For a show that began when the seniors were only 1 or 2-years-old, Gilmore Girls has a surprisingly large fanbase within the St. Paul Academy and Summit School community. The new Netflix spin-off Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life which premiered on Netflix on Nov. 25, and many students took the day to watch the 4-part, 6 hour series.

Watching the original seasons was a family affair for both junior Dorienne Hoven and senior Macy Blanchard.

Blanchard started watching Gilmore Girls early, following in the footsteps of her older sisters.

“I don’t remember exactly when I started watching it because my older sisters started watching it first, so probably in Kindergarten. They would turn it on every day after school because it was always on ABC Family at 4:00,” Blanchard said.

Following the tradition, watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was the perfect activity for Blanchard to spend time with her sisters and mom. As dedicated fans, Blanchard and her family set aside a whole day for watching. “My sisters, my mom, and I knew it would be released on Netflix at 2 a.m, so we decided to plan on starting to watch at 8 a.m. and we watched all four new seasons [themed episodes] of it which was a total of six hours,” Blanchard said.

Hoven began watching Gilmore Girls with her mom, growing closer to her through the time they spent together watching.

“I originally started watching [Gilmore Girls] with my mom in 2013, which was cool because it was kind of a bonding experience for us as we watched Rory and Lorelei go through all the high school things around the same time I was,” Hoven said.

Although she watched the original with her mom, Hoven got together with friends to watch the new episodes.

“For the revival, I got together with friends and we got all the classic Gilmore food – they’re crazy eaters – and watched the first and last episodes of [Gilmore Girls] and then powered through all the revival episodes,” Hoven said.

Hoven’s reaction to Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was positive and full of emotion.

“Boy was it emotional; I cried and teared up multiple times. It was great seeing all the characters I love again and a little aggravating to see some (Logan). It was really great watching it with friends and feeling all the feels together,” Hoven said.

Both the seven original seasons and the new series are available on Netflix.

https://youtu.be/kGGNNSmGDpU