I was eleven when The Golden Girls premiered on NBC in 1985. I was watching that very first episode and it cracked me up hard! Most Saturday nights at 9 I would tune in to watch the latest misadventures of Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia. It wasn't just me either: my dear sweet grandmother was a huge fan of the show too. Sometimes we would watch it together if I happened to be at her house that night. Her favorite of the ensemble was easily Estelle Ghetty's character Sophia. Heck, Granny even looked a lot like Sophia... and she could wisecrack like her too. My favorite character was Rose (Betty White): so many ditzy things that she often said.
So for the past few weeks I've been tuning into MeTV on weeknights at 10 and then on Sunday nights at 6 and 8 to watch The Golden Girls. It's just like watching it with my grandmother all over again. Although now that I'm a bit older (okay, forty years older) the jokes that had gone way over my head at the time - especially the ones involving eternally man-hungry Blanche, played by Rue McClanahan - are something I can now readily understand. It's made it like I'm watching the show brand new again, for the first time. I think now though I am tending to favor Dorothy. Maybe because I've become a bit more jaded by life, more world-weary and quick to offer up wry commentary. And also because I'm a bit of a Bea Arthur fan (can you believe that she was in the second Star Wars production ever produced, okay it was the holiday special but it still counts!).
Anyhoo, it's a very funny sitcom, if you've never had the pleasure of watching it. And well worth your time to catch it if you're finding yourselves needing something to give you a good laugh guaranteed to make you smile.
