The first season of Gilmore Girls, an American dramedy television series, began airing on October 5, 2000, on The WB. The season concluded on May 10, 2001, after 21 episodes. The season originally aired on Thursdays at 8 pm ET, preceding Charmed.
 The show was first announced for pickup by The WB for the 2000–2001 season on May 16, 2000, a month after the original filming of the pilot episode in April in the Toronto suburb of Unionville. On March 20, 2001, The WB announced the show's renewal for a second season.
 The first season of Gilmore Girls introduces Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), as well as the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow and its many quirky inhabitants. The central plot point of the season revolves around Rory's acceptance to Chilton, an elite prep school, and Lorelai's need to borrow money from her parents, Emily (Kelly Bishop) and Richard (Edward Herrmann), to fund her daughter's education. Lorelai's parents agree to lend her the money, but with one condition: she and Rory must attend dinner at their home in nearby Hartford every Friday night until the loan is repaid.
 Lorelai's relationship with her parents is full of animosity. Not long after giving birth to Rory as a teenager, at the age of 16, she left her parents’ home and moved to Stars Hollow to prevent them from imposing their privileged lifestyle on her daughter. Although still loving her a great deal, her parents continue to resent her for this choice. This results in a significant portion of the conflict throughout the season as Lorelai deals with having her parents in her life on a regular basis for the first time since she was a teenager. It also leads to Lorelai feeling distressed by Rory's positive relationship with her grandparents and obvious interest in their way of life.
 In the pilot episode, Rory meets Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki), a new student at Stars Hollow High School who has a crush on her. As the season progresses, she grows to have feelings for him, and they begin dating. Their relationship is briefly interrupted after Dean breaks up with her for not knowing how to respond to his stating that he loves her. Rory professes her love for Dean in the season finale, and they resume their relationship.
 The season shows Rory as having strong friendships with both longtime friend Lane Kim (Keiko Agena) and fellow Chilton student Paris Geller (Liza Weil). She has been friends with Lane for over a decade, and the two remain close even when Rory changes schools. When Rory first arrives at Chilton, her relationship with Paris is more that of enemies than friends. However, as the season progresses, the two grow closer, eventually forming a begrudging friendship.
 Lorelai has no love interest when the series begins, but she soon develops feelings for Rory's English teacher at Chilton, Max Medina (Scott Cohen). They date for several episodes, but break up when Lorelai begins to feel uncomfortable about how accepting Rory is of having Max in their lives. There is a clear attraction between her and Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), the owner of the local diner, but nothing ever comes of it. Lorelai also briefly reunites with Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), but turns him down when he asks her to marry him. Lorelai and Max reunite toward the end of the season, and he proposes in the season finale.
 Lorelai is close friends with Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy), the chef at the inn she manages. The two plan to eventually open their own inn together.
 The season was produced by Warner Bros., Amy Sherman-Palladino and Gavin Polone and was aired on the WB Network in the United States. The series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who acted as an executive producer. Sherman-Palladino served as the seasons show runner.
 Chilton hosts a dance, which Rory and Dean attend, thus confirming they are "boyfriend-girlfriend". Emily sleeps over at Lorelai's the night of the dance to care for Lorelai's injured back and see Rory off. After the dance, Rory and Dean accidentally fall asleep all night at Miss Patty's dance school. Emily and Lorelai wake up in a panic and fight over whether Rory will end up pregnant. Insisting Rory is a "good kid," Lorelai kicks Emily out. Rory arrives home at 5 a.m. and Lorelai plans to put her on the pill. Rory tearfully apologizes, but also accuses her mother for being so mad only because Emily was there to witness the mishap.