Six Degrees of Lorelai Gilmore

Seeing that I’ve been writing about Parenthood for CliqueClack TV, coupled with the fact that my daughter has been watching repeats of the Gilmore Girls on ABC Family, I frequently think about Lorelai Gilmore, the well loved character played by Lauren Graham.

However last night I didn’t happen to be thinking about Lorelai/Lauren Graham at all when she suddenly came to mind because characters who’d appeared on Gilmore Girls with her kept appearing. There on The Event was Lorelai’s former fiancé Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), only he wasn't wearing his backwards baseball cap. (The Event also features the English teacher Lauren Graham’s new Parenthood character briefly dated.) While flipping through the stations, I spotted Lorelai’s other former fiancé, Max Medina (Scott Cohen) on Hawaii Five-O.

Could Lorelai Gilmore/Lauren Graham be a female Kevin Bacon?

As names of shows started popping into my head, I tested my fledgling theory:

Mad Men – There was Peyton Sanders, otherwise known as Don Draper on Mad Men (played by the awesome Jon Hamm), who Lorelai found to be such a dreadfully boring man that she refused to go on a second date with him, even though their second date was supposed to be attending a David Bowie concert.

Grey’s Anatomy – Lorelai’s father, Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) did a three-episode stint where he played significantly older-than-usual surgical intern, Norman Shales.

The Good Wife – Lorelai’s daughter Rory dated Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) when they attended Yale. Now Logan’s making life difficult for one of Lorelai's peers, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) in Chicago on The Good Wife.

Lost (it came to mind because I was thinking of The Event): This route is more circuitous, but still gets you to Lorelai in six links or less: Matthew Fox was on Party of Five with Scott Wolf, who was on The Nine with Kim Raver, who’s now on Grey’s Anatomy which had Edward Herrmann.

24 – Chloe O’Brian, Jack Bauer’s most trusted ally, appeared twice in the Gilmore Girls, once in Kirk’s odd black and white film (the whole thing is on the DVD set) and once as a troubadour who flouted Taylor Doose’s crackdown on troubadours who were crowding the Stars Hollow streets.

Modern Family -- Julie Bowen, who plays Claire Dunphy, played Matthew Fox’s wife on Lost. See the aforementioned Lost connection.

You can also link Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal to Lorelai through Duck Phillips/Paul Young, Mark Moses’ roles on Mad Men and Desperate Housewives respectively. Chilton's Headmaster Charleston (Dakin Matthews) also appeared on Desperate Housewives as Bree's pastor, providing a more direct link between Wisteria Lane and Stars Hollow.

It’s a fun game to play once you start . . .

Image credit: WB.