All Episodes Talk: Picture It. PTer. Today.

[LilWharveyGal]

Bringing back a love interest is such an interesting idea!  I had nothing against Leslie Nielsen's character, but bringing back Officer Al (or, my personal favorite, John Noretti) would have been a fascinating twist.

I liked both the caterer and the blind man, but unless George could be resurrected from dreamland I really can't choose anyone else for Blanche.  They absolutely smoldered together, and you could feel the deep love and understand how flighty/floozy Blanche could settle down with this one man.  What a great piece of acting.

Sophia?  Eh, maybe she could go pay Max a visit.

[Marsupial]

John Noretti! Yes, that would have been great. I loved that episode, too, especially the end when Dorothy comes home and tells her mom all about the prom, just like a high school girl.

And agree about George and Blanche. They really did a good job showing why they were such a good match.

Quote

I absolutely HATED Miles. 

He was awful. A tightwad, an intellectual snob and a whiner. Ugh. Rose could be a pain in the ass but even she deserved better.

Of course, who can forget Dorothy's fling with the Beatles impersonator? The best part of that episode was how crazy it drove Sophia.

[AndySmith]

I wouldn't say I hated Miles, but I can't say I was fond of him either.

[TheGreenKnight]

Yeah, the caterer was my favorite for Blanche, too. I'd pick Mickey Rooney for Sophia.

George and Sal were excellently cast, btw. I wonder why we never got to see Charlie.

[LilWharveyGal]

On 9/28/2016 at 7:11 AM, BlossomCulp said:

I couldn't pick a least favourite but I know the one I couldn't live with would be Dorothy!  

Interesting.  I think Dorothy would actually be my first choice for a roommate, and Blanche and Rose might be ok, but the one I'd never ever live with would be Sophia.  In the words of the commercial director - if I wanted that kind of abuse I'd work on the Roseanne Barr show.

[AndySmith]

I wonder if Shady Pines would work on Sophia if it came from anyone other than Dorothy? Granted, it worked on Rose when Dorothy used it on her, so who knows...

[tribeca]

I love this show so much.    It's funny whenever I read message boards about this show and how the ladies acted &dresssed older than their charters ages.   Thought their outfits flowed, looked comfy and dressy.   They had the best pajamas and ropes LOL

    May have thought they were older because they lived in Florida    I am on east coast    Every one seems to retire and move to Florida    Although they sure did talk about sex a lot  

[Madding crowd]

Most people don't retire in their mid-fifties though. I know many people in their fifties who still have kids at home and all of them still work full time. The people I know who have grown kids in college or their 20's still want to live near their kids and probably couldn't find jobs if they moved to Florida.

[tribeca]

1 hour ago, Madding crowd said:

Most people don't retire in their mid-fifties though.

I guess I didn't explain it well.   That was the reason I get see thinking they were older.  Retired and living in Florida.  Not the dress or social life.    Don't think when the show was on I thought much of their ages    

    Sadly now I work with many seniors who can't afford to retire.  Off topic 

[Madding crowd]

Yes, the show didn't explain things very well. Perhaps the actresses didn't want to be portrayed as being older?  I agree with you about people retiring older and older. I have a sister a lot older than me and she still has to work at 68. She would love to move to Florida! I still love the Golden Girls and their lovely pajamas. I think Blanche had some clothes stylish for the time. Dorothy and Rose mostly looked frumpy to me. 

[legaleagle53]

5 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

Most people don't retire in their mid-fifties though. I know many people in their fifties who still have kids at home and all of them still work full time. The people I know who have grown kids in college or their 20's still want to live near their kids and probably couldn't find jobs if they moved to Florida.

And the only one who actually WAS retired was Sophia.  Dorothy still had her job as a substitute teacher, Blanche worked as an assistant to the curator at a museum, and Rose worked at a grief-counseling center until she was laid off and went into a completely different line of work as a human-interest reporter.

[Madding crowd]

Dorothy was a full time teacher before she moved to Florida, Rose started something new when she moved and Blanche probably didn't work before. I know many teachers who 'retire' into sub jobs. It's a combo of that, moving to Florida and the whole concept of 'the Golden Years'. Like I said, I love the show but  just felt their ages should be closer to 70 than mid-fifties. 

[schnauzergirl]

Ages fluctuated quite a bit, but since Sophia's age starts out as 80, Dorothy couldn't be 70.  I always pegged Dorothy and Rose in their early 60s, with Blanche in her mid to late 50s.  

[legaleagle53]

2 hours ago, schnauzergirl said:

Ages fluctuated quite a bit, but since Sophia's age starts out as 80, Dorothy couldn't be 70.  I always pegged Dorothy and Rose in their early 60s, with Blanche in her mid to late 50s.  

Don't let Blanche hear you say that.  Accuse her of being over 45 and she'll give you the mother of all death glares.

[Madding crowd]

Yes, and Blanche had her age redacted on official records! Yes, I have to let it go. Sophia is 80, so Dorothy and friends had to be in their 50's. It's just that the idea of people moving away from their kids and moving to Florida just seems so odd for someone in their 50's to me. I keep wanting to tell them that its not too late; you can move back to wherever you came from, get married again (or not) and get full time jobs! Sophia can move into assisted living and have a ball. (I"m really joking here so please don't give me all the reasons why this won't work-I love the GG's). 

[AndySmith]

Well, considering most of the kids we ended up seeing on this show...can you really blame Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose for moving away? ;)

[FormerMod-a1]

I think Dorothy and Stan were already supposed to be in Florida when they divorced, and Sophia too - she was in Shady Pines, after all.  And Blanche lived there, obviously, is was her house.  They explained Rose as moving after Charlie died, saying the kids were grown and some other stuff.  But I found that the weakest, since she still had friends and family in St Olaf, but whatever.  

[chessiegal]

I saw 2 episodes recently that talked about Dorothy's age. In one, Sophia tells Dorothy she was going to wait until Dorothy was 60 to tell her something. In another, Dorothy says to Sophia "Ma, I'm 60 years old".

Saw the 3rd episode of Season 1 yesterday where the actor who plays Miles shows up as a love interest for Rose but his name is Arnie.

[Madding crowd]

I hate the part when it's revealed Miles is in witness protection. How does someone in WP get to be a college professor? Wouldn't you need some actual knowledge and credentials ? And if he had that type of experience he could easily be found.

[DXD526]

The math on Dorothy's age: As Sophia is so fond of bringing up, Dorothy got pregnant in high school and married Stan. I don't think it was ever stated what year of high school she was in, but assuming she was a senior, that would have made her 17 or 18. She and Stan were married for 38 years and the show started shortly after they divorced, so that would have made Dorothy 55 or 56 at that time. 

[rubaco]

O.M.G. I just put Hallmark Channel on for my Saturday morning Golden-Girls-while-doing-the-cleaning ritual, and it's Christmas movies already! It's not even November yet, people!

Sorry if I'm in the wrong thread. I needed to vent. I know we go through this every year, but still. I suspect eventually they will start their holiday movies on Labor Day. 

[abstractstuff]

Oh yeah. People have been bitching in the Golden Girls groups on FB.. They even had a red warning crawl on the bottom of the screen for about a week. Thank goodness for LOGO and TvLand. I have the DVD's, but don't pull them out as much as I should. 

[CocoaGoddess]

Okay, here's what I've detailed about their ages:

Sophia: when the show first starts, it's mentioned that she's 78 years old, and she's around 85 or 86 when the show ends. Just from doing the research and following her timeline of her years in Sicily, endless engagements and/or annulled marriages and moving to the US, she had Dorothy between the ages of 23-25. The absolute worst inconsistency in Sophia's history was the death of of Sal, which was anywhere from 15 years prior to 30 years, and everything in between, which would mean that Sophia quite possibly could have been widowed at 50, right after her big 49/50th birthday celebration (it was alluded that Sal had prostate cancer, and surgery to treat it, so he would have been sick for awhile).

Dorothy: mentioned in a season 1 episode that she was 55 years old. While this would fit Sophia's timeline, her years with Stan really aren't adding up here, because at the start of the show, she's been divorced for at least two years, has lived on her own, and Stan and Chrissy have been together for awhile and living in Maui. This would push her marrying age from 17 to 15, and we all know that she got knocked up her senior year in high school, after the senior prom, but before high school graduation I'm guessing. Maybe the summer she graduated? I found it interesting that John Noretti had no idea that she married Stan (though he had to know that her last name was Zbornak, so ... yeah, just more writing shenanigans) or got knocked up by him, so I'm guessing that Dorothy got pregnant RIGHT before graduating.
I have long fanwanked that she miscarried late into her pregnancy, but she stuck it out with Stan anyway. Whatever the case, that child absolutely does not exist in the frame of this show, no matter what. Dorothy did not have a 40 year old child ever. 
We also know that Dorothy and Stan relocated to Florida while still married, they didn't move there to "retire", but probably just to live the lives of empty nesters. Sophia mentioned at least once that Stan is the one who talked Dorothy into putting her into Shady Pines. 

Rose: Rose's age is a little harder to pin down, because she's never flat out mentioned her age in any episode, but just based on events from her St. Olaf stories, I would put her around the same age as Dorothy. We know she married Charlie right after graduating from college, was married to him for 30 years, and at the start of the show, he's been dead for 15 years! Which ... no, the math doesn't add up there. For one, we see in the flashbacks that Rose moved to Miami roughly a year and a half after Charlie died, and she was not 40 in that flashback. We know that she lived in an apartment for a couple of year before she moved in with Blanche and Dorothy, but was kicked out because she acquired a cat. Safe to say, she had not been living in Miami for 15 years. 
So, if Rose married Charlie at around 21 or 22, was married to him for 30 years before he died, that would put her widowed at 51-52 years. If she moved in with the girls a few years after arriving in Miami, that would put her age anywhere from 54-56, depending. 

Blanche: Let me just state that Blanche was WAY too young to have a 15 year old grandson, so there's that. I don't know what to make of David, but I like to pretend that he was a fever dream of Sophia's or something, because his presence was just nonsensical. 
Blanche did a lot to hide her age throughout the series, but there were some clues there to put it all together, and especially knowing that she was peri-menopausal at the start of the show, we can safely assume that she was a few years younger than the other women. She at least mentioned to being "over fifty and over the hill". 
In the Mother's Day episode, Blanche recounted a story to her mother in the nursing home about Blanche running off to get married in (I think) 1949 when she was 17 years old, which would make her about 52 or 53 at the start of the series in 1985, which makes sense given that she was peri-menopausal in season 1. The only sketchy business about Blanche's personal timeline is her marriage to George. We know that he was already dead in 1979 because Blanche's sex journal detailed her having a one night stand with a traveling salesman named "Chuck". Dorothy also made a crack about Blanche having a relationship with the torch bearer of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics (smdh), but ... Blanche being widowed for 20 years already at the start of the show doesn't work here. We know she married George sometime after high school (can't remember if she went to college or not), but if she married George (who was older) in say ... 1952, that would mean that she had five kids in 10-12 years before being widowed, which seems highly unlikely. Especially considering that George had a child from an affair in the late 60s. So ... no 1964 torrid Tokyo Olympics sex scandal for Blanche. We'll just file that in the "never happened/fever dream" category of Dorothy's first child, grandson David, and Witness Protection Miles. 

Tl:dr, the ages of the women in 1985 are +/-
Sophia: 78
Dorothy: 55
Rose: 55
Blanche: 52

As an aside, I really don't think any of the women dressed old fashion, I just think that 80s fashion for women in general was kind of awful. Blanche actually had a few dresses in season 1 I wouldn't mind wearing today (the dress she wore while being hit on by that creepy doctor Dorothy was dating was particularly lovely and whimsical), and she seemed to live in leggings, large shirts and kitten heels. I'm not sure why they always snarked on Blanche dressing too young for her age, when everything she wore was on the conservative side and not revealing at all. She talked about not wearing underwear and exposing cleavage, but that really wasn't the reality of her wardrobe (obviously we don't know anything about the underwear).
I think that both Dorothy and Bea were conservative and tried to downplay their heights and body type, hence the loose fitting clothes, flats, flip flops and slouchy boots. I actually covet a pair of boots Dorothy wore in one episode, and also those large, lush leather handbags she used to wear! So there's that. 
Rose seemed to always strive for "homely midwestern", and her wardrobe reflected that as well, with the wrap dresses and over reliance on plaid. They all dressed for their personalities, not their ages IMO.

Though I thought it was funny that the three younger characters seemed to age in reverse as the series went on. By season 3, they all had better hairstyles and light cosmetic surgery done. Rue had lost a ton of weight by the time season 7 premiered. 

Edited October 31, 2016 by CocoaGoddess

[TheGreenKnight]

I agree. I thought Arthur and especially McClanahan both looked prettier at the end of the series than at the beginning. In the earlier seasons, some of the to-do over how attractive Blanche was didn't make sense to me. I assumed it was mostly her personality/confidence since she was just average to me, looks-wise. (And the show sometimes seemed to imply the same; like the episode we learn that Rue chose her roommates by how much older they looked than her... lol ) But looking at the later seasons, the character was a little more believable in that area for me. I'm remembering in particular the moonlight madness episode with that blue dress--McClanahan looked gorgeous.

[Madding crowd]

Dorothy looked very lovely when her hair was styled more and she wore less baggy clothes. I never thought Rue was pretty, but my late father used to say she was very sexy. A lot of it was her confidence I think. Rose was also attractive but I always thought she dresses very dowdy. 

[Blakeston]

On October 30, 2016 at 4:59 PM, CocoaGoddess said:

Okay, here's what I've detailed about their ages:

Sophia: when the show first starts, it's mentioned that she's 78 years old, and she's around 85 or 86 when the show ends.

When did they mention that Sophia was 78? I know way too much of this series by heart, but occasionally there will be a line or reference that I just have no memory of.

[Bastet]

I can't place the 78 reference, either; the only one springing to mind for Sophia is in The Break-In (so, early in season one) when she says, "I manage to live 80, 81 years.  I've survived pneumonia, two operations, a stroke.  One night I'll belch and Stable Mable here will blow my head off!"

[CocoaGoddess]

I might have been mistaken hearing her mention that she's 78 (they delete and cut so many scenes, it's hard to tell anymore), but I'm pretty sure I got the age from 78-80 based on the times she's mentioned her age, and then referring to the date of the episode mentioned. I feel like she said she was 85 years old at some point during the last two seasons of the show, and on the spin-off that shall not be named, she's 87. So ... Idk, 79 in season 1? I need to get my hands on the unedited season 1 dvd again and play closer attention. 

[DrivingSideways]

I just saw the episode where Blanche says "I took an 84 yr old woman and made her look like a 65 yr old drag queen" a line that never fails to amuse me.  That episode was from 1990, so I guess Sophia was born in 1906.  Although the timelines on this show are so ridiculous, who knows?  Hard to believe Sophia would be 110 now.

[legaleagle53]

15 hours ago, DrivingSideways said:

I just saw the episode where Blanche says "I took an 84 yr old woman and made her look like a 65 yr old drag queen" a line that never fails to amuse me.  That episode was from 1990, so I guess Sophia was born in 1906.  Although the timelines on this show are so ridiculous, who knows?  Hard to believe Sophia would be 110 now.

That's because she wouldn't be.  She'd probably have died at least 13-15 years ago.  I mean, the others would easily be in their 80s or 90s now, assuming that they're all still alive themselves (Betty White is 94, Bea Arthur died at 86, and Rue McClanahan died at 75, and those last two events happened several years ago), so no way would Sophia still be alive today.

Edited November 7, 2016 by legaleagle53

[BookThief]

I don't want to speak for DrivingSideways, but I think you may have taken their comment too literally. It's just hard to believe that 80whatever Sophia in the show would be 100whatever now in today's times, not that she is literally alive. We just see these characters at this certain time in their life and they seem stuck there, that to imagine 30 years have passed since the show began is crazy.

[DrivingSideways]

1 hour ago, BookThief said:

I don't want to speak for DrivingSideways, but I think you may have taken their comment too literally. It's just hard to believe that 80whatever Sophia in the show would be 100whatever now in today's times, not that she is literally alive. We just see these characters at this certain time in their life and they seem stuck there, that to imagine 30 years have passed since the show began is crazy.

Thank you.  And also - who the hell knows - maybe Sophia would live to 110!  It happens!  Picture it, Miami, 2016....

[BookThief]

3 minutes ago, DrivingSideways said:

Thank you.  And also - who the hell knows - maybe Sophia would live to 110!  It happens!  Picture it, Miami, 2016....

They did all get their heads frozen, after all, though only Sophia tipped the guy and got a body.

[WhitneyWhit]

Watching Thanksgiving episodes of various sitcoms makes me wish GG had done one. I always wondered why they didn't.

[greekmom]

On 10/17/2016 at 8:29 AM, aquarian1 said:

I think Dorothy and Stan were already supposed to be in Florida when they divorced, and Sophia too - she was in Shady Pines, after all.  And Blanche lived there, obviously, is was her house.  They explained Rose as moving after Charlie died, saying the kids were grown and some other stuff.  But I found that the weakest, since she still had friends and family in St Olaf, but whatever.  

Rose also did mention she couldn't take another Minnesota winter as the last one was difficult for her.  

[schnauzergirl]

Maybe I've had a brain freeze, but do we know why Dorothy was looking to share a house?  I guess it was for financial reasons, but where was she living before moving in with Blanche?  It had been some time since the divorce, right?  We know Rose had been living somewhere else because her landlord wouldn't allow her to have a pet.

[WendyCR72]

4 hours ago, schnauzergirl said:

Maybe I've had a brain freeze, but do we know why Dorothy was looking to share a house?  I guess it was for financial reasons, but where was she living before moving in with Blanche?  It had been some time since the divorce, right?  We know Rose had been living somewhere else because her landlord wouldn't allow her to have a pet.

Maybe simple loneliness? She was just coming out of a long marriage and her kids were grown and gone, not to mention her mother was in a nursing home. Maybe Dorothy just wanted some companionship.

[schnauzergirl]

9 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Maybe simple loneliness? She was just coming out of a long marriage and her kids were grown and gone, not to mention her mother was in a nursing home. Maybe Dorothy just wanted some companionship.

Could be, but I had the impression that Stan and Dorothy had been divorced for some time when the series started -- four years maybe?  

[WendyCR72]

2 minutes ago, schnauzergirl said:

Could be, but I had the impression that Stan and Dorothy had been divorced for some time when the series started -- four years maybe?  

True, but maybe being alone for however long since the divorce made Dorothy seek out others. Some just don't like living alone.

[Miss Chevious]

I got the feeling it was also for financial reasons in addition to companionship. Neither Dorothy nor Rose were rolling in dough. Renting a room was probably cheaper than an apartment. 

[Blakeston]

15 hours ago, schnauzergirl said:

Could be, but I had the impression that Stan and Dorothy had been divorced for some time when the series started -- four years maybe?  

My impression was that they'd only been divorced for maybe a year or so when the series began. When she confronted Stan at their daughter's wedding, those wounds didn't seem like they'd had much time to heal.

[Bastet]

In that episode, Dorothy says something about it having been two years (when she calls Stan to tell him about the wedding).

[ButterQueen]

I loved their friendship.  Too bad more people can't find that rather than live alone for years.

[CocoaGoddess]

Okay, watching a marathon today, and I think I figured out where I got Sophia's age range from. In S5:E16, "Clinton Avenue Memoirs", Sophia states her as being 83 years old. This episode aired in 1990, so that would make Sophia 78ish at the start of the show. That would also fit in with @DrivingSideways observation as well. 

I think as the show went on, they adjusted her age because they didn't want Sophia to be "too old". I think there's a big difference between a 78 year old and an 88 year old, in terms of spryness. 

[WendyCR72]

Hulu has obtained the entire series of The Golden Girls. Per the article, the series will begin streaming on "Galentine's Day", Monday, February 13th.

[Maherjunkie]

Why did they call it "Galentine's Day"?

[WendyCR72]

5 minutes ago, Maherjunkie said:

Why did they call it "Galentine's Day"?

You know, "gals" and all that stupidity. Maybe Hulu's trying to hype it and that's what it thought up.

[BloggerAloud]

Galentine's Day is a reference to Parks and Recreation. Leslie Knope has a yearly celebration the day before Valentine's Day to celebrate female friendship.

[qtpye]

I love this show and all the comments on the show.

I just saw the episode where Blanche sees her daughter Rebecca for the first time since she ran away to be a fashion model.  Her daughter had gained weight and was now engaged to a man who constantly put her down.

All the girls made fun of Rebecca's weight (maybe not Dorothy), particularly Sophia.  I understand that an overweight person being a fashion model was unthinkable then, but it was still mean.  Rose even said, "We did not expect you to be fat".

So the writers set up an over weight Rebeca to be the butt of jokes, but the episode was about women's empowerment and getting away from an abusive man?

I know we are not meant to think too deeply about GG, but it was very annoying.

Edited January 18, 2017 by qtpye

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

Protagonist-centered morality. The girls mocking Rebecca's weight was all in good fun, but the same comments from a one-off character is cruel. The only difference, of course, is we never see Jeremy again. 

It struck me that Dorothy, who was the only one of the girls who wasn't snide about Rebecca's weight, was also the first to get genuinely pissed at how Jeremy was acting. Blanche had to talk her down from telling him off. She was more maternal than Rebecca's actual mother.