11 things nobody wants to admit about Gilmore Girls

2. Lauren Graham should have won multiple Emmys

As much of an ensemble supporting cast as Gilmore Girls had, Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel carried the weight of the series as numbers one and two on the call sheet and the faces of the show. The fact that neither of them, but most especially Lauren Graham, won any major awards for their work as two of television’s most enduring characters is unbelievable.

Graham landed two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations (in 2001 and 2002) for the show and a Golden Globe nomination (in 2002), but she somehow never won anything more than a Teen Choice Award. Of course, awards don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, and the impact the show and character has had on fans probably means more to Graham than an award, but as a huge fan of her work, she was robbed of deserving Emmy recognition.

The emotional subtlety Graham can convey with a mere look is lethal. She can cry without shedding a tear, and it’s probably even more impactful and heartbreaking than if Lorelai, or Parenthood’s Sarah Braverman (another show she should have been Emmy-nominated for), were to break down in tears. It’s a gut punch, but the kind of gut punch that moves an audience.

Back in the 2000s, Graham was entered in the drama series category at the SAG and Golden Globe Awards, and while Gilmore Girls was a drama, it was also a comedy, as we have previously established. Graham’s performance as Lorelai was a remarkably balanced and inimitable masterclass in the art of dramedy. Nailing Lorelai’s specific sense of humor was almost more important than portraying her rougher dramatic edges.

These days, she definitely would have been submitted in the comedy category for the first seven seasons of the series and probably had nabbed a nomination. It’s also terribly unjust that Graham was shut out for A Year in the Life in the limited series acting category at the Emmys. The monologue she delivers in “Fall” is gorgeous and a frustrating reminder that some of the greatest acting of all time isn’t awarded.