11 things nobody wants to admit about Gilmore Girls

8. Gilmore Girls is one of TV’s best-written shows of all time

When you think about the shows that are heralded for their writing, it’s most often darker shows, or at least “high brow” shows that have multiple Emmys to their name. It’s not a show that originates from The WB or The CW, two networks that have been frequently — and unfairly — devalued because of their younger-skewing content.

To be fair, Gilmore Girls has received credit for its writing. The length and breadth of the show’s scripts, due to the fast-paced and dense dialogue of its characters, have been a conversation topic in its legacy. But has the show really gotten its due for the writing in all those fast-paced and dense monologues? You could argue that, no, it has not.

It’s not even solely the dialogue that makes the series one of television’s best-written. It’s the sense of self that had been there since day one but only grew stronger each season. The pacing and arcs of each season bridged the gap between sitcom and serialized drama, which is a deft combination present in the show’s tone, too. Amy Sherman-Palladino set the precedent for the show to achieve lightning in a bottle (that “copper boom,” if you will) from the jump and keep it going through the miniseries.

Because it’s a show with a dominantly female-identifying demographic, Gilmore Girls likely finds itself on the outskirts of discussions about TV’s best-written shows. Historically, content representing, catered to, and made by women doesn’t get its flowers in the same way as content representing, catered to, and/or made by men. While that’s beginning to change with each passing year, Sherman-Palladino deserves a retroactive Emmy for her work bringing this world and these characters to life with such a unique narrative and tonal cadence.