11 TV Shows to Watch If Gilmore Girls Is Your Reason For Living

You know how Gilmore Girls pulls off that extratough balance of being wholesome while still being real and relatable? One of the shows from the past decade that also does that is Friday Night Lights. While it does revolve around a subject Rory and Lorelai may have zero interest in (football), this show is really about family dynamics, on and off the field. Plus, Tami Taylor is a woman the Gilmores would worship.

I know you might be thinking that Parenthood is on this list because Lauren Graham is also in it, and sure, that's one of the reasons (if she's your favorite part of Gilmore Girls, why have you not watched it yet?). But honestly, the functionally dysfunctional, funny, and loving Braverman family should be next on your list to visit when you need a Gilmore fix.

OK, yes, another Gilmore star (Milo Ventimiglia) is on this show, and again, not totally the reason this show makes the list (but again, come on, Team Jess fans, what are you waiting for?). This time Ventimiglia is the patriarch of a young, beautiful blended family, and even though This Is Us is new, the tone — funny, warm, and genuine — is already very close to Gilmore Girls.

Lorelai and Rory are the be-all, end-all TV mother and daughter, and Keith and Veronica are the be-all, end-all TV father and daughter. They're best friends, into the same stuff, and they actually solve crimes (which you know Rory and Lorelai could do if they put their minds to it). Veronica Mars is also a similar pop-culture-reference treasure trove the way Gilmore Girls is too.

If your favorite years of Gilmore Girls came when Rory went off to college, this early 2000s-era series is for you. Brilliant but shy Felicity (Keri Russell) heads to the East Coast to go to school, and her boy, school, and roommate dramas are affectionately depicted.

Here's another college-set series for you if Rory's years at Yale were some of your favorites. Only this one is heavier on the comedy, so steer here if you want something a bit lighter (but still want plenty of juicy drama).

Rory and Lorelai, Angela and Patty are not. But this short-lived cult classic sensitively portrays another kind of mother-daughter relationship: the contentious, but like the Gilmores, still very loving. If you've never seen this show, make the very easy commitment (it's only one season) now.

A vintage '90s show by now, this one is worth revisiting for Gilmore Girls fans. The Salinger family leans on each other after they're orphaned, and young, oldest brother Charlie (Matthew Fox) is thrust into the father role, and totally has a Lorelai/cool young parent thing going on.

This gone-too-soon CW series has a similar sense of heart as Gilmore Girls, plus a young mother-and-daughter duo (played by Shiri Appleby and Britt Robertson), but with a twist: they're reunited after the daughter, Lux, was adopted as a baby.

After she departed Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino went on to create this ballet-themed series, which also stars Emily Gilmore herself, Kelly Bishop. It has the same stamp that ASP left on the first six seasons of Gilmore Girls, only, you know, more dancing.

And now for something completely different: political series The West Wing. But seriously, Aaron Sorkin and Amy Sherman-Palladino must be some kind of fast-talking soulmates — or at least, their characters are.