Autumn is finally in its prime which means it’s time to brew some coffee, light a few candles, and dust off our seasonal favorites! Whether you’ve seen all of these or none of them, they’re worth watching (or rewatching) as the leaves turn a long-awaited orange.
Shows
Gilmore Girls:
“Gilmore Girls” follows dynamic mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore through their fictional small town, Stars Hallow, Connecticut.
Filled with unique and loveable characters, the show navigates Rory through a prestigious high school and Lorelai as she runs and manages The Independence Inn. The early episodes of every season always consist of fallen leaves and steaming hot coffee, making it a loveable fall classic!
Best fall episodes: Season 1 episode 7, Season 2 episode 4, Season 3 episode 9.
Pretty Little Liars:
“Pretty Little Liars” is perfect for watchers more into a spookier fall then a warm and cozy one. The show starts as a flashback; five bonded best friends, Spencer, Aria, Hanna, Emily and Alison are having a Labor Day weekend sleepover the summer before sophomore year. It takes a dark turn when their queen bee, Alison, goes missing in the middle of the night.
It resumes a year later revealing that without Alison, the friend group had completely drifted apart. We then watch the four girls begin getting mysterious texts from an anonymous user who signs the texts by “A”. The show is surrounded by dark secrets and a desperate need for the girls to find out what happened to their best friend, and what kind of person she really was. On a stormy or a chilly night, “Pretty Little Liars” is a great show to put on to soak up the best aspects of autumn.
Best fall episodes: Season 1 Episode 6, Season 2 Episode 13, Season 3 Episode 13.
Gossip Girl:
What’s better then fall in Manhattan? “Gossip Girl” starts with Constance Billard’s ‘it girl’ Serena van der Woodsen, returning to the Upper East Side of New York. She left for a year for boarding school in Connecticut, but why?
The show covers the lives of privileged high schooler’s living in the city as they dodge high school drama and whispers sparked by anonyms Gossip Girl. Gossip girl is a fictional site which the show centers around, where scandals and rumors are sent in by students. We watch as they walk through an auburn hued central park or host glamorous Thanksgiving’s and as Gossip Girl says, “There’s nothing quite like Autumn in New York!”
Best fall episodes: Season 1 Episode 9, Season 3 Episode 11, Season 4 Episode 10.
Movies
Hocus Pocus:
A 1993 Halloween classic, this film is the perfect choice for a late October movie night!
Max Dennison and his younger sister Dani recently moved to Salem, Massachusetts. After picking up new friend Allison from her parent’s Halloween party, they decide to explore an abandoned house. Max foolishly activates a spell that releases three wicked witches by accident and now, the kids have to steal the witches spell book by midnight and break the spell or else the witches will be immortal.
The film has gotten even more popular since “Hocus Pocus 2” came out, but the characters and eerie feeling of Salem the original film brings is irreplaceable.
Coraline:
Eleven-year-old Coraline’s parents are swamped with work after their move to Oregon, and never seem to have time for her. A bored and lonely Coraline exploring her new home stumbles across a tiny door that seems to be blocked off. One night, Coraline attempts to open the door again and finds a tunnel leading to an alternative reality. She finds attentive and loving parents (with button eyes), and a much prettier home. Taking place right before school starts, “Coraline” has the perfect amount of fear and uneasiness to keep you hooked.
Little Women:
Taking place shortly after the Civil War, Jo March is a writer in New York City with three separated sisters all on their own separate paths. The youngest sister Amy is in Paris painting and studying, oldest sister, Meg, is married to a schoolteacher, and quietest sister Beth, is fighting a fatal illness.
The movie switches from flashbacks to present day, allowing watchers to watch the sisters grow from girlhood to womanhood and the events that lead them to where they are presently. With two movie adaptations, “Little Women” is based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, originally published in 1868. The golden glow of the childhood scenes, reflecting innocence and adolescence, and colder tones of adult scenes are perfect autumn hues which make the movie great for a chilly day spent inside.