One of the biggest mysteries in American television history is how a sitcom about four post-menopausal women living the single life in Miami, Florida, could be as universally-appealing as it is. Logically speaking, The Golden Girls should not have been the massive success it was and still is. My own personal theory is that the characters are so well-defined and the writing is so sharp and sidesplittingly funny that a viewer of any age can enjoy the show.
With such lovable characters like the sarcastic Dorothy (Bea Arthur), promiscuous Blanche (Rue McClanahan), dimwitted Rose (Betty White) and wisecracking Sophia (Estelle Getty), The Golden Girls became a series about three women who began their lif again after divorce and widowhood. With Sophia as the mother hen, the series was about a makeshift family--well, Dorothy really was Sophia's daughter.
The feminist undertones of The Golden Girls are clear and strong. This was the first sitcom to give voice to a demographic that had thus been represented by the media as grannies with interests in knitting and grandchildren only. The Golden Girls were active, sexual, intelligent, funny and professional. They lived lives as busy as anyone half their age. The core of the show was this super strong friendship. It's a friendship anyone would hope to have, man or woman, young or old.
The Golden Girls was also a pioneer sitcom for the insult-based intimacy that is so popular in the modern sitcom. For example, Entourage owes a lot more to The Golden Girls than most people think. In both shows, friendship means you can throw vicious insults at each other, with the comfort of knowing that nobody ever really means it (and if they do...boy, are you in trouble!). In The Golden Girls, everyone's tiny flaws are fair game and they can take what they dish out. The dialogue on this show is just killer--zinger after creative zinger flies by during their many midnight conversations over cheesecake.
If you were to ask me who my favorite of the golden girls is, well, the answer is both simple and complex. Blanche Devereaux is probably my favorite. She's Scarlett O'Hara transported into a Tennessee Williams play. I just love Blanche; I find her outlandish and colorful sex life charming and her unapologetic narcissism lovable. Whenever she goes off on one of her lusty but sidesplitting tales, I just laugh my head off (especially if she ends it by fanning herself and panting) and her sultry but over-the-top Southern accent is just the frosting on the cake. What I adore most about Blanche is that she likes the company of men and is not sorry about it. And why she should be? Blanche is awesome.
So that's the simple answer. But the complex answer is--I don't have a favorite! I mean, all four of these characters are sharply written and expertly performed by Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty (this remains one of the few sitcoms where every cast member won an Emmy award). Each of the four characters complement each other quite beautifully. Dorothy's fast and highly sarcastic responses are glorious. Rose's naivete and nonsensical St. Olaf stories are adorable. And Sophia's tough love and bizarre Siciliy stories perfectly round out the cast of characters. And even when the show has a guest star, they never take the focus away from the core cast. This is the kind of chemistry that shows like Friends, Sex and the City, Entourage, Seinfeld and Cougar Town strive for (and achieve of course).
The show did have its problems. The costumes are just bizarre and mortifying. Series continuity was almost nonexistent. Some episodes focused too much on a serious subject and not enough on laughs (this was a trend of the era, actually). Or, on the opposite end, some episodes were just downright silly. But it's easy to forgive a show its flaws if it's as sparkling and wonderful as The Golden Girls.
The Golden Girls was a landmark sitcom and it is still enjoyed today by fans young and old. Trust me, the humor is as fresh as ever. It remains one of the most memorable comedies to ever hit television. If you already haven't seen it, I encourage you to check it out--you won't regret it.
