The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Susan Harris[1]
Starring	Beatrice Arthur Betty White Rue McClanahan Estelle Getty
Theme music composer	Andrew Gold
Opening theme	"Thank You for Being a Friend" performed by Cynthia Fee
Composer(s)	George Aliceson Tipton
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English.
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	180 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Susan Harris Paul Junger Witt Tony Thomas
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Production company(s)	Touchstone Television Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions
Distributor	Buena Vista Television
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 14, 1985 (1985-09-14) – May 9, 1992 (1992-05-09)
Status	Ended
Chronology
Followed by	The Golden Palace
Related shows	Empty Nest Nurses

The Golden Girls is a hit American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a Miami home.^[2] The series was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions^[3] in association with Touchstone Television and distributed by Buena Vista Television in syndication.

The Golden Girls won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. It also won three Golden Globes for outstanding TV series comedy/musical.^[4] All four stars each received an Emmy Award throughout the series' run and each had multiple nominations.^[5][6] It also ranked among the top ten highest-rated programs for six out of its seven seasons. It has been listed as one of the greatest and most influential shows of all time.

Beginnings

As the series begins, three older women are sharing a home in Miami.^[7][8] The owner of the house is a widow Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), who has recently been joined by fellow widow Rose Nylund (Betty White) and divorceé Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), who had each responded to a room-for-rent ad on the bulletin board of a local grocery store. In the pilot episode the women had a gay cook named Coco. The character was eliminated because there was already too little dialogue for the three women.^[9] The three were later joined by Dorothy's mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).^[10]

Characters

Estelle Getty was younger than both Bea Arthur (by 1 year, 2 months & 12 days) and Betty White (by 1 year, 6 months & 8 days) despite playing the elderly mother of Arthur's character. Getty was heavily made up in thick glasses and a white wig to look the part. Rue McClanahan was almost 12 years younger than the rest of the cast.

Originally, McClanahan was cast as Rose and White was cast as Blanche, but both actresses felt the roles were too similar to ones they had played previously. White had portrayed man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, while McClanahan had co-starred as sweet but scatterbrained Vivian Harmon opposite Arthur in Maude. Eager not to be typecast, they took the suggestion of veteran comedy director Jay Sandrich and switched roles.

Actress Lee Grant turned down a chance to star as Dorothy. Elaine Stritch also auditioned.^[11]

During its original run, The Golden Girls received 65 Emmy nominations, 11 Emmy awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Viewers For Quality Television awards. All the lead actresses won Emmy Awards for their performances on the show. The Golden Girls, along with All in the Family and Will & Grace, is one of three shows where all the principal actors have won Emmy Awards.

Dorothy Zbornak

Dorothy Zbornak (née Petrillo) was raised in Brooklyn, New York by her mother Sophia and her father Salvatore (played in flashbacks by Sid Melton and Kyle T. Heffner).^[12] Nicknamed "Pussycat" by her mother, Dorothy had a younger brother and sister. Brother Phil, a cross-dresser, was never seen on the show. He later died of a heart attack and was buried in a teddy in an episode featuring Brenda Vaccaro as his widow. Sister Gloria, the youngest Petrillo sibling nicknamed "Kitten," married into money; she appeared in two episodes, but was played by two different actresses (Doris Belack and Dena Dietrich). After moving to Miami in her later years, Dorothy continued working as a substitute teacher.

A few weeks after their high school prom, Stanley Zbornak got Dorothy pregnant and married her to legitimize the baby. Stan and Dorothy were married for 38 years, although Stan cheated on her numerous times, finally leaving her for a young flight attendant named Chrissy, whom he met on the way to a business conference in Hawaii. As Dorothy explained in one episode, the captain on the flight told the flight attendants to "give the passengers a lei." Chrissy got confused (implying that she had sex with Stan), but she and Stan ended up marrying and living on Maui. Dorothy had two children, Kate and Michael, and a grandchild named Danny.

Though Dorothy and Stan were divorced, he made numerous appearances on the show (the character of Stan was portrayed by Herb Edelman), usually running to Dorothy whenever something went wrong in his life, and always opening with the line "Hi...it's me, Stan", every time he'd visit her. Stan continually saw Dorothy as a comforting, reliable figure, even though he was the one who destroyed their marriage. Stan and Dorothy ended up having a one-night stand in the first season (which Stan mistakenly thought would lead to a reconciliation), and, a few seasons later, they started dating again with plans to re-marry. Dorothy called off the reconciliation on the day of the wedding when Stan asked her to sign a pre-nuptial agreement (Stan had by this time become a successful businessman selling novelty items). Dorothy's proud mother, Sophia, who had never quite forgiven her "yutz" son-in-law for cheating on her daughter, proudly announced to the wedding guests: "She turned him down. Remember that!"

After seven years of playing Dorothy, Bea Arthur made it clear that she wanted to leave the series. In the series' final episode, Dorothy married Blanche's uncle Lucas Hollingsworth (played by Leslie Nielsen). Stan, though saddened to see Dorothy move on to her new life without him, gave Dorothy his blessing while disguised as the limo driver who took her to the wedding. Blanche, Rose and her mother Sophia were very depressed about Dorothy leaving, but she assures them that she will visit often and that no matter what, they will always be family. The episode ends when Dorothy left and the three remaining roommates hug.

Rose Nylund

Rose Nylund (née Lindstrom) was from the small farming town of St. Olaf, Minnesota, a community of Scandinavian-Americans. Rose loved telling profoundly strange stories of life growing up there. Typical stories focused on people with names such as Hans, Lars, or Sven and various experiences with herring. Though Rose was decidedly the mildest-mannered of all four roommates, she had an incredibly competitive streak, which reared its head during several situations, most notably the bowling championship in the episode entitled "The Competition" and while coaching a boys' football team with Dorothy.

Rose was known for being quite naive, and taking the meaning of everything literally. For example, Dorothy once mentioned that she once cut off Stan's sex, prompting Rose to ask, "You mean it grows back?" She was considered rather stupid by the other characters but occasionally offered superior insight and knowledge. She once helped Dorothy install a new toilet and exhibited thorough knowledge of plumbing parts, and claimed that the Journal of Abnormal Psychology was published in St. Olaf and that she'd read every issue.

Rose spent the first few years of her life in an orphanage in St. Olaf. As revealed in one memorable episode, she spent much of her life convinced that Bob Hope was her biological father. Toward the end of the series run, however, she learned she had been born out of wedlock to a monk (Don Ameche) and his lover, Ingrid, who died in childbirth. Shortly after birth, as detailed by a similar episode, Rose was left on the doorstep of an unknown family and subsequently adopted and raised by the large (and apparently somewhat bizarre) Lindstrom family. Her adoptive father Gunter had died prior to the start of the series, but in one episode she was visited by her free-spirited adoptive mother Alma, whose maiden name was Gerkleknerbeigenhaufstetlerfrau (played by veteran star Jeanette Nolan); she later died off screen during the course of the series. Rose was one of 9 siblings (once stating that her parents loved "all 9 of us equally"); several were, like Rose, named after types of flowers. These included the two sisters who visited Rose in Miami: Lily, who was blind (played by Polly Holliday), and Holly (played by Inga Swenson), a professional musician whom Rose could not stand, as she seemed to act, as Rose once stated, "like such a jackass."

Rose had 5 children: three daughters (Kirsten, Bridgette and Jeanella) and two sons (Adam and Charlie Jr). Kirsten and Bridgette would visit their mother in Miami on more than one occasion, while Adam, Charlie Jr and Jeanella were mentioned, but never seen on the show. Rose had several grandchildren, including two granddaughters, Charley and Charlene (the former appeared on The Golden Girls and the latter visited Rose in The Golden Palace).

After Charlie's death in 1980 (it was mentioned in the 1985 pilot episode that Charlie had been dead for 15 years but had actually been a widow for 5 years seeing as it was mentioned her marriage lasted 32 years), Rose lived alone in St. Olaf for a while, and then she moved to Miami and found work at a grief counseling center. During the show's run, Charlie's pension was cut off and Rose was forced to find a more lucrative job, ending up as the assistant to consumer reporter Enrique Mas at a local TV station. Over the course of the series, Rose also volunteered at the local hospital and worked on a number of charity projects.

In later seasons, Rose became romantically involved with college professor Miles Webber (played by Harold Gould). Rose later discovered that Miles was part of the Witness Protection Program. Webber was stated as previously being known as Nicholas Carbone, an accountant from Chicago. After a gangster named Mickey "The Cheese Man" Moran faked his own death, Miles was briefly re-located to Pennsylvania as an Amish farmer named Samuel Plankmaker. Incidentally, the same actor who played Miles also played "Arnie," one of Rose's brief love interests in the first season.

Rose suffered from a number of health problems during the course of the show, most notably a massive heart attack during the show's final season. In one episode, it was also indicated that Rose had been addicted to painkillers for many years, having been prescribed a drug many years earlier after a farm injury. Also, in an episode entitled "72 Hours," Rose was informed that a blood transfusion she received during a routine surgery was possibly infected with HIV. After undergoing some routine tests, and anxiously waiting for 3 days, she was determined to be HIV-negative.

In honor of the character, the real-life township of St. Olaf created the Rose Nylund Award for Civic Excellence.

Blanche Devereaux

Blanche Elizabeth Marie Devereaux (née Hollingsworth), daughter of Elizabeth-Ann Margaret Bennett and Curtis Hollingsworth, was a Southern belle who grew up on a plantation named "Twin Oaks" outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and raised a Baptist. Blanche was always "the apple of her father's eye" (she referred to him as "Big Daddy," a reference to the Tennessee Williams character Harvey "Big Daddy" Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). Blanche had a love-hate relationship with her sisters Charmaine (Barbara Babcock) and Virginia (Sheree North). She also faced difficulty coming to terms with the homosexuality of her brother Clayton (Monte Markham) and the mental illness of her brother Tad (Ned Beatty), later revealed in The Golden Palace.

The house that the ladies shared, at 6151 Richmond St., initially belonged to Blanche, who had lived there for many years with her late husband George (played in flashbacks by George Grizzard). (Later in the series, however, she sold equal shares of the house to Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia.) Blanche and George possibly had 6 children: two daughters (Rebecca and Janet, both of whom made appearances on the show) and four sons (including Matthew, who appeared in the spin-off series The Golden Palace).^[13] Biff, Doug, Matthew, and Skippy were mentioned as her sons once to Dorothy but never mentioned again. Blanche had an estranged relationship with both of her daughters. Rebecca resented her for objecting to her plans to leave school to become a model in Paris; when she returned to visit for the first time in four years, she was now overweight, which Blanche had difficulty accepting at first. Janet resents Blanche for her lack of involvement in her life growing up, a fact that Blanche laments to this day regarding all of her children. Blanche had several grandchildren, notably David (a teenage rebel, played by Billy Jayne (also known as Billy Jacoby), who visited Miami in one episode), Sara (who visited with her mother Janet during the last season), Melissa (a young beauty-pageant contestant), and Aurora (Rebecca's infant daughter, conceived by artificial insemination in one of the series' on-going storylines). Blanche acted as Rebecca's birthing coach in the delivery and the experience helped further heal their relationship.

George Devereaux's illegitimate son, David (played by Mark Moses), the seventh Devereaux child, was discovered when the young man turned up at the house, looking for George. This led Blanche to struggle with the fact that her husband, to whom she was devoted, was unfaithful during their marriage.

Throughout most of the series, Blanche was portrayed as man-hungry, and she clearly had the most male admirers—and stories detailing various sexual encounters—over the course of the series. At the funeral for her husband, George (who had died when a wrong-way driver hit him head-on), she made a date with a man because, as Rose said, "She can't be without a man, do you know what I mean?" Sophia, in particular, had some of the best lines in relation to Blanche's over-sexed nature, referring to her as "slut puppy" and a "human mattress." When Dorothy asked Blanche how long she waited to have sex after George died, Sophia responded, "'Til the paramedics came!" It was also revealed in one episode (when the girls mistakenly think that Blanche had slept with Rose's husband Charlie due to some double-exposed film) that Blanche's middle name was Elizabeth, giving her the initials B.E.D. An apparent mistake on the writers' part was later noted when Blanche's nanny, played by Ruby Dee, came to visit Blanche to ask for a music box. On this episode, it was stated that her maiden name was Blanche Marie Hollingsworth, but Elizabeth could have easily been added or she changed her middle name upon marriage.

Blanche was very vain and, as a result, always tried to act younger than she was. Although it is widely believed that her exact age was never revealed (it was mentioned she even had her true date of birth removed from vital records "by order of the Governor"), in Season 3, Episode 25 entitled "Mother's Day" (aired May 7, 1988), it is revealed in a flashback that Blanche was 17 in 1949. That would make her 53 when the series began in 1985, and 61 when the spin-off ended in 1993.

Blanche was employed at an art museum. Her boss was Mr Andrew Allen, a very nice man, although he admitted to having an affair with his best friend's wife in an episode when Dorothy came to work at the museum, sparking jealousy in Blanche. This was an ongoing characteristic of hers.

Sophia Petrillo

Sophia Noreen Spirelli Petrillo Weinstock was the daughter of Don Angelo Grisanti and his wife Eleanor (née Bagatelli) from Sicily. Sophia was born in Sicily and moved to New York after she left Guido Spirelli at the altar (it was to be an arranged marriage). As a teenager, she was briefly engaged to a young man from her village, Augustine Bagatelli. In the fifth season episode "The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present", it was revealed that she was also engaged to another young man, Giuseppe Mangiacavallo (Howard Duff), when she was 14. He left her at the altar. She married Salvador Petrillo (Sid Melton), and they had three children: Dorothy, a divorced substitute teacher whom Sophia depended upon and came to live with; Phil, a cross-dresser who was married with kids; and Gloria, who married into wealth, but eventually descended into dire poverty, after losing the fortune that her deceased husband (supposedly) left her, forcing her to beg for Dorothy and Sophia's support.

Sophia was put away in the Shady Pines Retirement Home by Dorothy prior to the start of the series. Sophia had suffered a massive stroke, which, on more than one occasion, was said to have destroyed the part of her brain that acted as a censor; indeed, much of Sophia's popularity comes from her humorous, and often shocking, frankness and general lack of inhibition. Sophia occasionally pretends to be slightly senile. In the pilot episode, she came to live with the girls after Shady Pines burned down. In a later episode, Sophia tried to run away to Sicily after becoming the prime suspect in starting the fire after making s'mores with a roommate on an illegal hotplate. Sophia never had good things to say about her retirement home, and she alluded to poor treatment by the staff many times throughout the series' run (although, in an episode meant to raise awareness about poor-quality nursing homes, she did admit that the treatment at Shady Pines was satisfactory). There were constant hints in the series that she and her family back in Sicily had some mafia connections; she once stated that she had lived through "two world wars, 15 vendettas, 4 operations and two Darrins on Bewitched." In one episode, she accidentally let it slip that she knew what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.

Members of Sophia's family who appeared throughout the course of the show include: her sister Angela Grisanti Vecchio (played by Nancy Walker), her brother Angelo Grisanti (played by Bill Dana), her daughter Gloria (played by Doris Belack and Dena Dietrich), and, in flashbacks, her husband Sal, her mother (played by Bea Arthur), and her father Don Angelo Grisanti (also played by Bill Dana), and Dorothy herself at a younger age (played by Lyn Greene). Phil, her only son, was never seen and he became sort of a minor running joke as Sophia would mention something lovingly about her children, and then her face would drop and she would add a resigned "...except for Phil". He died later on in the series when he suffered a heart attack (due to his obesity) while trying on large women's clothing (even in his wake, Phil is referred to as wearing women's clothing). In the episode "Ebbtide's Revenge," after her son's funeral, Sophia (with the help of Dorothy's no-nonsense personality and Rose's caring counseling expertise from her grief counseling center job) finally realized the root of her anger, broke into tears, and ended the long feud with Phil's wife Angela (played by Brenda Vaccaro). It is revealed that Sophia was angry at herself because she wondered what she had done or said to her son to make him want to be a cross-dresser, and she is finally able to reconcile with Angela after coming to the realization that she still loved him. In one of Sophia's few true emotional moments, she says, "My baby's gone." Sophia always referred to Angela as "Big Sally" because it got on Angela's nerves. Phil, Angela, and their children lived in a trailer home in Newark, New Jersey.

During the series' run, Sophia married Max Weinstock (played by Jack Gilford), Sal's business partner, and attempted to revive Sal and Max's old pizza-and-knish business at the beach, but they soon separated, realizing they were better off as friends "with occasional benefits." Throughout the series, she held a few part-time jobs mostly involving food, including fast-food worker and entrepreneur of spaghetti sauce and homemade sandwiches.

Guest stars

The following actors and actresses played recurring characters:

• Herb Edelman as Stanley Zbornak, Dorothy's cheating, freeloading ex-husband who appeared in 27 episodes
• Harold Gould as Miles Webber, Rose's professor boyfriend who appeared in 14 episodes. Gould also guest starred in the show's third episode in its first season as Arnie Peterson, Rose's first serious boyfriend after her husband Charlie's death.
• Sheree North as Virginia, Blanche's sister who appeared in 2 episodes, first in season one then again in season five.
• Sid Melton as Salvadore Petrillo, Sophia's late husband, usually seen in dreams or flashback sequences who appeared in 8 episodes.
• Nancy Walker as Angela, Dorothy's aunt and Sophia's sister, whom Sophia constantly fought with and appears in 2 episodes.
• Bill Dana as Sophia's brother and Dorothy's uncle Angelo who appeared in 7 episodes. Dana also appeared as Sophia's father in a season 4 episode.
• Lynnie Greene, credited as Lynn Greene; she portrayed a younger Dorothy in flashbacks in 4 episodes.
• Meg Wyllie played various characters such as an airline stewardess, a friend and co-worker of Sophia's, the over-protective mother of Blanche's TV news anchor boyfriend Jerry Kennedy, played by Peter Graves, and as a woman who Rose thinks is attempting to kill her in 4 episodes.
• Scott Jacoby as Dorothy's aimless musician son Michael who appeared in 3 episodes.
• Steve Landesberg played Stan’s psychiatrist, Dr Halperin, appearing in 3 episodes in season 7.
• Ellen Albertini Dow played various characters in 3 episodes, in particular a friend of Sophia's named Lillian who the girls help relocate from a sub-standard nursing home.
• Shawn Schepps as Blanche's daughter Rebecca who has a baby girl by artificial insemination and appeared in 3 episodes.

The show also drew many well-known or up-and-coming (at the time) actors and actresses for single guest starring roles, such as Don Ameche, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Ken Berry, Lloyd Bochner, Sonny Bono, Eddie Bracken, Joseph Campanella, Virginia Capers, Rosalind Cash, George Clooney, Robert Culp, Ruby Dee, the Del Rubio triplets, Jeane Dixon, Johnny Gilbert, Alice Ghostley, Peter Graves, Merv Griffin, George Grizzard, Gary Grubbs, Bob Hope, Julio Iglesias, Tony Jay, Paula Kelly, Hal Linden, Mario Lopez, Dinah Manoff, Edie McClurg, Marian Mercer, Martin Mull, Leslie Nielsen, Jerry Orbach, Leland Orser, Tony Plana, Peggy Pope, Joe Regalbuto, Burt Reynolds, Debbie Reynolds, Donnelly Rhodes, Richard Riehle, Alex Rocco, Cesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Harry Shearer, McLean Stevenson, Inga Swenson, Jeffrey Tambor, Meshach Taylor, Jay Thomas, Alex Trebek, Dick Van Dyke, Lyle Waggoner, and Fred Willard. Director Quentin Tarantino appeared as a featured extra as an Elvis impersonator in one episode.

Episodes and format

Miami skyline as used for Season 1 Title Card

Many episodes of the series followed a similar format or theme. For example, one or more of the women would become involved in some sort of conflict or problem, often involving other family members, men, or an ethical dilemma. At some point, they would gather around the kitchen table and discuss the problem, sometimes late at night and often while eating cheesecake or some other dessert. One of the other girls would then tell a story from her own life, which somehow related to the problem (though Rose would occasionally regale a nonsense story that had nothing to do with the situation, and Sophia would tell outrageous made-up stories). Sophia always began her stories with "picture it...", before indicating the location and year in which her story took place (which in most instances was Sicily, 1922). Blanche's stories usually revolved around her romantic encounters or her years growing up in the South, while Rose's stories came from her time in St. Olaf, Minnesota, and often began with "Back in St Olaf...". Certain episodes would also feature a series of flashbacks, as the girls recounted experiences from their time together. By the end of the episode, the conflict would be resolved; on occasion, it would also be discovered that the story - whether intentionally or not - had been somewhat "embellished."

Some episodes featured flashbacks to previous episodes, or to events that occurred before the series began. These earlier flashbacks usually featured Sophia living in Brooklyn with her husband, Sal, and featured Estelle Getty without her usual wig and appearing much younger in different make-up. Unlike Estelle Getty, Bea Arthur did not play the younger version of Dorothy in some of the flashback scenes. Younger Dorothy was played by actress Lynnie Greene, instead, while Arthur appeared as Sophia's mother, Eleanor, bound to a wheelchair and in similar makeup to what Estelle Getty wore as Sophia.

Response

An immediate run-away hit, The Golden Girls became an NBC staple on Saturday nights.^[14][15] The show was the anchor of the Saturday line-up, and almost always won its time slot, as the other networks tried to find shows to compete against it. The Golden Girls was part of a series of Brandon Tartikoff shows that revitalized NBC's ratings slump, along with The Cosby Show and LA Law.

The Golden Girls continues to have a loyal fan base to this day, thanks to reruns. The show was often controversial, as its main characters were four single older women who lived together, but were still sexually active—often remarkably so, given the challenge of finding eligible men in their age group—and up-to-date with pop culture. Mild profanity and sexual innuendo were common on the program.

The show dealt with topical issues such as the coming out of Blanche's brother and his commitment ceremony, safe sex, empty-nest syndrome, ageism, sexism, solicitation, FBI Involvement, chronic fatigue syndrome, organ donation, domestic violence, problem gambling, artificial insemination, animal rights, and dementia. A provocative episode involved Rose's getting tested for HIV years after receiving an untested blood transfusion.^[16]

Writing process

The first head writers of the series, Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman, wrote for the show's first four seasons. As head writers, Speer and Grossman gave general ideas to lower staff writers, and personally wrote a handful of scripts each season.^[17]

In 1989, Marc Sotkin, previously a writer on Laverne & Shirley, took over head-writing responsibilities, and guided the show (to varying degrees) during what would be its final three seasons. Richard Vaczy and Tracy Gamble, previously writers on 227 and My Two Dads, also briefly assumed the roles of show runners, until they were themselves replaced in 1990 with Marc Cherry and Jamie Wooten, with their first episode airing January 12, 1991. Vaczy and Gamble continued in supervisory production roles. Mitchell Hurwitz was also a long-time member of the writing staff.

In September 1991, NBC moved the series from its comfortable 9 p.m. ET time slot to 8 p.m. NBC had trouble filling the slot since 227 vacated it in the spring of 1990. Following the change, the show fell from 10th place in the previous season to 30th.

Continuity

The Golden Girls stories exhibit some inconsistencies in the fictional narrative and character backstories.

According to executive producer Marc Sotkin, the main reason for this is that a new writing staff took over after the third season, and they simply missed details from the previous seasons. In addition, continuity was often sacrificed for the sake of a joke. Some examples are the number of children Blanche has, the manner in which Blanche's and Rose's husbands died, details of Rose's education and adoption, the ages of Dorothy's children, the specifics of Dorothy's prom dates as well as conflicting stories on whether Sophia's marriage to Sal was pre-arranged or not. For example, Dorothy's son Michael is mentioned repeatedly in the season three episode "Mixed Blessings" as being 23 years old, but he is mentioned as being 30 years old in the season two episode "Family Affair", and season five episode "Mr. Lucky – All That Jazz." Even at this, he and Dorothy's daughter Kate would have been older than thirty if Stan and Dorothy had their first child from 1949–1950, when they married. Plus, there is never any mention of the child Michael and fiancé Lorraine are expecting ("Mixed Blessings") after they become estranged ("All That Jazz"). Also, since the show began in 1985 and Dorothy had by that point been divorced for two years as she mentions in one of the first episodes, it is impossible for her marriage with Stan to have lasted 38 years. If they were married in 1949-1950 and divorced in approximately 1982-1983, their marriage would have been only 33–34 years. In the pilot and at least one season one episode, it is stated that Rose's husband Charlie died 15 years earlier; later that season, it's stated he died just five years earlier.

Over the run of the series, there were cases where a supporting character was played by two different actors, or a guest actor returned in a later episode as a different character. For example, Murray Hamilton played Blanche's father, Big Daddy, until his death in 1986, and then the role was played by David Wayne; George Grizzard played Blanche's husband George Devereaux in a dream sequence episode and Blanche's brother-in-law Jamie Devereaux in another episode; and Harold Gould played Rose's boyfriend Arnie in an early episode, and returned to play another boyfriend of Rose's, Miles. Rose's daughter Kirsten, Dorothy's sister Gloria as well as Dorothy's daughter Kate, and Blanche's daughter Rebecca were also each played by two different actresses. A twist on actors trading roles is when the character of Sophia's "only remaining relative", a sister (Angela), was replaced with a brother (Angelo) after actress Nancy Walker's illness and subsequent death of cancer; Angelo was played by Bill Dana, who had played the role of Sophia's father in a flashback episode.

Production notes

Theme song

The theme song is "Thank You for Being a Friend", which was a #25 pop hit for Andrew Gold in 1978. The show's version is a cover sung by Cindy Fee.

Dubbed versions of the Golden Girls like the German, Italian and the European Spanish version use the original song "Thank You for Being a Friend" sung by Cindy Fee. The French version in contrast uses a dubbed song where the melody remains exactly the same but the words are sung with a similar female voice in French language. The French theme song is Merci a toi, mon ami.

The Golden Girls house

The house's address was mentioned as being 6151 Richmond Street, Miami. In reality no such street exists in that city.

The outside model used in the shots of the house in the series was part of the backstage studio tour ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. This façade—along with the Empty Nest house—was among those destroyed in Summer 2003, as Disney bulldozed the homes of "Residential Street" to make room for its "Lights, Motors, Action!" attraction. The façade, based on a real home in Brentwood, California^[18] located at 245 N Saltair Ave, was used in the exterior shots during the first season of the show. Later, a model was built at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Series finale

After Dorothy's departure, Blanche, Rose and Sophia hug at the end of the final scene of The Golden Girls, aired on May 9, 1992. The show was watched by 27.2 million viewers (or 38% of the audience at that time).

After six consecutive seasons in the top 10, and a seventh season at #30, The Golden Girls came to an end when Bea Arthur decided it was time to move on. In the hour-long series finale, which aired in May 1992, Dorothy marries Blanche's Uncle Lucas (Leslie Nielsen), and moves to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta, Georgia. Presumably, Sophia was to join her, but, in the end, Sophia stays behind with the other girls in Miami. In the bittersweet final moments, Dorothy, after making an emotional speech and telling the girls that "I love you, always," comes rushing back in through different entrances of the house for their final goodbyes, until making her final exit, saying "You'll always be my sisters. Always," leaving the other three ladies. The Series Finale was watched by 27.2 million viewers. When the Series Finale aired on May 9, 1992, it was the 10th most watched Series Finale of all time. As of 2010 it ranks at 18.

Nielsen ratings

Syndication

In 1990, American syndicated reruns began airing, distributed by Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television), the syndication arm of Disney, whose Touchstone Pictures division produced the series.

In March 1997, the Lifetime cable network acquired the exclusive rights to repeat the episodes of The Golden Girls in the US, and barred any broadcast television networks in the U.S. from buying the rights to repeating the episodes, which it did for over a decade, until the rights expired on March 1, 2009 (the last Lifetime-aired episode having aired on February 27). Many episodes were edited for commercials & content. The Hallmark Channel and WE tv began airing re-edited episodes of The Golden Girls in March 2009 and both networks continued to carry the restrictions that Lifetime network originally had imposed on U.S. broadcast networks.

In Canada, CanWest's digital specialty channel, DejaView, aired reruns of The Golden Girls from 2001 to 2004. Recently, the channel began airing them again.

On January 4, 2010, The Golden Girls began airing weekdays on TVtropolis. However, the channel only airs the first four seasons.

The Golden Girls has also been shown on LIVING in the United Kingdom.

DVD releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (formerly Buena Vista Home Entertainment) has released all seven seasons of The Golden Girls on DVD in Region 1, Region 2 (Germany) & Region 4. They have also released seasons 1–4 in the UK (Region 2).

On November 9, 2010, Walt Disney Studios will release a complete series box set entitled The Golden Girls: 25th Anniversary Complete Collection.^[26] The 21-disc collection will feature all 180 episodes of the series as well as all special features contained on the previously released season sets. It will be encased in special collectible packaging, a replica of Sophia's purse.

The DVDs, aside from certain episodes in Seasons Three and Five, contain the original uncut network broadcasts of the episodes, which include the full opening theme and snippets of dialogue that do not appear in the current syndicated versions.

On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released The Golden Girls: A Lifetime Intimate Portrait Series on DVD which contains a separate biography of Arthur, White, McClanahan and Getty, revealing each woman's background, rise to stardom and private life, which originally aired on Lifetime network.

Reunion special

A 90-minute retrospective special, The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments, aired on Lifetime network on June 2, 2003, reuniting Arthur, McClanahan and White to reminisce about their time on the show; Getty was too ill to participate and Arthur acknowledged that the reunion was not as touching as it should have been because of her absence.

The special featured clips of the girls' favorite comedic and musical moments from the show, including never-before-seen bloopers and outtakes, as well as interviews with executive producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas, and creator/writer Susan Harris.

Spin-offs

The Golden Girls was created by Susan Harris, who later devised Empty Nest as a spin-off from The Golden Girls with some character crossovers. Nurses was later spun off from Empty Nest, and the shows would occasionally have special episodes in which characters from one show made appearances in the others.

The Golden Palace

After the original series ended, White, McClanahan, and Getty reprised their characters in the CBS series The Golden Palace, which ran from September 1992 to May 1993, and also starred Cheech Marin and Don Cheadle (Bea Arthur guest starred once reprising her role as Dorothy).^[27] The show never approached the popularity or acclaim of the original, and ranked 57th in the annual ratings. Reportedly a second season was greenlighted before being canceled the day before the fall schedule was announced.

Lifetime, which held the rights to The Golden Girls at the time, aired reruns of The Golden Palace in the summer of 2005, and starting again in December of that year. This was the first time since 1993 that The Golden Palace was seen on American television. Until April 2006, Lifetime played the series as a "virtual" Season 8, airing the series in between the conclusion of the final season and the syndicated roll-over back to Season 1.

The Golden Girls: Live!

The Golden Girls: Live! was an Off-Broadway show that opened in the summer of 2003 and ran until November of that year. The production ended its run because the producers failed to secure the rights to the show. The play was served with a cease and desist order by Susan Harris and Paul Junger Witt, creators of the original television show. Featuring an all-male cast, The Golden Girls: Live! consisted of two back-to-back episodes of the sitcom.

Empty Nest

A 1987 episode of The Golden Girls, titled "Empty Nests", featured guest stars Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno as George and Renee Corliss, a married couple living next to the Golden Girls and facing empty nest syndrome after their three adult daughters had moved out. The episode was intended to launch a spin-off series, but viewer response to the characters was not favorable, and the new show's premise was re-tooled.

The following year Empty Nest debuted, starring Richard Mulligan as pediatrician Harry Weston, a widower whose two adult daughters had moved back home. One supporting actor from the original episode, David Leisure, was retained in the new series, although his character, another neighbor of the Westons', was re-named. Characters from both shows made occasional guest appearances on the other show, with the four Girls guesting on Empty Nest and Richard Mulligan, Dinah Manoff, Kristy McNichol, and Park Overall appearing on The Golden Girls in their Empty Nest roles. Although Empty Nest did not feature the same characters who had appeared in "Empty Nests", the Westons' home was the same home used in the original episode.^[28]

Empty Nest launched its own spin-off in 1991, Nurses, set in the same hospital where Dr. Weston worked. As one of the few times in television history that three shows from the same producer, set in the same city, aired back-to-back-to-back on a single network in the same night, the three shows occasionally took advantage of their unique circumstances to create storylines that carried through all three series, such as "Hurricane Saturday". This was one of the major factors in the popularity of fictional crossovers as a television plot device in the 1990s.

After the end of The Golden Palace, Getty joined the cast of Empty Nest, making frequent appearances as Sophia in the show's final years. Eventually, she played Sophia on five different TV series: The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, Empty Nest, Nurses, and Blossom.

The John Larroquette Show

Betty White, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan guest appeared on an episode of The John Larroquette Show as themselves, in which they traveled around performing a "Golden Girls Revue". Since Bea Arthur was not available, John Larroquette dressed up as the Dorothy character for the revue.^[29]

Foreign versions

United Kingdom: Brighton Belles

In 1993, ITV premiered Brighton Belles, a British version of the American sitcom. The show, starring Sheila Hancock, Wendy Craig, Sheila Gish, and Jean Boht was nearly identical to Girls except for character name changes and actor portrayals. The 10-episode series was canceled after six weeks due to low ratings, with the final four episodes airing more than a year later.^[30]

Russian: Большие Девочки (Bolshie Devochki)

A Russian remake was broadcast in 2006, titled Bolshie Devochki (Russian: Большие Девочки), which in English can literally be translated to: "Big Girls." The series featured renowned Russian actresses Galina Petrova as Irina (Dorothy), Olga Ostroumova as Nadejda (Blanche), Valentina Telechkina as Margarita (Rose), and Elena Millioti as Sofya (Sophia). However, the concept never caught on with the Russian viewers and the show was canceled after only thirty-two episodes. Amedia (a Russian production company also responsible for the remakes of such sitcoms as The Nanny, Third Rock From the Sun, The Brady Bunch and Perfect Strangers) has yet to sell the completed episodes into syndication.^[31]

Greek: Xρυσά κορίτσια (Chrysa Koritsia)

In 2008, Greek broadcaster ET1 premiered a Greek remake titled Chrysa Koritsia (Greek: Xρυσά κορίτσια, "Gold[en] Girls"), which features the four women but in Greece. Each of the characters have been Hellenized to suit the culture and modern setting. Names were only slightly changed but more for cultural reasons, as Sophia (whose first name was unchanged, as it is Greek), Bela (Blanche), Dora (Dorothy), Fifi (Rose), and Panos (Stan). The series has been airing since mid January, and features many similar plots to the original. ET1 aired a rerun of the show in the summer 2008 and managed to take a place in the top10 rates chart, presented by AGB. The Greek edition features Mirka Papakonsantinoy as Dora, Dina Konsta as Sofia, Eleni Gerasimidou as Fifi and Ivonni Maltezoy as Bela.

Spain: Juntas pero no revueltas/Las chicas de oro

In 1996, TVE launched a Spanish remake titled Juntas pero no revueltas, Together, but not mixed, with Mercedes Sampietro as Julia (Dorothy), Mónica Randall as Nuri (Blanche), Kiti Manver as Rosa (Rose), and Amparo Baró as Benigna (Sophia). Low ratings made it disappear after one season.^[32][33]

In 2010, another remake with the title Las chicas de oro (The Golden Girls) was announced, again on TVE, this time produced by José Luis Moreno and with Concha Velasco as Doroti (Dorothy), Carmen Maura as Rosa (Rose), Lola Herrera as Blanca (Blanche) and Alicia Hermida as Sofía (Sophia).^[34]

Awards

• ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards – Top TV Series – George Aliceson Tipton – 1989 to 1991
• American Comedy Awards
  • Funniest supporting female performer in a TV series – Estelle Getty – 1991, 1992
  • Funniest female performer in a TV series (leading role) network, cable or syndication – Betty White – 1987
• BMI Film & TV Awards – Best TV series (title song) – Andrew Gold – 1987–1991
• Bambi award – Reader's choice – Beatrice Arthur – 1992
• Directors Guild of America Awards – Outstanding directorial achievement in comedy series
  • 1986 – For Pilot episode – Jay Sandrich, Director; Harry Waterson, Unit Production Manager; Gary Shimokawa, Associate Director); Tom Carpenter, Stage Manager; Doug Tobin, Stage Manager; Laurie Gilbert, Production Assistant
  • 1987 – For episode, "Isn't It Romantic?" – Terry Hughes, Director; Gary Shimokawa, Associate Director; Lex Passaris, Associate Director; Tom Carpenter, Stage Manager; Jane Greene, Stage Manager; Robert Spina, Production Associate; Ellen Deutsch, Production Associate
• Emmy Awards (The Golden Girls is one of only three sitcoms in which all the main actors won at least one Emmy Award; the other two are All in the Family and Will & Grace.)
  • Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
    • Betty White – 1986
    • Rue McClanahan – 1987
    • Beatrice Arthur – 1988
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Estelle Getty – 1988
  • Outstanding Comedy Series
    • Paul Bogart, Supervising Producer; Terry Grossman, Producer; Kathy Speer, Producer; Tony Thomas, Executive Producer; Marsha Posner Williams, Co-Producer; Paul Junger Witt, Executive Producer – 1986
    • Barry Fanaro, Co-Producer; Terry Grossman, Producer; Susan Harris, Executive Producer; Winifred Hervey, Co-Producer; Mort Nathan, Co-Producer; Kathy Speer, Producer; Tony Thomas, Executive Producer; Marsha Posner Williams, Co-Producer; Paul Junger Witt, Executive Producer – 1987
  • Outstanding directing in a comedy series – Terry Hughes, Director – 1987
  • Outstanding writing in a comedy series – Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan – 1986
  • Outstanding technical direction/electronic camerawork/video control for a series
    • Randy Baer, Cameraperson; Victor Bagdadi, Senior Video Control; Gerry Bucci, Technical Director; Dale Carlson, Cameraperson; Steve Jones, Cameraperson; Donna J. Quante, Cameraperson – 1986
    • Jack Chisholm, Cameraperson; Stephen A. Jones, Cameraperson; Robert G. Kaufmann, Senior Video Control; Ritch Kenney, Cameraperson; O. Tamburri, Technical Director; Ken Tamburri, Cameraperson – 1988
    • Dave Heckman, Camera Operator; Chester Jackson, Camera Operator; Randy Johnson, Video Control; Stephen A. Jones, Camera Operator; Ritch Kenney, Camera Operator; Bob Keys; John O'Brien, Video Control; Richard Steiner, Video Control; Kenneth Tamburri, Technical Director – 1992
• Golden Globes Awards
  • Best TV series – comedy/musical – 1986–1988
  • Best performance by an actress in a TV series – comedy/musical – Estelle Getty – 1986
• Retirement Research Foundation Awards – Television and theatrical film fiction – special achievement award – Susan Harris, Executive; Paul Junger Witt, Executive; Tony Thomas, Executive – 1989
• TP de Oro, Spain Awards – Best foreign series (mejor serie extranjera) – 1989
• Viewers for Quality Television Awards – Best actress in a quality comedy series – Betty White – 1987, 1988
• Young Artist Awards – Exceptional performance by a young actor, guest starring in a television, comedy or drama series – Billy Jayne aka Billy Jacoby (playing "David" in episode, "On Golden Girls" (episode #1.6) October 26, 1985) – 1987
• All four of the main cast members are to be named Disney Legends, the show will be the first Disney television show for which all of its main cast are inducted into the Disney Hall of Fame.^[35]

References

External links

• The Golden Girls at the Internet Movie Database
• The Golden Girls at TV.com
• The Golden Girls at epguides.com
• Extensive Golden Girls Quotes
• @ccess The Golden Girls Wiki
• Encyclopedia of Television