The Golden Girls was on air between 1985 and 1992. I remember absolutely loving it as a child. I remember being in awe of the naughty things Blanche said (most of which went over my head, but I could tell they were naughty). When I saw The Golden Girls on Disney+ in South Africa, I knew it was time for a revisit. Does it hold up?
It absolutely does – with some provisos.
The biting wit of Dorothy, the cluelessness of Rose, the raunchiness of Blanche, and the sass of Sophia are even more wonderful to me today. So much so that during my maternity leave, I watched four full seasons (there are seven in total). And these are proper seasons with 20-odd episodes each.
I was nervous about how a topic like homosexuality would be handled. Homosexuality in the show is initially kind of shocking to the characters, but ultimately the queer characters are accepted by the foursome. It’s a bit awkward to watch that shock moment of the characters finding out someone was queer, but this is television from 40 years ago during the AIDS crisis, and coming out to someone was a different proposition entirely. Which I admit, makes me wonder…was The Golden Girls ahead of its time in this regard? They certainly advocated for empathy in episodes that highlight the reality of how people end up living in shelters for unhoused folk or the need for more affordable care for the elderly.
One of my favourite episodes that focused on topical issues is when Rose received a letter from the hospital about a possible HIV exposure that took place when she had a blood transfusion during a gallbladder surgery. The episode follows her as she goes through the stressful testing process. Blanche shares that she, too, has been tested. There is a particularly beautiful moment when Blanche says that “AIDS is not a bad person’s disease. It’s not God punishing people for their sins.” I’m in awe of how in this episode the writers manage to simultaneously expose the stigma around AIDS as baseless in science while weaving in humour.
These earnest social commentaries aside, this show is a sex-positive comedy about friendships between older women. Would that even be made today? It’s a poignant, humorous look at what it is to be middle-aged and getting older without a partner around. (I realise for Blanche, there is always a body around. Imagine that line uttered in her particular Southern drawl accompanied by a lusty shimmy.)
For me, this show is comforting and hilarious and thoughtful. And as an old contemporary, it’s a fun little time capsule. If your nerves are a little frayed, if you’re feeling uneasy, put this show on and let it soothe you with its warmth, wit, and very loud laugh track.
That show was my childhood, and it absolutely taught me how to be a better person.
The recently released Hulu series MID CENTURY MODERN was promoted as “gay Golden Girls in Palm Springs.” 🙂 Having not watched the original Golden Girls, I can only speculate, but it seems in tone and subject matter they might be quite similar – dealing with loss, relationships, illness – all with humor and with clear affection between all the main characters.
Note, Mid Century Modern was Linda Lavin’s last work and she was *brilliant* in it. And further note, if you’ve only ever seen Matt Bomer in e.g. “Fellow Travelers” he is amazingly different and adorable in MMM.
I watched Golden Girls all the way through twice during COVID and return to it frequently. It’s definitely pretty progressive for its time (and unfortunately for OUR time, it seems) and mostly holds up well. It deals with a LOT of big topics with grace and humor.
Be advised, you may alternate between crying with laughter and just crying, because it can do both!
I’ve been watching on Hulu and the topics are still (too) timely. We haven’t advanced much since then, but how brave and remarkable the Golden Girls were.
My only gripe is the laugh track. I am too easily irritated by it, as I was when re-watching Mork and Mindy or MASH. No one would spend the money on these old shows to remove it, sadly.
The show got wackier as it went on, as sitcoms tend to do. I just reveled in the house full of women, and some pretty amazing guest stars (Rita Moreno was in an episode! I cheered out loud. I remember there was an early episode where Dorothy, fresh out of her bad marriage, had a boyfriend and was loving being appreciated and adored. Then she found out that he was married. When Dorothy realized she would always be the other woman because he didn’t want to rock his comfortable little boat and ask for a divorce, she told him that she deserved better and walked out. That’s stayed with me my whole life–you deserve better.
Golden Girls was one of my favorite shows. The innuendo went over my head at times as a kid but the life lessons stick with you. The friendship bond was strong and everything was so real. Sophia was always my favorite because of her sassy with and her ability to tell a story that related to whatever situation they were facing. A+ television.
The Golden Girls was one of those staple shows that was just always on when I was a kid, like Cheers or The Cosby Show (I know, I know, if only we knew then!). I actually love the laugh tracks because they provide a nostalgic comfort in the way I associate them with old sitcoms. Just like when shows had real theme songs, hearing it gives me the same feeling as seeing old friends.
The podcast Pop Comforts did a great episode about the Golden Girls theme song, “Thank you for being a friend”. It’s a fun listen about the writing and inspiration for the song, as well as how it inspired others.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-7-on-thank-you-for-being-a-friend/id1740394488?i=1000658766172
Norman Lear was a powerhouse in the 70’s and early 80’s and I think embodied the best of what the counterculture generation was trying to say. And he wasn’t one to shy away from a tough contemporary topic. With shows like All In The Family (of which Golden Girls was a spinoff) he punctured the self-righteousness of Reagan-era conservatism and showed the falseness of their bigoted beliefs. Golden Girls was supposed to be about “women’s lib” and feminism (for Blanche to be allowed to own her sexuality as a mature single woman was groundbreaking) but also foreshadowed the current trend of “elderly” people, especially women, living longer and more active lives, and as widows or divorcees, finally getting the chance to shape their own lives as they wish.
I’ve rewatched and enjoyed some of the Golden Girls too, but it is bitterly funny that these “elderly women” were working women in their 50s.