Lauren Graham marvels over 'Gilmore Girls' continued relevance: 'It's way more popular'

Netflix has done wonders for Stars Hollow.

Gilmore Girls debuted in October 2000 and ran for seven glorious sevens until May 15, 2007. During that span, its home network The WB rebranded to The CW, and now, Gilmore Girls calls Netflix home. The streaming giant, according to Lauren Graham, has taken the series to new heights because of its exposure to a new generation. 

"It's way more popular (now)," Graham said during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live for Wednesday night's episode. "It wasn't that popular (then). We were on opposite Friends! No one even really knew we were on. It was a miracle every year we got picked up. The people who liked it, liked it, but it wasn't a big hit."

The 54-year-old actress continued: "It's crazy. New generations keep watching it, and I'm thrilled. It keeps it alive for me, I guess, and it's fun because different groups of people are finding it and different generations. I just don't want to get the age where I'm frightening to children, you know? Where they're like, 'Where's Lorelai? What happened!'"

Graham was one of the series' leading women. Gilmore Girls centered around thirtysomething single mom, Lorelai Gilmore (Graham), and her teenage daughter, Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel). Melissa McCarthy, Keiko Agena, Scott Patterson, and Edward Herrmann were co-starring main cast members. And long before This Is Us, Milo Ventimiglia was Jess Mariano in Stars Hollow, Connecticut.

To her point, Gilmore Girls was competing for viewers against NBC's then-vaunted "Must See TV" slate.