The soothing effect of Gilmore Girls transcends species.

The mother-daughter coming-of-age drama will always have a special place in star Lauren Graham‘s heart but lately, “I will say it’s getting — it can be strange at times,” she explained recently on an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon..

“On one hand, people are starting to say, ‘You raised me.’ And I’m like, ‘I hope there were other adults involved!'” she said. “And then on the other hand you have people that are like, ‘Oh, I just have the show on in the background. It puts my dog to sleep. We just, we’re not even listening anymore. It’s just on like background music.'”

By the time Gilmore Girls creator and showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino offered Graham the starring role of wisecracking single mother Lorelai Gilmore, the actress had been steadily working in TV for over half a decade. Walk-on parts in soaps like All My Children led to more substantial roles in series like Good Company and Townies.

But Gilmore Girls rewired Graham’s career and screen persona at a fundamental level, making her a television fixture who has also launched a successful writing career.

When Fallon asked Graham if she would return to Stars Hollow again after 2016’s miniseries revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life, Graham responded, “I would, yes. I always say yes. Because it’s the best part I ever had, and I loved doing it. It’s just that thing where it was the perfect material at the perfect time with the perfect writer, and it just means so much to me.”

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The cast members of Gilmore Girls are so enduringly beloved that even 15 years out from the series’ seventh season bow, fans clamor to see Lorelai, Rory (Alexis Bledel), Emily (Kelly Bishop), Luke (Scott Patterson), and the rest reunite.

As the series’ anchor, Graham is often at the center of these celebrated reunions, as in last December, when the actress reunited with her onscreen flame Luke for a Walmart commercial, and former fictional coworker Michel (Yanic Truesdale) at a Christmas party.

Fans who want more and ever more from Gilmore can enjoy the series’ new streaming home on Hulu (the full 153-episode run is still available to stream on Netflix, too), complete with a new collection of the series’ holiday episodes. The collection features nine Christmas-themed and holiday episodes from across the seven-season run, including the beloved season 2 episode, “The Bracebridge Dinner.”