The Golden Girls

The situation comedy The Golden Girls, which aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992, was one of television's first successful representations of the lives of older women and an unlikely hit in a television landscape populated by young, sexy performers in shows designed to appeal to a youthful audience. The series focused on four single women living together in Miami as they faced the issues of aging in America. Created by veteran television writer and producer Susan Harris, the show balanced controversial social themes with raucous, often ribald, humor. Starring a cast of seasoned actresses, who were all in their late fifties or early sixties, The Golden Girls emphasized that life does not end with menopause and that older women are still vital, energetic, and worthy of the attention of the mass viewing audience. Audience acceptance of the series was immediate. It placed in the top ten its premiere season by winning a following among all age groups. Strong public approval was matched by much critical praise. The series was twice named best comedy, and each of the leads earned Emmy awards for their performances.

One of TV's dominant female voices, Harris (who wrote for All in the Family and Maude, and created Soap) earned her greatest critical and commercial success with The Golden Girls, representing a breakthrough for women on television both in front of and behind the camera. In 1984, actress Selma Diamond appeared in a brief sketch titled "Miami Nice" at an NBC affiliates meeting. The performance was designed to test the audience's reaction to a comedy revolving around an older woman. The positive response to the piece encouraged NBC to purchase a pilot of the premise written by Harris. She assembled a strong cast of actresses to play the group of women facing their "golden years" together. Bea Arthur, the star of Maude, played Dorothy, a loud divorcee and substitute teacher. She lived with housemates Blanche (Rue McClanahan), a lusty Southern widow, and Rose (Betty White), a naive widow from a tiny town in Minnesota. The trio was joined by Sophia (Estelle Getty), Dorothy's Sicilian mother who moved in after a nursing-home fire. The pilot episode also featured actor Charles Levin as the women's gay housekeeper, but the character was dropped by the second show. The friendship of the "girls" as they supported each other through various problems became the core of the series.

The series' humor grew from Harris's distinctive writing and her actresses' strong characterizations. Arthur's Dorothy was an extension of her Maude character. Divorced from a husband who betrayed her with a younger woman, no-nonsense Dorothy embodied the sense of reason for the series as she demonstrated that a woman did not need a man to be happy. Throughout the series her more flighty roommates tested her patience. Blanche appeared to have stepped from a Tennessee Williams play, the Southern belle struggling to hold onto her former glory. Much of the show's raunchy humor came from her recounting a lifetime of wild sexual exploits. Rose provided a contrast to Blanche in that she was more innocent and conservative. A highlight of many episodes consisted of her telling stories about the loony inhabitants of her hometown of St. Olaf. The series' most popular character was the octogenarian Sophia, played by the much younger Getty. Her sarcasm was said to come from the effects of a stroke that destroyed the "tact" portion of her brain. This allowed the character to speak her mind and make jokes at the others' expense.

Harris gave her characters many opportunities to discuss issues beyond aging. Dorothy faced clinical depression, Rose befriended a lesbian, Blanche was distant with her children, and Sophia briefly remarried. Most of all, they displayed the strength of female bonding. In 1992, the series ended as Dorothy married and moved away. The remaining cast returned to TV the following year with the short-lived sitcom The Golden Palace, in which Rose, Blanche, and Sophia ran a small hotel on Miami Beach.

The Golden Girls proved both that audiences would accept older female characters on series television and that a woman could helm a series and provide it with a distinctive voice and personality. Television historians David Marc and Robert Thompson view the series as an indicator of future programming as baby boomers age and begin to demand more senior characters on the small screen.

—Charles Coletta

Further Reading:

Cotter, Bill. The Wonderful World of Disney Television. New York, Hyperion, 1997.

Marc, David, and Robert Thompson. Prime Time, Prime Movers. Boston, Little Brown & Co., 1992.

White, Betty. Here We Go Again: My Life in Television. New York, Scribner, 1995.