Ab Fab

LORELAI: He’s never seen Ab Fab.
RORY: Definitely not a soulmate.

Absolutely Fabulous (often called Ab Fab) is a British television sitcom starring Jennifer Saunders as Edina “Eddy” Monsoon, a heavy-drinking PR agent who spends all her time chasing the latest hip fad, and Joanna Lumley as her best friend Patsy Stone, a fashion editor whose drug abuse, alcohol consumption and promiscuity are at almost life-threatening proportions. Eddy’s studious daughter Saffron “Saffy”, played by Julia Sawalha, is the sensible one who tries to rein in her wayward mother’s worst excesses, taking on the parent role in their relationship.

The first three series were broadcast on the BBC in the UK from 1992 to 1994, with a special in 1996. In the US, it premiered in 1994 on Comedy Central. After receiving critical acclaim and being named one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time in 2000, it was revived in 2001 – Lorelai may have become a fan quite recently. It was shown on the Oxygen Network, which might be how she watched it, and became a cult hit in the US.

The revival continued until 2004, with a twentieth anniversary series of specials in 2011-2012. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie was released in 2016.

Absolutely Fabulous‘ demographic was, broadly speaking, gay men and straight women over 35, so it’s hardly surprising that Paul has never seen it. I think it’s unrealistic to expect her “soulmate” to be a fan of the show.

The mother-daughter relationship between Eddy and Saffy is an exaggerated version of that between Lorelai and Rory, and Eddy’s outrageous outfits sometimes aren’t much worse than a few of Lorelai’s more questionable fashion choices. I think this would have been a show Lorelai and Rory would have enjoyed watching together, seeing something of themselves in the characters. Perhaps Rory is Lorelai’s true soulmate.

Minnie’s

LORELAI: Well, he took me to this darling little place called Minnie’s. Very hip, very chic, very small portions.

It’s amusing that a restaurant called Minnie’s would be a darling little place serving very small portions!

Paul underfeeding Lorelai was an immediate deal-breaker. The fact she was always first in to get the burrito should have been a clue to him.

No Doubt and U2

DEAN: What do you have to be sorry for?
RORY: That . . . that I didn’t tell you about the rehearsal. And that No Doubt is touring with U2. I know you’re extremely disappointed in Bono.

No Doubt is an American rock band formed in 1986, consisting of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Their 1992 eponymous debut album made little impact, but their 1995 follow-up, The Beacon Street Collection, sold more than 100 000 copies after they changed to a ska-punk sound. Their 1995 album, Tragic Kingdom, was certified diamond, with singles Don’t Speak, and Just a Girl becoming hits – the first spending 16 weeks at #1 in the US. Their most recent album at this point was Return of Saturn in 2000, although Rock Steady was just about to be released, in early December 2001.

No Doubt were one of the openers for U2 on the third leg of their Elevation Tour – the same one PJ Harvey had opened for earlier. No Doubt were one of the support acts at Madison Square Garden in late October 2001, then the only support act from November 5^th to 25^th, in California, Texas, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.

As Tristan invited Rory to the Elevation Tour when they were performing in Hartford, it feels somewhat tactless for her to bring it up while trying to placate Dean. But it may also be reminding Dean that he shares her musical tastes more than Tristan, as both Dean and Rory appear to be U2 fans. He wasn’t before going out with Rory, so perhaps she has influenced him in this regard.

“We do the scene on Sunday”

RORY: I know you hate it.
DEAN: Yeah, I hate it. I really hate it.
RORY: But we do the scene on Sunday, and then it’s over.

When Professor Anderson gave them the project, she said it would be performed Sunday week (not the next Sunday, but the one after). Suddenly, the project is due that Sunday – only a few days away. It doesn’t seem like enough time to get everything done. I’ve tried to construct a timeline where most of the first week is skipped over, but it doesn’t quite work, and also runs into Thanksgiving.

“You and Tristan wind up thrown together a lot”

RORY: I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about this before, but Tristan …
DEAN: Is playing Romeo to your Juliet. Yeah, I heard.
RORY: But he wasn’t even in our group at first, but then no one else wanted him, and then Paris moved the rehearsal spot to here, and she did it today and I didn’t have time to tell you.
DEAN: You and Tristan wind up thrown together a lot at that school.

This is exactly the second project Rory has had with Tristan – hardly getting “thrown together a lot”. And it’s the first one where she and Tristan have had any major interaction. Dean is probably thinking of the school dance (which the entire class was eligible for), and Tristan asking Rory to a concert (which is hardly the school’s fault).

Dean is being unreasonable, but Tristan does have a history of making difficulties between he and Rory, and his intuition is probably telling him something doesn’t feel right in this case.

Cocoon

LOUISE: What’s with the cast from Cocoon?

Cocoon is a 1985 science-fiction comedy-drama directed by Ron Howard. It is about a group of elderly people, residents of a retirement home, who are rejuvenated to become younger and stronger by their neighbours, who happen to be a group of peaceful aliens.

Cocoon was a box office hit, becoming the #6 film of 1985, and received fairly good reviews. Ron Howard won Best Director at the Saturn Awards, and at the Academy Awards, Cocoon won Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Don Ameche), and Best Visual Effects.

Mystic Pizza

PARIS: Excuse me. We reserved this place for 8 sharp and right now my watch says 8:04.
MISS PATTY: Well, then tell it to go outside and have a smoke. You can’t rush a cool down sweetheart.
PARIS: Look, I understand the whole Mystic Pizza, small town, ‘we don’t let a clock run our lives’ thing, but I come from the big city where money talks and I’m paying good money for this place and I have a schedule to keep.

Mystic Pizza is a 1988 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Donald Petrie, and starring Annabath Gish and Julia Roberts as two teenaged sisters working as waitresses at Mystic Pizza, a pizza parlour in the real-life fishing village of Mystic, Connecticut (it also features Matt Damon in his screen debut). The younger sister, played by Annabath Gish, is on a partial scholarship at Yale and also works part-time at the whaling museum, so there are some connections with Gilmore Girls. If you enjoy Gilmore Girls, I would definitely recommend Mystic Pizza.

Mystic Pizza received generally favourable reviews, with particular praise for the lead actresses, and has gained something of a cult following as a feel-good coming-of-age movie. In September and October of this year, it was turned into a stage musical by the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine – this was several years after a fictional Broadway musical based on the film featured in the sitcom 30 Rock in 2007.

The real life Mystic Pizza restaurant which had inspired the film was renovated to resemble the film set, and is still in business.

Miss Honesty

LORELAI: Listen to me. I know you are Miss Honesty. I have seen the banner in the closet. But this is the kind of honesty that will only make you feel less guilty, and it’s going to hurt Dean very much. It’s possibly going to screw up the really good thing you guys have going now. Do you want that?

Mm, is this the same Miss Honesty who’s been concealing multiple things from Mrs Kim for years, or the Miss Honesty who fraudulently ate Fran’s wedding cake samples? Let’s see how long it is before Miss Honesty steals a boat …

Lorelai is correct that telling Dean about Tristan would be an essentially selfish thing to do, designed to assuage Rory’s guilt while hurting Dean for no good reason (as she mentions multiple times, she and Dean were broken up when she and Tristan kissed, it’s not really any of his business).

The fact that Rory is seriously considering doing it might be blind panic, but almost sounds as if she could be subconsciously using this as a way to instigate another break-up, to get away from Dean and his controlling jealousy. (Based on later events, it probably wouldn’t have worked).

James Lipton and the Actors Studio

RORY: Of course, right, I have to [tell Dean I kissed Tristan].
LORELAI: Yeah. Then at the play, right as Tristan enters to find you dead and pulls out the vial of poison to kill himself, Dean can leap from the audience and rip his head off, adding a level of reality few productions have ever seen before. You’ll get an A. The Actors Studio will go nuts. You’ll have James Lipton asking you what your favorite swear word is. It’s a great plan.

Louis James Lipton (1926-2020), actor, lyricist, and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York. He was the creator, executive producer, writer, and host of the talk show, Inside the Actors Studio, which began broadcasting in 1994.

The show interviews famous actors and directors in a far more in-depth manner than the usual celebrity piece, sometimes taking hours, and set up as a masterclass for students of drama. Since its inception, it has interviewed over 300 guests, with Paul Newman as the first.

The interview always includes a questionnaire submitted to the guest, with ten questions. Question 7 is, “What is your favourite curse word”?

Vanna

RORY: Right, so Tristan, he’s in our group, so that means he’s in …well, and Dean lives here, so this sucks.
LORELAI: Okay, you know what Vanna? I’m gonna need a few more vowels here.

Vanna White (born Vanna Rosich, born 1957), famous since 1982 for being the hostess of Wheel of Fortune, previously mentioned.

When solving the word puzzles, contestants can ask Vanna for the chance to “buy a vowel” to give them extra help. Lorelai feels that she also needs some assistance to decipher Rory’s barely comprehensible statement.