/MiloVentimiglia, Creator/JaredPadalecki (who is actually more associated with ''Series/Supernatural'' nowadays), Creator/MattCzruchry and Creator/MelissaMcCarthy.

* StarMakingRole: The show was the first step in launching the careers of Creator/MiloVentimiglia, Creator/JaredPadalecki, Creator/MelissaMcCarthy, and Creator/DannyStrong.

** Sookie was played by Creator/AlexBorstein in the unaired pilot, but she couldn't dedicate her time to the series proper because of her commitments to ''Series/{{MADtv}}''. And if she had taken the part, since Jackson was played by her real-life then-husband, it would have been a case of RealLifeRelative as well.

** Creator/AlexBorstein originally portrayed Drella, the harpist at the Independence Inn in season 1. A few seasons later, she played Miss Celine, Emily's fashion consultant in a few episodes. Alex Borstein was originally going to be Sookie, but couldn't because of contract obligations to ''Series/{{MADtv}}''. A short clip can be found in the special features of the season 1 DVD.

** There were two different Canadian actors that played Dean before Jared Padalecki was cast. One of them can be seen in the unaired pilot.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: Ever since the family-oriented [=UpTV=] network acquired the syndication rights in 2015; ''Gilmore Girls'' has been one of the most frequently aired shows on the channel, with several time slots during the day and periodic marathon airings, including a marathon of the entire series as a lead-up for the 2016 Creator/{{Netflix}} SequelSeries.

** Jess ''almost'' got his own spin-off show, with the season 3 episode "Here Comes the Son" serving as its BackdoorPilot. However, it turned out that filming at Venice Beach where it would have been located would have been too expensive, and so it was cancelled.

** Cesar, one of the servers at Luke's Diner was played by a thin, tall Latino actor in the first two seasons, but was only really ever in the background and never had any lines. In the later seasons, Cesar was played by Creator/ArisAlvarado, who was chubby and didn't really look anything like the first, but he became one of the town's quirky characters and had the rare scene every once in a while. Viewers could be forgiven for not noticing the change.

* WrittenInAbsence: The show couldn't get Madchen Amick to reprise her character in later years, so the 'Sherry running away to Paris' plot was created to conveniently allow her to be absent without writing out the character.

* TheDanza:
** Emily Gilmore is played by Emily Bishop.
** Jackson Belleville is played by Jackson Douglas.

** Alex Borstein got to show off both her harp-playing skills as Drella and her skill at playing silly characters as Miss Celine.

* DawsonCasting: At the time of filming the pilot, Alexis Bledel (19), Keiko Agena (27), Liza Weil (23), Shelly Cole (25), and Jared Padalecki (18) were all extremely convincing as sophomores in high school. Milo Ventimiglia was 24 when he joined the show as 17-year-old Jess.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Milo Ventimiglia (Jess) and Alexis Bledel (Rory). They met when he was cast as Jess and remained together until separating in 2006. It lends quite a bit of RealitySubtext to Rory and Jess' final scenes together.

* TheOtherDarrin:
** Mia, the owner of the Independence Inn and Lorelai and Rory's surrogate mother/grandmother was played by a different actress in season 7.
** Cesar, one of the servers at Luke's Diner was played by a thin, tall Latino actor in the first two seasons, but was only really ever in the background and never had any lines. In the later seasons, Cesar was played by Creator/ArisAlvarado, who was chubby and didn't really look anything like the first, but he became one of the town's quirky characters and had the rare scene every once in a while. Viewers could be forgiven for not noticing the change.

** Sookie was played by Alex Borstein in the unaired pilot, but she couldn't dedicate her time to the series proper because of her commitments to ''Series/{{MADtv}}''. And if she had taken the part, since Jackson was played by her real-life then-husband, it would have been a case of RealLifeRelative as well.

** Sookie was originally going to be a lesbian, but at the time the network executives didn't like the idea.

** Sherilyn Fenn played Jess' stepmother in the PoorlyDisguisedPilot, and later played Anna Nardini, the mother of Luke's lovechild.

** Alex Borstein originally portrayed Drella, the harpist at the Independence Inn in season 1. A few seasons later, she played Miss Celine, Emily's fashion consultant in a few episodes. Alex Borstein was originally going to be Sookie, but couldn't because of contract obligations to ''Series/{{MADtv}}''. A short clip can be found in the special features of the season 1 DVD.

** Jess ''almost'' got his own spin-off show, to which the season 3 episode "Here comes the son" would have been the pilot to. However, it turned out that filming at Venice Beach where it would have been located would have been too expensive, and so it was cancelled.