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Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls (styled on-screen as Gilmore girls) is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. Gilmore Girls ran for seven seasons, the final season moving to The CW and ending its run on May 15, 2007.

Gilmore Girls received critical acclaim for its witty dialogue, cross-generational appeal, and effective mix of humor and drama. It was a success for The WB, peaking during season five as the network's second-most-popular show. The series has been in daily syndication since 2004, while a growing following has led to its status as a 2000s American cult classic. Since going off the air in 2007, Gilmore Girls has been cited in TV (The Book) and Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest television shows of all time. It has also become one of the most watched shows on streaming platforms since it became available on Netflix in 2014 and reaired on The CW. In 2016, the original main cast and Amy Sherman-Palladino returned for the four-part miniseries revival Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

Premise
This show follows the lives of a 32-year-old single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her intellectual teenage daughter Rory Gilmore whom she had at the age of 16. The two women, while living in the small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, have big ambitions they try desperately to achieve: Lorelai wants to own her own inn, while Rory wants to attend Harvard University. They also deal with Lorelai's appearance-obsessive upper class parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore, who pay Rory's tuition at Chilton, an exclusive private school in Hartford, Connecticut. In exchange, Rory and Lorelai have to come to Emily and Richard’s house for dinner every Friday night.

This sets up one of the show's primary, ongoing conflicts: the Gilmore family is forced to face their differences and complicated past, their interactions fueled by these weekly dinners together. The contrasting mother-daughter relationships of Emily/Lorelai and Lorelai/Rory become a defining theme of the show and a lens through which many of the female relationships are viewed.

Rory's best friend is Lane Kim, and throughout the series, her love life is followed in addition to those of Lorelai and Rory. As the daughter of Mrs Kim, a very strict, religious, and protective Korean immigrant, Lane struggles to hide her love for rock music and other aspects of pop culture from her mother, including dating. While Mrs Kim repeatedly tries to find Lane a future Korean husband who is bound for medical school, she dates Henry Cho, one of Rory's Chilton classmates. Lane also dates Dave Rygalski, the guitarist in her secret band and Zach Van Gerbig, the lead singer of the same band whom she later marries and has twins with.

Also followed is Sookie St. James, Lorelai's best friend and the chef at the inn. Sookie ends up marrying and having children with Jackson, the inn's vegetable supplier. Over the course of the series, Sookie acts as Lorelai's business partner and confidant. The series also tracks Luke Danes, the owner of the local diner and later love interest of Lorelai. Luke supplies coffee and food, and on occasion butts heads with Sookie over their cooking. At times acting as a parental figure in Rory's life, he is present for many of the Gilmore Girls' major milestones.

The quirky townspeople of Stars Hollow are a constant presence. Along with series-long and season-long arcs, Gilmore Girls is also episodic in nature, with mini-plots within each episode – such as town festivals, issues at Lorelai's inn, or school projects of Rory's.

Season 1
Rory is accepted by Chilton, a private school that can help her get into Harvard. Because of the school's steep price tag, Lorelai talks to her wealthy parents, with whom she had broken contact for a long time. Emily and Richard agree to pay the tuition on the condition that Lorelai and Rory have Friday night dinners with them. Rory has a difficult time settling in at Chilton, struggling to meet the demands of private school and attracting the fury of classmate Paris Geller, her academic rival. She meets her first boyfriend, Dean, but the pair break up when Rory does not reciprocate his "I love you", instead saying she needs to think about it. Rory spends the remainder of the season saddened by her break up. After being romantically pursued by Rory's teacher, Max Medina, Lorelai decides with a conflicted heart to give the relationship a chance. This dynamic creates some tension between Lorelai and Rory, especially after Lorelai is seen kissing Max in Rory's school. Lorelai becomes frightened by her feelings for Max and breaks up with him. At the same time, Lorelai harbors a close friendship with local diner owner Luke Danes, and several people comment on their mutual attraction—but Lorelai is in denial and Luke does not act on it. Rory's father, Christopher Hayden, returns and also wants to be with Lorelai but she tells him he is too immature for family life. All the while, Lorelai struggles to adjust to having her parents in her life on a regular basis. Emily and Richard enjoy developing a relationship with their granddaughter, but also realize how much they have missed. The season ends with Rory reuniting with Dean, and Max proposing to Lorelai.

Season 2
Lorelai accepts Max's proposal but realizes shortly before the wedding that it does not feel right and they break up. This decision is preceded by a drunken phone call she makes to her ex, Christopher, at her Bachelorette party. She and Sookie get excited about opening their own business at the dilapidated Dragonfly Inn but the owner refuses to sell. Sookie gets engaged to Jackson Belleville, a local farmer. Luke's teenage nephew, Jess Mariano, comes to live under his care. Jess is sullen and angry with everyone apart from Rory. The two strike up a friendship, causing jealousy from Dean. Lorelai is disapproving of their closeness, labeling Jess as a bad influence, especially when they are in a car accident, in which Rory breaks her wrist. This leads to a blow-up between Lorelai and Luke. Richard announces that he has retired but soon becomes bored and sets up his own insurance company. Christopher appears to have his life together and Lorelai decides to reunite with him. But at Sookie's wedding, Christopher learns that his recently estranged fiancée is pregnant and decides to return to her, leaving Lorelai heartbroken. Meanwhile, Rory impulsively kisses Jess.

Season 3
Rory's attraction to Jess grows stronger but Jess does not show affection or knowledge that it is, and she gets jealous when he teases her with a new girlfriend. Dean cannot ignore what is going on and eventually ends their relationship. Rory and Jess immediately become a couple. Meanwhile, she and Paris spend the year as Student Body Presidents at Chilton and both submit applications to Harvard University. They spend a portion of the season in a rivalry with fellow student Francie, who causes a rift between Paris and Rory. Paris and Rory eventually make amends when Paris confides in her that she lost her virginity. Rory's college decision plays a big part in her senior year. Harvard is her dream school, but she applies to Yale as well, which causes a rift between Lorelai, and Emily and Richard. Paris is devastated when she does not get into Harvard. Rory is accepted but decides to attend Yale University instead, much to Emily and Richard's delight. The Independence Inn is badly damaged in a fire, but Lorelai and Sookie are able to buy the Dragonfly when its elderly owner dies. Jess pressures Rory into almost having sex with him, leading to a fist fight between Dean and Jess when the former witnesses an upset Rory. Luke begins dating a lawyer named Nicole. Lane Kim, Rory's best friend, starts a band called Hep Alien and tries to convince her strict mother to let her date the guitarist, Dave, all while keeping the band secret. As the season ends, Jess abruptly leaves Stars Hollow to track down his estranged father in California, and Rory graduates high school as valedictorian.

Season 4
Rory starts her college education at Yale, with Paris, now a friend, as her surprise roommate. Both start working for the Yale Daily News. Rory is surprised when Dean abruptly marries his new girlfriend, Lindsey. Rory and Dean grow close again over the season, leading Rory to turn down Jess when he returns and declares his love for her later on in the season. Lorelai, along with Sookie and their colleague Michel, spends the season renovating the Dragonfly Inn in preparation for its opening. Lorelai faces financial hardships during this period, ultimately breaking down to Luke who subsequently lends her the money. Lorelai begins dating Richard's new business partner, Jason Stiles, with whom she has been acquainted since childhood. She keeps the relationship a secret from her parents. Lane's mother learns about Hep Alien and kicks Lane out of the house. Sookie and Jackson have a son, Davey. Lorelai and Jason break up after Jason sues Richard for leaving their partnership, while Lorelai sides with her father. Emily feels neglected by Richard and the two separate, with Richard moving into the pool house. Luke and Nicole elope during a cruise, but decide to divorce soon after. Towards the end of the season, Luke accepts that he is in love with Lorelai and begins wooing her. The pair finally kiss on the Dragonfly's opening night, while Rory loses her virginity to a married Dean.

Season 5
Facing conflict with her mother, Rory embarks on a European trip with Emily and seldom speaks with Lorelai. Near the end of the trip, Lorelai and Rory reconcile over the phone, and Rory asks Lorelai to give Dean a letter for her. Dean's wife Lindsey finds the letter, which contains information about the affair. They consequently separate. Rory briefly progresses her relationship with Dean but it ends when he realizes how different their lives are. She falls for Logan Huntzberger, a wealthy playboy Yale student whose parents and grandfather consider Rory's lineage inferior to their own. Lane starts a relationship with her bandmate Zach, and Paris starts a relationship with Yale Daily News editor Doyle. Sookie gives birth to her daughter, Martha. Lorelai and Luke start a relationship. Emily and Richard – who reunite and renew their wedding vows – disapprove of Luke, and Emily interferes by telling Christopher to try to win her back. Christopher shows up at Emily and Richard's vow renewal, professing his love for Lorelai, which overwhelms Luke, resulting in separation between him and Lorelai, as well as a major argument between Lorelai and Emily. Rory gets an internship at Logan's father's newspaper but is deflated when he tells her she "doesn't have it." Rory lashes out afterwards and suggests to Logan, at his sister's engagement party, that they steal a yacht. The two are arrested, and Rory later announces to Lorelai that she is quitting Yale, and moves into her grandparents' pool house. When Lorelai sees how supportive Luke is over the situation, she asks him to marry her.

Season 6
Lorelai is disappointed by Rory's actions but concedes that she cannot force her to go back to Yale; it is a decision Rory must make for herself. Mother and daughter do not speak for six months. Rory has to complete community service and Emily finds her a job with the DAR. Richard becomes concerned with Rory's engaging in the socialite lifestyle without continuing her education. Eventually, after admonishment from Jess, Rory returns to Yale and reunites with Lorelai. She later replaces Paris as editor of the Yale Daily News, which causes a disruption in their friendship. After a short separation from Logan, the relationship gets serious. Rory is crushed when Logan's father sends him to work in London. Hep Alien disband then come back together. Lane and Zach get married after Zach undergoes a rigorous vetting from Mrs. Kim. Lorelai plans a wedding with Luke, but things get difficult when Luke learns that he has a 12-year-old daughter named April. He starts building a relationship with her but keeps Lorelai separate. Lorelai tries to accept this but eventually snaps and issues him an ultimatum. When he does not agree to elope, Lorelai goes to Christopher for physical and emotional comfort.

Season 7
Lorelai and Luke officially split when she tells him she slept with Christopher. Before much time has passed, Christopher convinces Lorelai to try a relationship. Christopher receives a letter from Sherry Tinsdale, who is his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his second child, Georgia. The letter states she wants to be a part of Georgia's life again and requests that she spend time with her in Paris. Lorelai and Christopher decide to go with Georgia to get her settled. The pair spontaneously marry during the trip to Paris. Luke has a custody battle over April after her mother moves them to New Mexico, and he asks Lorelai to write him a character reference. Luke ends up winning the right to see April during the holidays. Christopher finds what Lorelai wrote about Luke and is upset. Lorelai and Christopher accept that they are not right together and they divorce, though the divorce is never shown or mentioned subsequently. Lane and Zach have twins, and Sookie becomes pregnant again. Rory completes her final year of college. She and Logan spend half the season in a long-distance relationship until he eventually moves back to New York. He proposes, but Rory says that she wants to keep her options open, which leads to their separation. She panics about what she will do after graduating; following some rejection, she gets a job reporting on the Barack Obama campaign trail. Stars Hollow throws a surprise farewell party for Rory. When Lorelai finds out that Luke organized it, the pair reconcile with a kiss. Lorelai promises Emily that she will continue attending Friday night dinners. Before Lorelai and Rory have to say goodbye, they have one last breakfast at Luke's Diner.

A Year in the Life
Nine years after the end of the original series, Netflix produced a Gilmore Girls revival miniseries. Rory is struggling in her journalism career and having a no-strings-attached, secret affair with Logan in London, while technically having a boyfriend named Paul that she often forgets about. While Logan is engaged to be married, the two of them cannot seem to stay apart. Lorelai and Luke live together but are still having communication problems. Richard has recently died of a heart attack, which causes tension between Lorelai and Emily, and they end up in joint therapy. Lorelai starts to question her life, so she travels to California with intentions to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, where she has an epiphany. She fixes the rift with Emily by recounting a happy story about Richard, and goes home to propose to Luke. Emily decides to sell the Gilmore mansion and move to Nantucket, where she starts working in a museum. After encouragement from Jess, Rory decides to write a book about her life called Gilmore Girls. After Luke and Lorelai marry, Rory informs Lorelai that she is pregnant.

The miniseries aired on Up TV and The CW in November 2020, partly because the latter network needed additional programming to fill its schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Main

 * Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore: Independent, 32 year old single mom who runs a local inn with a deep love for pop culture and coffee. She gave birth to Rory when she was 16 years old. She and Sookie later buy and own the Dragonfly Inn.
 * Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore: Precocious and academically driven only daughter of Lorelai, almost 16 at the start of the show.
 * Melissa McCarthy as Sookie St. James: Lorelai's chirpy best friend and chef/co-owner at the inn.
 * Keiko Agena as Lane Kim: Rory's best friend who lives a secret life, defying her strict, religious mother by becoming a rocker.
 * Yanic Truesdale as Michel Gerard: The grumpy French concierge at Lorelai and Sookie's inn.
 * Scott Patterson as Luke Danes: Grouchy but kind-hearted diner owner; Lorelai's friend and eventual love interest.
 * Kelly Bishop as Emily Gilmore: Matriarch of the Gilmore family, who lives as a high society housewife. She and Lorelai have a strained relationship.
 * Edward Herrmann as Richard Gilmore: Intellectual patriarch of the Gilmore family, who works in insurance. He and Emily aid in Rory's school fees and college fees.
 * Liza Weil as Paris Geller: Rory's feisty nemesis and eventual best friend throughout high school and college. (main seasons 2–7; recurring season 1)
 * Jared Padalecki as Dean Forester: Rory's season 1–3 boyfriend, who moved to Stars Hollow from Chicago. He later marries and divorces Lindsay after cheating on her with Rory. (main seasons 2–3; recurring seasons 1, 4–5)
 * Milo Ventimiglia as Jess Mariano: Luke's troubled nephew who falls for Rory and becomes an intense but short-lived boyfriend. He moves away to live with his father at the end of season 3. (main seasons 2–3; recurring season 4; guest season 6)
 * Sean Gunn as Kirk Gleason: Quirky resident of Stars Hollow who works numerous jobs around the town. He shows romantic interest in Lorelai but is rejected. He later dates a girl called Lulu - they are still dating in Gilmore Girls Year in the Life. (main seasons 3–7; recurring seasons 1–2)
 * Chris Eigeman as Jason Stiles a boyfriend of Lorelai and short-lived business partner of Richard. (main season 4)
 * Matt Czuchry as Logan Huntzberger: Rory's season 5–7 boyfriend, the heir of a New York Times-esque publishing family resembling that of the Ochs-Sulzberger family. (main seasons 6–7; recurring season 5)

Recurring

 * Liz Torres as Miss Patty, the friendly and kind-hearted town dance teacher and gossip
 * Emily Kuroda as Mrs. Kim, Lane's strict Seventh-day Adventist mother who has a strained relationship with her daughter
 * Sally Struthers as Babette Dell, Lorelai's eccentric but friendly neighbor and town gossip - she is close friends with Patty
 * Jackson Douglas as Jackson Belleville, Sookie's husband and a local farmer. He and Sookie share two children throughout the show
 * Michael Winters as Taylor Doose, the uptight town Selectman who often irrates Luke with his requests and rules
 * David Sutcliffe as Christopher Hayden, Rory's father and Lorelai's on-off love interest (seasons 1–3; 5–7)
 * Shelly Cole as Madeline Lynn, Paris and Rory's high school friend (seasons 1–4)
 * Teal Redmann as Louise Grant, Paris and Rory's high school friend (seasons 1–4)
 * Scott Cohen as Max Medina, Lorelai's season one boyfriend and brief fiancé, and Rory's English teacher at Chilton (seasons 1–3)
 * Chad Michael Murray as Tristin Dugray, a wealthy Chilton student who has a crush on Rory who is later transferred due to his bad behaviour (seasons 1–2)
 * Dakin Matthews as Hanlin Charleston, Headmaster of Chilton and friend of Richard and Emily (seasons 1–3, guest seasons 5 & 7)
 * Marion Ross as Lorelai "Trix" Gilmore, Richard's mean mother (seasons 1; 3–4)
 * Lisa Ann Hadley as Rachel, Luke's photographer and traveler ex-girlfriend (season 1)
 * Alex Borstein as Drella, the Independence Inn harpist (season 1), and "Miss Celine", Emily Gilmore's seamstress (season 5)
 * Rose Abdoo as Gypsy, the town mechanic (seasons 2–7)
 * Carole King as Sophie Bloom, owner of the Sophie's Music shop which Lane frequents often (seasons 2, 5–6)
 * Biff Yeager as Tom, a Stars Hollow contractor (seasons 2–4; 6)
 * Emily Bergl as Francie Jarvis, a student at Chilton (seasons 2–3)
 * Todd Lowe as Zach Van Gerbig, Lane's bandmate and eventual husband and father to their twin sons (seasons 3–7)
 * John Cabrera as Brian Fuller, Lane's bandmate (seasons 3–7)
 * Tricia O'Kelley as Nicole Leahy, Luke's season 3–4 lawyer girlfriend and short-term wife (seasons 3–4)
 * Arielle Kebbel as Lindsay Lister, Dean's girlfriend and wife - they divorce later on when he cheats on her with Rory (seasons 3–5)
 * Adam Brody as Dave Rygalski, Lane's bandmate and season 3 boyfriend - they break up later on when Dave moves to college (season 3) (Dave was written out due to Brody's commitments to the O.C.)
 * Sebastian Bach as Gil, Lane's older bandmate (seasons 4–7)
 * Danny Strong as Doyle McMaster, Paris's boyfriend and one-time editor of the Yale Daily News (seasons 4–7)
 * Kathleen Wilhoite as Liz Danes, Luke's flighty and irresponsible sister and Jess's mother (seasons 4–7)
 * Michael DeLuise as TJ, Luke's dopey but kind-hearted brother-in-law (seasons 4–7)
 * Wayne Wilcox as Marty, Rory's friend at Yale who has unrequited feelings for her (seasons 4–5; 7)
 * Rini Bell as Lulu Kuschner, Kirk's girlfriend (seasons 4–7)
 * Alan Loayza as Colin McCrae, Logan's wealthy friend (seasons 5–6)
 * Tanc Sade as Finn, Logan's wealthy friend (seasons 5–6)
 * Gregg Henry as Mitchum Huntzberger, Logan's father and a newspaper mogul (seasons 5–7)
 * Vanessa Marano as April Nardini, Luke's "long lost" pre-teen daughter whom he finds out about in season 6 (seasons 6–7)
 * Sherilyn Fenn as Anna Nardini, April's mother and Luke's ex-girlfriend (seasons 6–7)
 * Krysten Ritter as Lucy, Rory's friend (season 7)
 * Michelle Ongkingco as Olivia Marquont, Rory's friend (season 7)

Background
Amy Sherman-Palladino, who came from a background of writing for half-hour sitcoms, had Gilmore Girls approved by The WB after several of her previous pitches were turned down. On a whim, she suggested a show about a mother and daughter but had put little thought into the idea. Having to create a pilot, she drew inspiration for the show's setting of "Stars Hollow, Connecticut", after making a trip to Washington Depot, Connecticut, where she stayed at the Mayflower Inn. She explained: "If I can make people feel this much of what I felt walking around this fairy town, I thought that would be wonderful ... At the time I was there, it was beautiful, it was magical, and it was a feeling of warmth and small-town camaraderie ... There was a longing for that in my own life, and I thought—that's something that I would really love to put out there." Stars Hollow was inspired by and is loosely based on the actual villages of Washington Depot, Connecticut; West Hartford, Connecticut, and the town of New Milford.

Once the setting was established, Gilmore Girls developed as a mixture of sitcom and family drama. Sherman-Palladino's aim was to create "A family show that doesn't make parents want to stick something sharp in their eyes while they're watching it and doesn't talk down to kids." She wanted the family dynamic to be important because "It's a constant evolution ... You never run out of conflict." The show's pace, dialogue, and focus on class divisions was heavily inspired by the screwball comedies of the 1930s and Katharine Hepburn–Spencer Tracy films. Sherman-Palladino was also influenced by the "acerbic wit" of Dorothy Parker.

The pilot episode of Gilmore Girls received financial support from the script development fund of the Family Friendly Programming Forum, which includes some of the nation's leading advertisers, making it one of the first networks shows to reach the air with such funding. The show was green-lit by The WB, and Sherman-Palladino proceeded to exercise control over all aspects of its production. Her husband Daniel Palladino was a consultant and occasional writer for the first season, then agreed to quit his producer position on Family Guy to commit to Gilmore Girls; he became an executive producer with the second season, and also played a major role. The show's third executive producer was Gavin Polone.

Casting

Alexis Bledel was cast in the key role of Rory despite having no previous acting experience. Sherman-Palladino was drawn to her shyness and innocence, which she said was essential for the character, and felt she photographed well. Lauren Graham was pursued by the casting directors from the start of the process, but she was committed to another show on NBC. A week before the shooting, they had still failed to cast Lorelai, so they asked Graham to audition anyway. Sherman-Palladino cast her that day, on the hope that Graham's other show (M.Y.O.B., which was burned off as a summer replacement series several months before the premiere of Gilmore Girls) would be canceled, which it soon was. She later explained how Graham met all the criteria she had been looking for: "Lorelai's a hard fucking part. You've got to be funny, you've got to talk really fucking fast, you've got to be able to act, you've got to be sexy, but not scary sexy. You've got to be strong, but not like 'I hate men. Graham and Bledel only met the night before they started filming the pilot.

In casting the grandparents, Sherman-Palladino had veteran actor Edward Herrmann in mind for Richard and was delighted when he agreed. Kelly Bishop, a fellow New York stage actress, was cast straight after her audition; Sherman-Palladino recalled knowing immediately "and there's Emily". The role of the Stars Hollow diner owner was originally a woman, but the network reported that they needed more men and Scott Patterson was cast as Luke. It was advertised as a guest role, but Patterson said he treated the pilot as "a chemistry test" and he was promptly promoted to series regular.

In the pilot, Sookie was played by Alex Borstein, but she could not be released from her Mad TV contract. She was therefore replaced by Melissa McCarthy, who re-filmed Sookie's scenes. The role of Dean also changed after the pilot, with the original actor replaced by a newcomer Jared Padalecki. The character Lane was based on Sherman-Palladino's friend and fellow producer Helen Pai; Japanese-American actress Keiko Agena was cast in the role when they could not find an appropriate Korean-American actress. Liza Weil auditioned to play Rory, and while she was considered wrong for the part Sherman-Palladino liked her so much that she wrote the role of Paris especially for her.

Writing
Headed by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino from seasons 1 to 6, Gilmore Girls had a small writing staff that changed regularly throughout the series. The Palladinos wrote a high percentage of episodes and would review and rework the dialogue in episodes allocated to others. As such, the show is considered to have a distinctive "voice". Sherman-Palladino said "every draft either I write, or it passes through my hands ... so that there is a consistency of tone. It's very important that it feels like the same show every week because it is so verbal." The main job of the writers' room was to help develop storylines and create detailed episode outlines. Notable writers who worked on the show at some point include Jenji Kohan, Bill Prady, Jane Espenson, Rebecca Rand Kirshner, and Janet Leahy.

As signaled by its tagline "Life's short. Talk fast", Gilmore Girls is known for its fast-paced dialogue and "witty repartee". Sherman-Palladino wanted a snappy delivery from the characters because she believes that "comedy dies slow", which required large volumes of dialogue to fill the hour-long time slot. Scripts averaged 80 pages per episode, compared to an "hour-long" average of 55–60 pages, with one page translating to 20–25 seconds of screen time. Scott Patterson later said that the pace of the dialogue led to both him and Lauren Graham quitting smoking—"She needed her wind, and I needed my wind."

Much of the dialogue is peppered with references to film, television shows, music, literature, and celebrity culture. The range of references is broad, summarized by critic Ken Tucker as "some cross between Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Ulysses". Sherman-Palladino wanted the characters to speak this way as an indicator of their worldliness and intelligence, and to cater to a broad audience. At the start, she argued with the network about the frequently old-fashioned references; when she refused to remove a comment about Oscar Levant, she felt the executives adopted an attitude of "Let the crazy woman dig her own grave." The relative obscurity of some of the allusions resulted in explanatory "Gilmore-isms" booklets being included in the DVD sets of the first four seasons.

In contrast to the rapid-fire dialogue, storylines on Gilmore Girls move slowly. Sherman-Palladino's motto was "make the small big, make the big small", which she learned from her days writing for Roseanne. She chose to be "very stingy with events", and the drama is low-key because "sometimes the average everyday things are more impactful". Key incidents often take place off-screen and are only revealed through character conversations, which journalist Constance Grady says is because "On Gilmore Girls, the explosion is never what matters: It's the fallout." The show similarly uses subtext rather than exposition, "where people will talk a great deal in order to obscure what they really mean to say". The writers did not like moments to be overly sentimental, preferring characters to show love through actions and behavior. Sherman-Palladino stated that the network did not interfere or request changes, though there is speculation that she delivered scripts at the last minute to avoid their input.

Sherman-Palladino treated Lorelai as a reflection of herself. Her husband commented: "Amy writing for Lorelai Gilmore has always been really special. No surprise, they're kind of doppelgängers ... Amy and Lorelai are very, very similar. That character is a great cipher for a lot of what Amy is and has been, from the very beginning."

Filming

The pilot episode was shot in the Toronto suburb of Unionville. The rest of the series was filmed at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California. Exterior scenes of Stars Hollow, along with those at Luke's Diner and Miss Patty's dance studio, were all filmed on the backlot — with dozens of background actors utilized to make it look like a functioning town. Production designers regularly had to decorate the town square with fake leaves or fake snow to make it look like a New England fall or winter. Interiors of Lorelai's house and inn, and all scenes at Yale and the Gilmore mansion, were filmed on a sound stage. Very occasionally, the show was filmed on location. The exterior shots of Rory's preparatory school, Chilton, were filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Rory's visit to Harvard was filmed at UCLA, the first visit to Yale was filmed at Pomona College, and subsequent Yale shots were filmed at sound stages in Burbank, California, and USC.

The shot of "Stars Hollow" seen in the first frame of the show's opening credits is actually a panoramic view of South Royalton, Vermont.

Gilmore Girls relied on a master shot filming style, in which a scene is filmed to frame characters and their dialogue together within a long and uninterrupted single take; often illustrated through another method regularly employed on the show, the walk and talk. Sherman-Palladino explained "There's an energy and style to our show that's very simple, in my mind ... [it] almost needs to be shot like a play. That's how we get our pace, our energy, and our flow ... I don't think it could work any other way."

It took eight working days to shoot an episode, and days were regularly 14–20 hours long. Lauren Graham said: "We filmed alongside The West Wing, and Aaron Sorkin shows are known for having the worst hours ever, they go on and on, but we were always there even after they had gone home, because you couldn't change a word of the script." The cast were required to be word-perfect in all the scenes, while also reciting large amounts of dialogue at speed. Matt Czuchry, who had a main role for the final three seasons, commented, "The pace of the dialogue was what made that show incredibly unique, and also incredibly difficult as an actor. To be able to maintain that speed, tone, and at the same time, try to make layered choices was a great experience to have early in my career. It really challenged me." The combination of the difficult dialogue and long takes meant each scene had to be shot many times; Graham said in 2015: "never before or since have I done as many takes of anything". Alexis Bledel recalled that one scene required 38 takes. Graham added, "That show — as fun and breezy and light as it is — is technically really challenging."

Music

Gilmore Girls' non-diegetic score was composed by singer-songwriter Sam Phillips throughout its entire run. Sherman-Palladino, who served as the music supervisor of the series, was a big fan of the musician and secured her involvement. For the score's instrumental arrangement, Phillips primarily used her voice and an acoustic guitar, and on occasion included piano, violin, and drums. Many of the musical cues are accompanied by melodic "la-la"s and "ahh"s, which developed because Sherman-Palladino wanted the score to sound connected to the girls themselves, almost like "an extension of their thoughts ... if they had music going in their head during a certain emotional thing in their life." Sherman-Palladino felt that the score elevated the series "because it wasn't a wasted element in the show. Everything was trying to say a little something, add a little something to it." Several of Phillips' album tracks are also played in the show, and she made an appearance in the season six finale, performing part of "Taking Pictures".

The theme song is a version of Carole King's 1971 song "Where You Lead". King made a new recording specially for Gilmore Girls: a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin. She was happy that it gave the song "a deeper meaning of love between a mother and her child". King appeared in several episodes as Sophie, the town music shop owner, and performed a brief portion of her song "I Feel the Earth Move" in the revival.

Music also plays a large part in the show as a frequent topic of conversation between characters and in live performances within scenes and at the end of episodes. Musical acts who made appearances include The Bangles, Sonic Youth, Sparks, and The Shins (S04E17). Grant-Lee Phillips appears in at least one episode per season as the town's troubadour, singing his own songs and covers. In 2002, a soundtrack to Gilmore Girls was released by Rhino Records, entitled Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls. The CD booklet features anecdotes from show producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino about the large part music has played in their lives.

Change of showrunner
In 2006, the WB merged with UPN to form a new network, The CW. Gilmore Girls survived the merger, being selected as one of seven WB shows to be transferred for a new season, but it resulted in a significant change. In April that year, it was announced that Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel could not come to an agreement with The CW and would be leaving the show when their contracts expired that summer. Journalist Michael Ausiello said of the decision: "The thought of Gilmore Girls heading into what is likely to be its final season (and its first on a brand-new network) without its mama or her right-hand man is unfathomable." Discussing the departure later, Sherman-Palladino reflected on the contract dispute in an interview with Vulture, saying:

"It was a botched negotiation. It really was about the fact that I was working too much. I was going to be the crazy person who was locked in my house and never came out. I heard a lot of 'Amy doesn't need a writing staff because she and Dan Palladino write everything!' I thought, That's a great mentality on your part, but if you want to keep the show going for two more years, let me hire more writers. By the way, all this shit we asked for? They had to do [it] anyway when we left. They hired this big writing staff and a producer-director onstage. That's what bugged me the most. They wound up having to do what we'd asked for anyway, and I wasn't there."

David S. Rosenthal, who worked on the show as a writer and producer for season 6, was selected by Sherman-Palladino to replace her as showrunner. Commenting on this change, an article in Wired says: "the Palladinos had written the majority of the episodes up to that point, and their distinctive rhythms and obsessions were what defined Gilmore Girls. What remains after their departure is something that seems like Gilmore Girls Adjacent more than anything."

Cancellation
There was speculation during the seventh season that it would be the show's final year, as Graham and Bledel's contracts were both coming to an end. As negotiations continued between the actresses and the network, Rosenthal planned a finale that "could serve as an ending or a beginning of a new chapter and a new season". Graham later said that by the end of the filming schedule "there was a 50/50 chance we'd be returning", and she requested that the finale provide "an opportunity to say goodbye" to the characters, in case of cancellation. Due to the uncertainty, the cast and crew did not have a final wrap party or an opportunity to say farewells.

The CW initially considered bringing the show back for a shortened, 13-episode season but then decided against the idea. On May 3, 2007, shortly before the final episode aired, the network announced that the series would not be renewed. Graham explained that the possibility of returning fell through because "We were trying to find a way we [she and Bledel] could have a slightly easier schedule, and there was really no way to do that and still have it be Gilmore Girls."

Revival

Because the final season was not written by the series creator, and the new writers had not known that the finale was definitely the last episode, Lauren Graham noted that a lot of fans "were disappointed with how it [the series] ended". In 2009, Amy Sherman-Palladino expressed an interest in pursuing a Gilmore Girls film, to finish the series as she originally intended. Over the following years, fans and journalists continued to ask regularly if the show would return. Privately, Sherman-Palladino stayed in contact with Graham, Bledel, Patterson, and Bishop to discuss the possibility, but nothing came to fruition.

In June 2015, for the 15th anniversary of the show, the cast and showrunners reunited for a special panel at the ATX Television Festival. When asked about a possible revival, Sherman-Palladino told the audience "I'm sorry, there's nothing in the works at the moment." The hype generated by the reunion, however, empowered Sherman-Palladino to pitch new episodes and encouraged Netflix to produce them. In October 2015 – eight years after the show had ended – TVLine reported that the streaming channel struck a deal with Warner Bros to revive the series in a limited run, consisting of four 90-minute episodes, written and directed by Amy and Daniel Palladino. The Palladinos explained that it felt like the right time creatively to continue the story, and that the freedom provided by Netflix made it possible.

The revival miniseries, titled Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, was filmed from February to May 2016. Aside from Edward Herrmann, who died two years prior, every cast member who received a main credit on the show returned for at least a scene, while many supporting characters also made an appearance. The sets all had to be rebuilt from scratch, using nothing but photos and footage from the original series. The revival was released on Netflix on November 25, 2016, to positive reviews. There is speculation regarding a possible second revival, with Netflix reportedly keen.

Broadcast history
Gilmore Girls' first season commenced on The WB in the Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot, as a lead-in for Charmed. Renewed for a second season, the show was relocated on Tuesdays 8pm/7pm, the time slot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which transferred to UPN, and served as a lead-in for Smallville, which became an instant hit and always beat Gilmore Girls in the ratings. During seasons 4 and 5, it led into One Tree Hill, which slowly became a hit. In season 6, it led into Supernatural, which became another hit for The WB and continued on until 2020. Both series were led by former Gilmore Girls actors, with One Tree Hill starring Chad Michael Murray, and Jared Padalecki as a co-star in Supernatural.

First-season reruns aired on Monday nights from March 5 until April 9, 2001, during a mid-season hiatus of Roswell, to build audience awareness of the series. An additional run of the first season aired in 2002 on Sunday nights under the title Gilmore Girls Beginnings (which featured a modified opening sequence voiced with a monologue detailing the premise from Graham), and was one of two shows on The WB to have "Beginnings" in its title for reruns, along with 7th Heaven.

Syndication
In the US, the show began its syndicated release on ABC Family in 2004. The network continued to air the show daily under its new name Freeform until the fall of 2018, when those rights moved to Pop. In October 2015, Gilmore Girls began running on Up TV, which continues to air it to this day. Josef Adalian of Vulture commented on the rarity of Freeform and Up TV carrying a series of its type in syndication: "not that many non-procedural, hour-long shows from the early part of the century—particularly those from a small network such as WB—are still even airing regularly on one cable network, let alone two." Up TV showed Gilmore Girls 1,100 times in its first year; Freeform aired it 400 times in the same period.

From 2009 to 2013, Gilmore Girls also aired in weekend timeslots on SOAPnet. The series began running on Logo TV in August 2020. Since 2016, UP TV has aired a weeklong marathon of all episodes of Gilmore Girls around the Thanksgiving holiday. As the network maintains a family-friendly focus and programming schedule, some minor dialogue edits are made in a number of episodes, mainly when "hell" and "damn" are said, though all episodes are carried.

In the UK, the series premiered on Nickelodeon in 2003. Only the first three seasons were shown, with episodes edited for content, and some, like "The Big One", dropped entirely. The series was subsequently picked up by the Hallmark Channel, which gave UK premieres to seasons four and five. It was rerun in its entirety on E4 until January 2012. The show moved to 5Star, then in 2018 changed to daily screenings on the Paramount Network.

In Ireland, the series aired its entire run on RTÉ One on Sundays, before moving to TG4. In Australia, from 16 March 2015, Gilmore Girls began airing again at weeknights on digital terrestrial network GEM and in 2024, reruns of Gilmore Girls repeats episodes airing from Saturday afternoons at 4:00 pm on the Nine Network and 9Now.

Home media and online
Warner Home Video released all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls on DVD, in regions 1, 2 and 4, mainly in full-screen 4:3 ratio due to Amy Sherman-Palladino's preference at the time of original release. The full series DVD boxset was released in 2007. Special features include deleted scenes, three behind-the-scenes featurettes, cast interviews, montages, and one episode commentary (for "You Jump, I Jump, Jack").

On October 1, 2014, all seven seasons of the series began streaming on Netflix's "Watch Instantly" service in the United States; all episodes, including the three seasons before The WB transitioned the series to 16:9 HD broadcast from season four on, are in that format. On July 1, 2016, Gilmore Girls became available on Netflix worldwide. All seasons of Gilmore Girls are also available for digital download on the iTunes Store, Amazon.com and other digital sales websites, with all digital sites offering all episodes in HD.

Critical response

Upon debut, Gilmore Girls was lauded for the distinct, dialogue-infused style created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the strength of the dynamic familial themes, and the performances of its cast, particularly leading star Lauren Graham. On Metacritic, the first season has an average rating of 81 out of 100 from 26 reviews, indicating "universal praise".

In the San Francisco Chronicle, John Carman wrote "It's cross-generational, warm-the-cockles viewing, and it's a terrific show. Can this really be the WB, niche broadcaster to horny mall rats?" Caryn James of The New York Times called it a "witty, charming show" that "is redefining family in a realistic, entertaining way for today's audience, all the while avoiding the sappiness that makes sophisticated viewers run from anything labeled a 'family show. Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter declared it "a genuine gem in the making, a family-friendly hour unburdened by trite cliche or precocious pablum," while Jonathan Storm of The Philadelphia Inquirer dubbed it "a touching, funny, lively show that really does appeal to all ages". David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun called Gilmore Girls "One of the most pleasant surprises of the new season".

For the second-season premiere, Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel praised the show as "one of television's great, unsung pleasures", and said "Series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino writes clever dialogue and ingratiating comedy, but she also knows how to do bittersweet drama." Emily Yahr of The Washington Post retrospectively called the second installment "Pretty much a perfect season of television". Viewers were concerned that the show would suffer when Rory left for college after season 3, and Yahr commented that the show was not "the same" from this point but gave seasons four and five a positive 7/10.

The last two seasons were less positively received. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune described the sixth season as "uneven at best", explaining, "the protracted fight between Lorelai and Rory Gilmore left the writers scrambling to cram the show with filler plots that stretched many fans' patience to the limit." The introduction of Luke's daughter has been described as "pretty much the most hated plot device in Gilmore Girls history". Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly rated the seventh season "C", describing it as "a death-blow season [which] was more accurately Gilmore Ghosts, as the exhausted actors bumped into the furniture searching for their departed souls and smart punchlines". But he concluded that before this came "six seasons of magnificent mixed emotions" among a "perfect television idyll". Giving the show an overall rating of "A−", he added, "industry ignorance of the writing and of Graham's performance in particular will remain an eternal scandal".

Gilmore Girls was listed as one of Time magazine's "All-Time 100 TV Shows". and was ranked the 87th greatest American television series in TV (The Book), authored by critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz in 2016. Entertainment Weekly placed Gilmore Girls 32nd on its "New TV Classics" list, and included the show on its end-of-the-2000s "best-of" list, and The A.V. Club named "They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?" as one of the best TV episodes of the decade. Alan Sepinwall included the show in his "Best of the 00s in Comedies" list, saying: "Gilmore offered up an unconventional but enormously appealing family ... As the quippy, pop culture-quoting younger Gilmores were forced to reconnect with their repressed elders, creator Amy Sherman-Palladino got plenty of laughs and tears out of the generational divide, and out of showing the family Lorelai created for herself and her daughter in the idealized, Norman Rockwell-esque town of Stars Hollow. At its best, Gilmore Girls was pure, concentrated happiness."

In 2016, Amy Plitt of Rolling Stone reflected on the enduring appeal of Gilmore Girls, and noted that it stood out from other family shows like 7th Heaven, The OC and Everwood by being "far richer, deeper ... The characters were funny and relatable, the banter was zinger-heavy, the familial drama was poignant and the romantic chemistry ... was off the charts."

Television ratings
Viewer ratings for Gilmore Girls were not relatively large, but the numbers were a success for the smaller WB network and it became one of their flagship series. For its first season the show aired in the tough Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot dominated by Friends on NBC and Survivor on CBS. Critical acclaim encouraged the network to move it to Tuesday evenings, as part of a push to promote the series and due to the move of Tuesday stalwart Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN in the same timeslot. During season 2, ratings for Gilmore Girls surpassed Buffy and it became The WB's third-highest-rated show, with viewer numbers that grew by double digits in all major demographics. For seasons 4–7, Gilmore Girls was up against the US's top-rated show American Idol, which led to a drop in viewers, but with Season 5 it became The WB's second-most-watched prime time show. The series was often in the top 3 most-viewed shows in its timeslot for women under 35.

In its 2016 syndicated release, Gilmore Girls averaged 100,000–120,000 viewers per episode, for an annual viewership of 11 million on each of its networks. The same year, the chief content officer for Netflix, Ted Sarandos, cited Gilmore Girls as one of the streaming channel's most watched shows worldwide.

Awards and nominations
Gilmore Girls earned several accolades, but did not receive much attention from the major awarding bodies. Its only Emmy nomination was for Outstanding Makeup for a Series, for the episode "The Festival of Living Art", which it won in 2004. Michael Ausiello has attributed this to "a notorious bias against the WB". Recognition did come from the American Film Institute, who named Gilmore Girls one of the ten best shows of 2002, and the Television Critics Association (TCA) who named it Outstanding New Program of the Year in 2001. The TCA Awards also nominated the show for Outstanding Drama in 2001 and 2002, and Outstanding Comedy in 2005. The Satellite Awards nominated it for Best Series – Musical or Comedy in 2002 and 2004, while it was nominated for Favorite Television Drama at the People's Choice Awards 2005. The show was honored by the Viewers for Quality Television with a "seal of quality" in 2000. The series also achieved considerable attention from the Teen Choice Awards, where it received multiple nominations and wins including the award for Choice Comedy Series in 2005.

Lauren Graham was nominated for one Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for her work on the first and second seasons, and received five successive nominations at the Satellite Awards. The TCAs nominated her for Individual Achievement in Drama in 2002, then for Comedy in 2006. She also received a Family Television Award, and she won the Teen Choice Award for Parental Unit three times. Alexis Bledel won a Young Artist Award, two Teen Choice Awards, and a Family Television Award. She was also nominated by the Satellite Awards in 2002, as was Kelly Bishop for her supporting performance in 2002 and 2004.

Fandom and cultural impact

Gilmore Girls is considered a cult classic, with an "avid following". During the run of the show this was mostly a small but dedicated group, predominantly of females, but its audience has grown steadily since it came off the air. The series experienced a resurgence when it became available on Netflix in October 2014, introducing it to a new generation of viewers. When the revival was announced in 2015, star Lauren Graham credited it to the campaigning and persistence of the fans. At this point, according to The Washington Post, the show became "a quirky pop culture obsession". The enduring popularity of Gilmore Girls is considered to come from its comforting quality and cross-generational appeal. It is particularly known as a show that mothers and daughters watch together.

The Gilmore Girls Fan Fest has become an annual event since its inauguration in 2016. The unofficial festival takes place in Connecticut over an October weekend, and includes panels with cast and crew, themed activities, and screenings. For the 16th anniversary of the show, 200 coffee houses around the US and Canada were transformed into "Luke's Diners". For two weeks in winter 2018–19, Warner Bros. added a special feature to their studio tour that recreated the Stars Hollow set and displayed props and costumes from the series. The show has an active fandom, posting in internet forums and creating work such as fan fiction. Special Gilmore Girls trivia nights have been held at venues in multiple different cities. Gilmore Girls Quizzo. Ticketfly.

Gilmore Girls Quiz: Geeks Who Drink. Lakewood Patch. There's a Gilmore Girls quiz night coming to Liverpool. Liverpool Echo. Gilmore Girls Trivia Night. Visit Bend. Geeks Who Drink: A Gilmore Girl Quiz. Do512. Geeks Who Drink Presents Gilmore Girls Quiz. Joe Lane.
 * 'Gilmore Girls' Creators Crash Show's Trivia Night in Brooklyn . DNA Info.

The Irish Independent has commented that "Even though it preceded social media, Gilmore Girls has been internet gold for the past few years. Thanks to its snappy one-liners, it's spawned thousands of memes that have introduced the BuzzFeed generation to its coffee-swilling, cheeseburger-loving, critically-thinking characters." The show has been parodied on Mad TV and Family Guy, and featured in an episode of Six Feet Under. A cocktail bar in Brooklyn devised a menu inspired by the show. Warner Bros. has produced a range of Gilmore Girls merchandise, including T-shirts, mugs, and dolls.

Three collections of academic essays that analyze the show have been published: Gilmore Girls and the Politics of Identity (2008); Screwball Television: Critical Perspectives on Gilmore Girls (2010); and Gilmore Girls: A Cultural History (2019). In 2002, four young adult novels were published that adapted scripts from the first and second seasons into novel form, told from Rory's first-person point of view. There have also been several unofficial, fan-based guides to the series, including Coffee At Luke's: An Unauthorized Gilmore Girls Gab Fest (2007), The Gilmore Girls Companion (2010), You've Been Gilmored!: The Unofficial Encyclopedia and Complete Guide to Gilmore Girls (2020), and But I'm a Gilmore!: Stories and Experiences of Honorary Gilmore Girls: Cast, Crew, and Fans The program is also the source of a book club, in which followers aim to read all 339 books referenced on the show, and the inspiration for a cookbook called Eat Like a Gilmore.

Gilmore Girls is the basis for the successful podcast Gilmore Guys (2014–2017), which was named by Time as one of the 50 best podcasts of 2017 – the only television-based inclusion. It follows the hosts, Kevin T. Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe, as they watch every episode of the series. Sadaf Ahsan of the National Post commented that it "helped reignite – and, for some, initiate – fan fervour" towards Gilmore Girls.

At the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, Comedian and host Petra Mede offered a DVD of Season 3 of the Gilmore Girls as a bonus prize to complement the winner's trophy.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Gilmore Girls


text:
Yamanote Line

The Yamanote Line (山手線) is a loop service in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres, including Marunouchi, the Yūrakuchō/Ginza area, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and Ueno, with all but two of its 30 stations connecting to other railway or underground (subway) lines.

Internally JR East refers to the "Yamanote Line" as the quadruple-track 20.6 km corridor between Shinagawa and Tabata via Shinjuku. The corridor consists of a pair of tracks used by Yamanote local trains and another parallel pair of tracks called "the Yamanote Freight Line" used by the Saikyō and Shōnan-Shinjuku line trains, some limited express services, and freight trains. In everyday usage, branding on maps and station signage, the "Yamanote Line" refers to the local service (also called "system") running the entire 34.5 km line looping between the Yamanote corridor via Shinjuku Station and the central portions of the Tōhoku and Tōkaidō Main Lines Via Tokyo Station. (This article uses the same definition unless noted otherwise.)

Service outline
Trains run from 04:26 to 01:04 the next day at intervals as short as 2 minutes during peak periods and four minutes at other times. A complete loop takes 59 to 65 minutes. All trains stop at each station. Trains are put into and taken out of service at Ōsaki (which for timetabling purposes is the line's start and terminus) and sometimes Ikebukuro. Certain trains also start from Tamachi in the mornings and end at Shinagawa in the evenings. Trains which run clockwise are known as sotomawari (外回り) and those counter-clockwise as uchi-mawari (内回り). (Trains travel on the left in Japan, as with road traffic.)

The line also acts as a fare zone destination for JR tickets from locations outside Tokyo, permitting travel to any JR station on or within the loop. This refers to stations on the Yamanote Line as well as the Chūō-Sōbu and Chūō Rapid Lines and between Sendagaya and Ochanomizu.

The Yamanote Line colour used on all rolling stock, station signs and diagrams is JNR Yellow Green No.6 ( ■, Munsell code 7.5GY 6.5/7.8), known in Japanese as "Japanese bush warbler green" (ウグイス色).

Ridership and overcrowding
Due to the Yamanote Line's central location connecting most of Tokyo's major commuter hubs and commercial areas, the line is very heavily used. Sections of the line were running over 250% capacity in the 1990s, remained above 200% for most of the 2000s with most sections dropping below 150% in 2018. This is due to larger and more frequent trains being introduced to the Yamanote Line and the opening of parallel relief lines such as the Tokyo Metro and Ueno–Tokyo Line. The maximum overcrowding during rush hour is about 158%.

The ridership intensity of the Yamanote Line in 2018 was 1,134,963 passengers - km / km of route. The daily ridership of the Yamanote Line estimated in a 2015 MLIT National Transit census was about 4 million people per day. However, in both cases "Yamanote Line" refers to JR East's internal definition of the entire rail corridor between Shinagawa and Tabata stations via Shinjuku which includes the ridership of the Saikyō and Shōnan–Shinjuku Lines on the parallel Yamanote freight line. Meanwhile, the ridership of the Yamanote Line services between Tabata and Shinagawa Station via Tokyo are excluded and counted as part of the Tōhoku and Tōkaidō Main Lines.

Name
"Yamanote" literally refers to inland, hillier districts or foothills (as distinct from areas close to the sea). In Tokyo, "Yamanote" lies along the western side of the Yamanote Line loop. The word consists of the Japanese morphemes yama, meaning 'mountain', the genitive suffix no, and te, meaning 'hand', thus literally translating as "mountain's hand", analogous to the English term "foothills".

Yamanote-sen is officially written in Japanese without the kana no (の、ノ), which makes its pronunciation ambiguous in print. The characters 山手 may also be pronounced yamate, as in Yamate-dōri (Yamate Street), which runs parallel to the west side of the Yamanote Line. The Seishin-Yamate Line in Kobe and the Yamate area of Yokohama also use this pronunciation.

After World War II, SCAP ordered all train placards to be romanized, and the Yamanote Line was romanized as "Yamate Line". It was thus alternatively known as "Yamanote" and "Yamate" until 1971, when the Japanese National Railways changed the pronunciation back to "Yamanote". Some older people still refer to the line as the "Yamate Line".

Station list

 * Stations are listed in clockwise order from Shinagawa to Tabata, but for operational purposes trains officially start and terminate at Ōsaki.
 * Clockwise (外回り): Shinagawa → Shibuya → Shinjuku → Ikebukuro → Tabata → Ueno → Tokyo → Shinagawa
 * Counter-clockwise (内回り): Shinagawa → Tokyo → Ueno → Tabata → Ikebukuro → Shinjuku → Shibuya → Shinagawa
 * All stations are located in the special wards of Tokyo.
 * All trains on the Yamanote Line are local trains that stop at all stations.

Legend

 * ● : Trains stop
 * ｜ : Trains pass
 * ▲ : Keihin–Tōhoku Rapid trains stop only on weekends or holidays
 * ▼ : Some Shōnan–Shinjuku trains stop

Rolling stock
, the line's services are operated exclusively by a fleet of 50 11-car E235 series EMUs, the first of which was introduced on the line on 30 November 2015. However, a number of technical faults, including problems with door close indicators, resulted in the train being taken out of service the same day. The E235 series returned to service on the Yamanote Line on 7 March 2016. All Yamanote Line rolling stock are stored and maintained at 東京総合車両センター near Ōsaki Station.

Former rolling stock

Prior to the E235 series, the line's services were operated by E231-500 series EMUs, which were in use from April 21, 2002 to January 20, 2020. These trains originally each included two "six-door cars" with six pairs of doors per side and bench seats that were folded up to provide standing room only during the morning peak until 10 a.m. From February 22, 2010, the seats were no longer folded up during the morning peak, and all trains were standardized with newly built four-door cars by 31 August 2011. This was due to reduced congestion on the line as well as preparation for the installation of platform doors on all stations by 2017.

The E231 series supported a new type of traffic control system, called digital Automatic Train Control (D-ATC). The series also had a more modern design and has two 15-inch LCD monitors above each door, one of which is used for displaying silent commercials, news and weather; and another which is used for displaying information on the next stop (in Japanese, English, Korean and more) along with notification of delays on Shinkansen and other railway lines in the greater Tokyo area.

 * DeHo 6100 series (from 1909 until unknown date)
 * MoHa 10
 * 63 series
 * 72 series
 * 101 series ("Canary" yellow livery, from September 1961 until circa 1968)
 * 103 series ("Uguisu" green livery, from December 1963 until June 26, 1988)
 * 205 series (from March 25, 1985 until April 17, 2005)
 * E231-500 series (from April 21, 2002 until January 20, 2020)

History
The predecessor of the present-day Yamanote Line was opened on 1 March 1885 by the Nippon Railway Company, operating between Shinagawa Station in the south and Akabane Station in the north. The top part of the loop between Ikebukuro and Tabata (a distance of 3.3 km) opened on 1 April 1903, and both lines were merged to become the Yamanote Line on 12 October 1909.

The line was electrified on December 16, 1909, soon after the Osaki – Shinagawa section was double-tracked on November 30. The loop was completed in 1925 with the opening of the double track, electrified section between Kanda and Ueno on 1 November, providing a north–south link via Tokyo Station through the city's business centre. A parallel freight line, also completed in 1925, ran along the inner side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata.

During the prewar era, the Ministry of Railways did not issue permits to private suburban railway companies for new lines to cross the Yamanote Line from their terminal stations to the central districts of Tokyo, forcing the companies to terminate services at stations on the line. This policy led to the development of new urban centers (新都心、副都心) around major transfer points on the Yamanote Line, most notably at Shinjuku and Ikebukuro (which are now the two busiest passenger railway stations in the world).

The contemporary Yamanote Line came into being on 19 November 1956 when it was separated from the Keihin-Tōhoku Line and given its own set of tracks along the eastern side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata. However, Yamanote Line trains continued to periodically use the Keihin-Tōhoku tracks, particularly on holidays and during off-peak hours, until rapid service trains were introduced on the Keihin-Tōhoku Line in 1988.

A major explosion on the Yamanote Freight Line in Shinjuku in 1967 led to the diversion of freight traffic to the more distant Musashino Line. To address severe undercapacity, the freight line was repurposed for use by Saikyō Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line trains, as well as certain limited express trains such as the Narita Express and some liner services. Likewise, from 14 March 2015 onwards, the Ueno-Tokyo Line starts services, which connects the Tōhoku Main Line and Jōban Line to the Tōkaidō Main Line, to provide further relief on the busiest portion of the Yamanote Line today, the segment between Ueno and Tokyo stations.

Automatic train control (ATC) was introduced from 6 December 1981, and digital ATC (D-ATC) was introduced from 30 July 2006.

Station numbering was introduced on JR East stations in the Tokyo area from 20 August 2016, with Yamanote Line stations numbered using the prefix "JY".

A new station, Takanawa Gateway Station, opened on 14 March 2020. This station was built on the Yamanote Line and Keihin-Tohoku Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations, becoming the first new station on the line since Nishi-Nippori was built in 1971. The distance between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations was 2.2 km, making it the longest stretch of track between stations on the Yamanote Line. The new station was constructed on top of the 20-hectare former railyard, which is undergoing rationalization and redevelopment by JR East; it is roughly parallel to the existing Sengakuji Station on the Toei Asakusa and Keikyu Main lines. The Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line tracks were moved slightly to the east to be aligned closer to the Tokaido Shinkansen tracks. The area on the west side of the yard made available will be redeveloped with high-rise office buildings, creating an international business center with good connections to the Shinkansen and Haneda Airport.

In October 2022 JR East began performing trial runs for driverless trains on the line aimed to begin sometime in 2028. Two sets, 17 and 18, were fitted with the new system and re-entered service on the line as train crew conduct ongoing tests on their performance. Furthermore, the two sets are easy to distinguish with an “ATO” (Automatic Train Operation) sticker located on the front and sides of each set. Once ATO is fully installed, this will be the first line of JR East to feature driverless trains.

title: Yamanote Line


text:
Talk:Shape note

Need to expand scope
IMO, this article needs to be expanded to recognize that Shape Note Music is much broader than Sacred Harp. For more detailed comments see Talk:Sacred Harp. Rlvaughn 22:12, 23 Nov 2003 (UTC)

I concur with Rlvaughn. This article could describe the origins of seven-note music in more detail, rather than merely contrast the system with the four-note system. The article could also expand on the sentence: "There are other seven-shape systems" at the conclusion of "Four-shape vs. seven-shape systems" section. Finally the article could acknowledge the southern gospel tradition, a major contemporary context in which seven-shape music is sung. Silversand (talk) 22:19, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Material from musical notation
The following was added to musical notation - I (Camembert) don't think it's useful duplication, so I've removed it from there. I think everything is covered in the article, but I thought I'd put it here just in case:

 * An alternative notation sometimes used for sight-singing uses shaped notes. Standard musical notation is augmented through the use of shapes in place of the round or oval dot or circle.  The shape used depends upon the note's location on the major scale.

 * Shaped notes were used in hymnals in the late 19th century, mainly in southern Baptist congregations in the U.S. states previously part of the confederacy. Most of these congregations would sing a capella, since they could not afford a piano or organ.  Shaped notes made it easier to teach the songs to people who had no previous experience with musical notation.

 * Shaped note hymnals and sheet music are still produced today, and continue to be used by some congregations and for some gospel singing events.

Examples needed
I believe that Lilypond can be persuaded to produce Shaped Notes: is there anyone who can produce some samples so the rest of us can see what we're discussing? Phil 18:07, Dec 16, 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks for pointing out this gap, Phil. Sooner or later I would like to take on the task of music notation software; for now, at least there are links in the right places that the reader can follow.

 * Opus33 19:21, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * If you'd like, I can put out a request to some singers who probably would be capable of putting the notes directly into the Wikipedia article. - Rlvaughn 21:58, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Improvements needed
Ok, gang, sorry for the dup. However, there is still work to do.

First of all, it is called both "shaped note" and "shape note," and anyone who has spent any amount of time in the rural south can tell you that the word "shaped" and the word "shape" though appearing to be different in written English, are pronounced exactly the same. This complicates word choice in writing an article about what is fundamentally an oral tradition.

Second, the article must make clear that the notation system is an adjunct to the standard five line staff. At least, I've never seen any shaped notes written without a staff. Therefore, people who read music in the usual way can just ignore the shapes and still get the equivalent information content from the position of the note on the staff, and the key signature.

Third, although the method of teaching and the notational convention are almost inseperable, shaped notes are really a system of notation rather than a method or style of singing.

I have also made comments at musical notation regarding linking.

If someone wants to make these updates, great, I will do so boldly in a while if no one else does. UninvitedCompany 22:04, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * 1. I don't think there has ever been a really consistent name or spelling, varying from shaped note, shaped-note, shape note, shape-note, etc. IMO, "shaped" note is more accurate because we are talking about a "shaped" note head; but "shape" note is simpler, because, as you noted, it all sounds that way in conversation anyway.

 * 2. This a good point that needs to be made. There was an attempt, by Andrew Law, I think, to just use the shaped notes independently of the staff, but it never caught on. I have a Welsh hymn book that has a system of solfeggio "notation" (but not shaped notes) that is independent of the staff, but I suppose that has no bearing on this article. I have often wondered why anyone would ever object to shaped notes, because, as you say, a person can just ignore the shape and still get the same information as they would if all the notes were round. But that's a different subject.

 * 3. Though technically shaped notes are ONLY a system of notation, in actual practice they are very much associated with particular styles of singing. Sacred Harp, for example, (though the music certainly could be sung if written in round notes) would not exist without shaped notes. IMO, there are styles that can be correctly referred to as shape note traditions. - Rlvaughn 22:52, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Request for redirect
Is this the wikipedia equivalent to the Britannica entry? If so please create a redirect from shape-note hymnal

Thanks, lots of issues | leave me a message 00:57, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC), the EB 2004 project

 * Done. Opus33 14:58, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

List of shape-note tunebooks
I am creating a list of four-shape shape-note tunebooks as an organizational tool for finding and linking to articles about such books. I would appreciate any thoughts or comments. A list for seven-shape books might be good as well. - Rlvaughn 19:32, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * I decided to make it for both seven and four shape. Comments still wanted. - Rlvaughn 19:39, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Hello RLV, I think this is a great idea. I have added a chronological sort, a prefatory passage, and a couple little additions. Opus33 15:30, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Opus, I like the additions and changes. Thanks for adding the date on Northern Harmony. I didn't have it at hand, and couldn't seem to find it easily online. I especially like the chronological ordering. I usually have "alphabetical on the brain", but chronological is much better for this list. - Rlvaughn 23:51, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Add Smithsonian link?
Hello! I am a writer for the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Education and Museum Studies, which publishes Smithsonian in Your Classroom, a magazine for teachers. An online version of an issue titled "A Shape-Note Singing Lesson" is available for free download at this address:

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/shapenote.pdf

If you think your audience would find this valuable, I wish to invite you to include it as an External Link. We would be most grateful.

Thank you so much for your attention.

160.111.254.11 21:25, 10 April 2006 (UTC) Smithsonian Institution Center for Education and Museum Studies

 * I've put in a link. Thanks for pointing this out.  Opus33 14:45, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

currently active shape note traditions
This section contains the following claim:

"The shape note tradition that currently has the greatest number of participants is Sacred Harp music."

Does anyone have a source for this? I would bet that right now most shape note music is 7-shape sung in churches.

amity150

 * Oops. I was the one who put that in.  In fact, I have no idea what is the relative number of participants for singings vs. church services.  Has anyone ever tried to count them?  I would judge that unless good data are available on this point, we should probably just say nothing.

 * It's certainly true that Sacred Harp dominates at singings, but that's not what's at issue here.

 * I'll try to fix this next time I edit, if no one else does first. Thanks for spotting this, Amity.

 * Opus33 21:55, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I went and rewrote it, but not too satisfactorily, so please help out. I was hoping there would be some entries that would help to illustrate some of this, but alas, we are going to have to write other webpages, which really should be done anyway! Let's all work on new sections to this article, with the hopeful aim of having it promoted to "featured article" one day soon. I think it would be great to have a section on the Sacred Harp Diaspora, to use Kiri Miller's term, and we also need to work on the entry on singing schools to describe how all this is learned. Amity150 22:57, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I think perhaps we should step back and think about this before making more changes, or perhaps leave it out altogether. We have gone from "The shape note tradition that currently has the greatest number of participants is Sacred Harp music" to "Thus today denominational songbooks printed in seven shapes probably constitute the largest branch of the shape note tradition", both of which are probably guesses at best.

 * First we need to define what we mean by a shape note tradition. For example, if this is simply four-shape versus seven-shape, I would have little doubt that seven-shape is larger -- it encompasses the Primitive Baptist and Church of Christ song books, Stamps-Baxter song books, both used in church and singing conventions, the Christian Harmony, New Harp of Columbia, Harmonia Sacra, etc. So if we talking simple use of one or the other, I think seven-shape. On the other hand, I don't think we see enough unity there to call it a "shape note tradition". Stamps-Baxter song books constitute almost a totally different genre than say, "The Good Old Songs" by Primitive Baptist C. H. Cayce, where Sacred Harp is a more or less unified tradition. Again we get into a definitional problem with saying "denominational songbooks". Do we intend to include, for example, Favorite Songs and Hymns and/or Heavenly Highway Hymns, which seem to be favorites among rural Missionary Baptists in East Texas and elsewhere? Yet they clearly aren't "denominational songbooks". These are just some problems I see in trying to formulate a statement for which there is little documentation and possibly not even a clear definition. Perhaps an in-depth discussion of this would be in order before we make further changes?? - Rlvaughn 03:23, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

While we looking at this block, is there something we can use rather than "Singings are also intermittently held which feature more modern seven-shape gospel music..." Although intermittently can mean "stopping and starting at regular intervals", I think with many people it will have a connotation of "off & on, not at regular intervals". Stamps-Baxter conventions usually meet annually or some other regular basis, just like Sacred Harp, et al. This might be taken in the wrong way, IMO. - Rlvaughn 03:41, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I thought "intermittently" was the case, and meant it exactly in the sense you understood it: Not on a regularly scheduled basis. I took Missionary Baptists out of the list. Make whatever other changes are appropriate. I would love to see this article get longer and more detailed though.Amity150 04:06, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

"choral"
My next question is on the use of the term "choral" to describe shape note traditions (first sentence). Is this a proper use of a musical term that I am not musically savvy enough to truly understand, or does it imply that shape note singing is a performance art, and if the latter then should the congregational nature of shape note singing be elaborated on somewhere in here? I'll admit I have infrequently seen impromptu "choruses" thrown together for "demonstration singings" but it has never been the historical norm, has it?

Well, it is some weeks later now, and still not having received an answer I went ahead and changed every appearance of the word "choral." Following the link created by the term choral showed that little/ nothing in the article pertained to shape note music. Sorry I didn't know how to sign my first post...now I do. Amity150 07:52, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Do shapes help if you already read music?
I learned to read music and sang in church choirs long before I got into shape note music and the shapes definitely help me. I miss them sometimes in choir practice. That is why I weakened the comments about this from "probably" to "may". In any case, "probably" needs justification (survey or something like that). wellsoberlin 15:46, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

 * (belated reply): Thanks, Wellsoberlin; I think what you've done is more accurate. Opus33 (talk) 19:11, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Modulation
I put in a little bit about modulation, under the theory that some reader might reasonably wonder, "if the shapes match the scale of a particular key, what happens when you change keys?"

I'm pretty certain that Sacred Harp music almost never modulates If anyone can contribute on this point concerning other shape note traditions that would be very helpful. Opus33 (talk) 19:11, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

 * In seven-shaped notes the shape does not match any particular key. This is the "Movable DO" system as it is sometimes called. Whatever your key signature, that is your "DO". --Dshepherd70 (talk) 16:57, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

 * Hello, the article already says this - take a look. The question I raised is what happens in the notation when the music changes key (if it ever does).  Opus33 (talk) 15:31, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

 * Simple, the shaped notes move accordingly. The key change should be marked, though, as I assume it is with non-shaped. Arlen22 (talk) 20:38, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Modulation II
Hello Nuberger. Excuse me, but your revert didn't make any sense to me. You said I didn't have a reference source, but the source is right there, cited, namely the book by Dorothy Horn. It covers not just Sacred Harp but other shape note traditions.

I'd be willing to stop restoring this section if you can find a published source that indicates that modulation is found as a normal component of other shape note traditions. Sincerely, Opus33 (talk) 17:14, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Definition of article title and division with Sacred Harp don't seem right
I'm trying to start a centralized discussion of this at Talk:Sacred Harp. Please contribute there if you think you can help address the holes in our article-naming and subject-dividing logic. I don't think I know enough to undertake a redivision on my own. Wareh (talk) 20:41, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

What does "United Pentecostal" refer to?
There is a large USA denomination called "United Pentecostal" as well as a couple of small ones elsewhere. There are many pentecostal churches in the USA that may sing 7 shape music that are not in that denomination. This needs to be clarified. SixWingedSeraph (talk) 21:32, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

Music vs Book vs Notation
Cross-post from Talk:Sacred Harp

One of the most confusing thing for readers and writers about Sacred Harp music is that the terms "Sacred Harp" and "shape note" refer to several different, overlapping things:
 * The style of notation
 * The book, The Sacred Harp
 * That special kind of music associated with both of the above (and the living tradition in which it is situated)

The two main articles on the topics, Sacred Harp and Shape Note, have a lot of overlap: more than I can resolve right now and more than probably should be resolved unilaterally. The existing first sentences of the articles, though (which for the reader are going to define what subjects of the articles are, whatever we think), do set out two clear and distinct, if overlapping, focuses:

 * Shape note: "Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing."
 * Sacred Harp: "Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music … "

Wareh suggested years ago on the Shape note article that the logic of the article-naming and subject-dividing leave something to be desired, but until someone figures out a better solution, I've revised the beginning of Sacred Harp to make the de facto division clear, and I'm cross-referencing the articles to each other.

19:11, 26 April 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Liberalartist (talk • contribs)

New sidebar + Please discuss organization
For reasons I've explained more fully at Talk:Sacred Harp, I've added a sidebar to this page.

There are some big issues about the overall organization of Wikipedia's coverage of this subject matter and how to organize it into various articles. I think it's really important for editors involved in this group of articles to discuss the subject and come to a consensus, because the current state of affairs can be very confusing in some respects. Various people have occasionally brought these problems up on various talk pages, but I'm hoping everyone might congregate at the talk section above and figure out some solutions to disentangling these interrelated topics and organizing them into a sensible group of articles.

LiberalArtist (talk) 02:29, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:Shape note