So it's a show?: keeping up with the Gilmore Girls

We are big—it’s the podcasts that got small! We’re cruising down Sunset Blvd. to figure out what kind of breakfasts Emily Gilmore likes to serve on Saturday mornings. Were the people who made this 1950s movie even more high maintenance than Emily? Was the actress Gloria Swanson just as scary as her character Norma Desmond? And how does this film noir classic tie in with film history and film futur...

Please enjoy our latest episode of the show that tries to keep up with Paris and Francie’s pop culture references! Okay, we’re not rebranding this whole gig just yet, but Paris and Rory’s Chilton drama continues with yet another pop culture ref! What the hey is a weak-kneed turncoat? And what the hey does it have to do with The Andy Griffith Show? We catch up on the classic ‘60s sitcom made for co...

XANADU! XANADU! No, we’re not talking about the greatest movie of all time again, Citizen Kane—we’re talking maybe one of the most bizarre ones we’ve ever watched. Have you ever wanted to see Olivia Newton-John glow like a highlighter or turn into an animated fish? Gene Kelly roller skate or play the clarinet on the beach? Then Xanadu is the movie you need to satisfy your very niche interests. Thi...

Lorelai and Rory are mad because they’re taking on 4 Thanksgiving dinners, and we’re mad because we’re taking on Grey Gardens! Join Kyla, Taylor, Edie, and Edie for a closer look at the relatives the Kennedys tried to cover up and the ‘70s documentary that let them shine. How does the 2009 TV movie with Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore compare to the real thing? Will Taylor ever be able to stop la...

You know that feeling when you want to taste test every flavor at the ice cream shop? That’s how we felt about Gilmore Girls episode 308! Sometimes in Choose Your Own Adventure, you gotta choose every adventure, which is why we looked into six—count ‘em—pop culture refs the Gilmore Girls dropped in one episode. Why does Heather Mills have extra legs? What does Frank Lloyd Wright have to do with wa...

Shoobee do bop bop badda badda beedop we’re pinning our hair in curls and wearing vintage shoes so we can come out of this dance marathon on top! We’re talking the dance marathon movie They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, which inspired the dance marathon episode “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?” And how much time do you have? Because we’re hunting for all of the Easter egg parallels between this 1969...

Who is Dirk? What is a dirk? And why is Jess calling himself Dirk Squarejaw? We take on one of our most obscure Gilmore references yet, which is an obscure reference even within the bounds of the cult TV fave Mystery Science Theater 3000. We watch the characters of MST3K watch the 1950s sci-fi movie Rocketship X-M, and they watch movies a lot like Lorelai and Rory do. But is that the only connecti...

Is it safe? Um, can we phone a friend on this one? Because we honestly have no idea. However, we do have an idea on what Lorelai means when she tells Emily she and Jon Hamm were in Marathon Man pain on their first date, and it ain’t good. FYI: Running a marathon is painful, but that ain’t what we’re talkin’ about. We chat about the 1976 movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, as well a...

Hellooooo, listeners! You’re looking swell, listeners! We’re back for another ep, and this time we’re asking the age old question: Which is worse—Louis talk or baby talk? Either way, we’re Louis talkin’ and baby talkin’ the 1969 musical Hello, Dolly!, which stars our fave, Barbra Streisand (still queen!). Why was this the most expensive musical made to date? Why did Louis Armstrong have such a dis...

John, George, Paul, Ringo, and…Paris? We celebrate our half-centenarian episode with a serious case of Beatlemania. We all know the Fab Four, but what’s the deal with their concert at Shea Stadium? Where does this show fit into the history of concert and music documentaries? And can Kyla remember all the Beatles’ names? We get into that, plus whether Shea Stadium had video screens in ‘65, and just...

Hey, easy with the podcasting already! We hope you don’t say that to us, or to tell Degas you’ve had enough of his dancers already. We’re feeling super cultured in this episode, discussing paintings, sculptures, and other works worthy of art museums from the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas. How was he different from other Impressionist artists? Why did Sookie compare her cooking to his dancers? A...

Alert the media—we’re back for season 3! Kyla and Taylor return from the holiday break to jump back on the regular episode train to talk about a drunk millionaire, a snarky butler, and Liza Minnelli. We’re talkin’ some of our favorite funny lines from the movie, Liza Minnelli’s career, and how Lorelai and Luke are like a wealthy playboy and his unamused butler. Plus, we recap Mrs. Maisel’s Golden...

“WHHHYYY???” Because we want to talk Nancy and Tonya, that’s why. We dig way into the weeds of “the whack heard ‘round the world” just before the ‘94 Winter Olympics, including the slow burning rivalry between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding and the incompetent crime that still links them together in our minds. Plus, why Rory is like Nancy and why Lorelai is like Tonya! An inexhaustive list of po...

The Munsters are here! But don’t let that scare you, because Kyla’s mom is going to introduce us to this friendly family of monsters she compares to the Leave it to Beaver crew. They also talk other scary shows, including The Addams Family and why it was suddenly cancelled around the same time as The Munsters. Kyla also couldn’t help but ask her mom to give her take on previous episode topics (lik...

AYYY! It’s time for the bestest, most special-est, most important-est guest we’ve ever had! Okay, Taylor is writing this, and she’s a little biased, but you’ve gotta admit that her mom is one of the coolest moms this side of Lorelai Gilmore, right? Taylor’s cool mom comes on the podcast to school her clueless Millennial nerd daughter about another classic TV sitcom with a very catchy theme song. H...

We’re doing our best Rory and Lorelai impressions in this episode with a bona fide movie night! Plus, we’re queuing up episode after episode of a few TV shows, too. Kyla and Taylor are talking about movies and TV shows that connect with topics we’ve discussed in our first two seasons, including a few that will be in theaters this holiday season. So pop some popcorn, grab the Red Vines, and find wh...

We’re making a jump through the Gilmore space time and continuum! Per special request from our beautiful listener Carol, we’re jumping ahead to season 3 to chat about two queens of 1960s sitcoms. Kyla has the scoop on That Girl, aka Marlo Thomas, and Taylor takes on the movie star of Gilligan’s Island, aka Tina Louise. One of them is a sweetie, and one of them is a diva, but you’ll have to listen...

He may be a rebel without a cause, but he comes with quite the pop culture legacy! As we wrap season 2 of Gilmore Girls (!!), we don’t ask our usual question (“Who the heck are Rory and Lorelai talking about?”); instead, we’re asking, “Why the heck does Luke and everyone else in the whole world reference this guy?” We’re talking James Dean, the 1950s star of only 3 films but also the star of a mil...

Please pardon us while we don our sequins and pause for a song and dance number—Baz Luhrmann is directing this episode! Maddie Brophy makes her second appearance as our first repeat guest, and instead of working as our Meryl Streep correspondent, she’s serving as our Moulin Rouge! expert. And because Kyla and Taylor watched Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom, we have Luhrmann’s first 3 films (ak...

To supplement our discussion of Dawn Powell and Dorothy Parker we had last week, we spoke with two people who have spent a lot more time researching these women’s lives than we have! In this bonus episode, we chat with Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, President of the Dorothy Parker Society. He fills us in on the awesomeness of the Algonquin Hotel, Mrs. Parker’s legacy as one of the Greats from the Jazz Age,...

To supplement our discussion of Dawn Powell and Dorothy Parker we had last week, we spoke with two people who have spent a lot more time researching these women’s lives than we have. First up, we chat with Tim Page, who literally wrote the book on Dawn Powell. He has also edited much of her work to put it back into print and has stayed connected with her family.

Dawn Powell? Dorothy Parker? Never heard of ‘em. We’re a few steps behind Rory and Lane on this double reference, which is why we gotta dig deep to get to the bottom of the controversy about who really wrote some funny jokes—and the original version of A Star Is Born—in the 1920s and ‘30s. Then we gotta figure out why Amy Sherman-Palladino named her production company after one of these ladies, al...

Come one, come all to the Stars Hollow town square for a movie night! Because what says an evening of fun like a movie about the struggles of pioneer living, including imminent death? Kyla and Taylor suffer through movie violence, annoying child actors, and, okay, some actually pretty beautiful landscapes in 2 different versions of The Yearling from the ‘40s and ‘90s. We compare and contrast the 2...

It’s another episode with a super catchy theme song! This time our odd couple isn’t an astronaut and a genie but the quintessential Odd Couple, sloppy Oscar and neat freak Felix. We follow the pair’s evolution from the stage to the silver screen to the small screen. Plus, we discover this show not only has a special connection to Gilmore Girls—it has a special connection to a ‘90s sitcom you’ve pr...

Duh DUH duh duh duh duh duh DUH duh...help, we cannot get this catchy theme song out of our heads! Kyla and Taylor are dreaming of Jeannie, and Rory is dreaming of Jess actually doing something helpful around Stars Hollow. Listen in as your hosts speak in extra perky tones of voices and do not use contractions to please their Masters (also known as you, the listener). Hear Jeannie herself, formerl...