For Gilmore Girls fans, a fluency in popular culture isn’t just appreciated, it’s vital. Amy Sherman-Palladino’s classic, long-running series is packed with reference-filled dialogue, steeped in homage, and indebted to so much television and film that came before. 

Perhaps you’ve blazed through all 153 episodes (and four mini-movies!) and you’re considering another start-to-finish rewatch. Or maybe you’re looking for something else to stream next that still has that Stars Hollow spirit. If that’s the case, we’ve got you covered. Whether you’re looking for crackling romantic comedy, grounded high school drama, or some popcorn flicks you could imagine Lorelai and Rory making a marathon night out of, here are a few titles to fill that Gilmore-shaped hole in your heart.

Ginny & Georgia

If a series centered on a 30-something mother raising her teenage daughter in an idyllic New England small town sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. The characters themselves have enough self-awareness to describe themselves as “like the Gilmore Girls … but with bigger boobs.” And while the parallels to the original Gilmores are vivid, Ginny & Georgia is its own addictive blend of intrigue and dark humor that puts a 2020s twist on a classic (and perhaps unhealthy?) mother-daughter dynamic. Created by Sarah Lampert and starring Brianne Howey and Antonia Gentry, Ginny & Georgia has two seasons now streaming, with a third (and fourth!) on the way.

Ginny & Georgia

2 Seasons   TV-14   2021

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Virgin River

When Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) arrives in Virgin River, California, she’s looking for a fresh start. The nurse practitioner and midwife from Los Angeles is grieving a personal tragedy and wants to rebuild her life in a new place where nobody knows her. Turns out, remaining anonymous isn’t so easy when you’re the new person in a town where everybody knows each other. The gloomy Virgin River has all the small-town charm of Stars Hollow — it’s just a bit moodier, and has a dark criminal underbelly. You’ll also want to swap a coffee at Luke’s for a whiskey at Jack’s, the endearing local bar owner played by Martin Henderson, who shares a swoon-worthy, slow-burn romance with Mel. 

Virgin River

5 Seasons   TV-14   2019

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My Life With the Walter Boys

This coming-of-age story follows 15-year-old Jackie Howard (Nikki Rodriguez) who is forced to leave her life in Manhattan behind after she loses her family in a terrible accident. Jackie moves across the country to live with her mother’s college best friend, Katherine Walter (Sarah Rafferty), in the rural town of Silver Falls, Colorado. Like Rory, Jackie is academically driven — a straight-A student, she’s determined to get into Princeton. She learns that small-town life has its charms, and in fact, she shares a roof with two of them. As time goes on, Jackie finds herself caught between two brothers: the bookish Alex Walter (Ashby Gentry) and the mysterious and troubled Cole Walter (Noah LaLonde). It might feel like a familiar love triangle to anyone who was ever on Team Dean, Team Jess, or Team Logan. 

My Life With the Walter Boys

1 Season   TV-14   2023

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Sweet Magnolias

If charming small towns are your thing, Sweet Magnolias is here for you. The show centers on three lifelong best friends who call themselves the “Sweet Magnolias”: Maddie (JoAnna García Swisher), a recently divorced mother of three; Helen (Heather Headley), an ambitious lawyer; and chef extraordinaire Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott). The three women support one another as they each navigate life, love, and their careers in Serenity, South Carolina. Plus, they join forces professionally to open up a spa, much like best friends Lorelai and Sookie St. James, who go into business together to open the Dragonfly Inn in Gilmore Girls. Pour yourself a cup of sweet tea and watch this one with your girlfriends. 

Sweet Magnolias

3 Seasons   TV-14   2020

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Maid

If Gilmore Girls was a screwball comedy version of a family dynamic, Maid is the dramatic side of the same coin. Based on Stephanie Land’s moving memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, the limited series explores the economic realities of single parenthood and the complicated ways mothers give love to their daughters. Margaret Qualley stars in an Emmy-nominated performance as Alex Russell, a young mom fleeing her abusive ex-husband (Nick Robinson). Qualley’s real-life mother, acclaimed actor and ’90s rom-com star in her own right, Andie MacDowell, plays Alex’s mother, Paula Langley, an intimidating matriarchal presence that would give Emily Gilmore a run for her money.

Maid

Limited Series   TV-MA   2021

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The Chair

Some of the most interesting stories Gilmore Girls told came in Seasons 4–7 as the show focused on college campus dynamics and Rory’s time at Yale University. The 2021 mini-series The Chair is another sharp take on academic life. Starring Sandra Oh as the freshly appointed chair of the English department at a university and Jay Duplass as a pot-stirring professor making her job more difficult, the series is a singular blend of academic satire and romantic comedy. Created by Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman, The Chair is both an endearing portrait and vicious takedown of campus life, accomplishing in just six episodes what some series can’t do in six seasons. For extra credit, it’s worth a watch solely for the ingenious casting of David Duchovny as a deliriously heightened version of himself.

The Chair

6 Episodes   TV-MA   2021

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Always Be My Maybe

Chemistry is perhaps the most important ingredient for any romantic comedy. It can’t be bought and it can’t be manufactured, so it’s lucky for us that Randall Park and Ali Wong put their overabundance of it to good use. This 2019 rom-com is first and foremost a showcase for the dynamic between these two incredibly funny and charismatic performers. Wong and Park (who also co-wrote the script alongside Michael Golamco) star as two childhood friends who reunite after falling out of touch for years. Has enough changed for them to give romance another go? Directed by Nahnatchka Khan, Always Be My Maybe is sure to hit the sweet spot — plus, it includes a scene-stealing performance from Keanu Reeves as … Keanu Reeves.

Always Be My Maybe

1h 42m   PG-13   2019

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Whether it’s the antics of the kooky townspeople of Stars Hollow, Melissa McCarthy’s physical comedy, or indulging in full-on film parodies within an episode, Gilmore Girls was never a show to shy away from no-holds-barred silly. And what sillier movie exists than Monty Python and the Holy Grail? This comedy classic has the rare distinction on this watch list as a title that Lorelai and Rory explicitly reference. The 1975 send-up of medieval epics is widely considered to be one of the funniest films of all time. The crowning cinema achievement of legendary sketch group Monty Python, the nearly 50-year-old film has barely aged a day.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

1h 32m   PG   1975

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Never Have I Ever

From creators Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, Never Have I Ever is another entry in the tradition of coming-of-age high school comedies. Loosely based on Kaling’s own adolescence, the show follows high school student Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) as she and her friends try to make it through high school in one piece ... and maybe get laid, too. Equal parts wholesome and horny, the series balances its comedy with themes of trauma, sexual identity, and grief — and features the delightfully abrasive narration of tennis legend John McEnroe. 

Never Have I Ever

4 Seasons   TV-14   2020

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Set It Up

One of the great balancing acts of Gilmore Girls was how it navigated both the dramatic familial conflict and the romantic comedy elements of Lorelai and Rory and their respective suitors. The show was indebted in large part to the legacy of the rom-com, from the Howard Hawks movies of the 1950s to the genre’s apex in the 1990s. The 2018 film Set It Up is a glorious throwback to that golden age. Directed by Claire Scanlon, Set It Up is a comedy following two wildly attractive assistants, Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell), as they attempt to set their workaholic bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) up on a date. The script by Katie Silberman (Booksmart, Don’t Worry Darling) crackles with banter and chemistry and makes for a delightful movie night — because at the end of the day, don’t we all just wanna watch gorgeous people flirt?

Set It Up

1h 45m   TV-MA   2018

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