Team Dean. Team Jess. Team Logan. Instead of a love triangle, Gilmore Girls was always significant because it followed the coming of age of Rory Gilmore and the young men she let into her life and heart along the way. Fans all have their picks for favorite boyfriend, and I’ve been working on the Internet long enough to know there’s a lot of team Jess with a little team Dean thrown in. But I’ve always been a Logan girlie, and when Kelly Bishop recently shared her pick for the best of Rory’s boyfriends, I may have let out a little whoop!
Listen, Kelly Bishop played Emily Gilmore, aka Rory’s grandmother and Lorelei’s mother on the hit drama. She reprised her role when A Year In The Life hit Netflix. She recently appeared at a Gallery Books event where an interviewer asked her about each of Rory’s boyfriends. You can see the fun TikTok below.
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♬ original sound – Gallery Books
When asked about which of Rory’s boyfriends she preferred, Ms. Bishop candidly admitted she’s always been “Team Logan,” the young man played by later Good Wife and The Resident star Matt Czuchry. Though, to be fair, she did like the other two of Rory’s mainstays, played by Jared Padalecki and Milo Ventimiglia.
I have to admit I’m Team Logan. Although I really love the other two. There’s something about Logan–something about his acting that I particularly liked in working with him. He had a very manly quality about him. The other two were boys – great boys. But Logan was like an old movie star. Like a man.
Really, Rory didn’t have a bad beau in the mix, at least when it came to choosing actors who would have relevance for a really long time. As noted prior, Czuchry has worked steadily on network TV since Gilmore Girls aired, and also had a really relevant role in A Year in the Life. Jared Padalecki’s the same situation. He parlayed Gilmore Girls into Supernatural and Supernatural into the only recently canceled Walker. Finally, Milo Ventimiglia had a tough time in Hollywood after starring in Heroes, but had a fantastic run on This is Us. He most recently led The Company You Keep and has said he’s open to more Gilmore Girls down the line.
Over the course of the history of Gilmore Girls, Logan has been villainized quite a bit by quite a few fans. In fact, Matt Czuchry used to get randomly insulted by fans in public. He’s the rich kid Rory dates, unlike the other two, and early on in their relationship he was maybe not so concerned about being a good boyfriend. Fans think he’s “rude” and “classist.”
But I’ve defended Logan, and I’ll do it again here. Logan isn’t burdened by personal problems. Jess acts out because he’s going through stuff and Alexis Bledel once even called him “a shock to her system.” Meanwhile, once Logan chooses to devote himself to Rory, he’s a good boyfriend and he put his focus on their relationship, particularly during the early run of the series. One other thing I like is he also gives Rory no-nonsense advice.
When asked if Logan was a “bad boyfriend” a few years ago, Matt Czuchry had a diplomatic answer that simultaneously called out Logan for not being perfect but also mentioned the other two of Rory’s boyfriends had strengths and weaknesses as well. Jess couldn’t really be there for Rory and was sometimes a straight up bad boyfriend. Dean was married later in the series and behaved, imo, very badly. Meanwhile, a lot of people might not love Logan as a person, but objectively I still think he was the best boyfriend Rory had.
Kelly Bishop’s answer seemingly had more to do with working with Matt Czuchry as a person, or at least had to do with the type of character he inhabited than whether or not Logan was a “good boyfriend.” Still, I gotta say it feels pretty nice to have a Gilmore Girls OG in my corner, particularly given my friends have all taken shots at me for not being Team Jess over the years.