All Episodes Talk: Picture It. PTer. Today.

[Blakeston]

Now that Hallmark is airing its godawful Christmas movies instead of The Girls, I watch the DVDs every weekday morning. It's very interesting, because I end up seeing scenes that I haven't seen in years that are deleted in syndication.

I had completely forgotten that Sophia accused the local Asian family of eating dogs. 😟 The mud pack scene may have gotten the Lorraine episode banned, but I think the dog-eating joke has to be the most racially uncomfortable moment of the series.

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, Blakeston said:

 

I had completely forgotten that Sophia accused the local Asian family of eating dogs. 😟 The mud pack scene may have gotten the Lorraine episode banned, but I think the dog-eating joke has to be the most racially uncomfortable moment of the series.

Which episode is that? I don't remember it. Is it (hopefully) cut in syndication?

[Blakeston]

On 10/23/2020 at 8:02 PM, Snow Apple said:

Which episode is that? I don't remember it. Is it (hopefully) cut in syndication?

Three on a Couch, where the girls go to a therapist because they fight so much. The whole scene is usually cut in syndication - it involves Blanche and Rose wanting to sleep in Dorothy's bed because they watched one of the Alien movies and they're afraid. (It's the scene where Sophia says "That Sigourney Weaver is a sweet girl, but she shouldn't go without makeup.")

[Barlowe]

On 10/23/2020 at 6:38 PM, Blakeston said:

Now that Hallmark is airing its godawful Christmas movies instead of The Girls, I watch the DVDs every weekday morning. It's very interesting, because I end up seeing scenes that I haven't seen in years that are deleted in syndication.

I had completely forgotten that Sophia accused the local Asian family of eating dogs. 😟 The mud pack scene may have gotten the Lorraine episode banned, but I think the dog-eating joke has to be the most racially uncomfortable moment of the series.

I agree its a terrible line in an otherwise great episode. I also hate that cabbie in a turban line Sophia has in another episode. Personally I always skip The Housekeeper. It's just uncomfortable to watch. The girls suspect their housekeeper of practicing voodoo and then try to bribe her into reversing her voodoo only to realize she's just a lazy worker who's preoccupied with school.

[MoistestCake]

On 7/31/2020 at 8:19 PM, Hiyo said:

Rose posing as Korean ....

Look what you've done! You've upset Kim Fing Toi is one of my favourite moments ever on the GG. It's excellent Dorothy sarcasm (maybe about how stupid the others are who didn't "spot" she isn't Korean).

[BigBingerBro]

5 hours ago, MoistestCake said:

You've upset Kim Fing Toi

I often used to use that with my late patner.  Whenever I was hurt or feeling unwell, I'd say "You've upset Kim Fung Toy" - and we'd both laugh and laugh.  Definitely one of the best one-liners of the series!

[schnauzergirl]

I so wish John Neretti had been in a couple of more episodes.  Hal Linden was one hot guy and a return visit would have been welcome.

[SweetSin]

There was the roof episode where Blanche should have paid for a new roof but shouldn't Blanche have also paid for the installation of the new toilet that Dorothy and Rose partnered up to fix?

[MoistestCake]

On 12/7/2020 at 3:01 AM, SweetSin said:

There was the roof episode where Blanche should have paid for a new roof but shouldn't Blanche have also paid for the installation of the new toilet that Dorothy and Rose partnered up to fix?

We don't know she didn't contribute. I actually think that only Blanche should have paid as only she owns the house, until they all own part of it later down the line.

[Eri]

I was in the grocery store today and I was checking out the desserts when I found they had a Yule log. I immediately thought of Rose's honey brown sugar molasses Rice Krispies log and wanted to burn it lol.

Happy Christmas to all!

Edited December 25, 2020 by Eri

[schnauzergirl]

"The Engagement" is a favorite and I know Sophia was to be an occasional character rather than a regular, but stole the show.  Every time I watch this episode I realize how little Coco was given to do.  Compared to Sophia he was almost a walk-on, yet as I understand it, he was to be a the fourth person living in the house.  I wonder if the writers realized in read throughs that Sophia would be a huge hit so reduced Coco's role.  It would have been fun to see him for a few more episodes and given a graceful exit, not just disappear.

[BigBingerBro]

5 hours ago, schnauzergirl said:

I wonder if the writers realized in read throughs that Sophia would be a huge hit so reduced Coco's role. 

I'm sure that was the main reason for Coco's demise.  I also think that perhaps the writers would find it hard to write episodes surrounding the girl's struggles with money, but yet they still had a live-in cook?  That might have required more of aback story on Coco, which we never got.  I think they made a good decision keeping Sofia.

[fleurfairy]

Anyone hate the episode “Three Rode Together”? Just hate everything about it. Ma was insufferable. Dorothy had no spine. And Dorothy’s boyfriend was a jerk. I get that he was sick of Sophia. Anyone would be. But I saw nothing about him that was special and his constant eye rolling was rude to Dorothy. 

[Cherpumple]

I meant to post this earlier, but last week on Jeopardy the following clue popped up in Double Jeopardy: "A young cow that hasn't had a calf." Of course, I jumped up and screamed "WHAT IS A HEIFER!" like any sane adult. Thank you Rose Nylund, and thank you Jeopardy producers for that little (likely unintentional) GG Easter egg. : )

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

I meant to post this earlier, but last week on Jeopardy the following clue popped up in Double Jeopardy: "A young cow that hasn't had a calf." Of course, I jumped up and screamed "WHAT IS A HEIFER!" like any sane adult. Thank you Rose Nylund, and thank you Jeopardy producers for that little (likely unintentional) GG Easter egg. : )

The best part was, that GG episode aired in syndication the same night as the J! episode - so I heard the clue on J! and then just a couple of hours later, heard it again on GG.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Bastet

[jessro92]

After getting into GG a few years ago, I finally saw the two episode series finale during the TVLand reruns yesterday and I was...underwhelmed. I wish they'd spent more time building up Dorothy and Lucas' relationship. They fake an engagement to piss off Blanche and then have a scene or two where they talk about how much fun they've been having together and then Lucas proposes for real and then the beginning of the next episode says "Two months later" and there's wedding presents in the background and Dorothy and Lucas are about to get married! It felt like the writers were just over the show at that point and wanted to hurry things along, details be damned.

It would've been nice if Dorothy and Lucas met five or six episodes before the series finale and we saw them clicking and gradually falling for each other, then the last episode had them getting married. I like to experience the process of two people falling in love. Oh, well. I guess I'm too much of a romantic for this show lol

[BigBingerBro]

38 minutes ago, jessro92 said:

It would've been nice if Dorothy and Lucas met five or six episodes before the series finale and we saw them clicking and gradually falling for each other, then the last episode had them getting married.

I totally agree.  It was all so rushed and rather unbelievable.  The scene with Stan in the Limo really was a too quick way to put closure on that relationship.   Dorothy and Lucas were such opposites, but I guess if they named the sex, then that's all that matters.

[Hiyo]

Yeah but that type of serial style storytelling was never in this show’s DNA. We got the occasional call-back with some family members and love interests, and even then the show didn’t always get it right. 

[mmecorday]

It always bugged me that Dorothy felt differently about her new son-in-law Dennis when she found out he was a podiatrist. Podiatrists are medical doctors, just like cardiologists, gynecologists and bariactric physicians. I guess she was thinking that all podiatrists do is take care of ingrown toe nails. Those of us who watch "My Feet Are Killing Me" know differently. (I've developed a whole new respect for podiatrists after watching that show.)

[BlancheDevoreaux]

I didn't think podiatrists went to the same medical schools that doctors who go on to be cardiologists,  gynecologists, etc. attend. I thought they had their own school, much like optometrists. Either way, I thought Dorothy's reaction was inappropriate, as well.

[Blakeston]

Dorothy made it pretty clear that all that mattered to her was that Dennis was a doctor. Everything else about him was completely irrelevant. The obsession with his profession was pretty gross.

[One Tough Cookie]

My husband doesn't laugh much,but he chuckles mostly. But I had him down to watch A Little Romance and he actually LOL'd during Shrimp, Short Ribs and Rose Nyland are you playing a joke.  He said Blanche had the greatest expressions.  I agree!

[BigBingerBro]

15 minutes ago, One Tough Cookie said:

A Little Romance

In an interview, Bea Aurther said that she actually called a viewer who had written in saying that the jokes in the episode were offensive.  She basically explained the jokes to this lady.   I hope she convinced her to find it funny after all.

[MoistestCake]

In the episode where Charmaine visits and Blanche thinks she inspired the book, Dorothy tells the story of a fight as a child with her sister, Gloria: Dorothy bit Gloria, and Sophia says that Gloria is the one who needed the rabies shot... But why would Dorothy have rabies that she could pass to her sister??

[Eri]

1 hour ago, MoistestCake said:

In the episode where Charmaine visits and Blanche thinks she inspired the book, Dorothy tells the story of a fight as a child with her sister, Gloria: Dorothy bit Gloria, and Sophia says that Gloria is the one who needed the rabies shot... But why would Dorothy have rabies that she could pass to her sister??

She was a biter🙃😂

[Giuseppe]

Don't know if this has been brought up here before, but this just hit me last night while watching The Case of the Libertine Bell for the 327th time...the two sibling characters in the murder mystery are named Philip and Gloria, which are also the real names of Dorothy's brother and sister. I mean, did the writers just get extra lazy here? Or was it meant to be a coincidence? If so, you'd think that it would at least get mentioned somehow as some sort of throwaway joke. Or maybe it did and it's just been edited out of syndication. In any case, weird that I just now noticed that.

[pinkandsparkly13]

I always thought that was interesting. But they seemed to use some names over and over again throughout the series. Not sure why they did it there. 

[WendyCR72]

On 6/18/2021 at 11:52 PM, Giuseppe said:

Don't know if this has been brought up here before, but this just hit me last night while watching The Case of the Libertine Bell for the 327th time...the two sibling characters in the murder mystery are named Philip and Gloria, which are also the real names of Dorothy's brother and sister. I mean, did the writers just get extra lazy here? Or was it meant to be a coincidence? If so, you'd think that it would at least get mentioned somehow as some sort of throwaway joke. Or maybe it did and it's just been edited out of syndication. In any case, weird that I just now noticed that.

A lot of shows are lazy like that. Another example being the Law & Order franchise. There were three characters named Alexandra: ADA Alexandra Borgia on the original L&O, Det. Alexandra Eames on Criminal Intent, and ADA Alexandra Cabot on SVU.

I do recall reading somewhere long ago that, believe it or not, names used on any show must be cleared for use, though I forgot the legal reason.

So I guess recurring names are safer to use?

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, WendyCR72 said:

I do recall reading somewhere long ago that, believe it or not, names used on any show must be cleared for use, though I forgot the legal reason.

Yes, a production's legal team will take a hard look at any script that gives a character the same name as a real person or another fictional character to make sure there's no defamation or copyright infringement claim to be made based on similarities such that the character could be determined to be meant to represent that person/character.

This doesn't affect giving multiple characters within a show the same first name.

[One Tough Cookie]

Mia another Mi Mia spells Miami Beach

Girls

It's by the Ocean

Girls

It stirs devotion

Girls

So bring your suntan lotion

Girls....

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by One Tough Cookie

[Giuseppe]

1 hour ago, One Tough Cookie said:

Mia another Mi Mia spell Miami Beach

Girls

It's by the Ocean

Girls

It stirs devotion

Girls

So bring your suntan lotion

Girls....

 

What puzzles me about this exchange is that when Blanche notes that M-I-A-M-I spells Miami, not Miami Beach (a silly thing to criticize, if you ask me), and Rose points out that she told her so, Dorothy says fine, you name something that rhymes with Miami. Rose's resulting "hootnanny" suggestion is funny, but the rest of the lyrics they sang didn't rhyme anything with 'Beach', either. So why couldn't they have just left it at Miami??

The word Miami sounds so strange now that I've typed it so many times.

[Cloud9Shopper]

I was really young when the show was originally on the air (born in 1985), but my mom and I enjoy watching this together in syndication. When I visit every Sunday we always watch the girls on TVLand, and it never really gets old. My mom loves the episode with Dr. Newman in S1, but our mutual favorites are Frieda Claxton’s death (S2) and the Rusty Anchor (S7). 

Personal story about the Frieda Claxton episode. My grandmother died back in 2015, and she and my grandfather (died in 1999) loved the Golden Girls. When my gram died I was on a pre-planned weekend trip (I told my mom maybe I shouldn’t go, but she insisted I go because my grandmother wouldn’t want me sitting at home and it’s not as if we could say exactly when she’d pass) and I came home devastated, but that episode was on when I was back at the house with my mom and we both ended up laughing like crazy. My mom said my grandmother would’ve approved of us watching that episode and would be laughing right along with us, as would my grandfather. 

(My grandmother lived to be 92 and aged very well; the last 2-3 years of her life was when she really started to decline.) 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Cloud9Shopper

[nokat]

On 7/9/2021 at 5:23 AM, Cloud9Shopper said:

Frieda Claxton’s death (S2)

No, this is Frieda Claxton's funeral, and then her kicking the casket.

[BigBingerBro]

The episode where Dorothy falls for Father Leahey was on earlier.  I guess my logical brain was firing on all cylinders because how the hell did Dorothy not know he was a priest??   I know she's only a sub, but they said she had worked with him for 3 consecutive Saturday mornings on the "youth fair" (does it really take that long?) and just because he was not in cleric's clothes, she assumed he was a lay person at a Catholic school.   Had she not spoken to anyone else on the staff?   It just seems like she would have learned about all the staff at the school and not made just a mjor assumption.

[Snow Apple]

On 7/25/2021 at 10:31 AM, BigBingerBro said:

The episode where Dorothy falls for Father Leahey was on earlier.  I guess my logical brain was firing on all cylinders because how the hell did Dorothy not know he was a priest??   I know she's only a sub, but they said she had worked with him for 3 consecutive Saturday mornings on the "youth fair" (does it really take that long?) and just because he was not in cleric's clothes, she assumed he was a lay person at a Catholic school.   Had she not spoken to anyone else on the staff?   It just seems like she would have learned about all the staff at the school and not made just a mjor assumption.

It is a bit strange. In three whole weeks, didn't anyone call him Father in Dorothy's presence?

But then we wouldn't get the line "I look like the mother of a Solid Gold dancer!"

[BigBingerBro]

41 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

It is a bit strange. In three whole weeks, didn't anyone call him Father in Dorothy's presence?

Well they did write in that she found it "nice" the students called him by his first name "Frank", but still....

[MoistestCake]

On 7/25/2021 at 4:31 PM, BigBingerBro said:

The episode where Dorothy falls for Father Leahey...

The thing I find oddest is that he says to her something like "I have something I want to talk about, I'm thinking of leaving the church "...

But doesn't say another 5 words "... to be a teaching priest" - why wouldn't he complete the sentence and be clear?

[MoistestCake]

I was curious when watching the moonlight madness party episode about how often a full moon occurs on 29 Feb (I assume that's what they mean by leap year here). Coz I wondered wouldn't have Sophia had to worry about the curse over Dorothy's 60+ years. But actually after a bit of research online it seems this does only occur every 76 or more years... (even though in reality it happened last in 1972), so it might have been a fluke, but it kinda makes sense.

[Blakeston]

On 8/8/2021 at 4:33 PM, MoistestCake said:

The thing I find oddest is that he says to her something like "I have something I want to talk about, I'm thinking of leaving the church "...

But doesn't say another 5 words "... to be a teaching priest" - why wouldn't he complete the sentence and be clear?

I guess he was honoring the time-honored Golden Girls tradition of leaving the room immediately after making a big announcement.

[Ria]

3 hours ago, Blakeston said:

I guess he was honoring the time-honored Golden Girls tradition of leaving the room immediately after making a big announcement.

They do always do that. I’ve commented on it before. They make an announcement and then walk out of the room. 

Same as Dr Jonathon Newman telling Rose he has something important he wants to discuss over dinner as he’s walking out the door. Rose thinks it’s a proposal (why?) but he apparently decided in the middle of his enjoyable evening at the house that he can’t see her anymore. 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Ria

[Madding crowd]

I just saw this episode the other day and it always bugs me. The days and nights of Sophia Petrillo. Sophia leaves early morning to go to the market. Since she doesn’t drive she must be taking a bus or walking ( she could be getting a ride but they don’t indicate that). She comes home at bedtime, 8-10 hours later and says she bought a nectarine. Dorothy doesn’t wonder where she is all of those hours? No one asks her why it took 8 hours to go to the market? 

[Hiyo]

Thats one of my favorite episodes, actually. 

[Giuseppe]

On 8/12/2021 at 12:39 PM, Madding crowd said:

I just saw this episode the other day and it always bugs me. The days and nights of Sophia Petrillo. Sophia leaves early morning to go to the market. Since she doesn’t drive she must be taking a bus or walking ( she could be getting a ride but they don’t indicate that). She comes home at bedtime, 8-10 hours later and says she bought a nectarine. Dorothy doesn’t wonder where she is all of those hours? No one asks her why it took 8 hours to go to the market? 

I asked nearly this exact same question way back in this thread somewhere, lol. It bugs me, too. I figure the others must know that she ran around town a bit doing other errands but realize Sophia doesn't think it important enough to mention or something like that. I really don't know.

But another thing that bugs me that also regards communication: There are at least two or three episodes where Dorothy and/or Sophia comes home from a funeral, and the others ask if they've come from a funeral or who died. I don't get it...as much talking as they all do, it didn't come up in the preceding days that a friend died and they had to attend a funeral?? It's not like going to one is like a spontaneous trip to the mall.

[Madding crowd]

And in many episodes Dorothy is so overprotective of Sophia she doesn’t want to leave her alone and has someone watching her. At the very least , Dorothy could have mentioned Sophia being gone a long time and hoping she doesn’t have to take a bus that late.

[Eri]

Since it's a Season 4 episode, I chalked it up to the writers having already established Sophia having an active social life - they just provided the audience with a preview of what her days can be like.

In the earlier seasons, Dorothy did have a bit of overprotectiveness over Sophia when she started living with them*because* of how much of a go-getter she was. And she probably still kept in touch with friends she made at Shady Pines.

Outside of funerals, we've seen Sophia:

• Working at fast food restaurants (The Actor & Blanche's Little Girl)
• Engaging in charity walkathons (And Then There Was One)
• Placing bets at the dog track (Rose the Prude & The Flu)
• Going to Cancun with friends (And Ma Makes Three)
• Visiting the boardwalk to watch old men rearrange themselves coming out the water LOL (Old Friends)

And this was all before she remarried a second time to Max so the Girls know she's more than capable of taking care of herself at this point. 

The times I recall Dorothy getting protective over Sophia doing too much after this episode were legitimate concerns related either to her health or the crowds she was hanging around.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Eri

[Madding crowd]

Dorothy still seemed protective in the episodes you mentioned. She checked on Sophia when she was on the boardwalk and knew where she was going and expected back the others. I’m not near Sophia’s age but if I told my son who lives at home I was going to the grocery store and didn’t come back for ten hours, he would be worried.

[Eri]

*shrug* It was a different time in the 1980s before the popularity of cell phones. Dorothy and the girls had that very discussion in the kitchen about how they thought she was probably sitting on a bench to "rest" assuming she was inactive because she had energy but no desire (on the contrary). But I still maintain that they just assumed she might be doing other things outside of grocery shopping.

[schnauzergirl]

The Monkey Show is a favorite and every time I watch the first scene it strikes me how uncomfortable Dorothy looks cutting up vegetables (or whatever).  The island is far too low for such a tall woman.  Yes, I know it's TV, but after you watch something dozens of times, these things do grab your attention.  

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, schnauzergirl said:

The Monkey Show is a favorite and every time I watch the first scene it strikes me how uncomfortable Dorothy looks cutting up vegetables (or whatever).  The island is far too low for such a tall woman.  Yes, I know it's TV, but after you watch something dozens of times, these things do grab your attention.  

Maybe they built it to lower than standard counter height to accommodate Estelle Getty, because standard being too tall for her would have been far more noticeable (and many scenes are staged with her at the island while the others are at the table).  Looking up that scene, Bea Arthur - who is my height (or perhaps a bit shorter, since women shrink a couple of inches over the course of their life, so she probably wasn't 5'10" anymore at the time of filming) - indeed has her arms more extended than mine are to work on standard countertops, and Estelle Getty - not even five feet tall - still has to hoist what she's carrying up onto the island.

[schnauzergirl]

7 hours ago, Bastet said:

Maybe they built it to lower than standard counter height to accommodate Estelle Getty, because standard being too tall for her would have been far more noticeable (and many scenes are staged with her at the island while the others are at the table).  Looking up that scene, Bea Arthur - who is my height (or perhaps a bit shorter, since women shrink a couple of inches over the course of their life, so she probably wasn't 5'10" anymore at the time of filming) - indeed has her arms more extended than mine are to work on standard countertops, and Estelle Getty - not even five feet tall - still has to hoist what she's carrying up onto the island.

I think that makes sense because Estelle is at the counter most often.  It just looks so uncomfortable.

Edited September 8, 2021 by schnauzergirl