The picturesque Stars Hollow, the hometown of the titular Gilmore girls, seems like a fairly nice place to live. There's a sense of community: the residents all know one another, help each other out when needed, and participate in Stars Hollow's quirky events. Looks may be deceiving, though, as there are also many things about the Stars Hollow residents that wouldn't be acceptable these days.
Gilmore Girls is a show that screams the early 2000s - both in a good and in a bad way. The generally likable townspeople could get away with some of their problematic rules and convictions back then, but some of their behavior didn't age that well. The show's 2016 revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, brought the audience up to date with the Stars Hollow residents and showed that not much has changed in the beloved town since they first got to know it.
Adults Condemn Teenagers As If They Were Fellow Adults
Gilmore Girls did a great job at portraying the banes of teenage years, except for one glaring issue: adults often treated teenagers like fellow adults - and not in a good way. After Dean and Rory broke up, for example, the entire town shunned Dean. Worse yet, Lorelai even yelled at him and called him "scum". Regardless of what happened between them, the town should've kept in mind that Dean was only 16 years old.
Similarly, the Stars Hollow residents completely rejected Jess. They even organized a town meeting about him. While Jess was without a doubt a problematic teen, adults should've known better than to judge him so blatantly and plan to get rid of him.
Miss Patty's Smoking During Ballet Lessons
Miss Patty is one of the most charismatic residents of Stars Hollow. She owns a dance studio where she teaches children and adults how to dance. While her youngest students are practicing, she is often seen smoking cigarettes.
While smoking is part of Patty's overall artistic aesthetic, it certainly isn't something that parents would find acceptable in this day and age. Especially if the students in question are children!
Luke's 'No Cell Phones' Sign
In many ways, Luke Danes was ahead of his time. He was well aware of the negative effects of too much coffee and junk food. And more importantly, he thought that cell phones were not good news and that they would eventually take over the world.
Despite his rigid 'no cell phones' rule, Luke's diner was a hit among many Stars Hollow residents. Unfortunately for Luke, cell phones have since become smartphones and people are more attached to them than they were in the early 2000s. His aversion to phone usage continued in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life when he deliberately gave the wrong Wi-Fi s to his customers so they'd leave as soon as possible.
One Income Could Get Residents A Big House
The housing market is definitely not the same today as it was in the early 2000s. Even back then, it's highly unrealistic that Lorelai, a single mother, could afford her two-story house while eating out all the time. Similarly, Dean worked in construction in season 4 and planned on buying a townhouse for Lindsay and him in the near future.
The finances in Stars Hollow were harshly criticized since Gilmore Girls first aired. As far as economics are concerned, the show is just getting more and more ridiculous to watch as years roll by.
Miss Patty Eavesdropped On Other People's Conversations
Miss Patty and Babette always seem to find out everything first and have the status of the town's biggest gossipers. In the fourth season finale, Babette told Luke that Miss Patty's telephone often picks up other people's conversations: that's how they learned all the details about Lorelai's relationship with Jason.
Even Luke, who otherwise had a low tolerance for gossiping and a lack of privacy, didn't seem to mind this problematic fact. While telltales still exist today, there is no way people would let such a breach of privacy go unnoticed.
There Can Only Be One Town Troubadour
In the season 1 finale, the Town Troubadour found out that he was no longer the sole singer in town. He instantly saw the other performer as competition and wanted the residents of Stars Hollow to take his side and ice the newcomer out.
Since people generally didn't like changes and strangers, they happily agreed to a motion that officially declared the "mystique guy" the one and only Town Troubadour, thus banishing the "usurper". The troubadour showed just how little solidarity he had for fellow artists, which is something that the contemporary audience finds hard to tolerate.
Kirk Had A New Job Every Week
One of the strangest things about Kirk is that he had a different job nearly every time he made appearances. He worked in the beauty shop, the video rental store, and Doose's market. Among many other things, he was also a termite and mold inspector, delivery man, and event planner. To be fair, he proved himself to accidentally be quite a talented wedding decorator in A Year in the Life. Lorelai texted him, saying that his work was perfect.
Kirk's multiple jobs are never supposed to come across as realistic: it's proof that the writers of Gilmore Girls don't take the show too seriously. As years go by, his career becomes even less believable as the job market is getting more and more competitive every year.
Miss Patty's Predatory Comments
Miss Patty never missed out on an opportunity to let a man know that she thought he was attractive - even if the man in question was a teenage boy, such as Dean. In season 3, Dean was walking down the street when Miss Patty commented: "Dean-o, you grow any taller, I'm going to have to get myself some mountain-climbing equipment."
Dean told her that she's getting dangerous to even walk near, which Miss Patty took as a compliment. In another episode, Luke told her to stop imagining him in tights, to which she replied that it's a free country. She made male characters feel uncomfortable and seemed to have derived pleasure from it. Her comments served as comic relief, but two decades later, nobody is laughing anymore. In the revival, Lorelai actually told Miss Patty and Babette off for sweet-talking a young man, so at least some Stars Hollow residents kept up with the times.
Taylor Doose's Authority
Taylor Doose is among the least likable ing Gilmore Girls characters and residents of Stars Hollow, but people still let him do all the decision-making when it came to town matters. A self-important bureaucrat, he was on several town committees and was always on the lookout to make a complaint.
Taylor Doose made Luke's life a living hell on several occasions, tried to stymie Lorelai's plans with the Dragonfly Inn, and made Rory the face of his soda shop. Time and time again, he abused his power, yet the residents let him get away with it. In A Year in the Life, he was still running the town matters, while the residents complained about his never-ending micro-managing. However, they all went along with it.
The Residents' Special Treatment Of Rory
Since Stars Hollow had its own high school, it's safe to say that Rory wasn't the only teenage girl in town. While it's understandable that the Gilmores thought that Rory was special since she was on a steady path to save their family's reputation after Lorelai had tarnished it, it makes no sense that the whole town put her on a pedestal as well.
The dark side of this priority treatment is that Rory had almost no privacy. Her romantic affairs were always the talk of the town. It's hard to imagine an entire town being so invested in one girl's life nowadays. Not only is it inappropriate, but it's also damaging for a teenager's emerging self-image.