Entertainment

Watch These Movies After Your 'Gilmore' Marathon

by Andrea Towers

If you're a Gilmore Girls fan, you probably marathoned all four episodes of A Year In The Life the moment they hit Netflix on Nov. 25. OK, maybe you waited until later in the day, or even the weekend, and used the time to soothe your post-Thanksgiving hangover. The point is, you likely watched all the new episodes quickly, and with good reason — when you've spent nearly 10 years missing a show that was a huge part of your life, you don't want to waste time welcoming it back. But if you're suffering from the post-Gilmore blues as a result, don't worry. Netflix knows what you should watch after Gilmore Girls , thanks to a study that analyzed the viewing habits of its audience.

Surprisingly, it's not always more television. In fact, according to a press release about the study, Netflix observes that after people marathon a series, roughly 59 percent "take a take a pause, usually lasting three days, before committing to a new show." But they don't necessarily turn to another TV series next. Instead, 61 percent of people watch a movie. That totally makes sense, because movies aren't as time-consuming as television series. And instead of watching a few episodes of television in a couple hours, you can watch two or three entire movies instead.

So how do you keep the coffee flowing, even when there are no more open hours at Luke's? According to Netflix, after watching Gilmore Girls, many people watch some classic '80s films, like Sixteen Candles, Dirty Dancing, or The Princess Bride. And those options make sense. Gilmore Girls is, for most people, a welcome wave of nostalgia. What better way to be nostalgic than watch those movies that were a big part of our childhood? You can see what movies people followed other TV marathons with in the graph below.

Besides the nostalgia factor, those '80s movies have a few other things in common with Gilmore Girls. In Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald plays Samantha, a girl on the verge of celebrating her Sweet 16, whose life gets thrown into teenage turmoil when her family forgets her birthday. It's a classic tale of growing up, just like we watched Rory Gilmore grow up over seven seasons, and the mishaps and embarrassments that Samantha faces aren't unlike what Rory went through in her own journey towards adulthood... or in the latest batch of episodes. Also, Samantha's grandparents? They definitely remind me of Emily and the late Richard Gilmore.

Then there's Dirty Dancing, when a girl named Baby (Jennifer Grey) falls in love with a dancer named Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) while on a vacation to the Catskills with her family. Stars Hollow could basically pass for a picturesque vacation town at this point and it has some talented dancers, as we learned in the dance marathon episode. Plus. Baby and Johnny's dance towards love kind of reminds me of Luke and Lorelai.

As for The Princess Bride, it seems a little strange at first, considering that it is much more of a cult favorite film. But it does have a strong parent-child vibe, as it's bookended by a grandfather reading the story to his sick grandson. Family — real and found — has always been a strong theme of Gilmore Girls, and it's part of the reason fans fell in love with so many wonderful characters. The Princess Bride gives that same sense of comfort, as well as a little bit of silliness.

In addition to that trio of classics, Netflix revealed that after finishing Gilmore Girls, many viewers turn to fellow throwbacks Breakfast at Tiffany's, Clueless, and Cruel Intentions. If you want something a bit more recent, the list is rounded out with Becoming Jane, Beyond The Lights, Big Eyes, Mean Girls, Tallulah, and The Fundamentals of Caring.

It's nice to know that we don't have to stop feeling all of the emotions that Gilmore Girls gives us after we've finished watching all the episodes. Instead, we can start a movie marathon to keep that Netflix streak going.

Images: Saeed Adyani/Netflix, Netflix; Giphy