Footnotes to the TV series
RORY: The panelists are up there. We sit across from them and ask questions. What’s the problem?
PARIS: It’s boring and predictable and done to death. I wanted Charlie Rose.
RORY: To ask the questions?
PARIS: His style. I wanted us sitting at a round table with black backdrops.
Charlie Rose, previously discussed. Apparently Paris is a fan of his show, as well as Lorelai. This now the third time Charlie Rose has been mentioned in Gilmore Girls.
[Rory exits the diner and runs to catch her bus as Luke walks over to the table]
LUKE: Fast runner.
DEAN: It’s the coffee.
LUKE: Not your face?
Luke is very resentful of Dean for standing in the way of Jess being with Rory, which is what Luke wants for him. (That may suggest he’s not as thrilled about Jess being with Shane). Here he gets a dig into Dean, implying that Rory should be running away from him. I don’t think he ever really forgave Dean for breaking up with Rory early in their relationship.
RORY: It’s not due for weeks, and I already have my essay topic picked out … Hillary Clinton … She’s so smart and tough and nobody thought she could win New York but she did and she’s doing amazing, and have you heard her speak?
DEAN: Only when you’ve played me the thousands of hours of C-SPAN footage you taped.
RORY: She’s a great speaker, strong and persuasive, with a wonderful presence, and even those suits of hers are getting better.
Hillary Clinton, previously discussed. We now discover Rory is a complete fangirl of hers.
C-SPAN, Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. Cable and satellite television network created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the US federal government, as well as other public affairs programs.
Note that Dean has to watch hours of C-SPAN footage taped by Rory, but she wouldn’t watch BattleBots with him until he went to her debutante ball as her escort. Maybe she also pays him back in some way (or she considers just going out with Dean enough of a big favour?).
RORY: I thought we could see a movie or something.
DEAN: You’re not free.
RORY: How do you know?
DEAN: ‘Cause you’ll be working on your application all weekend.
Dean is now experienced enough to know that when Rory says she’s free to spend time with him, that means, unless she has unexpected homework to do. Or a test to study for. Or Paris wants her to do extra work for the newspaper. Or she suddenly discovers she’s got to do volunteer work all summer. He can even anticipate it coming before she can. Instead of fighting with her over it, he’s learned to just accept it.
DEAN: Well, what else do you call house jobs?
RORY: I call them the stuff you avoid until the Environmental Protection Agency steps in.
The EPA, previously discussed. Apparently the Gilmore method of housework means you only do it when the house is so filthy it’s a health hazard – even though we’ve never seen their house look dirty or even very messy.
RORY: So, what are you doing Saturday?
DEAN: Just my usual chores.
RORY: Your usual chores, John-boy?
Rory refers to The Waltons, previously discussed (and mentioned as using the same set as the Dragonfly inn). John “John-boy” Walton, played by Richard Thomas, was the eldest son of the family, and the protagonist of the series.
Rory seems to think the word “chores” sounds very rural and folksy. Unlike Dean, Rory doesn’t have regular chores – as it’s just she and Lorelai (and they both have work/school), she takes an almost equal share of the household tasks. It’s never made clear how Lorelai and Rory divide up jobs around the house, but they’re rarely shown arguing about it or even discussing it, and they have a relaxed approach in any case.
LUKE: Do they let kids drink coffee before school?
RORY: Why, do you think it might lead to harder stuff? Lattes, cappuccinos . . .
Latte [pictured]: Caffè latte, shortened to latte in English. Coffee style from Italy made with espresso and steamed milk; the Italian word literally means “coffee and milk”. Part of European cuisine since the 17th century, the word caffè e latte was first used in English by American writer William Dean Howells in 1867, after a visit to Italy. The “latte” as an American-style coffee drink is said to have been “invented” in Berkeley in the 1950s and popularised in Seattle in the 1980s.
Cappuccino: Previously mentioned as a favourite of Rory and Lorelai. Espresso-based coffee drink prepared with steamed milk foam; typically smaller than a latte with a thicker layer of foam. The name comes from the Capuchin friars of the Catholic church – their habits are the colour of cappuccinos. The drink appears to be Viennese in origin, dating to the 18th century, and spreading through Europe from the port city of Trieste. It doesn’t seem to have been taken up in Italy until the 1930s, but it was through Italian-American neighbourhoods that it was spread in the US. It only seems to have become popularised there in the 1990s.
This is the song Lane puts on to help her make “deep cuts” to her rock band advertisement.
“I Wanna Be Sedated” is a song by punk rock band the Ramones, from their 1978 album Road to Ruin. It was released in the UK as the B-side to “She’s the One” the same year, then released as a single in the Netherlands in 1979, before being released as a single in the US in 1980. Written by Joey Ramone, previously mentioned, the song is about the rigours of being a touring band on the road. It is considered one of the best rock songs of all time.
LORELAI: Oh, they want a picture. How about the one of us sticking our heads through the carved out holes of Johnny Bravo and SpongeBob Squarepants?
Johnny Bravo, animated romantic comedy TV series created by Van Partible for Hanna Barbera which aired on the Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2004. The series focuses on Johnny Bravo (voiced by Jeff Bennett), a dim-witted Elvis-esque womaniser who lives with his mother. Episodes revolve around Johnny asking women on dates, although his advances are usually comically rejected, sometimes violently. The comedy derives mostly from celebrity guest star appearances and pop culture references, as well as adult humour – you can see why Rory and Lorelai would be fans of the show! Johnny Bravo helped launch the career of Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy – you can see why writer Daniel Palladino mentions it, as he worked with MacFarlane.
SpongeBob SquarePants, animated surreal comedy TV series created by marine science educator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon, based on an unpublished educational comic book Hillenburg created in 1989 to teach his students about undersea life. The show revolves around a cheerful yellow sea sponge called SpongeBob SquarePants who lives in the fictional city of Bikini Bottom, beneath the real-life Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Here he works as a cook at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab, and interacts with other undersea characters. The show first began in 1999 and is still running, having won numerous awards and inspired an acclaimed Broadway musical, which opened in 2017.
Rory and Lorelai presumably had this photo taken during one of Stars Hollows many festivals. Note that Lorelai immediately suggests sending Harvard a photo of both she and Rory together, as if they are one person, or as if Lorelai will be attending Harvard by proxy.
LORELAI: Okay, what activities interest you?
RORY: All of them except for the sports.
LORELAI: I thought you were the lacrosse kid.
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a stick with a net on it and a ball; the stick is used to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the ball into goal. It is the oldest organised sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America, going back as early as the twelfth century. The game was extensively modified by European colonisers to create the current game. It is commonly played in schools and colleges in the US, and there are professional leagues as well.
Lorelai jokingly refers to Rory as “the lacrosse kid” in acknowledgement of her quote from The Karate Kid – an example of something being referenced twice in one episode of Gilmore Girls, without the title of the work ever being used.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 