Fifteen years ago, Gilmore Girl introduced viewers to the quaint and charming world of Stars Hallow. It was a town where Loreali Gilmore could go from maid to inn-owner and where her daughter Rory could go right from Yale graduate to a reporter covering Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. Sure, all of that could happen with hard work and determination, but there's are some things Gilmore Girls got wrong. Stars Hallow seemed so perfect and it didn't exactly reflect the real world — and isn't that why we loved it so much? Because reality isn't as much fun as TV.
I personally love the fact that former teen mom Lorelai persevered without the help of her wealthy parents Richard and Emily, working as a maid at the Independence Inn and living in the potting shed with daughter Rory. But I have noticed the show take a few leaps of fantasy that I wish real life could make — for instance, can we all be able to eat as much junk food as Rory and Lorelai, while never gaining weight? I guess Stars Hallow is that kind of magical place — and that makes me love Gilmore Girls even more.
So here's what I noticed that Gilmore Girls has gotten wrong.
1. You Can't Just Run Away To Paris & Get Married
In Season 7, Lorelai and high-school sweetheart Christopher Hayden (who is also Rory's dad) impulsively get married in Paris. Here's the problem: Getting married abroad is tough and involves a lot of red tape for the nuptials to be 100 percent legal. Darn! According to FindLaw, France requires the following for a marriage: residency of 40 days, Valid U.S. passport, French residence permit, birth certificate, affidavit of marital states, affidavit of law, and medical certificate.
So much for a spontaneous wedding.
2. Rory Took A Semester Off From Yale, So Would She Have Graduated On Time?
Rory quits Yale in Season 6 when she has a crisis of confidence and stops speaking to Lorelai. Of course, Rory eventually returned to college, but yet she still graduated on time. She does mentioned that she's taking more courses to catch up, but a whole semesters' worth? That requires suspension of belief.
3. Rory's Dorm Room Is Huge
Yup, the usual nitpick about dorm rooms on TV: They. Are. HUGE! Most of the dorms I've been in have been tiny rooms crammed with beds — even in graduate school. But Rory's version of Yale has a very nice and large freshman dorm room. How lucky.
4. Rory Gets Accept To Chilton In The Middle Of A Semester?
Gilmore Girls kicks off with Rory getting accepted to Chilton Prep — right smack in the middle of her sophomore year. Did they need to fill out the student body so badly that they needed to pluck Rory out of Stars Hollow High School in the middle of her (non-rigorous) studies? It just seems like it would be easier to accept new students at the beginning of a new semester, but hey, I don't run a school.
5. Paris Didn't Have To Choose Between Law & Medicine — She Can Do Both
Paris Geller (played by Liz Weil) is so driven and ambitious that by the end of the series, she gets into several top medical and law schools and is torn about which path to follow. She eventually decides to go to medical school, but really, she could've just applied to a bunch of J.D./M.D. programs where she could bang out both degrees and folloe both of her dreams. Plenty of top schools have joint-degree programs, like Duke University, the University of Chicago, her alma mater Yale, University of Pennsylvania, and Vanderbilt, to name a few.
Plus, we all know she ends up getting a new haircut and working for Annaliese Keating on How To Get Away With Murder — well in any case, Weil does.
Images: Warner Bros. Television (4); Giphy (2)
