DVD Review - Gilmore Girls - The Complete First Season

While flipping through channels a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Gilmore Girls. I recall when the series was first aired in 2000 and for some reason I never got around to watching an episode. What caught my eye was that Lauren Graham was constantly carrying around a cup of coffee, which so do I. After twenty minutes of viewing and listening to the snappy dialogue, I was now a fan. A few days later I went to a Target store in the city and found seasons one and two bundled together for twenty dollars.

Gilmore Girls is set in the small, wacky town of Stars Hollows, where single mother Lorelai (played by Lauren Graham), manager of the Independence Inn, is raising her sixteen-year-old daughter Rory (played Alexis Bledel). When her daughter is accepted into the Chilton Preparatory School, Lorelai asks her rich estranged parents for financial help due to the school’s expensive tuition. Of course things are not so simple as her parents want them to have Friday night dinners with them and be an active involvement in their lives.


The Complete First Season consists of all 21 episodes on 6 DVDS.

Disc 1

1. Pilot
2. The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton
3. Kill Me Now
4. The Deer-Hunters

Disc 2

1. Cinnamon’s Wake
2. Rory’s Birthday Parties
3. Kiss and Tell
4. Love & War & Snow

Disc 3

1. Rory’s Dance
2. Forgiveness and Stuff
3. Paris is Burning
4. Double Date

Disc 4

1. Concert Interruptus
2. That Damn Dona Reed
3. Christopher Returns
4. Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers

Disc 5

1. The Breakup, Part II
2. The Third Lorelai
3. Emily in Wonderland
4. P.S. I Lo…

Disc 6

1. Love, Daises & Troubadours

Special feature are First-Season-Making-of-Documentary Welcome to Gilmore Girls, Gilmore Goodies and Gossip - Rory’s Dance on-screen factoids, Gilmore-isms as coined by the show’s creator, and additional scenes.

Besides from Lorelai and Rory’s addiction to coffee, I like their quirky personalities. Lorelai is a fun and carefree mother, while Rory is a Harvard bound book nerd. The dialogue between the two is smart, snappy, and more real than other scripted shows. There are other colorful characters on the show as well, such as Luke Danes who owns the local diner; Lane Kim, Rory’s best friend (When the series started the actress was 27 playing a 16 year-old.); and Sookie St. James, Lorelai’s best friend and head chef at the Independence Inn (played by Melissa McCarthy).

In just over a week, I watched the entire first season, but I did skip over a few that I had already seen. Even though the show is almost twelve years old, I find it to be a bit of fresh air compared to other horribly scripted shows on network television today.