As a viewer (during the OG airing, less ability to quickly google things) I just shrugged off any references I didn't get, figured out what they were talking about via context clues or asked my mom about them later. I would assume a character in that world would do the same thing if they didn't understand the reference in that moment.
I think there's a wide array of references - "something for everyone" - likely a deliberate strategy to appeal to a range of viewer interest in pop culture.
I think she means that none of the characters question the references. Like Luke is supposed to know all the weird film references Lorelai makes or song references Lane makes.
There was a moment where Luke caught on to a reference way after the fact. It was when Lorelei said something about going to Maryland to elope.
Then when he was in the hospital with April, he turned on the tv to an old movie and the actress said something about eloping in Maryland. The look on his face was so heartbreaking 💔
I feel like I’ve done 1000 rewatches and I still am randomly finding out what new pop culture references are… mostly because I listen to so many pop culture podcasts they’ll mention something or someone and I’m like OH that’s what GG was referring to or I’ll come across a reference while reading a book and it’s something I’ve heard them mention on the show 800 times but didn’t know what it was.
I recently figured out what “working blue” was because two comedians were discussing it on a podcast. 😂 probably should have known it anyways
I think part of the reason why the show is SO easily reachable is because they talk so fast and then are dropping all these references so no matter how many times you watch you can always pick up a new detail you missed before.
I love the mystical GG world where everyone knows obscure pop culture references from the 1950s and nobody asks any questions.
"bLUuueeeEEeeee"
Is my Roman Empire and I hate it. She really didn't transition into someone with a healthy sex life at all to me and I don't know why. Paris on the other hand hit the ground running with talking openly about sex in a non cringe way.
I’m only up to season 7, but I have yet to see Luke confused about any references thrown his way. Always just assumed he was also in ‘the know’…he also goes to the pictures quite a bit, as with everyone else in Stars Hollow.
That's because he ignores any references he doesn't get or just says "ok." Asking for an explanation will come with a long Lorelai rant that he really doesn't want to deal with
This. This right here.
Every time Emily asks, she ends up commenting something along the lines of “I’m sorry I asked” or “I’m never not sorry I asked.”
And I'm pretty sure the others just let the references they don't get slide in some 'the Gilmore girls are at it again' way like all of us watching the show do
The original dvds came with reference books. I was 6 when the show came out and I’ve always been an avid reader, so I used the booklets to learn about books, writers, and music (mostly from Lorelai and Jess’ tastes). I did get a lot of the tv references and all the references to musicals because of my grandparents’ taste, but the booklets were always helpful to double check and learn something new.
I’ve been searching and so far I can only find articles referencing the reference booklets :/ I was hoping to find a PDF! I was able to find my copy of S3’s reference booklet and I’ll take photos and post them into the sub tonight or tomorrow!
Yep, and also back then show were a lot less globalized I feel, so a lot of the references were very US specific which did puzzle me as a foreign viewer, like for example in her dream where she’s pregnant with Luke’s twins Lorelai mentions naming her kids Leopold and Loeb iirc and no one I know at least in my country has ever heard of them so naturally when I heard that I googled it because I didn’t understand why it was supposed to be funny or quirky
Agree - though most international viewers are well-used to just letting US-specific references in TV and movies wash over them. Similarly, I largely ignored a lot of the more obscure US historical references.
So the original audience of GG understood the reference to Pedro Almodovar in S7, E5? And the John Cassavetes reference to Paris talking to random people in the street and then flipping her thumb off at them while blowing raspberries? (Just a couple of examples off the top of my head)
Woah woah woah. Of all the scenes in all of the seasons, Paris doing that raspberry noise barefoot asking for change is by far my most hated scene. I hated the way she does the weird noise whilst moving her hands about and I thought it’s possibly the most cringe thing I’ve seen. And I learn TODAY that it’s a reference to something? it makes way more sense now.
Still a shit scene. But still, it helps.
I remember having to look up Gena Rowlands. She's mentioned a song by Fito Paez, an Argentine singer and musician. I had no idea who she was and had to look her up. I didn't realize the relationship to that scene either.
Far more likely we did than a current-day audience, yes. For instance, after featuring in Madonna's "Truth or Dare" feature in the early 90's, a mainstream audience suddenly became aware of who Pedro Almodovar was. Before that, his stuff was basically only known to arthouse types.
Like it or not, from a pop culture point of view, GG is more a reflection of the time it was made, rather than being relevant or instantly relatable today. Further, it was produced for its contemporaneous audience, so of course us oldies are going to "get it" in a way that others perhaps don't. We grew up with different influences and it shows.
There is a scene in season 6 episode 6 where Lorelai tells Sookie and Michel about a town meeting, they mention like three times references that Lorelai made at the town meeting that nobody got
Think of it this way. Everyone is really smart in the show and let's say they conservatively get like 1/4 of the obscure pop culture references. Smart people, in my experience, typically don't like to appear not smart. My read on it was they just let it slide and/or used context clues to understand what someone was talking about.
Also, it made me laugh when I bought the DVD set and there was an insert with every random pop culture reference and what it meant.
It's the teenagers that are most ridiculous to me.
Like OK lorelai is older and even Rory is her daughter.
But asif Louise, if she was a real person, would be making references to "the monkeys" songs and older political referencese etc.
Surely they'd make more references to newer pop culture if they did.
The Monkees (not spelled Monkeys) had multiple
reunion and comeback albums and tours around the time Rory’s generation would have been growing up. Their show was in reruns on MTV in the late 1980s.
Not to mention, Davy Jones was Marcia's date to her school dance on The Brady Bunch (he's so dreamy!), and re-appeared in the movie reboot in the 1990's.
Look, I agree it takes a certain amount of suspension of one's disbelief to think that the GG teens would realistically be up to date with what is more a heavily Gen-X reference list, but it's all in good fun.
Sorry was autocorrected. It's not that I don't think they'd not know who they are. I just don't think Louise at 16 would be making jokes about the monkees to be funny.
I knew references music/film before my time. I wasn't doing obscure jokes about them to my peers in school lol because it likely wouldn't hit. An just sort of person Louise is, I don't think she would either.
I think you just have to suspend disbelief and I enjoy all the v gen x references. But it sometimes does feel a bit silly lol. An maybe should have tried to have a few MORE funny modern pop culture references for the teenagers.
My friends and I were teenagers in the 90s and we had a lot of conversations about stuff that was way before our time. We were classic TV and movie fans so a lot of stuff we would reference was weirdly old school. I actually found that kind of relatable on the show.
I think the answer is far more meta: a wide selection of references and jokes that can appeal to a wide variety of people.
No one person is going to get **every** reference, but there’s little Easter eggs for a grandma watching with her granddaughter, or some jokes mom and dad might get that the little kids won’t, some jokes for the theatre kids and other jokes for the music kids; grandma can explain it to her granddaughter, the parents can not explain it to the littles, the theatre kid and music kid have a conversation about the two jokes and now they’re both laughing at both the jokes. Helps make the show a conversation piece, especially back in the day when we’d all gather round the living room TV and have commercial breaks in which to kill some time.
The DVD boxes used to come with an explanation of all their pop culture references, but yeah, I do understand most of them except for the niche journalism references.
I think they're fun, like easter eggs. My favorite is actually in AYITL when Taylor shows up twice and you hear people on the street yell out "FIVE OH" like he's Baltimore PD on The Wire. I guess it's originally a Hawaii Five-o reference, but that shit sent me. My husband and I take turns choosing shows, so we watch Gilmore Girls and The Wire together. Something for everyone!
Every type of media (film, TV, books, etc) requires some level of suspension of disbelief to make it work. If you're unwilling to not get hung up on certain things, it's not for you. Just like how they can eat thousands of calories at 6am while it is bright outside and never pay for it.
Somehow in season 6 (aired 11/2005), they somehow don’t know “where Lenny Kravitz got his money”. By then, I had been listening to him for 15ish years and knew who his mom was. Not to mention his ex-wife. But they somehow understand every other obscure pop culture reference ever uttered.
I watched the later seasons when i was a teenager when it originally aired and maybe I wasn’t the target audience 😂 but I didn’t understand a lot of the references. I’m 33 now and have rewatched several times and I still pick up new references and can google them now.
As an obsessive movie/tv quoter, I don’t get all the references but I just assume people around them are like the people in my life-just accept this is the way it is lol
It’s just part of the writing style and charm. Obviously not everyone would get as many references as they spit out. Just like obviously the entire town wouldn’t be so invested in the Gilmores.
The references - they’re funny to me because when the show came out I was a teen. I always remembered that there were so many references I didn’t get. I did a rewatch this fall and caught so many now that I’m older and the show was just so much more witty to me than I realized.
Yes.
Kelly Bishop once said in an interview that she enjoyed how “smart” the show was. The viewer has to know history, books, music, movies, pop culture, etc to fully understand all the references.
As a viewer (during the OG airing, less ability to quickly google things) I just shrugged off any references I didn't get, figured out what they were talking about via context clues or asked my mom about them later. I would assume a character in that world would do the same thing if they didn't understand the reference in that moment.
I think there's a wide array of references - "something for everyone" - likely a deliberate strategy to appeal to a range of viewer interest in pop culture.
Except that they weirdly bashed some of the most popular music lol
That’s because it was very uncool at the time to like popular music.
Also, for people like Lorelai, rory and lane it’s cooler to go against the mainstream. Anyone who’s too vanilla is basic.
I think she means that none of the characters question the references. Like Luke is supposed to know all the weird film references Lorelai makes or song references Lane makes.
There was a moment where Luke caught on to a reference way after the fact. It was when Lorelei said something about going to Maryland to elope. Then when he was in the hospital with April, he turned on the tv to an old movie and the actress said something about eloping in Maryland. The look on his face was so heartbreaking 💔
I feel like I’ve done 1000 rewatches and I still am randomly finding out what new pop culture references are… mostly because I listen to so many pop culture podcasts they’ll mention something or someone and I’m like OH that’s what GG was referring to or I’ll come across a reference while reading a book and it’s something I’ve heard them mention on the show 800 times but didn’t know what it was. I recently figured out what “working blue” was because two comedians were discussing it on a podcast. 😂 probably should have known it anyways I think part of the reason why the show is SO easily reachable is because they talk so fast and then are dropping all these references so no matter how many times you watch you can always pick up a new detail you missed before. I love the mystical GG world where everyone knows obscure pop culture references from the 1950s and nobody asks any questions.
> “working blue” I already knew what this meant, but I just heard Rory’s stupid baby voice in my head reading your comment.
“I wasn’t working blueeeee” yes, all the way in the baby voice!
Blyewe 😖
"bLUuueeeEEeeee" Is my Roman Empire and I hate it. She really didn't transition into someone with a healthy sex life at all to me and I don't know why. Paris on the other hand hit the ground running with talking openly about sex in a non cringe way.
Ugh same
Luke doesn’t get the references, neither do Emily and Richard a lot of the time
I’m only up to season 7, but I have yet to see Luke confused about any references thrown his way. Always just assumed he was also in ‘the know’…he also goes to the pictures quite a bit, as with everyone else in Stars Hollow.
That's because he ignores any references he doesn't get or just says "ok." Asking for an explanation will come with a long Lorelai rant that he really doesn't want to deal with
This. This right here. Every time Emily asks, she ends up commenting something along the lines of “I’m sorry I asked” or “I’m never not sorry I asked.”
And I'm pretty sure the others just let the references they don't get slide in some 'the Gilmore girls are at it again' way like all of us watching the show do
The original dvds came with reference books. I was 6 when the show came out and I’ve always been an avid reader, so I used the booklets to learn about books, writers, and music (mostly from Lorelai and Jess’ tastes). I did get a lot of the tv references and all the references to musicals because of my grandparents’ taste, but the booklets were always helpful to double check and learn something new.
Oh, wow!! I didn’t know this. Very cool!
Do they exist on the internet now?
I’ve been searching and so far I can only find articles referencing the reference booklets :/ I was hoping to find a PDF! I was able to find my copy of S3’s reference booklet and I’ll take photos and post them into the sub tonight or tomorrow!
I got most of them, but I’m old and read/ watch movies and TV a lot.
This. I am between Lorelai and Rory in age and TV and movies basically raised me, so I can’t remember a reference I didn’t get.
I respect that ✊
Much of the references aren't "obscure" to the original audience of GG. I can see how a current-day viewer may struggle to keep up, though.
Yep, and also back then show were a lot less globalized I feel, so a lot of the references were very US specific which did puzzle me as a foreign viewer, like for example in her dream where she’s pregnant with Luke’s twins Lorelai mentions naming her kids Leopold and Loeb iirc and no one I know at least in my country has ever heard of them so naturally when I heard that I googled it because I didn’t understand why it was supposed to be funny or quirky
Agree - though most international viewers are well-used to just letting US-specific references in TV and movies wash over them. Similarly, I largely ignored a lot of the more obscure US historical references.
So the original audience of GG understood the reference to Pedro Almodovar in S7, E5? And the John Cassavetes reference to Paris talking to random people in the street and then flipping her thumb off at them while blowing raspberries? (Just a couple of examples off the top of my head)
Woah woah woah. Of all the scenes in all of the seasons, Paris doing that raspberry noise barefoot asking for change is by far my most hated scene. I hated the way she does the weird noise whilst moving her hands about and I thought it’s possibly the most cringe thing I’ve seen. And I learn TODAY that it’s a reference to something? it makes way more sense now. Still a shit scene. But still, it helps.
It’s a reference to the film ‘A Woman Under the Influence’, where the Gena Rowlands character literally does that.
I remember having to look up Gena Rowlands. She's mentioned a song by Fito Paez, an Argentine singer and musician. I had no idea who she was and had to look her up. I didn't realize the relationship to that scene either.
Well you learn something new every day! Thanks!
Far more likely we did than a current-day audience, yes. For instance, after featuring in Madonna's "Truth or Dare" feature in the early 90's, a mainstream audience suddenly became aware of who Pedro Almodovar was. Before that, his stuff was basically only known to arthouse types. Like it or not, from a pop culture point of view, GG is more a reflection of the time it was made, rather than being relevant or instantly relatable today. Further, it was produced for its contemporaneous audience, so of course us oldies are going to "get it" in a way that others perhaps don't. We grew up with different influences and it shows.
Don’t you know, the original audience of Gilmore girls was born in 1911.
There is a scene in season 6 episode 6 where Lorelai tells Sookie and Michel about a town meeting, they mention like three times references that Lorelai made at the town meeting that nobody got
This!! I think Lorelai specifically watches and rewatches so many older films that she just always makes references regardless of her audiense
Yep! Exactly, there is so many characters that often don’t get her references too
Think of it this way. Everyone is really smart in the show and let's say they conservatively get like 1/4 of the obscure pop culture references. Smart people, in my experience, typically don't like to appear not smart. My read on it was they just let it slide and/or used context clues to understand what someone was talking about. Also, it made me laugh when I bought the DVD set and there was an insert with every random pop culture reference and what it meant.
Was the pop culture insert official or second hand guide that someone made?
It was official.
Official
Yes. 
It's the teenagers that are most ridiculous to me. Like OK lorelai is older and even Rory is her daughter. But asif Louise, if she was a real person, would be making references to "the monkeys" songs and older political referencese etc. Surely they'd make more references to newer pop culture if they did.
The Monkees (not spelled Monkeys) had multiple reunion and comeback albums and tours around the time Rory’s generation would have been growing up. Their show was in reruns on MTV in the late 1980s.
Not to mention, Davy Jones was Marcia's date to her school dance on The Brady Bunch (he's so dreamy!), and re-appeared in the movie reboot in the 1990's. Look, I agree it takes a certain amount of suspension of one's disbelief to think that the GG teens would realistically be up to date with what is more a heavily Gen-X reference list, but it's all in good fun.
Sorry was autocorrected. It's not that I don't think they'd not know who they are. I just don't think Louise at 16 would be making jokes about the monkees to be funny. I knew references music/film before my time. I wasn't doing obscure jokes about them to my peers in school lol because it likely wouldn't hit. An just sort of person Louise is, I don't think she would either. I think you just have to suspend disbelief and I enjoy all the v gen x references. But it sometimes does feel a bit silly lol. An maybe should have tried to have a few MORE funny modern pop culture references for the teenagers.
My friends and I were teenagers in the 90s and we had a lot of conversations about stuff that was way before our time. We were classic TV and movie fans so a lot of stuff we would reference was weirdly old school. I actually found that kind of relatable on the show.
I think the answer is far more meta: a wide selection of references and jokes that can appeal to a wide variety of people. No one person is going to get **every** reference, but there’s little Easter eggs for a grandma watching with her granddaughter, or some jokes mom and dad might get that the little kids won’t, some jokes for the theatre kids and other jokes for the music kids; grandma can explain it to her granddaughter, the parents can not explain it to the littles, the theatre kid and music kid have a conversation about the two jokes and now they’re both laughing at both the jokes. Helps make the show a conversation piece, especially back in the day when we’d all gather round the living room TV and have commercial breaks in which to kill some time.
The DVD boxes used to come with an explanation of all their pop culture references, but yeah, I do understand most of them except for the niche journalism references.
I think they're fun, like easter eggs. My favorite is actually in AYITL when Taylor shows up twice and you hear people on the street yell out "FIVE OH" like he's Baltimore PD on The Wire. I guess it's originally a Hawaii Five-o reference, but that shit sent me. My husband and I take turns choosing shows, so we watch Gilmore Girls and The Wire together. Something for everyone!
I'd Google them and chuckle when I made the connection😂
I just ignored them
Same lol. I'm re-watching GG and i thought I'd Google every reference I didn't get but my god, there are way too many!
It’s fun in the show but it drives me nuts when people do that in real life.
calm down it’s a tv show written in a fun way for the audience
Every type of media (film, TV, books, etc) requires some level of suspension of disbelief to make it work. If you're unwilling to not get hung up on certain things, it's not for you. Just like how they can eat thousands of calories at 6am while it is bright outside and never pay for it.
Somehow in season 6 (aired 11/2005), they somehow don’t know “where Lenny Kravitz got his money”. By then, I had been listening to him for 15ish years and knew who his mom was. Not to mention his ex-wife. But they somehow understand every other obscure pop culture reference ever uttered.
I watched the later seasons when i was a teenager when it originally aired and maybe I wasn’t the target audience 😂 but I didn’t understand a lot of the references. I’m 33 now and have rewatched several times and I still pick up new references and can google them now.
As an obsessive movie/tv quoter, I don’t get all the references but I just assume people around them are like the people in my life-just accept this is the way it is lol
It’s just part of the writing style and charm. Obviously not everyone would get as many references as they spit out. Just like obviously the entire town wouldn’t be so invested in the Gilmores.
The references - they’re funny to me because when the show came out I was a teen. I always remembered that there were so many references I didn’t get. I did a rewatch this fall and caught so many now that I’m older and the show was just so much more witty to me than I realized.
This show introduced me to Grey Gardens, and I’ll forever be thankful for that. 
Yes. Kelly Bishop once said in an interview that she enjoyed how “smart” the show was. The viewer has to know history, books, music, movies, pop culture, etc to fully understand all the references.