Gilmore Girls Workout

If you want to be like the Gilmore Girls, this workout (and working out in general) might not be for you. But if you’re wanting to burn a few calories to balance out the calories from your Gilmore-esque takeout, turn on an episode of Gilmore Girls and try this workout. 

Disclaimer: While I am a licensed physical therapy provider, I am not a personal trainer or a medical practitioner. Partner as necessary with your doctor prior to engaging in any diet or excise programs. If any of these exercises cause increased pain, stop the exercise immediately.

• Theme Song - Shoulder Circles
• Someone drinks coffee - Shoulder CARS 10 reps 
• Someone visits Luke's diner - Calf Raises 10 reps 
• Friday night dinner scene begins - Towel Neck Extension 10 reps 
• Rory appears, reading a book - Supermans 10 reps 
• Lorelai talks about junk food - 90/90 Get Up 10 reps 
• Emily says something snarky - Prone Elbow Raise 10 reps 
• Town meeting scene begins - Toe Raises 10 reps 
• Lane talks about music or church - Push-Ups 15 reps
• A troubadour sings a song - Bicep Curls 10 reps

***Exercises updated January 2024 to account for what I've learned practicing physical therapy. This workout is intended to work without any equipment, but feel free to add small dumbbells or bands as you're safely able.

Before They Were a Community

True story: I was inspired to go back to school while watching Community with my wife. Fortunately/unfortunately, my education wasn’t as easy as one at Greendale. But what matters is where it got me. We’ve come a long way, me and Community. Now it doesn’t matter what I’m watching, if I see a Community actor, my eyes light up. Here are just some of my favorites from before they became Greendale Human Beings. 

Jim Rash (Dean Craig Pelton) - Friends

I swear he could have been the same character in Friends. During a Friends rewatch (which happens constantly in our home), he could be seen as Rachel’s plane-mate in the series finale. One mention of Phoebe’s “feelings” and this nervous passenger was out the door. In a way, he was the hero of Ross and Rachel’s love story (even though I don’t like them together); if he hadn’t freaked out Ross might not have made it to the plane on time. It’s just a good thing no one asked him about spare phalanges at Greendale.

Joel McHale (Jeff Winger) - Spider-Man 2

As they hit Netflix recently, my wife and I just watched the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy (worth watching, especially after his appearance in No Way Home). I knew it was coming, but I was still smiling to see Joel McHale as a banker in the movie. He was a bit of a sleazeball, attempting to pocket some of the bank’s cash during the attack, until Aunt May hit him. Could have been Jeff in a pre-lawyer life.

Danny Pudi (Abed Nadir) - Gilmore Girls 

Another constantly running staple in our home, we’ve always got a run of Gilmore Girls going. The first time I watched it with my wife (she’d seen it countless times by then) I was surprised to see Abed running around the Yale newspaper with Rory Gilmore. He was part of the uncomfortable episode where Lorelei and Christopher took the newspaper staff out for dinner… despite the protests. Awkward.

Alison Brie (Annie Edison) - Hannah Montana 

Once Disney Plus came out, we immediately started watching Disney Channel series, including Hannah Montana. I was surprised to see Alison Brie, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. I’m sure more actors than I realize had appearances on Disney Channel before their break. She only appeared in one episode (as part of a scheme against Jackson), but there she was.

Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley Bennett) - That’s So Raven

Another Human Being with a history in teen dramas. She appeared in That’s So Raven and iCarly in nameless roles. But the lack of name didn’t stop the sass, as she acted as the bouncer, keeping Raven and Chelsea from tracking down their latest pop star obsession. Enter Disney Channel shenanigans.

Ken Jeong (Ben Chang) - The Office

Before he was a deranged former Spanish teacher (and after he was a medical doctor), we got to see Ken Jeong as one of the other students in Michael’s improv class. He was one of Michael’s “gunshot” victims in his ridiculous production. Back in 2020 he was a guest on the “Office Ladies” podcast, discussing his breakout role. 

It was hard to narrow down the Community cast for this blog post. I could have included Leonard being in The Pagemaster or Magnitude attending Hogwarts as Lee Jordan. But I’ll leave it with these six. And of course, whenever Gillian Jacobs appears in anything, we have only one reaction:

Emily Gilmore's Motherhood Moments

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I wanted to spotlight an example of less-than-perfect parenting. Emily Gilmore may be the absolute worst at times, but she does have her moments as a mother and grandmother. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Rory’s Dance

While Rory is off at a Chilton dance with Dean, Lorelei struggles with an injured back. Despite her protests, Emily comes to Stars Hollow for last minute dance prep. And despite more protests, Emily sticks around to take care of an injured Lorelei. Sure, the following morning wasn’t a great moment between the two of them, but for that one night we got to see Emily in a loving mother role.

Lorelei’s Graduation Day

She was against her parents attending her business school graduation, but Rory knew better and invited Lorelei’s parents anyway. Emily went way over the top with corsages and cameras, but she meant well. And it was surprisingly well received by Lorelei. In the end, she was grateful for her parents’ attendance. Especially since Rory was absent… but her mistakes are a post for another time.

Defending Against Richard

When her husband goes up against his former partner Jason (Lorelei’s boyfriend) leaving him in the deep end of the business world, Emily actually stands up for Jason. Not for his sake, but because she doesn’t want to lose Lorelei as a result. It’s a little bit selfish on her part I suppose, but the genuine fear of losing her daughter again is striking. 

Buying Lorelei a House

Despite their misgivings about Luke in the beginning, Lorelei’s parents eventually realized how happy he made her and how permanent this relationship seemed to be. So to show their support, they planned on a house as a wedding present. While showing this amazing gift to Lorelei, Emily discovered the troubles she was having with Luke. In the aftermath of Lorelei’s breakdown, it was beautiful to see Emily sitting with her.

During Lorelei’s Divorce

As Lorelei was going through her divorce from Christopher, Emily had a wonderful moment of mothering. Nothing could take the sting out of Lorelei’s divorce, but Emily reminded her daughter of her strengths. She was independent and strong for years without a man. And her mother knew that. She may not have given many pep talks in her mothering career, but her canoe speech is pretty great.

The Gilmore Girls Road Tripping

The series was nearly at an end when Lorelei and Rory planned a trip to attend Mia’s wedding. With Emily tagging along, it could have been incredibly awkward–kinda was at some points. But despite the awkward moments, it gave Emily a chance to see deep inside Lorelei and Rory’s experiences and to spend some genuine bonding time with her girls.

Investing in Lorelei’s Inn

As the series wrapped up, Emily insisted on investing in the Dragonfly Inn. Build a spa? A tennis court? Anything to be financially involved in the Inn. At first it seemed like a way to meddle in Lorelei’s life, but during the final scenes, it became obvious that Emily was just scared. No more Rory. No more financial obligations for school. Would she lose her daughter again? No. Instead of making it a deal or an obligation, Lorelei just simply told her mother “why don't we just talk about it Friday night at dinner?”

She wasn’t the perfect mother. Far from it. But she genuinely cared about her girls. She expressed it in all the wrong ways at times. But don’t we all? So happy Mother’s Day to all the moms. Especially the imperfect ones.

WOMANCES!

Last week we celebrated brothers from another mother. This week, we celebrate sisters from another mister! Valentine's Day is about so much more than romantic love. Because let's face it, the platonic love between two women can sometimes be so much stronger than all that lovey dovey romance. Now put your hands up as we celebrate all the single ladies with a list of the top 10 favorite WOMANCES! (To see our list of our favorite BROMANCES, see this link.)

10. Leslie & Ann, Parks and Recreation
These two ladies have such different personality types, and somehow Ann isn't totally annoyed by Leslie's antics, and Leslie isn't turned off by Ann's blandness. Instead, they stand up for each other and level each other out. What a reason to celebrate Galentine's Day!

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9. Laverne & Shirley, Laverne & Shirley

One is a schlemiel and the other is a schlimazel. But together, they make the best Hasenpfeffer. Friends through thick and thin, Laverne and Shirley are doin' it their way!

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8. Lorelai & Sookie, Gilmore Girls

Sookie: "You think we'll still be friends when we're dead?" Lorelai: "I will if you will." 'Nuff said.

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7. Romy & Michele, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

Of all the so-called "chick flicks" out there, Romy and Michele is definitely the most fun. If I were to give a high school reunion award for BFFs for life, it would go to Romy White and Michele Weinberger (as long as they synchronized their dance moves)!

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6. Thelma & Louise, Thelma & Louise

Thelma and Louise invented the selfie, and they were literally friends until death.

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5. Jess & Cece, New Girl

They remained friends through every adorkable one-liner and relationship merry-go-round. Plus, Cece wears a hideous ribbon hat, just to make Jess happy, so those are some automatic BFF points!

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4. Lucy & Ethel, I Love Lucy

The original gal pals, Lucy and Ethel are the epitome of best friends! These girls help each other out of jam after jam, and they always have the other's back. There is no doubt that either one would hide a body for the other.

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3. Lily & Robin, How I Met Your Mother

"Robin Scherbatsky is many things: friend, confidant, occasional guest star in some confusing dreams that remind me a woman's sexuality is a moving target." — Lily Aldrin

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2. Rachel & Monica, Friends

Friends even before Rachel had rhinoplasty and Monica lost all that weight, these Friends are only rivaled by Chandler and Joey. Yes, we love Phoebe, but Rachel and Monica are the ones who'll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour).

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1. Dorothy & Blanche & Rose & Sophia, Golden Girls

These ladies are the classiest, bestest gal pals there could be! These girls are the golden example of friendship: they are supportive when needed, they are real and honest at all times, and they love each other deeply. But most importantly, they know how to share a good cheesecake.

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Happy Valentine's Day, whether you are single or not. Let's remember those unbreakable bonds between girlfriends (that's friends who are girls, thankyouverymuch). Indeed, to all our golden cronies on this Galentine's Day, thank you for being a friend! (To see a list of our favorite BROMANCES, see this link.)

Before They Were Heroes (and Heroes Reborn)

I'm finishing up with my re-watch of LOST and it's making me nostalgic for shows I watched back in the day. One of those shows is Heroes and I swear I still see those actors showing up every once in a while (like Mohinder showing up in The Flash this year). But for now I want to flashback to before Heroes (and its sequel, Heroes Reborn) aired and to what some of our heroes were up to before they were heroes.

Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli) - Gilmore Girls
Long before he was Jack on This Is Us, he was Peter on Heroes. Before he was Peter, he was Jess on Gilmore Girls. When my wife had me watch Gilmore Girls, I absolutely hated Jess. That being said, his character development is one of the most intriguing. He's actually one of my favorite characters from A Year in the Life because his development seemed so natural and flawless. Just goes to show how great of an actor Milo is.

Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet) - Cow Belles
Before he was the senator on The Office or the mysterious company man on Heroes, he was on a Disney Channel movie: Cowbelles. My wife stumbled across this appearance when we were binging Disney Channel movies. He's definitely got the loving dad character down.

Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet) - Remember the Titans
"Save the cheerleader, save the world." It's the catch phrase that got us hooked on Heroes, right? But before Claire was a cheerleader, she was an avid football fan. You may or may not have recognized her though, because of how young she was, but she was Coach Yoast's little girl Sheryl. We love this movie in our house, so it makes it even better than she was in it.

Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura) - Scrubs
Besides being a master of time and space, Hiro (in another life) was a lab tech at Sacred Heart Hospital. On Scrubs Masi played the snarky (often manipulated) lab tech that plays a recurring role throughout the adventures of JD and his colleagues. It was kind of a small role, but it was very different from Hiro, which made me happy for some reason.

Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman) - LOST
So as I was starting to watch Heroes, I'd barely started watching LOST. So two shows in a row I had Greg Grunberg showing up as a pretty important character. He was the pilot Captain Norris on LOST (plane wouldn't have crashed without him) and the he was the mind-reading cop Matt Parkman when he started appearing on Heroes. Loved his character!

Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli) - Friends
She does such a great job playing angry, pretentious rich ladies. She was on How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, Heroes, and Friends. Every time she was stuck up and I loved it. I chose to single out her appearances on Friends because she played Paul Rudd's mom and I absolutely love Mike Hannigan on Friends. Also she was great being drugged up at Mike and Phoebe's the wedding.

Zachary Levi (Luke Collins) - Tangled
He didn't appear in the original series, but in the reboot/miniseries he appeared as a new hero. Though at first he was a bounty hunter for powered individuals. That's what a change from where we've seen him before. Previously he'd played one of Thor's comrades in The Dark World and Ragnarok. However, my favorite he's been in: Tangled. Who doesn't love Flynn Rider? Disney prince and superhero (twice over if you count Shazam). If you ever get a chance to see his panel at a Comic Con, do it. You won't regret it.

Robbie Kay (Tommy Clark) - Once Upon a Time
Another newcomer for Heroes Reborn. Although he played one of the twin heroes here, he was one of my favorite villains on Once Upon a Time. He played Peter Pan and wow he's menacing. I had my critiques of the Neverland arc of Once Upon a Time, but Robbie's portrayal of Peter Pan was the best part of that storyline.

Who were your favorite actors on Heroes? Writing this post has definitely made me want to pull out my Heroes DVDs and start binging it again. If you like Heroes, don't forget to check out the post Ryan did about the series.

Before They Were Heroes: Arrowverse

As of the Legends finale last week, the Arrowverse has officially closed down for the year (also a new "Arrowverse" series, Stargirl, started last month, but that's a story for another time). The pandemic meant that some seasons got cut short, but there are worse things--Also we got the news of the surprise departure of Ruby Rose as Batwoman. In honor of the finales, I wanted to spotlight some of the leading actors and actresses and movies they were in before they were superheroes. My wife and I love picking up obscure appearances of our favorite actors appearing in “older” shows (like “Abed Nadir” appearing in Gilmore Girls). So I’m going to start with the main stars from the Arrowverse shows.

Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen/Green Arrow) - Heartland

Before he was the playboy Oliver Queen, Stephen Amell appeared repeatedly on one of my wife’s favorite cheesy Canadian cowboy shows. Since Stephen Amell is Canadian I wasn’t too surprised that he showed up there, but it was kind of funny to see him show up when my wife was watching this show over maternity leave.

Matt Ryan (Constantine) - Criminal Minds

While Constantine was a short-lived series, he keeps popping up in the Arrowverse, first on Arrow and now consistently on Legends of Tomorrow. I never got to his appearance in Criminal Minds when I watched it with my roommates years ago, but I do remember the show and its intrigue. Kind of makes me want to go back and watch the show again (add that one to my watchlist). Side note: he also appeared in an episode of Torchwood, an adult Doctor Who spin-off.

Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash) and Melissa Benoist (Kara Danvers/Supergirl) - Glee

I’ve only watched a handful of episodes of Glee (it’s been perpetually on my Netlfix queue). They do have good music though. I’ve never seen the episodes with Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist’s characters, but having seen their Arrowverse musical crossover, I’m not surprised that they were on Glee for a while.

Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/The Atom) - Gilmore Girls

He was only a throwaway character back in the first season of Gilmore Girls, but he later became multiple superheroes in the Arrowverse. I remember his scene vividly, even though I had to jog my memory on his role, because I thought it was so cringey how these college boys talked up these high school sophomore girls.

Cress Williams (Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning) - Hart of Dixie

He’s appeared in a couple shows that my wife likes, but he had such a long-standing role on Hart of Dixie (he also appeared Grey’s Anatomy) that I chose this one. If I recall correctly he was the long-standing mayor in the small town. It was such a different role than what I’m used to in Black Lightning that it was cool to see the contrast.

Ruby Rose (Kate Kane/Batwoman) - Pitch Perfect 3

My wife and I were recently watching the Pitch Perfect trilogy. When we got to the third movie, I realized I recognized one of the singers of Evermoist. It was Batwoman! That’s the one that actually inspired this post. I didn’t realize she was a singer before making that connection (although I couldn’t actually confirm whether it’s her singing or not). -- Unrelated: I'm curious how things will go with them recasting her character for next season.

What other Arrowverse stars come to mind for you? I knew I couldn’t include everyone so I tried to hit the highlights.