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Chapter 1: What themes do Gilmore Girls explore that resonate with fans?
Why have three Gilmore Girls in a small town resonated with generations of fans? And what does a TV series that ended nearly two decades ago reveal about who we want to be? Generation Gilmore Girls is a brand new three-part podcast series that looks for answers where it all began, in Connecticut. Hosted by me, Chloe Nguyen, and produced by Connecticut Public.
The same award-winning NPR and PBS member station behind the chart-topping podcast Generation Barney. This series is about the TV we love and how it shapes us. We'll take you inside the creation of Gilmore Girls, why we keep revisiting it, and the impact the show has had on its home state.
Whether you're a longtime fan or new to the show, this podcast offers fresh insights and heartfelt nostalgia. Follow Generation Gilmore Girls on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening now. Trust me, it's worth the trip back to Stars Hollow.
Star's Hollow
Welcome back to Write Answers Mostly, a podcast on what you didn't learn in history class, but you really wanted to.
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Chapter 2: What insights does the podcast series Generation Gilmore Girls offer?
I'm Claire Donald. And I'm Tess Palomo. And Rami's welcome back to Women's History Month 2026. We're loving it. We are loving it. And this subject came to us in a very fun way. It did. We have an exciting announcement. We're doing a live show at USC this week. That's right, University of Southern California. We are geniuses, and geniuses recognize geniuses. Well, that's what we've been saying.
We've been saying that. And yeah, for a girl who didn't even go to college, I am so excited to be speaking at the USC Business School.
I mean, this is our first time that we're going to a college. It's very Elle Woods coded, and we're just going to tell the kids what...
What we're all about. What we're all about. First, but not the last. Exactly. I know. So now we're going to like manifest a dream of a list of colleges. So if you're a college Rammy, reach out to us. If you're. school has a business program or any program, we'll come talk to you guys. Any program. We can talk about literally anything. See, that's so true. Yeah. So call us, universities. Mm-hmm.
They asked us to do a USC alum. And so we chose Shonda Rhimes. And then I started doing my research on Shonda. And I was like, wait, this is actually so fun and interesting. We got to bring it to main feed. Ugh, I can't wait. So, Tess, what do you know about Shonda Rhimes? I mean, I was a big Grey's Anatomy girly. Who wasn't?
In high school and college, but I did stop at, like, season, I want to say, seven. I watched Scandal. I've seen some of her movies, but I don't know much about, like...
her journey, the arc of everything that she's done for TV. I mean, she has done so much for TV, you guys. It's insane. And as I was doing my research, I was like, wow, she built the entertainment of my childhood. Wow. In a huge way. And like the whole time, and we'll get to it, I had to be like, don't make this a Crossroads episode. Don't make this Crossroads. But we could. But it
We could and we should, in a way. Well, it's a great place to start, you guys. I'm so excited to talk about Shonda. So shall we just get into it?
Let's get into it.
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Chapter 3: How did Shonda Rhimes break into Hollywood?
That can leave an impression, can't it? It sure can. And it inspired her interest in like hospital culture, if you will. Interesting. So because she is so smart. She attended Dartmouth College. Oh, she went to – wow. Love. I just watched the pilot for Grey's Anatomy last night, and Meredith Grey is wearing a Dartmouth sweater and the beginning of a sweatshirt, and I just love that.
It's such a good pilot, isn't it? It really is such a good pilot.
Perfectly done. One of the best pilots, I think.
Yeah, and I will be binging it for sure now. You didn't watch any of it. No, I definitely did. We used to rush home in middle school and watch Grey's Anatomy, and we'd be like, I'm Izzy. I'm Meredith. Of course. I always wanted to be Izzy. She was so beautiful. And just so sweet. Yeah, exactly. You know, the sensitive one, the one that connects too much with her patients.
And we see that character... in a lot of different medical shows, don't we? Yeah, we do. And she got to hook up with Alex. Oh my God, he was so hot season one. Kind of goes downhill a little bit, but his Raz was Raz in that first season. It really was. When he came on screen, I was even like, whoa, that was a sexual awakening. He was a sexual awakening, actually. For sure.
For a middle school girl, it was like, whoa, why doesn't my doctor look like that? Yeah. And that is the heartbreak we'll always experience after Grey's Anatomy. So she went to Dartmouth. She joined the Black Underground Theater Association, Theater Kid. She divided her time between directing and performing in student productions and writing fiction. And she also wrote for the college newspaper.
Cute. And of course, she graduated at the top of her class. So after college, she goes through something that I think a lot of people could relate to. She was like, I cannot leave this place. I don't know what I want to do with my life. I never want college to end. She said that when her mom came to pack up her stuff to move, she just laid on the floor and sobbed. Wait, what'd she major in again?
She majored in English literature and creative writing. Hot. Yeah. So she was sobbing, not wanting to leave college or? Not wanting to leave college. Yeah, I mean, change is hard, my God, especially for the earth signs. Exactly, Tess. Wow. Exactly. And she was just like, I have no idea what I really want to do with my life.
You know, she knew that she wanted to write and she wanted to be a novelist. Like she always references Toni Morrison, which we definitely need to cover her for Ram. However, that option just didn't feel realistic to her as a career.
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Chapter 4: What impact did Shonda Rhimes have on television storytelling?
So she ends up relocating to San Francisco. She worked in advertising briefly, but she...
hated it so she took a big risk and she ends up moving to los angeles to attend the university of southern california and majored in screenwriting or studied in screenwriting she did grad school at usc she did grad school at usc a good program that's so hard to get into i know and while she's at usc she was hired to be an intern for deborah martin chase And I was like, I know that name.
Yeah, wait, same? So Tess, Deborah Martin Chase was the first black female producer to have a deal at any major studio, which is crazy because this is the 90s. Oh my God, yeah. She is also one of the first black filmmakers to produce a film that grossed over $100 million. And do you know what that film was?
Oh. What year again is this?
This is later on. She will do this. This is early 2000s though. 100 million. The Princess Diaries. Like a meeting emotional. Wow. So that's not all that Debra Martin Chase has produced. Okay. So we have The Princess Diaries. She also did Cinderella with Whitney Houston and Brandy.
Impossible.
Don't even. Okay. Don't even get me started right now. Guys, if you have not watched, I'm sure a lot of our Rammies don't even know what that is. Oh, come on. Gen Z Rammies, please tell me. Do the work. Brandy, Cinderella, Whitney Houston. Just go look it up. Just do that now. Whoopi Goldberg is the mom. Bernadette Peters. Exactly, you guys. It is a masterpiece.
Have a good weekend and just watch that. You can thank us later. So we have Cinderella. We have The Princess Diaries. She produced The Cheetah Girls. Oh my. We should do an episode on this woman. I know. And to round it out, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Holy shit. Wait, didn't Shonda do a sequel to one of those movies?
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Chapter 5: What controversies did Shonda Rhimes face while writing Grey's Anatomy?
What song does play? What song plays when they're like being torn apart from each other? What is it? Because it's like one of them has to be sacrificed. Yes. And my dream is that Tess and I play those two characters on the pit. So like we have a pole between us on the pit. Please, if you have any connections to the pit, we would love to be sisters. We want to be impaled on a pole in the pit.
Or what if we were conjoined twins too? Oh my God, I would love that. See, we're workshopping. We're workshopping. I mean, the thing that stands out to me the most is always Izzy and Denny. Yes. Because I've never done a rewatch, but that to me, I think that was the first time I remember sobbing on a TV show. Is that, yes. Is that Chasing Cars or is that How to Save a Life?
I think that's How to Save a Life. I thought it was Chasing Cars. You're right, it's Chasing Cars. Right? Because she's, huh? Yeah, she's up there in her ball gown. It's not okay. Oh, my God. She was such a good actress. I mean, oh, my God. We could talk so long about all the shit that Katherine Heigl went through. We're not going to talk about that.
Chapter 6: How did Shonda's approach to abortion in her shows change over time?
You guys. Her taking herself out of the Emmy nomination. Exactly. Well, I think that created some beef with Shonda. Well, she was blacklisted from Hollywood after. So God, she really did pay for that. Even though she did not deserve it. No, I know. It's crazy. But like, even when you hear Katherine Heigl, you're like, oh, what a bitch. Early 2000s were a different time.
They were talking about last week. It was just a crazy time for women. It really, it really was. But speaking of crazy times and like for women and what we were seeing on Grey's Anatomy, there were lots of controversies that Shonda had to go up against when writing Grey's Anatomy. Tess, the network said they were using the word vagina too much.
On a medical show?
Exactly right. Shonda Rhimes said, I kept saying, it's a medical show. We can't say vagina, but we can say penis a million times in an episode. And one of our first shows, we used the word penis about 32 times. But when we said vagina twice, the broadcast standards people blinked. We fought them and we won. It's truly a joke. Yes. Isn't that crazy? They literally said penis 32 times.
They said vagina twice and the network people were like, you're saying it too much. Also, doesn't Addison work in – like, she's a gynecologist. Right. So, like, that's going to be a thing every episode. Right. Well, it's like men want vagina unless when it's talked about, like, medically and not in, like, a sexy way. You know what I mean? Oh, my God.
So that was something that they had to go against on a medical show. And a major moment in season seven is that Christina has an abortion. That's right. I was thinking that she did. I couldn't remember. Yes. It's a huge cultural moment. So in season one – Christina Yang becomes pregnant after sleeping with her attending surgeon, Preston Burke.
And Christina is very clear about something immediately. She does not want a baby. So the original plan for the storyline in season one is that Christina would have an abortion. But the network came to Shonda and they were like, I don't know about this. Like, I think you're pushing it way too hard. I don't think you should do it.
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Chapter 7: What led to Shonda Rhimes' transition to Netflix?
And because this is... By the way, Shonda Rhimes, Grey's Anatomy is her first show ever. Wild. She had done...
three movies and this is her first show wild so she gets really scared and she changes it to an ectopic pregnancy i remember hearing about this i mean i mean i it was 2005 yeah totally it was such a different time but it's just like wow like they have to be like this is this horrible thing happens to her instead of her making her own choice exactly tess it's like we can't we can't show her deciding not to be a mother like has to be this tragic horrible thing oh my god yeah
So then years later, when Shonda had much more power at ABC, the show revisited the storyline. Christina was now married to Owen Hunt. She becomes pregnant again. And once again, she says very clearly she does not want children. And this time the show does not redirect the story. Christina chose to have an abortion.
And I think that's also such an amazing thing for Shonda to show of like, even a married woman can still decide, I don't want kids. My priority in my life is my career. Like an abortion on TV doesn't always have to be a teenager who is fighting kind of like on the pit, you know, which is like, I love the pit, but like.
the 17 year old who was fighting with her mom. And like, it can just be, it's healthcare.
So it can be a grown woman be like, no, I'm good. Exactly. It's healthcare. So those were huge things that were being shown on television that had never really been shown before. Grey's Anatomy went on to become the longest running primetime medical drama in TV history, outlasting MASH and ER, the previous record holders. Wild.
So once Shonda proved she could dominate network television, she didn't slow down. Her next show would push even more boundaries. Shonda Rhimes had conquered the hospital. Next, she was coming for Washington. Hot. And we are going to take a little break here. But when we come back, we're going to talk about Scandal, honey. Thank God.
Thank God.
I'm in love with my best friend's ex. My sister is having an affair. I think my therapist is emotionally unavailable. Did my mom just join a cult? These are just a few of the real-life dilemmas we've helped our listeners sort through on our podcast, Unsolicited Advice. I'm Ashley. And I'm Taryn.
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Chapter 8: How has Shonda Rhimes impacted the portrayal of women in media?
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Okay, and we are back. Tessa, are you ready to talk about Fitz? You know I am. I've been waiting this whole episode. So Shonda... had heard about this woman, Judy Smith. And Judy was a Washington crisis management expert. She was a person that was called when powerful people got into serious trouble.
So Shonda hears about Judy and she's like, wait, there are people whose job is literally to fix scandals of powerful people? I have to write a show about this. Genius. Genius. It hadn't been done before, which is crazy. I know. What a fun idea. So fun. And once you're in, you're in. I think I watched... I don't think I watched the last season, but I think I watched four seasons of it.
My mom is obsessed. It was like my entire personality in college. That and Alias. I was like, I'm so cultured. So Tess, Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, became the first black female lead in any network drama in nearly 40 years.
It was before.
It was a show... Called Get Christy Love. In like the 1920s? 1974. What? That was the last time that we had a black female lead in a network drama. Wild. Isn't that wild? So Shonda said that when it came to Kerry Washington, networks had reportedly claimed black women can't lead a network drama. But Scandal proved them wrong.
I grow tired. No kidding.
It's like the most popular show ever. Ever. And like one of the most popular characters of all time. And literally iconic. That wasn't the only pushback that Scandal would get. So the network pushed back big time on Olivia Pope having an abortion. I do. Yes. I remember hearing about this too. Yeah. So when she, like we said before, when she first wrote for Christina, she would go back and forth.
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