Florida People and Anita Bryant

RICHARD: Oh, I always start my breakfast off with half a grapefruit.
LORELAI: Hm, do the Florida people know about you? Because Anita Bryant left this huge gap that has yet to be filled.

Anita Bryant (born 1940), previously mentioned. Singer who had a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was Miss Oklahoma 1958.

In 1969, she was chosen as the ambassador for the Florida Citrus Commission, with commercials featuring her singing Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree, and saying the tagline, “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine”.

In 1977 she became a controversial figure as an anti-gay rights activist, leading a coalition of conservative Christians who wished anti-discrimination legislation to be repealed. They were successful, but earned the ire of gay-rights activists, who organised a ban against orange juice. She became an object of ridicule, and after her divorce in 1980, the Florida Citrus Commission allowed her contract to lapse. This is the “huge gap” that Lorelai suggests Richard might like to fill. It also seems to be another comment about censorship.

“Bad, depressing Lifetime movie”

LORELAI: It’s going to be horrible. It is going to be a bad, depressing Lifetime movie and Nancy McKeon will be playing me. I am Jo.

Nancy McKeon (1966) is an actress best known for playing Jo Polniaczek on the sitcom The Facts of Life, a spin-off of Diff’rent Strokes which ran from 1979 to 1988, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the 1980s. The show was set at a private girl’s school, and Jo was an extremely intelligent but rebellious tomboy who rode a motorcycle to school and often got into trouble before graduating as class valedictorian. Jo must have been a role model for the ambitious yet wayward young Lorelai (another TV heroine with a motorcycle!).

Nancy McKeon appeared in television movies based on real life stories, as well Afterschool Special episodes with titles like, “Schoolboy Father”, and “Please Don’t Hit Me, Mom”. She starred in the 1989 domestic violence drama, A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story, and the 1992 kidnapping drama, Baby Snatcher. These are the types of “bad depressing” movies Lorelai probably has in mind.

Nancy McKeon has only ever been in one Lifetime movie, and it aired in 2003, after this episode was broadcast. Called Comfort and Joy, it’s a quirky romantic Christmas film, and not depressing at all.

Maine

LORELAI: I was kicked out of summer class for refusing to call the camp counselor Peaches because I thought the entire concept of the counselors choosing summer fruit names was stupid. So they called my dad and he came to get me and it was just the two of us alone in the car all the way from Maine with nothing to talk about but my camp failure. Luckily I had also flashed the swim team or even that subject would’ve gotten stale.

Maine is a New England state, the most north-eastern state in the US, the only state to have one-syllable name, and the only state that borders only one other US state (it borders New Hampshire, Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean). It is also the most rural of all the states of the US, with many farms. It is known for its rocky coastline, forests, smooth mountains, and picturesque lakes. It is famous for its maritime culture and seafood cuisine, especially lobster.

There are many summer camps for children and teens in Maine, and quite a few are exclusive and very expensive – only for the children of the wealthy and powerful, a few with a rigorous application process (one is known as “the Harvard of summer camps”), and a couple that require a uniform. It seems likely that Richard and Emily would have sent Lorelai to one of them.

It takes five to six hours to drive from Maine to Hartford. That’s bad enough, but Richard and Emily always vacation in Martha’s Vineyard during the summer. If Richard had to drive Lorelai back to their summer house in Massachusetts, the drive is even longer – six to seven hours. Considering that Richard might have had a fourteen hour drive that day to pick up his errant daughter and take her home, I can imagine he would have been in a very bad mood.

“You owe me!”

EMILY: You owe me! … I pay for Rory’s school! …And I co-signed your loan! You still have a house because of me!
LORELAI: Are you hearing yourself?
EMILY: I’m sorry but I’m desperate. I just need one day of peace and I will do anything to get it, anything.

Lorelai always feared that allowing her parents to help her would give them the opportunity to emotionally blackmail her later. Now her fear comes true – but it isn’t some cunningly-planned scheme of Emily’s. She’s stressed and desperate, and says anything she can think of to get Lorelai’s assistance.

Water Aerobics Class

EMILY: He’s going to join my water aerobics class.
LORELAI: What?
EMILY: He bought some new swim trunks today. He’s out of control.

Water aerobics, or aquarobics, are aerobics performed in a swimming pool, usually standing upright. It’s a form of resistance and strength training, as well as a cardiac workout – you can work harder without getting overheated. It’s ideal for seniors as a way to exercise safely.

Lorelai earlier said that Emily was keeping her legs trim by holding grudges. Here we discover that Emily actually attends an exercise class to keep fit. (In real life, Kelly Bishop’s shapely legs are from her years of dancing on Broadway).

Rhode Island

EMILY: You have to take your father …Tomorrow, for the whole day, just take him.
LORELAI: Take him where?
EMILY: I don’t care – the zoo, the mall, Rhode Island, just get him out of my house!

Rhode Island is a state in New England, the smallest state in the US. It takes its name from an island in Narragansett Bay, although most of the state is actually on the mainland. There are many beachside towns here, making it a common place for people to come for vacations, and there is a strong maritime culture. It would take about 90 minutes to drive to Rhode Island from Hartford.

The mention of Rhode Island may be a nod to animated sitcom Family Guy, which is set in Rhode Island, and which Daniel Palladino worked on.

Movies Seen or Advertised at the Video Store

Alamo Bay (1985)

Annie (1982)

Autumn Leaves (1956)

Beetlejuice (1988) – directed by Tim Burton, one of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s favourites

Blow (2001)

Body Double (1984)

Break Up (1988)

Cahill US Marshal (1973)

Cats & Dogs (2001)

Cobra (1986)

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

The Cowboys (1972)

Dave (1993)

David and Lisa (1962)

Fair Game (1995)

Field of Dreams (1989) – another Kevin Costner film

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Glitter (2001) – previously discussed

Goodfellas (1990)

Hairspray (1988) – previously mentioned

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) – only film where you see both the video and the poster for it

Hook (1991)

In a Lonely Place (1950)

Jack Frost (1998)

King Kong (1933)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

The Mambo Kings (1992)

The Matrix (1999) – mentioned several times during the show

The Mighty Ducks (1992)

Monster High (1989)

The Negotiator (1998)

Pretty Woman (1990)

Romeo Must Die (2000)

Rush Hour (1998)

Seven Beauties (1975) – directed by Lina Wertmuller, 1st female director to get Oscar nomination

To Sleep With Anger (1990)

A Star is Born (1954)

Sweet November (2001)

Swordfish (2001)

Tin Cup (1996) – another Kevin Costner film

The Toy (1982)

Valentine (2001)

“Tape cover that’s kind of mature”

RORY: Hey Kirk, there are a couple of little kids over there and they’re, uh, looking at this tape cover that’s kind of mature. You might wanna put that stuff on a higher shelf or something.
KIRK: Mature? How mature?
RORY: Uh, it’s a half-naked woman just standing there.
KIRK: Is she a blonde?

The video that the boys are looking is Showgirls, a 1995 erotic drama directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Elizabeth Berkley and Kyle MacLachlan (who played Dale Cooper in the 1990-91 David Lynch television series, Twin Peaks, a secret touchstone for Gilmore Girls). Showgirls is a about a street-smart drifter who goes to Las Vegas and climbs the seedy ladder from stripper to showgirl.

It was the first, and so far, only, NC-17 film given wide release in mainstream cinemas. Critically panned, it was a box office bomb, but a success on the home video market, despite being named as one of the worst films ever made. It’s often cited as a guilty pleasure, a camp classic, or a “so bad it’s good” film. It was made into a stage musical in 2013. (Amy Sherman-Palladino commented on the film Glitter, “It was no Showgirls“.) Some critics now believe it is a brilliant satire.

The video is correctly catalogued under Drama by the video store, and Showgirls was cut to an R rating for video store rentals. R rated videos were not kept in a separate section from other films, so Rory comes across as more of a meddlesome prude than a concerned citizen. The cover doesn’t actually show anything very salacious – just a leg and a tiny bit of side boob.

The woman on the cover is actually a blonde.

Worst Film Festival Ever

LORELAI: Got it. The worst film festival ever. Cool as Ice, Hudson Hawk, and Electric Boogaloo.
RORY: Sold.

Lorelai chooses a triple feature of poorly-received or ill-regarded films.

Cool as Ice, 1991 romantic musical comedy directed by David Kellogg and starring rapper Vanilla Ice in his film debut. The story is about a free-wheeling motorcycling rapper named Johnny who arrives in a small town and meets a student named Kathy (played by Kristin Minter), whose father disapproves of Johnny, but ends up needing his help when Kathy’s brother Tommy is kidnapped. It was a box office failure and received negative reviews. Vanilla Ice won Worst Actor at the Razzies. Kellogg later disowned the movie.

Hudson Hawk, 1991 action comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann and starring Bruce Willis in the title role; Willis also co-wrote the script and the theme song. Willis plays Eddie “Hudson Hawk” Hawkins, a master cat-burglar and safe-cracker trying to save the world from an evil corporation using a machine designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It’s a cartoonish slapstick comedy with surreal humour based on conspiracy theories, secret societies, and historic mysteries. A recurring plot device is Hudson Hawk singing songs with his partner to time and synchronise their exploits. It received harsh reviews, and failed at the box office, but did well on home video, and performed better outside the US. It received Worst Film, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay at the Razzies. It spawned a video game.

Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, 1984 dance musical directed by Sam Firstenberg, the sequel to 1984 break dancing movie, Breakin‘. The story is about three dancers who try to save their community recreation centre from being demolished to make way for a shopping mall. The rapper Ice-T plays a role in it. There is a third film in the series, and none of them are connected, except for featuring Ice-T. It had a lacklustre performance at the box-office, and received mostly negative reviews, with a few notable exceptions, such as Roger Ebert. “Electric Boogaloo” has entered the pop culture lexicon to refer to a ridiculous sequel title, or a sequel to an obscure or eclectic film (or other work).