Golden Girls
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| The Golden Girls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Susan Harris |
| Starring | Beatrice Arthur Betty White Rue McClanahan Estelle Getty |
| Theme music composer | Andrew Gold |
| Opening theme | "Thank You for Being a Friend" by Cynthia Fee |
| Ending theme | "Thank You for Being a Friend" Instrumental |
| Composer(s) | George Tipton |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original 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 | Videotape Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions Touchstone Television |
| Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | 480i (4:3 SDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | September 14, 1985 – May 9, 1992 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Golden Palace |
| Related shows | Empty Nest Nurses |
The Golden Girls received critical acclaim throughout most of its run and won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.[1] Each of the four stars received an Emmy Award (from multiple nominations during the series' run), making it one of only three sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this.[2][3] The series also ranked among the top-10 highest-rated programs for six of its seven seasons.[4] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time.[5] In 2014, the Writers Guild of America placed the sitcom at number 69 in their list of the "101 Best Written TV Series of All Time".[6]
Contents
[hide]Premise[edit]
The series revolves around four older, single women (three widows and one divorced) sharing a house in Miami, Florida. The owner of the house is a widow named Blanche Devereaux (McClanahan), who was joined by fellow widow Rose Nylund (White) and divorcée Dorothy Zbornak (Arthur), all three of whom are in upper middle age, after they both responded to a room-for-rent ad on the bulletin board of a local grocery store a year before the start of the series. In the pilot episode, the three were joined by Dorothy's 80-year-old mother, Sophia Petrillo (Getty), after the retirement home where she lived burned down.[7][8]Pilot[edit]
The pilot episode featured a gay character named Coco (played by Charles Levin), who worked as a cook for the women, but the role was eliminated from the series before they began filming the first season. The writers observed that in many of the proposed scripts, the main interaction between the women occurred in the front room kitchen while preparing and eating food, and decided that a separate cook would distract from that friendship. In addition, the character of Sophia had originally been planned as an occasional guest star, but Estelle Getty had tested so strongly with preview audiences that the producers decided to make Sophia a regular character, which made Coco obsolete.[9]Finale[edit]
After six consecutive seasons in the top 10, and the seventh season at number 30, The Golden Girls came to an end when Bea Arthur chose to leave the series. In the hour-long series finale, which aired in May 1992, Dorothy meets and marries Blanche's Uncle Lucas (Leslie Nielsen), and moves to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta, Georgia. Sophia was to join her, but in the end, Sophia stays behind with the other women in Miami, leading into the spin-off series, The Golden Palace. The series finale was watched by 27.2 million viewers. As of 2016, it was the 17th-most watched television finale.[10]Episodes[edit]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Ratings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Rank | Households (millions) | ||||
| 1 | 25 | September 14, 1985 | May 10, 1986 | 7 | 18.7[11][12] | ||
| 2 | 26 | September 27, 1986 | May 16, 1987 | 5 | 21.4[13] | ||
| 3 | 25 | September 19, 1987 | May 7, 1988 | 4 | 19.3[12] | ||
| 4 | 26 | October 8, 1988 | May 13, 1989 | 6 | 19.3[14] | ||
| 5 | 26 | September 23, 1989 | May 5, 1990 | 6 | 18.5[15] | ||
| 6 | 26 | September 22, 1990 | May 4, 1991 | 10 | 15.4[16] | ||
| 7 | 26 | September 21, 1991 | May 9, 1992 | 30 | 12.1[17] | ||
Cast and characters[edit]
Main[edit]
- Beatrice Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, a substitute teacher: Born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Sicilian immigrants Sophia and Salvadore Petrillo, Dorothy became pregnant while still in high school, resulting in a marriage to Stanley Zbornak (Herb Edelman) to legitimize the baby. Stan and Dorothy eventually moved to Miami, but divorced after 38 years when Stan left her for a young flight attendant. The marriage produced two children, Kate, in her early 20s, and Michael, who was inconsistently aged between his mid-20s and late 30s (Michael was purportedly the cause of the shotgun wedding). In the series' finale episode, Dorothy marries Blanche's uncle, Lucas Hollingsworth, and relocates to Atlanta. Arthur also played Dorothy's grandmother, Sophia's mother, in a flashback episode to when they lived in Brooklyn.
- Betty White as Rose Nylund, a Norwegian American from the small farming town of St. Olaf, Minnesota: Known for her humorously peculiar stories of life growing up in her hometown, Rose was happily married to Charlie Nylund, with whom she had five children. Upon Charlie's death, she moved to Miami. She eventually found work at a grief counseling center, though she later ended up as the assistant to a consumer reporter (Enrique Mas) at a local TV station. In later seasons, Rose became romantically involved with college professor Miles Webber. During season six, Miles was placed into the Witness Protection Program, but returned later in the season. Their relationship continued throughout the series, and shortly into the sequel series, The Golden Palace. In season one, Rose is stated to be 55.
- Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, a Southern belle employed at an art museum: Born into a wealthy family, Blanche grew up as the apple of her father's eye on a plantation outside of Atlanta, Georgia, prior to her relocation to Miami, where she lived with her husband, George, until his death. Their marriage produced six children; four sons and two daughters. A widow, 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.
- Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Dorothy's mother: Born in Palermo, Sicily, Sophia moved to New York after fleeing an arranged marriage to Guido Spirelli. She later married Salvadore Petrillo, with whom she had three children: Dorothy, Gloria, and Phil, a cross-dresser, who later dies of a heart attack (episode "Ebbtide's Revenge"). Initially a resident in the Shady Pines Retirement Home after having a stroke prior to the start of the series, she moved in with Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy following a fire at the institution. During the series' run, Sophia married Max Weinstock, but they soon separated. 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.
