RORY: Are you all right?
TRISTAN: Yeah, I think somehow I’ll recover from the great romance between you and the Beave.
Tristan references the sitcom Leave It to Beaver, broadcast from 1957 to 1963. It centres on an inquisitive, naive young boy, Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver (played by Jerry Mathers), and his adventures at home, school, and around his neighbourhood. His parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and his older brother Wally also featured.
The show has an iconic status in the US, with the Cleavers the epitome of an idealised suburban family from the mid-twentieth century. Very popular at the time, it has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity from the 1970s onward, thanks to reruns, and two movies and a sequel series have been made. Although it never won an award or the ratings, it is considered one of the all-time greatest television shows.
Tristan covers up his hurt by to implying that Dean is not only old-fashioned and suburban, but also innocent and child-like compared to the supposedly more worldly and sophisticated Tristan.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 
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