Being Golden

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This one is an older one (1984-1991), but I challenge anyone to watch this show and not tell me it is relevant in this day and age. The Golden Girls, about four female senior citizens retired to Miami, Florida is still widely ran in reruns on TV today (at least in the United States). Running for 7 seasons, it starred Bea Arthur (of Maude fame), Betty White (of EVERYTHING fame, Oklahoman Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty (who played Bea’s mother even though they were near the same age). The Golden Girls won Emmys for Best Show in Seasons 1 & 2, plus won Emmys for each actress, spreading the love around. Each character was so finely written that it would have been a shame for one of the actresses to miss out on an award. My favorite episode was the episode where the ladies went on a Murder Mystery weekend where Dorothy solved the fictional murder, but Blanche was accused of a real one. My favorite character was Sophia, but my sister said that’s because I was most like that character.They had guest stars like Burt Reynolds (as himself), Cesar Romero, George Clooney, Debbie Reynolds, and Ruby Dee, but my absolute favorite guest star was Dick van Dyke who played Dorothy’s “boyfriend”, a lawyer turned clown. The Golden Girls spawned two spin-offs: Empty Nest, and The Golden Palace. The Golden Palace took three of the actresses and put their characters in a hotel which also employed Don Cheadle and Cheech Marin. Yes, Oscar nominated Don Cheadle shared a comedic screen with Betty White. Some interesting facts, and I mentioned a few in prior posts. The role of airhead Rose was supposed to go to Rue, and the sexpot role of Blanche was supposed to go to Betty. However, Betty White had previously played a man hungry woman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and instead made a successful appeal to play Rose. During the later years of the show, Estelle Getty, who played Sophia, was diagnosed with early onset dementia. She began to struggle more with her lines, and Betty White made a point to engage the audience while Estelle was refreshed on what she was supposed to do. Betty was also open about Bea not being crazy about her because Bea was all business, and Betty wanted to take the time to interact with the fans in the live audience. If you haven’t seen the show, I recommend it. It covered ageism, sexual harassment, racism, menopause, homelessness, and more. It was brilliant. Did you watch it? Any favorites of characters or episodes? *Estelle Getty did a comedy action movie after the show went off the air with Sylvester Stallone called, “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!” in 1992. It was incredibly funny.