Start: S4E02: The Loralais First Day at Yale

End: S6E22: Partings

I enjoy Gilmore Girls. But, full disclosure, I started watching it when I was recovering from surgery. I started from the beginning and I probably would have stopped if I hadn't been so drugged up because, let's just say it: Loralai and Rory are insufferable. And Luke and Dean are no prizes either. The charm of the show comes from the chemistry between mother and daughter large cast of side characters. I wouldn't want to sit behind Rory and Loralai at the movies, but through the distance of television, I can enjoy their banter. I would return to Star’s Hollow every day for Miss Patty, Sookie St.James, Paris Geller, and queen of my heart Emily Gilmore*.

The fourth season is the perfect jumping on point. Season one starts with Rory beginning classes at Chilton. Season four recreates several of those beats by starting with Rory beginning classes at Yale with the major difference that the chemistry between Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel has had time to gel and the large cast of characters is fully formed. Bonus: there is still another Dean versus Jess subplot yet to play out, so even if you skip the first three seasons, you can still weigh in on that debate.

But stop before season seven. That season is famously terrible, suffering from the loss of creator Amy Sherman-Paladino. The love lives of the Gilmore girls are still in question at the end of season six, but take my word for it, the resolution is not any more satisfying if you stick it out for the last twenty-two episodes. Most importantly, this season has the best resolution for Lane Kim. By stopping here, you can remember her as a drummer, married to a man she loves in an awesome double ceremony that let her know she had more in common with her mother than she thought. You can pretend that this never happened.

When you’re done, you can go back to season one and watch through the end of season three. Then, I suppose if you’re really Jonesing for more Stars Hollow, you can watch season seven and (if you must) Year in the Life. (But you’re probably better off just watching Bunheads.)

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*I know two of those four characters don’t live in Stars Hollow. Don’t @ me.

Start: S02E01: The Dundies

End: S04E09: The Dinner Party

Season one of the American remake of The Office is fine. A big reason for that is that most of the episodes are verbatim remakes of the decent but inferior (Yeah, I said it. Fight me, internet!) British series. In Season one, the American Office had not found its voice yet. David Brent, Ricky Gervais's iconic boss character, is a fame hungry asshole. He plays to the camera and has no concern for the well-being of his staff. Michael Scott, Steve Carell’s interpretation, is different. He’s no less terrible as a manager, but his flaws come from an aching desperation to be loved by the people forced into his proximity combined with a pathological inability to read a room. That complexity allows The Office to remain engaging for far longer than the British series could have remained tolerable.

The Dundies is the first episode where we see this Michael Scott. He’s not playing to the cameras. He wants to be The Fun Boss but not so that he’ll be a popular character in the documentary. He wants to win his workers’ love. He’ll still do terrible cringe-worthy things like give Phyllis the Bushiest Beaver award (or Ryan Hottest in The Office) and fail to inform the staff that the open tab they were promised is a lie, but David Brent would never have heard Jim’s criticism about mocking Pam’s engagement. David Brent would definitely have made Dawn cry.

Sadly, as the show went on, it gave in to the demands of sitcom television. It grew increasingly cartoonish (Robert California, anyone?) and degenerated into the sappy sentimentality that it had previously avoided. Greg Daniels' promise that we wouldn't see Jim as best man at Dwight’s wedding was only kept on a technicality.*

So where is the best place to leave the gang? At The Dinner Party. It’s an unconventional choice since it takes place almost entirely outside of the eponymous office, but it's appropriate for a serious finale to break form in this manner. The Dinner Party has Michael and Jan invite Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela to their house for a stealth Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf remake. At the end of the episode, Jim and Pam are together (for those of you who need that sappy closure) and Michael and Jan are finished. Michael is alone but for Dwight, his right hand man. A boss who is obsessed with making his coworkers into his family has his relationship implode and wanders into the night with the assistant to the regional manager. It is a dark, poetic, and perfect ending to the show.

I will admit that after The Dinner Party there are some good episodes, but the quality dips drastically, and there is no better exit ramp on the horizon. Get out at The Dinner Party and you will escape the tedious cliche of Jim and Pam’s wedding as well as the horror of Scott’s Tots.

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*Actually, I'm pretty sure he said Dwight would never be Jim's best man. Unfortunately, I can't find the exact quote because the interview is un-Google-able since, as I said, Jim is Dwight's best man by the end of this series.