In ‘That Damn Donna Reed,’ the episode begins with Lorelai and Rory watching The Donna Reed Show. After it’s apparent that Dean is charmed by the family life and the wife cooking dinner on the series, Rory surprises him with her own Donna Reed night.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GP66zjmdH4]
So, I thought I’d dig a little into the series that inspired this fantasy. The Donna Reed Show was a sitcom that premiered in 1958 and ran until 1966. It starred Donna Reed, a housewife to a pediatrician. The couple had two kids and featured “problems of the 1950s” such as planning for a party, firing a housekeeper, and making some quality time away from the kids. In the series, Donna does all her household work, and charity work, wearing heals, pears and chic hairdos. She was the “ideal” housewife and mother in every way - pretty, polite, and capable.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ftKJe96N28]
In the video above, Donna Reed is described as “America’s Favorite TV Mom,” while, ironically, to many of us, that title may belong to Lorelai Gilmore – and how different are they!
Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.
Awwww, ’50s tv. Nothing like it. I would have thought June Cleaver was favorite tv mom of that time. Moms back then were all the same, though, weren’t they? Perect in every way.
That GG episode was so funny. I love Rory’s orange heels. So cute. You are so right that to some of us Lorelai Gilmore is the favorite tv mom out there. The times have changed for sure.