I recently finished watching Gilmore Girls. I don’t remember exactly when I began it, but I believe it was somewhere in my Sophomore year…and I finished it as a Senior. With 7 seasons, and around 22 episodes per season, that amounts to a total of 153 episodes. With every episode being around 45 minutes long, that’s apparently over 115 hours spent with Rory and Lorelai in the quaint town of Stars Hollow. I didn’t watch Gilmore Girls on a regular basis, instead turning my attention to other shows that I picked up along the way or took long breaks where I watched movies instead or just didn’t really watch TV at all. So, in a nutshell, I watched at an incredibly leisurely pace. So if you start this show, it may or may not take you two years, depending on your pace. But either way, it is a lot to commit to, so I’ll give you some reasons as to why you may or may not want to start Gilmore Girls.

One of my favorite things about Gilmore Girls is the setting. Stars Hollow is an adorable setting filled with small town New England charm. With this also comes a whole host of unique characters. From Miss Patty and Kirk, to Taylor Doose and Luke, every character is uniquely memorable and adds to the show in such a big way. You’ll also be sucked into the various relationships that Rory and Lorelai cultivate, romanticly and platonically.

I would say one of the biggest downsides to Gilmore Girls is simply just the later seasons. By season 7, and even at points in seasons 5 and 6, the writing definitely goes downhill. The plots in the episodes are less creative and many characters, mainly Rory and Lorelai, make really bad decisions and act in ways that are really annoying. There really is a clear change between the early seasons and the later seasons. I mean, you can’t really blame the writers because they were making 153 episodes; anyone is bound to run out of ideas eventually.

I can offer a compromise, however, if you want to try out Gilmore Girls, but don’t feel like acknowledging the existence of the terrible, later seasons. It’s argued that a good place to stop would be season three, as this is arguably one of the best seasons and also a good, natural stopping point, however this doesn’t allow you to see the results of certain relationships and where they are headed. No matter what, Gilmore Girls will always be a classic, and if you haven’t seen it, I do think you should give it a try.