While Gilmore Girls is a beloved show from the 2000s, there's no denying a lot of things in the series have aged poorly. Like most of the shows from this time, Gilmore Girls includes problematic jokes, lacks adequate representation, and idealizes toxic relationships.
This doesn't mean that Gilmore Girls isn't a great show. However, the audience is now aware of certain troublesome characters and moments in the show that are not up to today's standards. Unfortunately, this also includes the revival, A Year in the Life, even though it's only from 2016.
10 Lack of LGBTQ+ Representation
Like most TV shows from the 2000s, Gilmore Girls failed to choose a diverse cast. Despite featuring dozens of recurrent characters, none of them are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Even though in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Michel is married to a man, in the original series, they rarely discuss his sexuality or love life.
This is particularly terrible in a show that's known for its characters always talking about their love lives. Sookie, Rory, and Lorelai never stop discussing their different romantic problems, but Michel's sexuality is left aside as an uncomfortable topic, which new audiences find unacceptable.
9 Black Comic Relief Character
Gilmore Girls features a predominantly white cast. The only Black character in the show is Michel, and he's treated mostly as comic relief. Michel works the desk in the Dragonfly Inn and, later on, the Independence Inn, but he's mostly known for his broody yet well-intentioned nature. However, the show doesn't take the time to explore more of this character's inner life.
2023 audiences have rightfully gotten used to seeing more and more Black and POC characters on television. The fact that Gilmore Girls only featured one Black character and didn't even create a suitable storyline for him (his sexuality wasn't even explored in the show) disappoints viewers nowadays.
8 Rory And Dean's Affair
One of the biggest plot twists in Gilmore Girls is Rory and Dean sleeping together despite Dean being married. The two characters had dated back in the first season before Rory developed feelings for Luke's nephew, Jess. However, it was always clear that Dean had never gotten over Rory.
When Rory is feeling lonely and needy, she develops an unhealthy affair with her married ex-boyfriend. This is one of Rory's more despicable moments. In fact, Rory's terrible actions have become one of the biggest jokes on the internet, as new audiences have a hard time relating to this character.
7 Rory Dressing Up As Donna Reed
In Season 1, Episode 14 of Gilmore Girls, "That Damn Donna Reed," Rory and Dean have a fight about gender roles that ends with Rory dressing up as Donna Reed. When Rory and Lorelai make fun of Donna while watching The Donna Reed Show, Dean comments that he doesn't understand what's wrong with being a housewife, which triggers a huge fight between Rory and Dean about their future expectations.
This episode is problematic in 2023 for many reasons. Rory and Lorelai making fun of a traditional homemaker is now considered anti-feminist, as there's nothing wrong with women choosing to focus on home tasks. However, Rory ends the fight by dressing up as Donna Reed only to appease Dean, which is also troublesome since Rory shouldn't have to play into Dean's sexist point of view.
6 Fatphobic Comments
Throughout the 2000s, fatphobic comments were considered peak comedy, and Gilmore Girls was no exception. Many main characters, such as Rory, Lorelai, and Emily, make fatphobic comments for the sake of humor. For example, at one point, Rory calls a ballerina a whale for not being skinny enough. Viewers now understand that this is not only humorless but also hurtful.
What's more, Gilmore Girls idealizes women who don't earn weight even if they eat large amounts of fast food and candy, such as Rory and Lorelai. The combination of mocking overweight people and glamorizing unhealthy food habits makes it a terrible show in this sense.
5 Luke's Rant About Breastfeeding
Season 3, Episode 5 of Gilmore Girls, "Eight O'Clock at the Oasis," opens with Luke and Lorelai hanging out at Luke's diner when a client starts breastfeeding her baby. Luke comments about how odd he finds that a woman would breastfeed in public, going as far as saying that "it's indecent. This is a diner, not a peep show."
This is one of Luke's lowest moments in the show. Since Gilmore Girls first aired, people's mentality has changed for the better, especially when it comes to women's bodies. There's nothing wrong with a mother breastfeeding her baby in public, and Luke should know better than this.
4 Lorelai Objectifying Luke
In Gilmore Girls Season 3, Episode 19, "Keg! Max!" Sookie accidentally touches Luke's butt, which triggers a series of jokes about this character's backside from Lorelai and Sookie. The actor who plays Luke, Scott Patterson, opened up in his podcast, I Am All In with Scott Patterson, about how uncomfortable this scene made him feel.
Patterson commented that he felt objectified and embarrassed throughout the filming of this scene, and it makes plenty of sense. No one, regardless of gender, should be in the uncomfortable position of tolerating jokes about a part of their body, which is why this moment in Gilmore Girls aged so poorly.
3 Logan And Rory's Relationship
While back in 2005, Rory and Logan were considered one of the best TV couples, and it's easy to see now how this relationship aged poorly. From the very beginning, Logan was clearly a red flag. He didn't take his studies seriously and was very condescending to people who didn't share his privilege (including Rory's friend, Marty). What's more, Logan was a part of the Life and Death Brigade, a secret Yale society known for their dangerous and sometimes illegal activities.
In A Year in the Life, this relationship continues to be as toxic as ever when Rory and Logan develop an affair despite both of them being in romantic relationships. It's safe to say this couple was an emotional roller-coaster from beginning to end.
2 Christopher Was A Terrible Father
Christopher is considered one of the worst fathers on television. He was mostly an absent figure in Rory's childhood and would only appear from time to time unannounced. What's more, Chris eventually got another family and disappeared even more from Rory's life.
The problem with Chris is that the series still portrays him in a positive light. He's a charming and funny person, and he's even one of Lorelai's main love interests. Newer audiences are especially unforgiving of Chris, as they see him for what he really is: an immature and irresponsible father.
1 Emily's Classist Comments
Lorelai's wealthy mother is known for her petulant, opinionated, and elitist personality. She's often rude to the people who work for her, and a constant joke in the show is that Emily constantly fires them. Additionally, she disapproves when Rory dates Dean, a boy from Star Hollow, but she's happy when she starts dating Logan, a rich boy from Yale.
Emily's view of the world was terrible in the 2000s, and it's even worse now. Her classist comments about the people in Star Hollow aren't funny, but the show still tries to redeem Emily Gilmore, and that hasn't really aged well.