Worst of Golden Girls: Your Least Favorite Moments

[MoistestCake]

On 10/05/2018 at 8:57 PM, HoboClayton said:

Sophia being up Dorothy and her boyfriend's ass, which causes Dorothy to cancel a trip, just in time for Sophia to get some life back, drop Dorothy and go on vacation herself. How easily they turned on each other was my biggest peeve with this show. 

That happened within minutes of Dorothy finally declining to go on holiday with her boyfriend. She could have easily phoned him or caught up with him at his place or the airport/harbour or wherever. The ending always bothers me because of that. 

On 12/05/2018 at 12:05 AM, msani19 said:

They were all saints to not put her in the worst home they could find and leave her there.

Every episode i watch I say out loud "Shady Pines, Ma!", but you're right, that old Sicilian gecko didn't even deserve Sunny Pastures. If she were my mom, she'd be long gone. 

[Ria]

On 6/24/2018 at 6:17 PM, MoistestCake said:

That happened within minutes of Dorothy finally declining to go on holiday with her boyfriend. She could have easily phoned him or caught up with him at his place or the airport/harbour or wherever. The ending always bothers me because of that. 

Every episode i watch I say out loud "Shady Pines, Ma!", but you're right, that old Sicilian gecko didn't even deserve Sunny Pastures. If she were my mom, she'd be long gone. 

They really went overboard in making Sophia mean. I also hate how big a hypocrit she was. She was always telling the others “you do for family” and “never turn your back on family”. Then we learn she had a feud going with her daughter in law and her own sister over petty things. She even tried to kick Dorothy out of her room when the heat went out and Dorothy wanted to share her electric blanket. My mom would have pretended she wasn’t cold and tried to get me to take it to warm up. lol

[leFay]

When the show first aired, I thought Sophia was hilarious. Now when I watch the repeats, I see just how cruel that woman was, especially to the only child who would take her in! There was a telling line from one of the episodes that went something like, "maybe the paperboy is right- maybe I am a mean old lady"...

And if Gloria did have a ton of money (before she lost everything), why didn't she pay for a place better than Shady Pines? And when Sophia moved in with Dorothy, why did Dorothy have to scrimp & save to help her out? What's wrong with Gloria???

Edited June 27, 2018 by leFay
Thinking of points after the fact...

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

To be fair, there was an episode where Dorothy discovered that Sophia was being sent money from Gloria and Phil, but had been hoarding it so she could leave a nest egg for Dorothy when she passed. 

[mmecorday]

Quote

She even tried to kick Dorothy out of her room when the heat went out and Dorothy wanted to share her electric blanket.

Does it even get cold enough in Miami that someone would need an electric blanket?

[MoistestCake]

22 hours ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

To be fair, there was an episode where Dorothy discovered that Sophia was being sent money from Gloria and Phil, but had been hoarding it so she could leave a nest egg for Dorothy when she passed. 

I'm watching that one now. Where did Phil get the money from? Throughout the whole show Sophia says Phil always asks for money. And with Gloria's millions how come Sophia has horded 35,000 over 10 years? $3,500 a year? 

Have some tea Ma, it'll relax you. 

Edited June 28, 2018 by MoistestCake

[Mrs. Hanson]

My beef with Sophia was how she spoke to Blanche, her LANDLORD.  Why would you have someone in the house who called you a slut all the time?  When one person had to move out I wold have booted Sophia.  Rose was there, first, right?  Then Dorothy then Sophia......so off to Sunny Pastures, Ma!!  Sorry!  I would NEVER split my house with three other people.  Like ever.

[schnauzergirl]

9 hours ago, Mrs. Hanson said:

My beef with Sophia was how she spoke to Blanche, her LANDLORD.  Why would you have someone in the house who called you a slut all the time?  When one person had to move out I wold have booted Sophia.  Rose was there, first, right?  Then Dorothy then Sophia......so off to Sunny Pastures, Ma!!  Sorry!  I would NEVER split my house with three other people.  Like ever.

Blanche often excused Sophia's outrageous remarks by mentioning that she'd had a stroke and it affected the part of her brain that filters what she says.   Not sure how long I could live with that, though.

[Ria]

11 hours ago, Mrs. Hanson said:

My beef with Sophia was how she spoke to Blanche, her LANDLORD.  Why would you have someone in the house who called you a slut all the time?  When one person had to move out I wold have booted Sophia.  Rose was there, first, right?  Then Dorothy then Sophia......so off to Sunny Pastures, Ma!!  Sorry!  I would NEVER split my house with three other people.  Like ever.

I agree with booting Sophia out. But I think growing old in a Golden Girls style arrangement would be nice. There’s even Golden Girl styled websites that cater to older women looking for that sort of lifestyle and to try to match up roommates. There are a lot of single older women out there who can’t, or won’t, depend on their children as age. Must be tough to get the right mix of personalities though. And a Sophia wouldn’t be welcome, even if Dorothy’s mother. 

I’ve said before, the stroke excuse would have worked if Sophia usually said nice things and occasionally blurred out something inappropriate. But Sophia was just plain mean. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Ria

[link417]

19 hours ago, Ria said:

I agree with booting Sophia out. But I think growing old in a Golden Girls style arrangement would be nice. There’s even Golden Girl styled websites that cater to older women looking for that sort of lifestyle and to try to match up roommates. There are a lot of single older women out there who can’t, or won’t, depend on their children as age. Must be tough to get the right mix of personalities though. And a Sophia wouldn’t be welcome, even if Dorothy’s mother. 

I’ve said before, the stroke excuse would have worked if Sophia usually said nice things and occasionally blurred out something inappropriate. But Sophia was just plain mean. 

She’s just a mean old lady like the paperboy said. I love it, though. ?

I didn’t know such a service existed, that’s pretty awesome!

[Sun-Bun]

On 7/8/2018 at 4:41 AM, link417 said:

But I think growing old in a Golden Girls style arrangement would be nice. There’s even Golden Girl styled websites that cater to older women looking for that sort of lifestyle and to try to match up roommates. There are a lot of single older women out there who can’t, or won’t, depend on their children as age. Must be tough to get the right mix of personalities though. And a Sophia wouldn’t be welcome, even if Dorothy’s mother. 

That is so cool!! I wasn’t aware of this service actually existing either, but that truly gives me hope about life’s possibilities with age, just like “Golden Girls” did as a whole. All the characters on this show were active in every way, made a point to work and give back to the community, and had interesting and fulfilling lives/relationships in their golden years—-even watching this as a kid, it made getting older seem so much fun and much less scary or sad.

As a Childfree woman myself, I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll likely one day be a widow and on my own. My friends in similar situations often joke that we need to just do the GG thing when the time is right, but it’s very true: as the baby boomers die off, generations X/Y are less community-based and will likely have no family left by the time their golden years approach. A GG-style living situation would be ideal for most of us by then, especially since retirement homes and communities are so insanely expensive.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Sun-Bun

[mythoughtis]

1 hour ago, Sun-Bun said:

As a Childfree woman myself, I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll likely one day be a widow and on my own. My friends in similar situations often joke that we need to just do the GG thing when the time is right, but it’s very true: as the baby boomers die off, generations X/Y are less community-based and will likely have no family left by the time their golden years approach. A GG-style living situation would be ideal for most of us by then, especially since retirement homes and communities are so insanely expensive.

I’m seeing this isolation in the elderly even if they have offspring.  They often can’t get into or navigate in their families’  homes due to stairs or other barriers. They don’t like the hubbub of large family gatherings. Their children live far away/ and neither party can or wants to move.  

My parents just moved into a year round RV Park halfway across the country. It gave them an instant group of people to do stuff with, nice weather year round, and at a reasonable lot rent.  These places are like senior apartments. 

[DkNNy79]

I'm not childfree, but I would love living GG style in retirement.  I already have two girlfriends who are down with this as well and we have already joked that this is what we're going to do should the situation permit.

[Mabinogia]

I am single and child free at 46. I pretty much accept that there won't be anyone taking care of me in my golden years so this would be ideal. I'm just trying to figure out which GG I'd be. I'm kind of a cross between Rose and Sophia if you can believe that one. Kind of ditsy but with a bit of a snarky streak. I'm also used to living alone so IDK how I'd do with roommates, but they make it look fun.

[Sun-Bun]

10 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I’m seeing this isolation in the elderly even if they have offspring.  They often can’t get into or navigate in their families’  homes due to stairs or other barriers. They don’t like the hubbub of large family gatherings. Their children live far away/ and neither party can or wants to move.  

This is true too, @mythoughtis!! I used to work in home senior care when I was younger, and it was downright cruel in my eyes to see how many elder parents were left alone and *never* had visitors. My visits were often the highlight of their week. Half of them had kids and grandkids living clear across the country. I eventually had to leave the industry because it broke my heart so much and was wearing me out—-such loneliness and isolation for many of these poor devoted elderly parents...from that point forward, whenever anyone used the tired “but who will take care of you when you’re old” argument on me for being ChildFree, I’d immediately respond with my own proof that this magical elder care ideal is nothing but a fairy tale: having children is no guarantee that they’ll be there for you when you need them.

Speaking of which, the GG’s themselves were all parents of 2-4 children/multiple grandchildren and they barely visited each other as well. That show was beyond ahead of its time if only because these older women all chose to live so independently like that!

Edited July 10, 2018 by Sun-Bun

[Blakeston]

On 6/27/2018 at 12:50 PM, leFay said:

And if Gloria did have a ton of money (before she lost everything), why didn't she pay for a place better than Shady Pines?

I've always had the impression that Shady Pines was a fairly nice retirement home, and that all of Sophia's horror stories were fabrications, told to make Dorothy feel guilty.

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

We met both of Blanche’s daughters, Rebecca and Janet. In fact, of the four girls, the only one with a son that we actually meet is Dorothy. 

[Blakeston]

1 hour ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

We met both of Blanche’s daughters, Rebecca and Janet. In fact, of the four girls, the only one with a son that we actually meet is Dorothy. 

I don't recall ever meeting Janet. We heard about her, and we saw Blanche on the phone with her.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Blakeston

[dotdot]

32 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

I don't recall ever meeting Janet. We heard about her, and we saw Blanche on the phone with her.

They had Janet and her daughter Sarah visit Blanche in the episode where Rose has heart surgery. Blanche became religious because of Rose's surgery and Janet told her that she didn't want Blanche filling Sarah's head with ideas about a God "who may or may not exist."

[Ria]

33 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

I don't recall ever meeting Janet. We heard about her, and we saw Blanche on the phone with her.

I think Janet is the one that visited with her young daughter when Rose was having a triple bypass. She was much too young to be the mother of the teenage boy from season one though. 

[Snow Apple]

22 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I've always had the impression that Shady Pines was a fairly nice retirement home, and that all of Sophia's horror stories were fabrications, told to make Dorothy feel guilty.

Agree with this. In the episode where Sophia broke her friend out of the home, she said something about how it's terrible and not like Shady Pines, which means Shady Pines is actually nice.

[The5thGoldenGirl]

In the episode "If At Last You You Do Succeed," in which Stan gets rich by selling a baked potato opener called a "Zborny," Rose tells a St. Olaf story which is way, way, WAY too "on the nose" for me.  Its just screams bad writing/storytelling to me, and the fan in me actually tries to justify it by reconciling that Rose just makes up most of her stories.  I mean, listen to this...

St. Olaf's tallest woman gets pregnant in high school with St. Olaf's only bald high school student, whose name was Yutz!  Then they got divorced after 38 years of marriage, after which Yutz came back to get the ol' Spaceneedle back after inventing press-on warts because he wanted his ex back after becoming successful.

And the clincher is that the Sophia, Blanche and especially Dorothy sit there listening without saying "um, this is just Dorothy and Stan, St. Olaf-ied."  SO DUMB!  I actually really like that episode (I have a soft spot for Stan, especially when he and Dorothy seem to get along), but truth be told, that St. Olaf story is one of the reasons Rose became my least-favorite of the four.  Shame on the writers of that scene for that.

[mmecorday]

I hate the episode about the "hurricane a-comin'"/save the McKinley Lighthouse telethon. Everybody acts so stupid in this one.

[peachybean]

I like the episodes for a couple of lines. I love the “a-coming” exchange at the beginning. I also always LOL when Sophia says “Angelo, I’m in trouble” and he responds “Then the boy will marry you”. 

[Mabinogia]

The practical joke episode was just on, when Dorothy's old friend visits and pretends to die so Dorothy pretends to sleep with her husband and Blanche and Rose (kind of) pretend to be so angry with Dorothy. This is probably my least favorite episode of the entire series. Even more than Blanche's daddy's whore coming around looking for a music box because at least that one was someone else being horrible. I loathe practical jokes and there is nothing even remotely funny about them. Particularly about pretending you died at an age where that is a real possibility. I just hated everything about it. If she had been my friend, well, I would have stopped being friends with someone like that years ago. I hate that they all laughed it off at the end. WTF!??!

[DXD526]

Season 4 had quite a number of really bad episodes. Preceding the Dorothy's friend practical joke one was the horrible ep with Pepe the boxer, then a couple later was the one with Rose's nasty sister Holly. There was also the tasteless "The Auction", where the girls hope an artist will die so the value of his paintings, one of which they own, will go up, and the one with the lottery ticket in the jacket pocket, in which they also come off pretty heartless. And there's the two-parter where Sophia marries Max, which I've never enjoyed, and the one where Blanche and Sophia fight over that jerk Fidel. Not a real strong season, IMO. 

[HoboClayton]

On 8/12/2018 at 11:06 AM, Mabinogia said:

The practical joke episode was just on, when Dorothy's old friend visits and pretends to die so Dorothy pretends to sleep with her husband and Blanche and Rose (kind of) pretend to be so angry with Dorothy. This is probably my least favorite episode of the entire series. Even more than Blanche's daddy's whore coming around looking for a music box because at least that one was someone else being horrible. I loathe practical jokes and there is nothing even remotely funny about them. Particularly about pretending you died at an age where that is a real possibility. I just hated everything about it. If she had been my friend, well, I would have stopped being friends with someone like that years ago. I hate that they all laughed it off at the end. WTF!??!

 

And they would have had to have called an ambulance. 

[schnauzergirl]

  And Trudy would have had to hold her breath for a REALLY long time.

[Ria]

Why was the high school reunion in Miami anyway? And at Dorothy’s house no less? 

I think the writers expect the audience to not think, just watch. 

Another of my least favorite scenes is when Sophia brings home an identical Dreyfus from the pet store. There just happened to be an exact duplicate of an adult male mixed breed dog sitting at the pet shop? And what are the chances Harry doesn’t have dog ID tags on Dreyfus? And the way Blanche realizes the dogs are identical and instead of telling Sophia, she hedges and dances around the problem until it’s too late. I keep thinking “just spit it out already”. Just a stupid scene all around. 

[msani19]

22 hours ago, Ria said:

Why was the high school reunion in Miami anyway? And at Dorothy’s house no less? 

I think the writers expect the audience to not think, just watch. 

Another of my least favorite scenes is when Sophia brings home an identical Dreyfus from the pet store. There just happened to be an exact duplicate of an adult male mixed breed dog sitting at the pet shop? And what are the chances Harry doesn’t have dog ID tags on Dreyfus? And the way Blanche realizes the dogs are identical and instead of telling Sophia, she hedges and dances around the problem until it’s too late. I keep thinking “just spit it out already”. Just a stupid scene all around. 

 

Yup to all you wrote!

The HS reunion thing makes me nuts. Dorothy grew up in Brooklyn and even, just for the sake of the episode, they choose to have the reunion in Miami cause it was a nicer location, then why at Dorothy’s? Was it her idea? Did she volunteer to host it? I agree they just want us to watch and not think about it. Ugh.

Dreyfus scene was beyond stupid. 

[Bort]

My mother had a 50 year reunion recently and it was in the party room of a restaurant and then they all went to a baseball game. She arranged it in the city they graduated in but honestly, most people didn't live there anymore and were flying anyway and if she'd said, "Hey, let's have it in this locale with a beach and tropical weather," I don't think anybody would've had a problem with that.

[FormerMod-a1]

I think this also depends on the size of the graduating class.  I tend to forget a lot of people had much smaller graduating classes than me, even if they lived in more populous areas.  So for me, with a class of 550+, it would be really weird to have a reunion in a state other than where the HS is/was.  But with like a class of 50 or something?  Maybe.

[schnauzergirl]

At first I assumed it was a reunion of people who lived in the Miami area, but then realized that doesn't make sense because if Trudy lived in Florida it would have been likely she and Dorothy would have met up.   

[mythoughtis]

Empty nests has to be the worst episode ever. I have no interest in these guest characters. No one else must have either, because they aren't who  ended up on the Empty Nest series.

[leFay]

11 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Empty nests has to be the worst episode ever. I have no interest in these guest characters. No one else must have either, because they aren't who  ended up on the Empty Nest series.

I agree! Although, Rita Moreno's character could have been developed for something else and still be neighbors of the Golden Girls... I thought she fit in with their dynamic pretty well... I just could not buy her being married to that wet lump of dough (George)- he must've been a tiger in bed...

[Ria]

Agreed. The Empty Nest episode is awful. I think the episode where Phil dies is also terrible. It starts out simply making no sense. Why is the family plot in Miami? Is Sal buried there? Why would he be. So why is Phil being buried in Miami? And where are his many children? And Gloria? And Dorothy’s kids? 

Then it takes a turn for the worse in making Sophia even more petty and cruel and the worst mother and grandmother imaginable. She has held a grudge for decades over a small dollar check bouncing. The whole thing is cringingly bad. 

And it’s a shame because Brenda Vaccarro is wonderful and under different circumstances would have been a great guest star for the show. And while there were some funny lines involving Phil wearing a teddy, they would have been funnier had he been alive. A waste of a great guest star and a terrible episode. 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Ria

[MoistestCake]

The episode when Kate and Dennis have a falling out after he cheated. Ewwww. 

[mmecorday]

I don't care much for that one either. Both Kate v. 2.0 and Dennis are annoying as hell. The guy who plays Dennis is a horrible actor.

[Snow Apple]

I don't really notice Dennis because I hated the actress who played the 2nd Kate. I'd seen her in other stuff and she always annoys me.

[MoistestCake]

And the storyline when Dorothy submits her student's lame story about going to a movie and gets him deported. What would have been the problem with a happy end? But I do enjoy the vigenfrügen bit. 

[mmecorday]

If that was the winning essay, I'd hate to read what the other students had to say! How dumb were kids in Miami-Dade County at that time?

[Ria]

In the episode where Rose’s monk bio father turns up in the hospital, there is a scene in the kitchen with the girls where Blanche tells Rose that she (Blanche) was luckier than Rose because she had a father who loved her. Now we know Rose had a loving adoptive father whom she adored, she once told the girls she had wonderful parents and loved her parents so much she never thought about being adopted (except for her Bob Hope fantasy I guess) . I just think that was a terrible thing for Blanche to say, to dismiss her adoptive father who raised her that way, and can’t believe Rose let that pass. 

[MoistestCake]

3 hours ago, Ria said:

In the episode where Rose’s monk bio father turns up in the hospital, there is a scene in the kitchen with the girls where Blanche tells Rose that she (Blanche) was luckier than Rose because she had a father who loved her. Now we know Rose had a loving adoptive father whom she adored, she once told the girls she had wonderful parents and loved her parents so much she never thought about being adopted (except for her Bob Hope fantasy I guess) . I just think that was a terrible thing for Blanche to say, to dismiss her adoptive father who raised her that way, and can’t believe Rose let that pass. 

Rose's adoption might be the answer to the question that has bothered me for ages: how come the rest of her family that we meet are not at all weird/stupid*. That could explain her mother and sisters, but not her daughter going to Oxford, unless the daughter is also adopted. 

* except maybe cousin Swen... but I think that was just the accent. 

[mmecorday]

Blanche: "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I think that Rose got the brains in that family."

Quote

Rose's adoption might be the answer to the question that has bothered me for ages: how come the rest of her family that we meet are not at all weird/stupid*. That could explain her mother and sisters, but not her daughter going to Oxford, unless the daughter is also adopted. 

* except maybe cousin Swen... but I think that was just the accent. 

But then again, everyone in St. Olaf was slightly ... off.

Edited August 31, 2018 by mmecorday

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

17 hours ago, mmecorday said:

Blanche: "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I think that Rose got the brains in that family."

I never thought that was fair to Sven. The only ditzy thing he did was leave when Blanche said “Get outta here.” Which isn’t so much dumb as it is taking an idiom in a non-native language literally, which we all have probably done/would do in similar circumstances. 

[Mabinogia]

I'm just watching the ep where Rose's daughter and Dorothy's son sleep together. Everyone's reaction (except Blanche, who sees that it really isn't that horrible) pisses me off. Sophia is in mourning? WTF? Do you think he was a virgin? But Dorothy was the worst. She attacked Rose's daughter for sleeping with a guy she just met, called her a tramp. I HATE the double standard. At least Rose was attacking Dorothy's son for things that were specific to him, not having a job, being a bit of a dead beat, but Dorothy seems to think it's okay for her son to sleep with a girl he just met, but when the girl does it, she's a tramp? 

I really do hate this episode. Two single young people slept together. What's the big deal? They live with Blanche. So do they mean all the horrible things they say about Blanche? 

[Blakeston]

On 8/30/2018 at 10:50 PM, mmecorday said:

But then again, everyone in St. Olaf was slightly ... off.

 

Off in what way?

The stories we heard suggested that the town was filled with morons, but very few of Rose's family members came across that way.

Her sister Holly and her daughters were "off" in that they were fairly unpleasant, but her mother and sister Lily seemed like decent people.

That old woman who wanted to visit her daughter's grave said that not everyone from St. Olaf was stupid, and they just seemed to have a higher percentage of idiots than other towns.

But if that was the case, you'd think someone would have already figured out that encyclopedia salesmen don't need to carry 26 volumes in each hand! Or been around to say, "Maybe we shouldn't greet a black man from Tennessee by wearing our bedsheets and starting a bonfire on his front lawn."

Edited September 3, 2018 by Blakeston

[Eri]

The writers also seemed to enjoy having stewardesses/flight attendants be the side chicks of the 1980s.

Stanley's 2nd wife Chrissy, Stan's brother Ted used Dorothy so he could take an stewardess to Alcupulco, Rita Moreno tells her husband George to promise not to get his teeth bonded and run around with stewardesses in Empty Nest...

[Maherjunkie]

10 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Off in what way?

The stories we heard suggested that the town was filled with morons, but very few of Rose's family members came across that way.

Her sister Holly and her daughters were fairly unpleasant, but her mother and sister Lily seemed like decent people.

That old woman who wanted to visit her daughter's grave said that not everyone from St. Olaf was stupid, and they just seemed to have a higher percentage of idiots than other towns.

But if that was the case, you'd think someone would have already figured out that encyclopedia salesmen don't need to carry 26 volumes in each hand! Or been around to say, "Maybe we shouldn't greet a black man from Tennessee by wearing our bedsheets and starting a bonfire on his front lawn."

You forget the in thing was coming out of the rain.

[Snow Apple]

9 hours ago, Maherjunkie said:

You forget the in thing was coming out of the rain.

But don't mail them rain during a drought.