Footnotes to the TV series
The educational toy shown is a Hugg-a-Planet, a globe of the world made into a soft squashy comfort pillow. They have been manufactured since 1982.
Rory says this is dirty old faded childhood toy has been in the garage for years, but we saw it, looking new and clean, in the living room in “A Tisket-a-Tasket”. I suppose it’s possible she bought a new “Hug-a-World” in the meantime, but then why does she want to wash and keep the old one?
LORELAI: We’re Sanford and Son.
Sanford and Son, sitcom television series that ran on from 1972 to 1977, about a father and son named Fred and Lamont Sanford who run a junk yard business together in Los Angeles. It was based on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, which initially aired in theUK from 1962 to 1974.
Known for its edgy racial humor, running gags, and catchphrases, Sanford and Son has been hailed as the precursor to many other African American sitcoms. It was a rating hit throughout its six-season run.
RORY: We’re pack rats.
Pack rat, literally a small North American rodent. Figuratively, an informal term for someone who collects things they do not need and hates to get rid of them.
RORY: Well, how did he know that the note was authentic?
LORELAI: I wrote it on Powerpuff Girls stationery. Who’d he think was setting him up, Hello Kitty?
The Powerpuff Girls, previously discussed.
Hello Kitty, previously discussed.
Lorelai collects merchandise from both these cartoon characters.
LORELAI: So, uh, what do we do about the Batcave?
The Batcave, the underground headquarters of the superhero Batman.
RORY: Will the man [Ozzy Osbourne] never be able to live that down?
LORELAI: Well, Joe Namath will forever be wearing pantyhose.
Joseph “Joe” Namath (born 1943), former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets.
Nicknamed “Broadway Joe”, Namath became a media icon who attracted mainstream popularity outside of sports. He advertised several products, including Hanes Beautymist pantyhose, which he famously wore in the commercials [pictured].
RORY: It was a bat, wasn’t it?
LORELAI: Wearing an OzzFest T-shirt, I believe.
Ozzfest, music festival tour of the US (sometimes Europe and later Japan), featuring performances by heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, and was held almost annually between 1996 and 2018 before being revived in 2022. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath played the tour several times over the years.
At the most recent OzzFest relative to this episode, the tour was in Hartford on July 13. As Lorelai is a heavy metal fan, and at a very loose end over the summer, is it possible she went to it, and really does have a tee-shirt? Or, if she meant the bat was wearing a tee shirt already in the garage, she (and maybe Rory) could have gone to OzzFest 1999 [1999 tee shirt pictured], which was in Hartford on June 19. If so, it means Lorelai bought her Jeep later that year.
Lorelai connects a bat to the OzzFest musical festival because in 1982, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat at a concert in Des Moines. Stories vary as to whether the bat was alive, dead, or made of rubber, but Osbourne said the bat was alive, and gave him rabies. In 2019 Osbourne commemorated the anniversary of the bat incident by offering a toy bat with detachable head for sale on his personal web-store. The site claimed the first batch of toys sold out within hours.
RORY: And even then, I think we only got as far as opening the door before something flew out and scared you.
LORELAI: Yes, it scared me while you stood by calmly like Doctor Dolittle chatting with the bat.
Doctor Dolittle, previously discussed.
LORELAI: What? It has not been four years since we’ve stepped foot inside our own garage.
RORY: It was when we got the Jeep.
LORELAI: That wasn’t . . . yes, it was.
This is the first scene we’ve ever had of Lorelai’s garage, which has never been mentioned before. The show explains that’s because Lorelai and Rory haven’t been near it since 1999 – and even then they only got in the door, then ran away when a bat flew out. These two really don’t handle nature very well.
Later in this very scene this version of events is contradicted when Rory says that two years ago, in 2001, she boxed up items from the attic and put them in the garage. They were meant to be collected by a charity, but Lorelai couldn’t be bothered waiting for them, so the boxes remain there.
According to their recollection, Lorelai bought the Jeep in 1999. It’s actually a 2000 model.
A twist on the familiar idiom, A fish out of water, referring to someone who feels awkward or uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment. The earliest known example comes from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1483, and was about someone riding a horse, which they weren’t used to.
In this case, the episode is actually about fishing – something Lorelai knows nothing about.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 