• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Lifestyle

Wherever 'Gilmore Girls' Goes I Will Follow, Because Black Girls Are Excited For The Revival Too!

The four 90-minute episode return of the hit series has me ready to binge away.
Wherever ‘Gilmore Girls’ Goes I Will Follow, Because Black Girls Are Excited For The Revival Too!
Courtesy of Netflix
By Lauren Porter · Updated October 26, 2020

I’ll admit, 2016 has left me less than excited about a lot of things. 

After taking some of our greats including Natalie Cole, Muhammad Ali, Prince, Tommy Ford and Sharon Jones, and electing a problematic President which subsequently makes the goodbye to the Obamas that much harder than it would’ve been, it’s safe to say this year has been less than favorable.

But if there was one thing on my long list of blessings from this year, I’m comfortable admitting that the return of Gilmore Girls ranks pretty high.

With Lorelai and Rory at the helm of the hit WB series that made its debut in 2000, the show defined a generation with a different kind of exploration of the girlhood wonder. I was hooked from the moment Carole King played the piano along to the theme song, “Where You Lead.”

I found nuances of reliability in each episode, most importantly with Rory, because who didn’t?

She kept her nose burie deep into a book and was able to attend private school thanks to her mother’s financial and emotional sacrifice. She always dared to explore love and the heartbreak of it all by losing her virginity to a boy she didn’t love and falling for the bad boy because that’s really what always happens. She endured turning foes into friends and learning about the sometimes sad and unnecessary cruelty of female competition. She even mastered the balance of pleasing the people around her—including her grandmother—while creating peace of mind for her own satisfaction. Rory and I were symbiotic just as my mom was with Lorelai. She was quick witted with the one liners, willing to sacrifice whatever for my happiness and while my mother’s caffeine addiction is easily replaced with chocolate, we are best friends, just as the characters we watched on screen together were. 

We were their foils full of Black Girl Magic. 

The Gilmore Girl’s revival taps into the nostalgia that we millennials all pine for—the show explored the intimate and awesome relationship between a mother and daughter who respected each other enough to know the difference between parenthood and friendship. It devoted itself to remaining wacky and weird, quirky and witty, even in its flaws.

There was an elegance in all its dysfunction and imperfection—the white privilege oozing from their fictional existence, the perpetuated racial stereotypes with only less than a handful of characters of color and the portrait that single motherhood struggles could be fixed with a cup of coffee, an order of Chinese cuisine and a back and forth love affair—it was perfect.

The reboot of the series, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, will sadly only be four 90-minute episodes that explore the character’s lives during the four seasons of a calendar year. After the rather abrupt 2007 finale that left many fans—much like myself—pining for an ending that didn’t want to make us drive off a cliff, we now have the chance for the happily we deserve, just like Lorelai and Rory.

Today I was unfound. At 3:01am EST I brewed up more Luke’s coffee than I probably needed and Netflix and chilled by my damn self, binge watching my 20something heart away.

The Gilmore Girls have finally returned to TV, and where they lead to end this era, this little Black girl will definitely follow.

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now