The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, the show is about four older women who share a home in Miami, Florida. It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions, in association with Touchstone Television. Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, and Harris served as the original executive producers.

Summary
Four mature women live together in Miami and experience the joys and angst of their golden years. Strong-willed Dorothy, spacey Rose, lusty Southern belle Blanche and matriarch Sophia, Dorothy's mom, occasionally clash but are there for one another in the end. After all, when the show's theme song is titled `Thank You for Being a Friend', the ladies have to remain friendly with one another.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Very talented actresses especially Bea Arthur (1922-2009) and Betty White (1922-2021).
 * 2) Memorable characters (good or bad) such as Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, Sophia and Stanley.
 * 3) Very likable and funny characters.
 * 4) *Dorothy is very serious woman who is not afraid to tell the truth.
 * 5) *Rose is such a simple-headed but yet the most kind kind-hearted out of all the characters as she always has a bright smile on her face and always wanna make people happy! And when she stands up for herself or insults someone else, she alwayd has the best comebacks. And her St. Olaf stories and scandinavian sayings are hilarious.
 * 6) *Blanche is never nervous or shy about talking about her sex life. She is strong and confident about herself.
 * 7) *Sophia is always saying random funny things (due to her backstory of having a stroke that destroyed a part of her brain that censors what she says). She is deeply carefull for the girls, she even said the Rose and Blanche are like daughters to her.
 * 8) *Stanley is a decent recurring character on the show.
 * 9) While this show does use the laugh track, it’s actually used less often, because it is filmed in front of a live studio audience, so it has genuine laughs from a real audience most of the time and the laugh track usually isn’t painful as a result.
 * 10) Hilarious running gags such as;
 * 11) Rose's St. Olaf stories.
 * 12) Rose's scandinavian sayings.
 * 13) Blanche always talking about sex or her sexlife.
 * 14) Sophia's Sicily stories.
 * 15) The girls insulting how Dorothy can never get a date.
 * 16) Not only are the characters are likable and hilarious but they always make a great team.
 * 17) The season 1 finale "The Way We Met" was a very nice way to end season 1 as it showed us shows the girls met.
 * 18) It has a few spin offs such as Nurses, The Golden Palace and Empty Nest, which are all as good and hilarious.
 * 19) The theme song is catchy and is a very well made remix of "Thank You for Being a Friend"
 * 20) The writing is so good and hilarious with genious and clever plots, jokes and heartwarming moments.
 * 21) The sets are very well made and greatly designed.
 * 22) Decent soundtrack.
 * 23) Susan Harris did a great job on this show. This is considered her best show ever made.
 * 24) Great acting from all the stars and guest srars.
 * 25) "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest" was a great way to end the show. And the next show, The Golden Palace, is showing us what Rose, Blanche and Sophia is doing when Dorothy moved out.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Dorothy, Sophia and Blanche can be a little too rude to Rose to the point where they are abusing her.
 * 2) Sophia and Blanche can be seen as stereotypes.
 * 3) Blanche is considered the worst character on the show due to her hypocrisy and selfishness, especially towards Dorothy.
 * 4) There is a handful of awful episodes "Empty Nests", "Mister Terrific" and "The President's Coming! The President's Coming!".
 * 5) Dorothy, while have some sense, can be very vandictive, rude and unnecessarily sarcastic to the fact where she can be the most annoying character.
 * 6) The sex jokes can get very tiring sometimes.
 * 7) Rose can be competitive.
 * 8) While the show was filmed infront of a live studio audience, they will sometimes use a laugh track and it can be overplayed.

Trivia

 * Estelle Getty died on July 22, 2008 from demensia. She's the first of the main cast to past away. She was 84
 * Bea Arthur died on April 25, 2009 from lung cancer. She was 86.
 * Rue McClanahan died on June 3, 2010 at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital after she suffered a brain hemorrhage. She was 76.
 * Betty White died on December 31, 2021 from a stroke. She was the longest living Golden Girls main cast. She was 99.
 * Betty White is also know for playing Elka Ostrovsky on Hot in Cleveland, Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and She gained renewed popularity after her appearance in the 2009 romantic comedy film The Proposal.
 * Rue McClanahan guest starred on an episode of Boy Meets World called "Grandma was a Rolling Stone"
 * Rue McClanahan and Betty White both previously worked on Mama's Family.
 * Bea Arthur is also known for Maude.

Reception
The Golden Girls received very positive reviews from audience and critics alike. This show has been considered one of the best shows NBC made and wad considered the best 80s show made. The show was favorited even by people from this generation The show has an 8.2/10 on IMDb.