Welcome to Gilmore Girls S1, E1, "Pilot": Pop Culture Rewatch ! In this podcast episode, I share the books and pop culture referenced when Gilmore Girls started.

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Books, Pop Culture, and Other Mentions:

• On the Road
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Madame Bovary
• Moby Dick
• The Little Match Girl
• Mommie Dearest
• Rosemary’s Baby
• West Side Story
• Rory Gilmore sweater

Full show notes for Gilmore Girls S1, E1, "Pilot": Pop Culture Rewatch

Time Stamps:

• 00:39 What Happened in Stars Hollow
• 02:27 The Gilmores' World of Books
• 05:23 Oy With the Pop Culture Already
• 09:04 Book Tease

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About Friday Night Readers: Pop Culture Rewatch of Gilmore Girls :

This is an unofficial pop culture rewatch of Gilmore Girls hosted by Friday Night Readers. We dive deep into each episode, featuring the Gilmores’ world of books, as well as their fast talk. Oy, with the pop culture already! Learn what the Gilmores are actually talking about, so you can read and live more like them as you rewatch. Life’s short; read fast!

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Speaker: 00:00:05

Welcome to Friday Night Readers,

an unofficial pop culture

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: 00:00:08

rewatch of Gilmore Girls.

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: 00:00:10

We dive deep on each episode featuring

the Gilmore's world of books, as

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: 00:00:14

well as their fast talk oy with the

pop culture already learn what the

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: 00:00:18

Gilmores are actually talking about so

you can read and live more like them.

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: 00:00:23

Life's short read and rewatch fast.

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: 00:00:28

Hi there, Friday night readers.

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: 00:00:30

Let's get this podcast started.

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: 00:00:32

For our first episode, we'll break

down our pop culture rewatch of

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: 00:00:35

season one, episode one pilot.

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: 00:00:39

Here's what happened in Stars Hollow.

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: 00:00:42

The pilot of Gilmore Girls

th,: 2000

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: 00:00:46

For background, at that time, I had just

begun college close to New England in a

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: 00:00:50

small town in northeastern Pennsylvania.

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: 00:00:53

I studied political science

and English and worked at the

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: 00:00:55

iconic American retailer gap.

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: 00:00:57

Which has so many overlaps

with the show in terms of pop

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: 00:01:00

culture, fashion, and music.

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: 00:01:03

More on that in future podcast episodes.

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: 00:01:05

The point is that I totally get that time

and Rory, and I'm so excited to share

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: 00:01:11

all the things with you in the pilot.

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: 00:01:14

The Bright Book Loving Teen, Rory Gilmore

is accepted into Chilton Prep School in

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: 00:01:18

Connecticut, but she's hesitant to attend

because she has a crush on Dean Forester,

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: 00:01:23

the tall and handsome new guy at Stars

Hollow High School in her small town.

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: 00:01:28

Meanwhile, her young single coffee

addicted mother, Lorelai Gilmore, a

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: 00:01:33

manager at the local Independence Inn,

needs financial help to cover the tuition,

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: 00:01:38

so she reluctantly turns to her wealthy

Hartford, Connecticut parents, Emily

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: 00:01:43

and Richard Gilmore, with whom she has a

strained relationship due to her decision

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: 00:01:47

to raise Rory on her own as a teen mom.

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: 00:01:50

The Gilmore's agreed to cover the tuition

in exchange for the girls attending

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: 00:01:54

Friday night dinners at their home side.

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: 00:01:57

Note, our name Friday Night Readers

is inspired by this, but instead

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: 00:02:01

of dining at the Gilmore's, we

stay home and read like Rory.

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: 00:02:05

We also meet Rory's best friend,

lane Kim, a music obsessed Korean

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: 00:02:09

American teen with a strict mother

and Lorelei's best friend, Sookie St.

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: 00:02:14

James.

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: 00:02:15

A sweet and friendly chef at the ill.

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: 00:02:17

Okay.

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: 00:02:17

Then Rory and Lorelai

eat at the local diner.

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: 00:02:20

Luke's the owner.

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: 00:02:22

Luke Danes is a friend and

potential love interest for Lorelei.

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: 00:02:27

The Gilmore's world of books.

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: 00:02:29

Let's break down this episode's most

iconic literary references for those

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: 00:02:33

taking the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

with us where we read from the list of

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: 00:02:37

books mentioned on Gilmore Girls, the

first author mentioned is Jack Kerouac.

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: 00:02:43

Lorelei calls the guy hitting

on her in the opening sequence,

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: 00:02:46

quote, A regular Jack Kerouac.

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: 00:02:49

Kerouac was an American novelist

and poet in the beat generation,

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: 00:02:52

a literary movement of the 1950s

that rejected mainstream culture.

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: 00:02:57

Kerouac is most known for on the

road, a novel about a cross country

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: 00:03:01

journey, for meaning both Kerouac

and the beat generation feature

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: 00:03:05

repeatedly in the series, particularly

through Jess Mariano's character.

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: 00:03:10

The first book mentioned is Adventures

of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

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: 00:03:15

This popular classic, often banned for

racism and profanity, follows young

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: 00:03:19

huckleberry Huck Finn as he escapes

his abusive father and journeys down

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: 00:03:23

the Mississippi River With Jim an

enslaved man seeking freedom, its early

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: 00:03:29

reference in the show may be a nod to

the fact that showrunner Amy Sherman

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: 00:03:33

Paladino created its concept when

visiting Mark Twain's, Connecticut home.

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: 00:03:38

Next.

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: 00:03:39

Dean admits that he first

noticed Rory reading quote.

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: 00:03:42

After school, you come out and you sit

under that tree there and you read.

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: 00:03:46

Last week it was Madame Bovary.

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: 00:03:48

This week it's Moby Dick.

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: 00:03:51

Rory says it's cliche that Moby

Dick is her first Melville.

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: 00:03:54

This is because it's his most

famous work, considered by many

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: 00:03:58

to be the great American novel.

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: 00:03:59

This is an epic novel about

Captain Ahab's obsessive quest

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: 00:04:02

to hunt the white whale man v.

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: 00:04:05

Nature.

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: 00:04:06

Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's

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: 00:04:08

Controversial 1856 novel about an

affair considered to be obscene.

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: 00:04:13

Seriously.

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: 00:04:14

Flaubert was tried, but

acquitted of the charge.

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: 00:04:18

To be honest, I haven't heard the best

reviews of this novel from our readers

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: 00:04:22

in the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge.

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: 00:04:24

Lorelei also refers to standing outside

like The Little Match Girl, which

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: 00:04:28

is the title by the Brothers Grimm.

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: 00:04:30

I don't wanna say too much about this very

brief fairy tale because it would give the

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: 00:04:34

plot away, but trust me when I say that

despite being a Christmas story, it is

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: 00:04:40

indeed as grim as the name of the author.

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: 00:04:42

Lorelai also asks Rory if

she's going to give her the

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: 00:04:48

quote, mommy Dearest Treatment.

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: 00:04:50

This number one bestselling

book by Christina Crawford.

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: 00:04:53

Also, a popular movie is about a

controlling and overbearing mother.

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: 00:04:57

Curious about every single book

mentioned in this Gilmore Girls episode.

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: 00:05:01

Even the obscure references most people

miss, like the Steinbeck Classic quoted,

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: 00:05:05

and the book, Rory pulls out of her locker

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: 00:05:08

head to this episode's page at

Friday night readers dot substack.com

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: 00:05:13

when you upgrade to a paid membership.

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: 00:05:15

You'll get printable episode guides

for every Gilmore Girls episode.

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: 00:05:19

Perfect for tracking your own

Rory inspired reading journey.

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: 00:05:23

Only with the pop culture already

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: 00:05:25

now because I want you to understand

even more of the Gilmore Girls fast talk.

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: 00:05:29

Here's what some of this episode's

best pop culture references mean.

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I'm not going to go through all of

them, but rather focus on the ones.

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: 00:05:37

I think viewers of various age groups

and locales especially outside the United

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: 00:05:41

States, may not already know fashion.

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: 00:05:45

In this episode, Rory wears the

iconic Rory Gilmore sweater.

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This is also known as a fisherman

sweater, a heavy cable knit wool sweater,

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: 00:05:53

traditionally born by Irish fishermen

and popular in New England where there

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: 00:05:57

are many chilly coastal fishing villages.

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The ones I personally own are

from the maine retailer, LL Bean.

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However, I'll link a variety of

options for you in the show notes

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: 00:06:08

movies in the pilot, Rory and Dean

discussed the movie Rosemary's Baby,

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: 00:06:13

which was also a book by Ira Levin.

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: 00:06:16

Rory says, quote, you're like

Ruth Gordon just standing there

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: 00:06:19

with a tannis root make a noise.

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: 00:06:22

Ruth Gordon plays an eccentric neighbor

who secretly lures rosemary into a

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: 00:06:26

satanic plot, giving her a charm, filled

with a tannis root tied to witchcraft.

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: 00:06:30

It.

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: 00:06:32

Lorelei also refers to Officer Krupke,

who is a character in the iconic

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: 00:06:36

movie and musical West Side story.

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: 00:06:38

A 1950s New York retelling of another

iconic Gilmore Book, Romeo and Juliet

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: 00:06:44

told through rival street gangs.

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: 00:06:46

If it's new to you, definitely try

the great: 2021

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: 00:06:50

adaptation Famous people.

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: 00:06:54

Lorelei says Her pate is at Zsa Zsa

Gabor's house, which refers to the

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: 00:06:58

elite status of the Hungarian American

socialite and actress known for her many

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: 00:07:02

marriages, a Kardashian of her time.

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: 00:07:05

Next, you may know exactly what

Lorelei's referring to when she

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: 00:07:09

talks about quote, pulling a

Menendez after Friday night dinner.

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: 00:07:13

The Menendez brothers have been back in

the news seeking release from prison after

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: 00:07:17

killing their parents decades earlier.

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: 00:07:19

Lorelai also tells Rory she'll have to

turn to Flo Jo to get away from her.

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: 00:07:24

Flo Jo was an Olympic gold

medalist and the fastest woman ever

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: 00:07:27

recorded music according to Vice.

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: 00:07:31

There is so much music in Gilmore

Girls because, quote, Amy Sherman

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: 00:07:35

Palladino and her husband both wanted

the show to have its own sound,

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: 00:07:40

putting a significant amount of

focus on the theme song and score.

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: 00:07:44

There she goes by the la's, is the

first song feature on the show.

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: 00:07:48

And one of the most popular,

it has millions more Spotify

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: 00:07:51

listens than the iconic theme

song where you lead by Carol King.

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: 00:07:55

Speaking of laws, we are introduced to

the la la sounds of Sam Phillips, whose

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: 00:08:00

songs like Where the Colors Don't Go

feature heavily throughout the series.

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: 00:08:04

The resident music lover Lane refers

to Eminem, who was arguably the most

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: 00:08:09

popular American rapper at that time.

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: 00:08:12

Seriously, when he appeared on MTV.

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: 00:08:14

Thousands of fans would swarm the streets.

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: 00:08:18

We also hear, but the name Macy Gray

and her song, I Try after Lorelai and

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: 00:08:22

Rory argue about Dean, which was one

of the most popular songs at the time.

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: 00:08:27

This song is a good representation

of the Gilmore Girls awareness of

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: 00:08:30

pop culture and how small the age

gap is between Lorelai and Rory.

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: 00:08:35

They seemingly listen to the same music.

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: 00:08:38

The episode closes with the song, my

Little Corner of The World by Yo La Tengo.

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: 00:08:43

It's simply the perfect way

to describe Stars Hollow.

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: 00:08:47

Come along with me to my little corner

of the world dream, a little dream

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in my little corner of the world.

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: 00:08:53

You'll soon forget that

there's any other place.

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: 00:08:56

Dot dot.

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So welcome to our little

corner of the world.

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: 00:09:00

That's the perfect place to

end today's episode, isn't it?

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: 00:09:04

But before you go, I'll be a book tease.

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: 00:09:07

The time has come for me to be what

just called worry a book tease.

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: 00:09:11

Tune in next Friday when

we dive into episode 1.2,

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: 00:09:14

the lorelei's first day at Chilton.

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: 00:09:16

And books like Anna Karenina

and all things Charles Dickens.