Tag: Television

Lucy, I’m home!

LORELAI (to Rory): Lucy, I’m home!

A catchphrase from the classic 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy, starring real-life husband and wife Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. In the show, Ricky would call this out to his wife on returning home.

I Love Lucy was often mentioned on Gilmore Girls, and as one of the first female-centred TV comedies must have served as an inspiration to Amy Sherman-Palladino. Perhaps a little of Lucy’s warm-hearted, wrong-headed wackiness is even part of Lorelai’s character.

Vulcan death grip

SOOKIE: Too bad you couldn’t get your mom to relinquish Friday night.
LORELAI: No, she has her Vulcan death grip on that one.

In the sci-fi TV series Star Trek, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) would employ a Vulcan nerve pinch to render others unconscious. It seemed to work by pinching a particular pressure point in the neck.

In the episode “The Enterprise Incident”, Spock administered a supposed “Vulcan death grip” to Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to convince some aliens that Kirk had been killed. In fact, Spock had simply used an extremely powerful Vulcan nerve pinch to put him into a state of deep unconsciousness. Unlike the nerve pinch, the “death grip” was administered by a hand over Kirk’s face.

As any Star Trek fan will tell you, there is no such thing as a Vulcan death grip. It is unclear whether Lorelai realises this.

Hee Haw

(A bearded customer from the diner walks by as Michel comes through the door.)
MICHEL: Yoo-hoo, Hee Haw man, where is Lorelai Gilmore?

Hee Haw was an American television comedy variety show, which aired from 1969 to 1992, then continued in reruns throughout the 1990s. The show centred on country music and rural culture, and was set in fictional Kornfield Kounty.

It seems an unlikely TV show for Michel to watch – perhaps he thought it would help him learn about American culture, or adjust to life in regional Connecticut.

Jeep

LORELAI: So what does the deer look like? Huh? Does it have any distinguishing marks – besides the word Jeep imprinted on it’s forehead?

Jeep is a brand of American automobile, made by Chrysler; their range is in sport utility vehicles and off-road vehicles. The original Jeep was made in 1941 for the military, and was the primary four-wheel drive vehicle used by the Allies; after the war they were produced for civilian use. Lorelai’s car is a 2000 Jeep Wrangler (although in the show it is said to be a 1999 model).

A couple of episodes ago, a connection was made between Lorelai and Daisy Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard when Lorelai chose to wear denim shorts to Chilton. Another thing they have in common is that they both drive Jeeps – but Daisy’s was white, while Lorelai’s is tan. Gilmore Girls was filmed on several of the same sets at Warner Brothers as The Dukes of Hazzard – Stars Hollow High School was previously the Hazzard County Courthouse, for example.

After Gilmore Girls run ended, Lorelai’s Jeep was auctioned off in 2011, and sold to the highest bidder. It was bought by someone from Deep River, Connecticut – a small town with a selectman, a strong sense of community, a day devoted to colonial history, a quaint main street, and a town square with a gazebo. In fact, it’s gone to somewhere rather like Stars Hollow!

Rory’s Study for the Shakespeare Test

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s early plays, and a farce involving two pairs of twins and mistaken identity. It was written around 1594, so Rory’s statement that it was written in 1590 is just an estimate – the exact date isn’t known. It was published in 1623 though, as that was the first collection made of Shakespeare’s plays.

Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s historical plays. It was written around 1592, so Rory’s guess of 1591 is within the acceptable time-frame and not actually wrong. In real life, it would be very unusual for students to be tested on their knowledge of the dates of Shakespeare’s plays, as they are usually not known for sure. As we never see the actual test, Rory could be studying all the wrong things anyway.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets are a 1609 collection of love sonnets, most of which are addressed to either a Dark Lady or a Fair Youth. It is not known whether these figures are fictional or based on real people. It is not even known for certain whether the sonnets were written by William Shakespeare.

During the study session, Lorelai makes a buzzer noise when Rory gets a question wrong, as if she is on a game show.

Saved by the Bell

LORELAI: You couldn’t tell me [about getting a D]? You tell me everything.
RORY: It was too humiliating.
LORELAI: Oh, honey, you once told me that you loved Saved by the Bell. What could be more humiliating than that?

Saved by the Bell was a popular teen sitcom which aired on NBC from 1989 to 1993. The story follows a group of friends at high school, and their relationship with their school principal.

Rory would have loved watching Saved by the Bell when she between five and ten – a possible hint of her precocity. It seems typical of Rory that her favourite childhood TV show revolved around school.

 

MTV

EMILY: I mean, in this age of MTV and 100 television channels, who would’ve imagined that a young girl could still get a thrill spending a simple afternoon with her grandfather?

MTV (originally Music Television) is an American cable station owned by Viacom. Launched in 1981, it was initially for music videos but quickly branched out into other programs; music videos are now limited on the channel.

Peyton Place

RORY: It’s a conspiracy.
RICHARD: It’s Peyton Place.

Peyton Place is a 1956 novel by American author Grace Metalious. Set in a small, conservative, gossipy New England town, it deals with hypocrisy and class privilege and has a salacious plot which encompasses incest, abortion, adultery, suicide, and murder. It became an immediate best-seller when it was released.

It was adapted as a film in 1957, becoming the #2 film of 1958. In 1964 it was made into a highly successful television series which ran until 1969, which was when the term “Peyton Place” became used for any scandalous situation. The follow up novel Return to Peyton Place also became a film, and then a soap opera.