Continuity Errors: Starts With the House Layout and Just Gets Worse

[Hiyo]

It seemed like the writers just ramped up the sibling rivalry between Dorothy and Gloria in-between her two appearances.

[Snow Apple]

With the actress playing the first Gloria, the possibility that Dorothy was switch at birth was more believable.

[Miss Chevious]

Let's not forget between Gloria #1 and Gloria #2, the character's circumstances changed quite a bit. Gloria #1 was loaded with a houseful of servants and shopped at the same market as Bert Convy. #2 had been dumped by her rich husband and lost a lot of her social standing,. She was a bitter woman then at odds with the world and everyone in it, which could account somewhat for her animosity towards Dorothy. Gloria #2 was not happy to be in the same boat as her sister. And what better way to show it than by sleeping with her ex, Stanley the yutz.

[Hiyo]

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Gloria #2 was not happy to be in the same boat as her sister. 

Her brain must have exploded by the end of the show when she found out Dorothy ended up marrying into money and social standing...maybe that's why she wasn't at the wedding?

[MoistestCake]

On 7/6/2019 at 3:58 PM, Snow Apple said:

Rose's family situation never made sense. Her stories make it sound like they're all one big happy family but actions say otherwise. All those children and siblings. So why *did* she move to Florida? Why was she afraid of being homeless when she lost her job or when Blanche was thinking about selling the house?

She moved to Florida to be a Golden Girl.

[MoistestCake]

On 7/6/2019 at 7:34 PM, Mabinogia said:

It would have been better if one of the women didn't have family. They could have told some strong stories there, being older, not sure who would take care of you when something happens and you can't take care of yourself. Unfortunately, the gave them all families that cared and loved them and would certainly take them in if anything terrible happened. Which was nice for them, but kind of made some of the stories a bit weird because if any of them lost their jobs, or they had to sell the house, or any had to go into care, they all had children who could and would take them in so there wasn't much drama there. 

They tried that with the horrible jacket episode, when an old lady they meet at the shelter who had neither money nor family to take care of her in her old age.

Besides that being pretty much the worst episode (I think most agree) I don't understand how come Blanche (I think she bought the tickets) says these are their weekly tickets and we never hear of them again. Couldn't they have said she found $10 in a pocket and decided to buy lottery tickets just because she's feeling lucky that day.

[mmecorday]

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Her brain must have exploded by the end of the show when she found out Dorothy ended up marrying into money and social standing

And Dorothy suddenly became her landlady's aunt.

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

22 hours ago, mmecorday said:

And Dorothy suddenly became her landlady's aunt.

Blanche wasn’t her landlady anymore by that time. Dorothy co-owned the house. 

[Snow Apple]

I always bugged me when Dorothy told Lucas that she doesn't go on blind dates. She went on blind dates at least several times.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Snow Apple

[schnauzergirl]

I love the two Midsummer Night's Dream episodes, but two things just scream "Nobody was paying any attention."  First, Blanche made it clear that she had a guest list of 12 men, yet Derek was circulating throughout the evening and it didn't occur to her that she didn't know who he was, let alone invite him to a party?  Second, how did Derek know about the party?

[MoistestCake]

 

On 1/20/2020 at 5:15 PM, schnauzergirl said:

Second, how did Derek know about the party?

And Derek had a South African accent. That bothers me. But yes, how did he know about the party? 

[Eri]

 

On 1/20/2020 at 12:15 PM, schnauzergirl said:

I love the two Midsummer Night's Dream episodes, but two things just scream "Nobody was paying any attention."  First, Blanche made it clear that she had a guest list of 12 men, yet Derek was circulating throughout the evening and it didn't occur to her that she didn't know who he was, let alone invite him to a party?  Second, how did Derek know about the party?

On 2/18/2020 at 5:01 PM, MoistestCake said:

 

And Derek had a South African accent. That bothers me. But yes, how did he know about the party? 

He was probably on Blanche's B or C-list (he'd have been more memorable if he made the A-list). The real question is whether the name came from Blanche's notebook by her nightstand or the one next to her hot body oil dispenser 😉 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Eri

[Ria]

In the “Marguerite the housekeeper” episode, Dorothy is grilling hamburgers in the lanai. She puts the metal tongs down on the hot grill and goes to talk to Rose. She comes back and picks up the tongs with her bare hands. Those should have been fire hot. Of course the set people didn’t even try to make the grilling look real. No smoke or sizzling. Just Dorothy aimlessly pushing patties around on a grill. Other shows put at least a little effort into details like this. 

[fleurfairy]

I don’t know if anyone mentioned this but in Season 1 Big Daddy sells Twin Oaks to fund his music career, but then when he dies they show Blanche back at Twin Oaks for the funeral. 

[mmecorday]

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I don’t know if anyone mentioned this but in Season 1 Big Daddy sells Twin Oaks to fund his music career, but then when he dies they show Blanche back at Twin Oaks for the funeral. 

This has always bothered me!!

[Snow Apple]

Uncle Lucas owns Hollingsworth Manor so does that mean Twin Oaks came from her mother's side of the family? Or does the Hollingsworth family just have many estates that got passed down? 

Why does Blanche have struggles with money? It contradicts with many things she says regarding her childhood and married life.

[Blergh]

On 3/17/2020 at 9:31 PM, Snow Apple said:

  

Why does Blanche have struggles with money? It contradicts with many things she says regarding her childhood and married life.

My guess is that the late George simply was a spendthrift who left her with very little liquid assets (and she hadn't considered watching her pennies and nickles beforehand) and Blanche had mouthed off at virtually every wealthy member of her original family at least one time too many so none of them felt like providing for her or leaving her more than a few token knick-knacks!  Also, working in a museum never was big bucks even in the 1980's. I felt sorry for Dorothy and Rose who each vainly tried to teach her to try to live within her means but Blanche always seemed to never hear the wolf at the door until it was ready to blow her house down! 

[Blakeston]

I just watched the Kim Fung Toi episode, where Rose refuses to see a doctor, because people from St. Olaf are hearty farm-folk who never, ever see doctors.

Except the one who's been prescribing her opiates for decades!

[Hiyo]

She meant besides the closeted drug addicts.

[Eri]

7 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I just watched the Kim Fung Toi episode, where Rose refuses to see a doctor, because people from St. Olaf are hearty farm-folk who never, ever see doctors.

Except the one who's been prescribing her opiates for decades!

And the vet.

[LilWharveyGal]

And the OB/Mag.

[fleurfairy]

Things that make no sense: Uncle Angelo has supposedly been a “priest” since 1914. Did no one in his family, over the course of 60+ years, ever want to hear him say Mass or have him perform any sacraments?? (Whereby they would figure out he was lying.) Sophia’s family was just as insipid as Rose’s. 

[mishy]

On 4/11/2020 at 11:35 AM, fleurfairy said:

Things that make no sense: Uncle Angelo has supposedly been a “priest” since 1914. Did no one in his family, over the course of 60+ years, ever want to hear him say Mass or have him perform any sacraments?? (Whereby they would figure out he was lying.) Sophia’s family was just as insipid as Rose’s. 

Not only that, he says he was married for 72 years. Did Philomena just never wonder about his family and if he went home for a visit or whatever she never questioned where he was? 72 years is a long time to be married for someone who looked the same age as Sophia. 

[MoistestCake]

On 4/2/2020 at 7:45 PM, Blakeston said:

I just watched the Kim Fung Toi episode, where Rose refuses to see a doctor, because people from St. Olaf are hearty farm-folk who never, ever see doctors.

Except the one who's been prescribing her opiates for decades!

She also once says they don't believe in therapy/psychology in St Olaf, but works extra to help the people at the counselling centre where she works, even after being fired.

[BigBingerBro]

18 minutes ago, MoistestCake said:

She also once says they don't believe in therapy/psychology in St Olaf, but works extra to help the people at the counselling centre where she works, even after being fired.

She also criticized people that go to psychologists in the episode where Blanche get depressed after finding out she's entering menopause.   "Psych means psycho or CRAZY"  To me, that line was better for Sophia.

Edited April 26, 2020 by BigBingerBro

[Blakeston]

3 hours ago, MoistestCake said:

She also once says they don't believe in therapy/psychology in St Olaf, but works extra to help the people at the counselling centre where she works, even after being fired.

It seems strange that they don't believe in therapy or psychology in St. Olaf, considering that the American Journal of Abnormal Psychology is published there.

[Hiyo]

Well, obviously, the people of St. Olaf are perfectly sane, it's the rest of the world that is crazy 😉

Edited April 26, 2020 by Hiyo

[xander874]

On 7/6/2019 at 10:58 AM, Snow Apple said:

Why was she afraid of being homeless when she lost her job or when Blanche was thinking about selling the house?

In the last episode, Rose talks to Sophia about moving in with Kirsten.

And Dorothy's money issues always annoyed me. One episode, she has $1200 to pay for Sophia to go to Sicily or pay for one of the many trips they took, the next she can't scrape together a couple thousand to pay off taxes. I know money situations change over time, but it seems like she had money issues only when the story needed it.

[Not4Me]

On 4/14/2020 at 2:12 PM, mishy said:

Not only that, he says he was married for 72 years. Did Philomena just never wonder about his family and if he went home for a visit or whatever she never questioned where he was? 72 years is a long time to be married for someone who looked the same age as Sophia. 

Speaking of Angelo, how come we never heard about his existence until the later seasons? When Angela visited a few times she said that it was just herself and Sophia left remaining in the original family, and never a mention of Angelo. Then about 1-2 seasons later Angelo appears with all these nonsensical plot holes in his story.

[Eri]

2 hours ago, Not4Me said:

Speaking of Angelo, how come we never heard about his existence until the later seasons? When Angela visited a few times she said that it was just herself and Sophia left remaining in the original family, and never a mention of Angelo. Then about 1-2 seasons later Angelo appears with all these nonsensical plot holes in his story.

There are some fun theories such as Angela getting a sex change to become Angelo in later seasons. Sophia referenced have sharing a bedroom  with her two brothers until she was 17 and being engaged to one for a short period of time -  maybe Angelo was the brother!

Edited April 29, 2020 by Eri

[Madding crowd]

I could never take anything serious with Angelo after he said he was married for 72 years but clearly wasn’t in his 90’s. Since he was supposed to become a priest before he got married he would have to be at least 18 when he married. Also Sophia was very religious and would certainly have visited, wrote letters and wanted to see her brother ‘s church.

[Blakeston]

I can understand the writers finding it difficult to keep track of the characters' pasts over the course of seven seasons, but certain things are only explained by the writers being high.

Why on earth would they say Angelo was married for 72 years? Why would they say that Dorothy's grandmother was 94 when Dorothy was 6? That would have made no sense even to people watching the show for the first time.

[BigBingerBro]

For anyone interested the Television Academy Foundation has an interview with Winifred Hervey who wrote and produced many episodes of GG.  In Chapter 2 of the full interview she talks about a lot of behind the scenes stuff of Golden Girls.  

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/winifred-hervey#interview-clips

[Ria]

On 4/28/2020 at 1:19 PM, xander874 said:

In the last episode, Rose talks to Sophia about moving in with Kirsten.

And Dorothy's money issues always annoyed me. One episode, she has $1200 to pay for Sophia to go to Sicily or pay for one of the many trips they took, the next she can't scrape together a couple thousand to pay off taxes. I know money situations change over time, but it seems like she had money issues only when the story needed it.

Or when she gets a hearing aid on the spur of the moment. Those things average $2K-$3K a piece with most insurances not covering them. They may have been cheaper then but in yesterday’s dollars still quite expensive for the time. 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Ria

[Irate Panda]

Speaking of money issues, the roof-leaking episode always irritated me.  Dorothy says the girls can barely afford the patch job, which was only a couple of hundred dollars.  Really they couldn’t come up with 50 bucks each?

[Snow Apple]

On 5/3/2020 at 9:02 AM, Irate Panda said:

Speaking of money issues, the roof-leaking episode always irritated me.  Dorothy says the girls can barely afford the patch job, which was only a couple of hundred dollars.  Really they couldn’t come up with 50 bucks each?

It really annoys me that whenever Blanche gets extra money, she blows it on unnecessary things instead of saving it for a rainy day.

For example, when she wanted a hot tub or a boob job. That money could have been saved for when the roof or plumbing need repairs. Instead they freak out because there’s no money.

And yet they have money to take last minute trips to Italy so Sophia can apologize to her old flame and for Blanche to run after her.

[Blakeston]

I just watched the "To Catch a Neighbor" episode (the one with George Clooney) on DVD.

There's a whole lot of drama (most of which is cut from the syndication episodes) about whether Dorothy will plant a bug at the neighbors' house during a dinner party. The cops feel bad about asking civilians to take that risk, but they say they have no way to get inside the house themselves.

At this point, the girls had already introduced the two cops to the neighbors as Sophia's family members. Why not just bring them to the party - or at least ask if they can come?

[schnauzergirl]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I just watched the "To Catch a Neighbor" episode (the one with George Clooney) on DVD.

There's a whole lot of drama (most of which is cut from the syndication episodes) about whether Dorothy will plant a bug at the neighbors' house during a dinner party. The cops feel bad about asking civilians to take that risk, but they say they have no way to get inside the house themselves.

At this point, the girls had already introduced the two cops to the neighbors as Sophia's family members. Why not just bring them to the party - or at least ask if they can come?

Agreed, plus I also thought it was odd that once the guys were introduced as relatives they weren't invited to dinner right away.  It was rude and, yes, I know this is a sit-com and there were plot reasons, but still.  

[Eri]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I just watched the "To Catch a Neighbor" episode (the one with George Clooney) on DVD.

There's a whole lot of drama (most of which is cut from the syndication episodes) about whether Dorothy will plant a bug at the neighbors' house during a dinner party. The cops feel bad about asking civilians to take that risk, but they say they have no way to get inside the house themselves.

At this point, the girls had already introduced the two cops to the neighbors as Sophia's family members. Why not just bring them to the party - or at least ask if they can come?

I think the noodlehead in the red dress would've blown their cover 😏

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, Eri said:

I think the noodlehead in the red dress would've blown their cover 😏

Too bad they couldn't leave the noodlehead in the red dress home and claim she came down with a cold or something.

[Blakeston]

On 5/4/2020 at 5:01 PM, andromeda331 said:

Too bad they couldn't leave the noodlehead in the red dress home and claim she came down with a cold or something.

Yeah, they should have said that Rose and Blanche had an emergency, so Dorothy and Sophia were bringing their relatives instead.

It was also hard to believe that jewel-smugglers on the verge of a major illegal transaction would invite Rose into their house immediately after they realized that she was following them around and spying on them. 😆

[Miss Chevious]

55 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Yeah, they should have said that Rose and Blanche had an emergency, so Dorothy and Sophia were bringing their relatives instead.

It was also hard to believe that jewel-smugglers on the verge of a major illegal transaction would invite Rose into their house immediately after they realized that she was following them around and spying on them. 😆

Apparently the jewel smugglers were noodleheads too. 

But who cares, I got to see George Clooney! <swoon>

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, Miss Chevious said:

Apparently the jewel smugglers were noodleheads too. 

But who cares, I got to see George Clooney! <swoon>

I do wish we got to see Blanche hit on him instead of telling him he reminded her of his son Matthew.  

[Ria]

The episode where Sophia thinks she is having a hard attack but it’s just overeating. There is a big storm, trees and power lines are down, the paramedics can’t get through. The girls are in the kitchen discussing food (of course). It’s dark out and the wind is still blowing the trees. They decide to go for a walk. In a storm with trees and power lines down. 

[mmecorday]

Quote

And Dorothy's money issues always annoyed me. One episode, she has $1200 to pay for Sophia to go to Sicily or pay for one of the many trips they took, the next she can't scrape together a couple thousand to pay off taxes. I know money situations change over time, but it seems like she had money issues only when the story needed it.

Well, she did have that gambling problem ...

[Hiyo]

The money issues never really bothered me, or were things I saw as continuity errors, for me some months they had more money saved than others.

[MoistestCake]

On 5/13/2020 at 3:03 PM, Ria said:

The episode where Sophia thinks she is having a hard attack but it’s just overeating. There is a big storm, trees and power lines are down, the paramedics can’t get through. The girls are in the kitchen discussing food (of course). It’s dark out and the wind is still blowing the trees. They decide to go for a walk. In a storm with trees and power lines down. 

They also had guests over for dinner, on a stormy night?

 

[BigBingerBro]

2 hours ago, MoistestCake said:

They also had guests over for dinner, on a stormy night?

 

Well it could have been planned weeks in advance, who knows?  Imogene is a big eater, she must weigh close to 270 pounds....  I've had a "bubble" before, it does seem like a heart attack. A big <belch> does make it go away.  I'm not sure why they didn't stick with that diagnosis from the beginning.

[Hiyo]

In spite of all that, it's still a funny episode.

[MoistestCake]

10 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

Well it could have been planned weeks in advance, who knows?  Imogene is a big eater, she must weigh close to 270 pounds.... 

I think she's Emma Jane....?