HOLOGRAMMATICAL ERRORS:
Hologrammatical Error #1: When Al and Sam are first walking down the street, no one seems to notice that Sam/Chick’s apparently talking to himself. And Sam’s not exactly being subtle about it, either. (MPB)
Hologrammatical Error #2: Al’s reflection shows up in the studio booth’s windows several times in this episode. (MPB)
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PROJECT:
Project Trivia #1: We get a really good look at the handlink in this episode, when Al sticks it in Sam’s face to inform him of Fred’s post-World-War-II editorial about freedom. How Sam got all that off that little screen, though, is anybody’s guess. (MPB)
Project Trivia #2: We find out that radio waves affect Ziggy’s projection of Al’s holographic image, and that, at least for Al, there is a visual effect when Sam Leaps that’s similar to what we as viewers see. (MPB)
MIRROR NITS:
Mirror Nit #1: Throughout the episode, we can see Sam’s image reflecting in the studio booth’s glass. It wouldn’t be that noticeable if Chick weren’t bald. (MPB)
GENERAL NIT-PICKING:
General Nit #1: If it would be out of character for Chick to play Pat Boone (Brian and Rachel seem to think it is, anyway), why does he have "April Love" in his pile of records? (MPB
General Nit #2: Why doesn’t the other DJ
take over when Sam blanks out on the air? Or why doesn’t Rachel send him
in to take over? (LW)
PCR: It was such uncharacteristic behavior
for Chick that they were just as dazed as Sam. (MPB
General Nit #3: Sam’s hair goes from wet
to completely dry between two consecutive songs. (MH)
PCR: Chick had a blowdryer hidden in the
studio (he found a used one cheap at a frat house in Buffalo; but he had
to go forward in time six years to get it). (MPB)
General Nit #4: It makes sense that we
hear Sam’s voice in the station, but why does everybody hear Sam’s voice,
not Chick’s, coming out of the radio? After all, if somebody takes a photograph
of Sam or films him on video (as in "Runaway" or "Roberto," for example),
only the Leapee’s image appears. Wouldn’t a broadcast transmission work
the same way? (MPB)
PCR: We as viewers hear Sam’s voice over
the radio, but the people in the Leap still hear Chick. (JCS)
General Nit #5: When Al and Sam are talking immediately before and after the brick comes through the window, the people in the street appear to be playing statues. They have two postures: one for before the brick and one for after. (IMZ)
General Nit #6: At the end of the Leap,
Rachel and Sam go outside to celebrate, leaving a single playing with no
one at the deck. That’s a bit of a relaxed attitude. (LW)
PCR: Then again, who could blame them?
They’d been up all night, and had just won a major victory. Changing the
record was the least of their concerns by that point. (MPB)
DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS:
Even though in "Star Crossed," Sam calls English Literature one of his least favorite clichés, he remembers, and is influenced by Yeats’s "The Second Coming." (MH)
It's fun to see Al give Sam romantic advice that he doesn't need - he seems to be doing a good job wooing Rachel on his own. (MH)
There’s a strong parallel between Rachel’s relationship with her father and Sam’s with his own. Perhaps this is what helps break down his initial resistance to her. "Promised Land" had not been written yet, so the loss of the Beckett family farm was probably not yet a part of Sam’s backstory and therefore could not have been in Chris Ruppenthal’s mind when he wrote "Peoria." But there’s a wonderful, albeit unintended, parallel between Rachel’s struggle to hold onto her dad’s radio station and Sam’s memories in "Promised Land" of his own father’s struggle to hang onto his farm. (MPB)
Rusty (from "Machiko") must have moved to Peoria. He was into that car-painting stuff, wasn’t he? (MPB)
OH, BOYS:
There’s no "Oh, boy" when Sam Leaps in. He says, instead, "Oh my God, I’m a DJ." Sam does say "Oh, boy" when he realizes the antenna’s been cut.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT:
For those of you who have *not* been living in a cave (as all good cave-dwellers know this already--right, Helene?) Patricia Richardson, who plays Rachel, co-starred with Scott in "Eisenhower & Lutz," a pre-QL sitcom that lasted all of one season, then died due to a combination of ratings and a writers’ strike, leaving Scott free to go onto a Tony nomination in "Romance, Romance," and then to become Our Hero in QL. (MPB, MS)
THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY:
The episode is, of course a blatant (albeit credited) steal from "Good Morning, Vietnam."
NAME THAT TUNE:
1. "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard, which opens and closes the episode. (MH)
2. "April Love" by Pat Boone (His song, Thee I Love was in the Pilot.)--If you want to get literal, Sam/Chick’s romance with Rachel is more of a September love, but we know what you mean, Pat. (MH & MPB)
3. "All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley, which describes how Sam/Chick feels about Rachel. (MH)
4. "Maybe Baby" by Buddy Holly, also describes Sam/Chick’s relationship with Rachel; and thanks to Sam in "Tess", Buddy is on the air. (MH)
7. "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis - Rachel and Sam/Chick certainly shake each other’s nerves and rattle each other’s brains, don’t they? As we know, this will go on to become Sam’s beauty-pageant-winning hit in "Miss Deep South." (MH & MPB)
11. "Yakkety Yak (Don’t Talk Back)" by The Coasters--appropriate, as that’s exactly the message Fred is trying to send to Rachel.
5. "The Twist" by Chubby Checker -- good just for fun, but also because throughout the episode, Sam and Rachel keep having to come up with new "twists" to defeat Fred. By the way, thanks to Sam, "The Twist" comes out a few months early! In "our" timeline, it came out in 1960.
6. "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley - an appropriate selection for Sam to play just as the new law has been passed. Not only are Sam and Rachel risking jail by defying the city council, they temporarily jail themselves in the radio studio. (MH & MPB)
8. "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets, which, of course, Sam and Rachel proceed to do. (MH & MPB)
9. "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford (MH & JE)
10. "Sleep Walk" by Sano and
Johnny could describe Sam's recent past.
(MH)
11. "The Glory of Love"--no doubt about the implications of this one. The first line--"You’ve got to give a little" is clearly Sam’s message to Rachel. (MH & MPB)
12. "Shout" by The Isley Brothers--well, Rachel and Sam/Chick certainly make Fred want to shout, and the feeling’s obviously mutual. (MH & MPB)
FAVORITE QUOTATIONS:
Sam: "Sometimes weird things just happen."
Rachel: "Like unemployment."
Rachel: "Do you know why my father started
this station?"
Sam: "As a tax dodge?"
Sam: "I take lots
of things seriously."
Rachel: "Name two."
Sam: "Quantum
physics and time travel."
Fred: "I carry a fair amount
of weight in this town."
Al: "Yeah, and
a lot if it’s hanging over your belt."
Sam: "It’s time for the best to exhibit a little passionate intensity."
Sam (after Al compares the crowd to the
Mongol hordes): "You don’t have any horde repellent on you, do you?"