RUSSIAN DOLLS

Our guess: Taylor, Zac and Isaac Hanson, aka the band Hanson

Our thinking: The “15 replicas” could be a nod to the 15 kids the trio has produced over the years. The ITZ in the toy store name likely stands for Isaac, Taylor and Zac. The “been doing my own thing for quite some time” probably refers to how the brothers formed their own label, 3CG Records. “MMM, those were the days”? A callback to their huge hit “MMMBop.” They were Got Milk? spokesmen (hence the pitcher). And there are several digs at manufactured boy bands from the same era as Hanson (“more than a puppet” = ‘NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” video and robots on a shelf = Backstreet Boys’ “Larger Than Life” video). In Episode 3, the hospital incident they’re referring to is when guitarist/oldest brother Isaac Hanson underwent emergency surgery in 2007 for a pulmonary embolism. And there is a fourth Hanson brother who is not in the band but who could theoretically join them: Mac Hanson, who fronts the California-based indie band Joshua and The Holy Rollers. Hanson was featured during the annual Christmas in Washington special in 1997, when they performed for then-President Bill Clinton. And they performed in a parking lot at Tulsa’s MayFest early on, before they were signed to a major label, and in a baseball field at South by Southwest (SXSW) — the latter is where they were discovered by onetime manager Christopher Sabec. (As always, so many thanks to my Hanson-expert colleague, Ryan Schwartz.)

Your guesses:

* Hanson

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