Golden Girls: Classic or Dud?

the aids scare episode is petrifying

"aids is not a bad person's disease, rose"

i really have trouble figuring out what in life is better than this show.

have i bragged enough about the fact that my boyfriend has held rue mclanahan's hand? i don't think so.

http://photos-847.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v183/221/109/8403847/n8403847_30983762_917.jpg

him asking her his question

rue mclanahan is looking at the love of my life. in the face. (that jacket!)

Betty White on Palin, amazing

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Golden_Girl_vs_Palin.html?showall

she didn't declare Obama to be the new Lincoln like Rue, did she

nopers

What great timing. I just last night had a GG episode watching party with more than just myself.

Though now finding out I could've been watching Jour de fete on TCM is a little bit of a comedown.

I'm surprised you prefer Jour de Fete!

I haven't seen it.

Bea Arthur RIP

:(

So she was 86? I guess I didn't realize she was in her mid to late 60s while she was making the show (seemed younger somehow).

I <3 you Bea. R.I.P. classy lady.

Oh god no.

Thank you for being a friend. :(

omg :(((((((

nooooo I hadn't seen this topic before, and I happily read through only to be hit with that hammer blow at the end. :'( A real staple of my childhood, was Golden Girls.

sophia - "you were brought up a lady. keep both your feet on the floor"

dorothy - "i better go change. blanche, what should i wear?"

blanche - "well if you're gonna keep both your feet on the floor, something you can throw up over your head"

<3 <3 <3

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.cinematical.com/media/2009/05/classic_betty_white.jpg

The bad thing about coming back to work after being off sick for a week is not being able to watch Golden Girls reruns anymore.

So, I was watching some Empty Nest clips earlier today, and I never realized that the worlds of Golden Girls and Empty Nest are apparently one and the same! They live in the same community! Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MA_sgR1FFM

In walks Dorothy! Empty Nest used to follow Golden Girls in primetime, so I guess it's not too big of a leap, but still pretty weird.

Yeah - Empty Nest was a spin-off. They were neighbors iirc. EN was great because it had the Joe Isuzu guy. I wonder whatever happened to him.

I never realized it was a spinoff despite having seen probably dozens of episodes back in the day. Empty Nest may be one of the most boring tv shows ever made. I have no idea how it made it for 7 seasons.

SEVEN? wow.

1988-1995 according to imdb.

insane.

""Empty Nest" is set in Miami and tells of the day to day misadventures of a widowed pediatrician, Harry Weston, and his two adult daughters, Barbara and Carol Weston, who have come back to live with him after failed marriages. Much of the humour is derived from Barbara and Carols' ongoing attempts, and failure, to find the perfect partner, and once again leave the "nest". There is also the skirt-chasing next door neighbour, Charlie Dietz and Harry's southern nurse, Laverne Todd, unique for her unbelievable Hickory stories."

hilarious!!

I liked Empty Nest at the time, but there's definitely a reason it's not in syndication now (is it even on dvd?).

Did it make the 75 episode mark? Programs that don't get to that point don't usually get into syndication.

http://www.fatalfarm.com/tvthemes/FFGoldenGirls.mov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OPYq7bmpldw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crxCRJFbjEw&feature=player_embedded

from here

A long-distance friend and I emailed eachother our favorite GG episodes. I went overboard and included capsules.

01. "Till Death Do We Volley" (S4, E19) -- A lot of my choices have some dramatic or emotional heft to back up the punchlines, but this one is just a classic piece of sitcom writing from start to finish, with a perfect series of one-ups between Dorothy and the somewhat terrifying woman who was Dorothy's rival in high school and a reasonably twisty plot, given this is after all The Golden Girls and not Mulholland Drive. The bitchy quips between the two in this episode are fantastic. ("The way you picked yourself up after getting dumped by Stan, boy, I envy you your gumption." "And I your breast implants.") And Dorothy's poker face throughout the whole episode is flawless. Plus, the best Sophia fart joke of the series. ("You'll have to excuse Sophia." "Oh, you heard that? I thought I was safe backed up against these pillows.") Bonus: Blanche admitting that she loved her family and they had a few dollars but, "when you get down to it, basically they were trash," but not before sniping to Dorothy, "I'm sorry if we can't all come from places as socially acceptable as … Brooklyn." If I'm looking to show off what made this one of the great sitcoms that still stayed well within a potentially constricting format, this is the episode I choose.

02. "Ebbtide's Revenge" (S6, E12) -- It's no secret that Sophia is my least favorite of the four main characters, but in this case her antagonism just makes the moment she lets the facade drop all the more powerful. Structurally, this is a replay of the "Good Times" episode when Florida seems to be refusing to cry for her dead husband, but this episode goes much deeper into the nature of grief beyond the denial stage. Even beyond the obviously touching GLAAD Award-ish affirmation of Phil's cross-dressing, the episode taps into that regret we feel about the feelings we withhold from people, only to realize too late that they were standing in the way of fully realized relationships. Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Bea Arthur were all consistently great in the show. But none of them ever delivered a moment as unexpected and raw as Estelle Getty's admission of parental shame. I've admittedly never been a "drama trumps comedy" personality, but that's about the only explanation I can think of why this heartbreaking episode didn't flat-out take first place.

03. "Journey to the Center of Attention" (S7, E19) -- By the last season, the bloom was definitely off the rose (and the other three too). But there were a handful of episodes that got fresh mileage out of subtle twists on the characters' traits. And, in the case of this particular episode, offered the most rewarding switcheroo in the show's history. Blanche comes to terms -- kicking and screaming, at that -- with the fact that Dorothy has a talent for attracting men that she herself can't hope to compete with. And what a beautiful talent it is. Bea Arthur's performance of "What'll I Do" is an astonishment, effortlessly moving from quiet melancholy into a totally unexpected punchline (when she decides, after noticing she's entranced the entire room, to have another go around with the song).

04. "Isn't It Romantic" (S2, E5) -- The three episodes I've listed so far all spotlight Dorothy in a vital if not necessarily central role. I make no bones about it, she is the engine of the show for me. That said, Blanche often sneaks up from behind as the show's secret MVP, the middle ground between Dorothy's infallible intelligence and Rose's geniality. Blanche isn't the focus of this episode; Rose is. But Blanche gets the episode's best punchline, when she reacts badly to the news that Dorothy's friend Jean is in love with Rose. "To think that Jean would prefer Rose to me? That's ridiculous!"

05. "Job Hunting" (S1, E22) -- Clearly one of the earliest episodes they shot (actually, it looks like it was taped concurrently with the pilot), this episode boasts a much looser structure than virtually every other episode in the series, predominately because of the extended midnight snack session that serves no plot function, but is instead used to shade three still-new characters. Like many of the best episodes of Norman Lear's '70s sitcoms, "Job Hunting" plays like a showcase one-act play. "Alright, so you're a few years older. So am I, so is Blanche. Alright, so you're a little thicker around the middle. So is Blanche!"

06. "My Brother, My Father" (S3, E17) -- More episodes than not, I regard the arrival of Stan at the girls' doorstep with about as much enthusiasm as Dorothy. Usually, the writers would use the occasion to fall back on a string of cheap toupee jokes, but this is one of the few episodes where the writers manage to come up with zingers worthy of their animosity. ("I'll have to bring out the big gun." "You're wasting your time, Stanley. I'm familiar with the big gun.") Uncle Angelo became a nuisance in the last season, too, but at least this first time around, the cliches hadn't gotten stale. Also, Blanche, dressed as a nun and carrying her clothes: "We're collecting lingerie for … needy … sexy people."

07. "Dorothy's New Friend" (S3, E15) -- Dorothy's foibles are usually dismissed as evidence of her rule over the roost. She's the smartest, the most sensible and the most responsible of the quartet. That's why the other three always take cheap shots at her physical beauty or perceived lack thereof. ("It's not easy living with someone so perfect," Blanche explains in the episode where the four visit a psychiatrist.) This episode finds a more elegant means of highlighting Dorothy's character weaknesses: Barbara Thorndike, Dorothy's seeming intellectual equal who is also, as it turns out, a total bitch about it.

08. "Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy" (S6, E5) -- One of my favorite guest stars ever is Ruby Dee as Blanche's mammy, who arrives after Big Daddy's death to tell an unreceptive Blanche that her father, well, had a touch of Jungle Fever. She requests a trinket from Big Daddy's belongings. "The Bible?" "No thanks, I don't drink."

09. "The One That Got Away" (S4, E3) -- The one where Blanche is reunited with the one man that wouldn't sleep with her and committing to finish the job even when he shows up fat, bald and still disinterested. I will never come up with a fake name more delicious than Ham Lushbough. Better fat jokes, on the whole, than "Blanche's Little Girl," too.

10. "Dancing in the Dark" (S5, E8) -- I love when glimmers of Sue Ann Nivens peek through the Rose facade, as when she sets up Blanche with Miles and then, behind her back, asks Dorothy "Can you believe that backstabbing slut?"

Honorable Mentions:

"Joust Between Friends" (S2, E9) -- "Eat dirt and die, trash."

"Blanche's Little Girl" (S3, E14) -- The surfeit of cheap fat jokes from Sophia sour the proceedings a bit, but this is a solid demonstration of the maxim that honesty is always better than lies via withholding.

"Scared Straight" (S4, E9) -- Rue's theory that gay men like Blanche so much because she is, for all intents and purposes, a gay man is a tad objectionable, but it gets a nice test drive in this episode when her basically identical brother Clayton turns out to be gay.

"Not Another Monday" (S5, E7) -- Geraldine Fitzgerald reading off the list of foods she's going to order before killing herself: "I'm having the shrimp cocktail, the cream of mushroom soup, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and a filet mignon." Also, Dorothy interrupting a Rose story with the promise: "I'm going to cut out your tongue."

"Henny Penny Straight, No Chaser" (S6, E26) -- "Help. The outlook is drear." Great capper too, with Blanche being unable to get totally out of character.

Love the Barbara Thorndike one, though the joke only works for me if we are allowed to accept that she's intended as a straight-up hack, otherwise it plays as typical sitcom anti-intellectualism.

Not as much of a fan as the serious ones as you are, since watching GG is purely a comfort/nostalgia thing for me. Even when the show was new, and watched pretty religiously in our house, my sister and I would instinctively start eye-rolling whenever an episode seemed to be headed in that direction ("oh no, it's a SERIOUS one"). This applies to most of the Ebbtide eps, I suppose, though the one where Big Daddy dies does have the great Blanche moment of "I'm far too upset to eat. Ok, something with frosting."

Yeah, normally the serious ones don't do a whole lot for me either, which is why I didn't list "Sick and Tired" (which has sleep deprived Blanche) or "72 Hours" (the AIDS ep).

I agree. One of the serious ones that I really dislike is where Dorothy gets chronic fatigue syndrome and lectures everyone about it for the entire episode.

haha i love that episode but mainly cuz there's this one hypochondriac at work we'll make fun of by comparing her to dorothy in that episode. great post eric, it's been interesting to see golden girls critical rep in recent years.

02. "Ebbtide's Revenge" (S6, E12) -- It's no secret that Sophia is my least favorite of the four main characters, but in this case her antagonism just makes the moment she lets the facade drop all the more powerful. Structurally, this is a replay of the "Good Times" episode when Florida seems to be refusing to cry for her dead husband, but this episode goes much deeper into the nature of grief beyond the denial stage. Even beyond the obviously touching GLAAD Award-ish affirmation of Phil's cross-dressing, the episode taps into that regret we feel about the feelings we withhold from people, only to realize too late that they were standing in the way of fully realized relationships. Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Bea Arthur were all consistently great in the show. But none of them ever delivered a moment as unexpected and raw as Estelle Getty's admission of parental shame. I've admittedly never been a "drama trumps comedy" personality, but that's about the only explanation I can think of why this heartbreaking episode didn't flat-out take first place.

this episode has changed my life more than most things in this world for sure. the ending is unreal, and you are otm through your analysis of the reasons why.

yeah I don't go in for the issue/serious ones v much. altho I do like the Blanche's bro is gay one.

amazing that when this show starts Dorothy/Blanche/Rose are all supposed to be in their 50s

01. "Till Death Do We Volley" (S4, E19)

watched this last night after reading this post and yeah this is SUCH a good ep - blanche's faux-scandinavian!

I bet Blanche was supposed to actually be roughly 5 years younger than the other two. (Which was probably tough for Rue, since she was 12 years their junior.)

03. "Journey to the Center of Attention" (S7, E19) -- By the last season, the bloom was definitely off the rose (and the other three too). But there were a handful of episodes that got fresh mileage out of subtle twists on the characters' traits. And, in the case of this particular episode, offered the most rewarding switcheroo in the show's history. Blanche comes to terms -- kicking and screaming, at that -- with the fact that Dorothy has a talent for attracting men that she herself can't hope to compete with. And what a beautiful talent it is. Bea Arthur's performance of "What'll I Do" is an astonishment, effortlessly moving from quiet melancholy into a totally unexpected punchline (when she decides, after noticing she's entranced the entire room, to have another go around with the song).

have also frequently listed this a favorite. Dorothy's performance is wondrous, and the dichotomy btw blanche and dorothy has never been more relatable than it is here. a beautiful way of looking at the world.

Thanks guys! Happy to share the GG love.

guys (in Blanche voice) "Girls."

to me this show is all about two things: 1) Bea Arthur deadpan reaction shots and 2) hermetically sealed world of bizarre-o old lady fashions

She was winning Worst Dressed Awards in '88 and '89, an acknowledgment of how horrible they looked even then.