All Episodes Talk: Picture It. PTer. Today.

[Maherjunkie]

It wasn't about the money, but about the crossdressing, Shadow.  But she was terrible.

[mishy]

I do have a question though in the "Goodbye, Mr. Gordon" episode after the talk show all the girls are in the kitchen and Dorothy is typing on something. What exactly is that? I've been trying to figure out what that thing is that she was using.

It was a word processor. I had one like that made by Brother, I got it when I graduated from high school in 1993.

[Maherjunkie]

I know Sophia is from a different generation and Italian, but does anyone else have relatives that age that still think life is incomplete without a man?

[DanaMB]

Today I watched the herring circus episode and can't imagine how Betty White kept it together while the other two completely lost it. It's admirable. 

[Bastet]

Yeah, even though it's easier to maintain composure when co-stars are laughing in character (as opposed to when one breaks character and laughs, which often sends the other into matching laughter), and their laughter certainly seems scripted there - although I'm sure it wasn't hard to muster up - I still wonder if BW nailed that or required multiple takes. 

[mojito]

First, let me say that I'm working off a very old memory. I seem to remember an episode where Blanche describes being in flagrante in boarding school, I believe. When asked what she did, she responded something about raising her foot over the boy's shoulder and waving to the person who caught them. Being southern, it was the polite thing to do. Does anyone remember such a dialog? At the time, I was pretty shocked at the visual I got from that. Thought it was awfully racy (but funny).

[Bastet]

"I was taking some classes at Miss McGuyver’s Finishing School. And one night Bobby Joe Springer had escorted me back to my dormitory after the annual Fine Manners Ball when an innocent goodnight kiss developed into an evening of passion. But at 3AM, the door flung open and there stood Miss McGuyver makin’ one of those bed checks she was famous for. 

 

Well, I tried to handle the whole thing like a lady -- I waved politely over Bobby Joe’s shoulder with my foot. But she was unmoved. Next day she sat me down, gave me a stern lecture, and kicked me out of school. Only I didn’t care ... I knew what ecstasy was."

[mojito]

Thank you, Bastet. It's rare that my memory is that accurate. I believe I saw this particular episode during the show's original run, so that was a few years ago. I hadn't noticed it listed in the quotations page, and thought it was quote worthy.

[Blakeston]

the episode with Alisan Porter as Blanche's granddaughter... isn't she a little old for most child beauty pageants? don't you have to be younger and cuter?

 

There are beauty pageants for kids of all ages.

 

I doubt Blanche's granddaughter was Jon-Benet-esque enough to win, but I don't think she was supposed to be the obvious frontrunner Blanche thought she was.

[ShadowSixx]

Was there ever episodes where at least one of the girls got on your nerves or bothered you?

 

I already explained on how Sophia bothered me in "The Monkey Show" and Phil's funeral episode.

 

Dorothy bothered me in that episode where she wanted to break up Stan's marriage to that one woman cause Stan was there for her when Sophia was sent to the hospital with pneumonia. I mean she knew how it felt to have a husband leave her for someone else and she was going to do the same thing to that woman Stan was going to marry and when Elliot made a pass at Blanche and she believed him over Blanche. Also when Dorothy got upset at Blanche because she and Stan hit it off as friends. She's the one who suggested Blanche go out with him and then upset cause she's having fun with him.

 

Rose bothered me in the episode where she treated her mother like a child. She didn't even want Alma to take a tour of the house, it was like my goodness Rose it's not like you live in a mansion, it's a one story home. Then again if she did take the tour Alma might be baffled at the layout of the house.

 

Blanche was a little too petty when she was dating Jake the caterer. So what if he wore white after Labor Day and ate his food a little differently, that kind of stuff is so minor and really isn't a deal breaker in a relationship IMO. Blanche's behavior when Dorothy needed a date to the wedding where Rose gets hot. Just because her date cancelled on her, she didn't have to try and take Dorothy's.

[Blakeston]

The episode with Rose's sister Holly was on the other day. I know we complain about that one a lot - but I swear, if I was Rose, I don't know if I could ever be friends with Blanche and Dorothy again. I think their disloyalty and outrageous stupidity was a bigger violation of their friendship than them reading Rose's diary, or Dorothy and Rose thinking Blanche slept with the politician, or even Dorothy insisting that Blanche was lying about the doctor making a pass at her.

 

On an unrelated note - I just saw this clip for the first time. It's footage from the episode where Blanche gets a pacemaker, that didn't make it onto the DVD, and I've never seen in syndication.

 

It makes a later gag in the episode make a lot more sense.

[TiffanyNichelle]

I'm so annoyed that they cut scenes out of the DVDs. Like in the episode where President Bush is going to visit, they clearly cut out a joke. The Secret Service says they chose the house because there are four senior citizens living there and there's a pause and we have a close up of Blanche and the faint hint of some laughter ending. Because you know know Blanche would never let a line about "four" senior citizens pass by her.

 

Seeing that clip totally explains the popcorn line later, I never understood why that line was so funny to the audience.

Edited August 20, 2014 by TiffanyNichelle

[LegalParrot81]

Last night they ran the episode about Sophia and Dorothy going back to New York and the apartment they'd lived in because Sophia was beginning to forget.  I found it ironic and more than a little sad, considering by the time she passed, Estelle Getty had no memory of her Golden Girl years or anything else.

[Maherjunkie]

Thank you Blakeston.  I don't understand why they couldn't use the microwave for themselves, though?

[OSM Mom]

Thank you Blakeston. I don't understand why they couldn't use the microwave for themselves, though?

Microwaves will interfere with the function of a pacemaker. If you have one, you can't be around a microwave that's being used.

[Maherjunkie]

You mean if it's in use she can't be in the room or she can't be around it at all?  I never heard this.

[OSM Mom]

Only if it's being used. You've never seen signs about that? Something warning pacemaker wearers that there are Microwaves in use? Although newer pacemakers may not be affected by things like that.

Edited September 14, 2014 by OSM Mom

[Blakeston]

Yeah, it's not a concern anymore - a household microwave won't affect a modern pacemaker - but people used to be very concerned about it.

 

I remember the episode from the first season of the Simpsons, where Bart figured out that Krusty the Klown couldn't have been the convenience store robber, because the robber used the store's microwave, and Krusty had a pacemaker.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Blakeston

[Maherjunkie]

Holy Christ it's 8 wks till a barrage of Xmas movies start.  Logo here we come!

[Blakeston]

I've never seen this until now - a video of the performance the Girls gave in London in 1988, at the behest of the Queen Mother:

 

Not much of it is new material, but it's still nice to see them all acting on stage together.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Holy Christ it's 8 wks till a barrage of Xmas movies start.  Logo here we come!

 

Yeah, the time grows short now that's its October. The one thing I don't like about holiday programming is that it takes GG off the air for what feels like a million years.

[Maherjunkie]

It's the equivalent of a heroin withdrawal.

[Bruinsfan]

One silver lining of the big Suddenlink-Viacom tussle is that I now get the Hallmark channel. They just aired "Break in," which has to be the best episode of the whole series (Blanche macing herself, Sophia's lines about the guard dog, the Stable Mabel bit, Rose saying the parking lot attendant might pres charges)!

[babyhouseman]

I get the Hallmark channel now too. Guess what I watched this morning.

[Maherjunkie]

It's like Chinese food, I saw it but I can't remember it.

[OSM Mom]

You should have eaten at that new German-Chinese place. You would have been hungry an hour later... For power!

[Maherjunkie]

Why do 50 something women always think they're having a baby as the first response to a missed period?

[LilWharveyGal]

Oh Maherjunkie please, I don't even know why fools fall in love.  :)

 

Maybe they're in denial?  Maybe they're more likely to associate their symptoms with something they already have experience with, such as pregnancy, instead of menopause?  Maybe because their writers told them to?

[Maherjunkie]

I know, it's just pushing it, like it was on Sisters.  Certainly they could have found a different way to depict that.  I know nothing of pregnancy tests, but wouldn't they stay clear if you weren't pregnant?

[drmka9]

I know, it's just pushing it, like it was on Sisters.  Certainly they could have found a different way to depict that.  I know nothing of pregnancy tests, but wouldn't they stay clear if you weren't pregnant?

 

Pregnancy tests usually measure a specific hormone in urine (at home) or blood (in a doctor's office). Because production of the hormone indicates pregnancy, if the level is higher than normal, you'll get a positive result. Unfortunately, production of that same hormone also increases when you hit menopause. You end up with a lot of false positives (or change-of-life babies) around perimenopause.

[Maherjunkie]

Thank you.  Now someone please explain how a smudge pot works.

[Blakeston]

Why do 50 something women always think they're having a baby as the first response to a missed period?

 

In Blanche's case, I can buy her jumping to the conclusion that she was pregnant. She was in denial about aging, and menopause was one of her worst fears. And it appears she had unprotected sex with 4 (or was it 5?) men in a very short period of time before it happened.(!)

[Maherjunkie]

I assumed she always used birth control.

[Blakeston]

We know she sometimes used condoms, condoms, condoms!, but I didn't get the impression she used them with those men who she considered the potential fathers.

 

If she had, I'd think there would be some comment about how she used protection, so a condom must have broken, or something like that.

[Maherjunkie]

I always saw Blanche as a diaphragm type of woman, with its trampoline style abilities.

[Bastet]

I always figured Blanche - who has truly deluded herself into thinking she's not old enough for menopause and thus would think pregnancy was the cause - had been using protection, and just assumed it failed with one of those guys.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

And in the episode where Rose has to get that AIDS test, Blanche tells her that at some point she had gotten tested for the disease after a scare, that after that she had a long talk with herself about being involved with so many men, and that since then she was always responsible about using protection in addition to knowing relevant details about her partner's history.

[Blakeston]

And in the episode where Rose has to get that AIDS test, Blanche tells her that at some point she had gotten tested for the disease after a scare, that after that she had a long talk with herself about being involved with so many men, and that since then she was always responsible about using protection in addition to knowing relevant details about her partner's history.

 

That would make sense, then, that she started using condoms regularly sometime between the menopause episode (which aired in 1986), and the AIDS episode. 1986 would have been quite early for a heterosexual woman to get tested - I doubt she would have gotten tested earlier than that.

[Miss Chevious]

Ok, here's one thing I just don't get. In the episode where we find out Rose is addicted to painkillers, how is it that she is still able to obtain prescription pain pills for a back injury 30 years ago? What doctor would constantly keep prescribing them? And if they were originally prescribed in St. Olaf, how is it that Rose can keep getting them now in Miami? Is her new doctor in Miami (we assume she has one) just keeping on dispensing them to her? I know it's just a TV show, but sometimes the practical aspects are just way too far-fetched. It makes for a funny storyline, but come on...really?

[Maherjunkie]

I imagine she just transferred prescriptions.  Finding a doctor who will go along isn't that hard-he probably presumed she would take them as needed.

[Stinger97]

I'm sitting here watching an episode of the Three's Company spinoff, The Ropers, called "Your Money or Your Life." In it, Mr. Roper's uncle, Theodore, passes away. After the funeral, everyone is visiting the Ropers' apartment to pay their respects, and we meet Theodore's wife played by Jane Dulo. Ms. Dulo also appeared on Golden Girls playing Myrtle, Sophia's disgruntled friend, in the episode in which Sophia hosts her own wake ("Journey to the Center of Attention"). She must have specialized in being a sitcom funeral reveler! 

[Blakeston]

I was watching a clip from Rose the Prude. It struck me that it strongly implied that Charlie died 15 years ago - and this was the first season.

 

I don't think I'd ever noticed that before. I know continuity wasn't the show's strong suit, but it seems like an odd detail to throw in regardless of continuity.

[Miss Chevious]

I guess they wanted to emphasize the fact Rose hadn't had a man in 15 years. BTW, in the episode where Rose looks for a job, she mentions she was married for 32 years. So that would've put her at about 65 years old when the series started, assuming she married Charlie when she was 18. That seemed kind of old to me.

[Blakeston]

And that's the same episode where she makes a big deal about being 55! ("So am I. So is Blanche!")

 

And the Job Hunting episode was only the second one they ever filmed, and Rose the Prude was the fourth. Wow, they really established that they don't give a crap about continuity early on, didn't they?

[Miss Chevious]

Right. They must think we learned our math skills in St. Olaf. (Pencils down. You mean I could have used a pencil?!)

[FormerMod-a1]

I thought Blanche explained that nicely to Lucy - it's one thing to sleep with men because you like them, it's another thing to do it because you want them to like you.

 

 

I don't see any difference between the two of them, to be honest.

 

I'm not Blakeston, but they way I see it, one is done out of insecurity (Lucy) and one is done for fun (Blanch).  So the reasons behind the behavior are different.

[Bastet]

Also, in one scenario you're doing it for reasons that are all your own, and in the other scenario one of your reasons is you think you're supposed to.

[Maherjunkie]

I get it, I just don't see either one of them as being miles apart "morally".  If that had been Blanche's nephew it wouldn't have even been a story line.

[Melgaypet]

Morality isn't the point, really, just that one behavior is emotionally healthy and the other isn't.

[Maherjunkie]

I know, that ep just ticks me off.  Blanche could have expressed herself  a little differently.