“I’m So Scared. My Dentures are Chattering.”
Being the sitcom fan I am, I’d long heard people raving about The Golden Girls, but I’d been hesitant to watch it. I finally decided to give it a shot via streaming. After all, if I didn’t like it, I wasn’t out any money. Before I was finished with the second episode, I was looking to buy it on DVD.
This sitcom centers on four roommates and friends living in Miami. The house is owned by Blanche (Rue McClanahan). Then there, Rose (Betty White), Dorothy (Bea Arthur) and Dorothy’s mother Sophia (Estelle Getty). Together, the women are dealing with what life throws at you in your late 50’s or early 60’s. That includes plenty of issues in their love lives, and some bumps in their careers.
For example, Blanche is constantly trying to land a man, but what happens when the man she loves comes with two young children. Rose has to deal with losing her job when her grief center closes. And Dorothy must deal with her ex-husband. All of these women have adult children they are also dealing with in addition to grandkids and other relatives who come to visit, like Blanche’s father, who is trying to start a surprising new career. And Sophia? She deals with a health scare and considers moving in with one of her other daughters.
My hesitation to watch the show was that I’d heard the show delt frankly with the ladies’ love lives. And it does. I really could have done without some of those jokes or storylines that involved the more physical parts of those relationships. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with the characters’ ages. I feel the same way about some of the storylines on Friends and The Big Bang Theory, both shows that I stopped watching at various points before finally giving in and becoming a full-fledged fan. There isn’t anything here we haven’t seen on those shows. But if those kinds of jokes bother you, know they are here.
But what I’ve heard about the humor is completely true. This show is hysterical. As I was watching, I would sometimes get laughing so hard. The writing in the show is brilliant, sometimes going for the obvious sitcom joke and sometimes going someplace completely unexpected.
And the writing is matched by brilliant acting by the leads. Their delivery of the lines is perfect. I can’t remember seeing sarcasm put to such good use in a sitcom, but Rose’s naiveite is just as hilarious. And there are times that the reactions to what another character is saying are actually funnier than the line. Yes, they are getting laughs from just a look. I can tell a few bits might wear by the end of the series, but for now, I’m still loving it.
And some of the scenes about women as they age? Absolutely hilarious as well.
What is really remarkable about this to me is that shows often need a few episodes to find their footing. Heck, sometimes it needs a season to really find itself. That’s not the case here. Yes, there are a few tweaks over the course of the season, but much of what works is in place early on.
Like many shows, this one has some changes from the pilot, like the house keeper who vanishes. And it sure seems like the house only had three bedrooms at one point even though all four of the ladies have their own rooms. They never explain that, or even when Sophia officially moves in.
Among the guest stars I spotted this season, we had Sheree North and Priscilla Morrill who both guest starred a few times on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which also starred Betty White in the later seasons. (And I found Priscilla Morrill’s character here very ironic given the character she played on that earlier show.) Harold Gould would come back in later seasons as a different character, but he pops up here. WKRP star Gordon Jump also shows up. Robert Picardo appears as a doctor almost a decade before he became The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager. Finally, while most people probably know Herb Edelman best from his role as Dorothy’s ex on this show, a character who pops up throughout the run of the show, I recognized him as Lieutenant Artie Gelber on a handful of Murder, She Wrote episodes.
I can already tell I will be bummed by the TV show curse of most of the guest star characters only showing up in one episode. I’d like to see more of some of them. But that is the nature of TV, especially back in the 1980’s.
The DVD set I bought has all 25 season one episodes on three discs. They are full frame and surround sound. Some of the images do show their age a bit, but it is still watchable. The only extra is a look at the fashion with Joan and Melissa Rivers. I often find them hit of miss, but in this case, I loved their thoughts.
Safe to say, I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to start watching this show. But I do have the rest of the seasons on DVD, so hopefully, I will get to the rest of the show soon. If it’s as good as season one of The Golden Girls, I’ve got lots of laughs ahead of me.
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