The Golden Girls: Difference between revisions

[[File:goldengirls.jpg|frame|Clockwise from left: Sophia, Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy.]]

 

 

Sure, but first let's grab some cheesecake.

* Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan): A distinctly southern [[Casanova]].

* Rose Nylund ([[Betty White]]): [[The Ditz]], who grew up in St. Olaf, Minnesota, [[Cloudcuckooland|a town of Ditzes]].

* Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty): Dorothy's mother with little tact, who evidently taught Dorothy all she knows about snarkery.

 

Like many sitcoms from [[The Eighties]] and [[The Nineties]], ''The Golden Girls'' confronted numerous social issues, but with special attention paid to groups rarely covered by other programs, such as the elderly and LGBT. Throughout the years they covered topics as diverse such as homelessness, AIDS, homosexuality, transvestism, prescription pill addiction, sexual harassment, interracial love, poor elderly care, and assisted suicide. Many episodes concerned the women's love lives, and all four women, whether divorced or widowed, were portrayed as sexually active.

 

 

* [[Accidental Bid]]: When Rose uses the bidding paddle to fan herself.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: In "Brotherly Love", Dorothy recounts how while on a double date with Stan and his Brother at a soda shop Stan "entertained" them by sticking straws up his nose and pretending to be a walrus. In the "Cousin Maude" episode of ''[[All in The Family]]'', Arthur's character Maude recalls Archie Bunker doing the same thing on a double date with her Cousin Edith and herself.

* [[After Show]]: ''[[Golden Palace]]'', which had Blanche, Rose, and Sophia buying and operating a hotel.

* [[All Just a Dream]]: When Blanche dreams her husband had faked his death and comes back to her. The ending is a bit of a [[Tear Jerker]].

* [[And Starring]]: "And Estelle Getty."

* [[And That Little Girl Was Me]]: Sophia.

* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Played with in an episode involving minks when Rose named some of them.

'''Dorothy:''' Rose, they are non-breeding minks who eat their weight in food everyday! Jo-anne!? }}

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Sophia was conceived as a recurring character, but positive response to her in the pilot led to her being added to the main cast.

* [[Ask a Stupid Question]]: Everyone, but Dorothy especially is '''made''' of this trope. To cite one of many examples:

'''Dorothy''': The chef at Benihana, Rose. }}

* [[Author Avatar]]: Blanche's sister Charmaine Hollingsworth visits Blanche and tells her she is writing a novel, titled 'Vixen: Story Of A Woman'. She even gives an autographed copy to Blanche. However, Blanche mistakenly thinks the book is about her. Angry and hurt, she confronts Charmaine, who explains she based the book on her own life, not Blanche's.

** That is, until Sophia learns Nurse DeFarge is willing to do absolutely anything to make Sophia comfortable, for the sake of her recovery. Of course, making Sophia comfy meant making life hell for the other women.

** Rose again, when her teddy bear is held hostage. [http://youtu.be/aAbiZOfbURU "Sometimes life just isn't fair, kiddo."]

** Rose yet again, whenever there was any type of game or competition that she'd really get into. She admitted to being very competitive, and would sometimes get bitchy and downright mean.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Dorothy's friend Barbara Thorndyke.

* [[Biggus Dickus]]: Rose compares her late husband Charlie's endowment to a bull's she saw as a child:

* [[Bottle Episode]]

* [[Brainy Brunette]]: In flashbacks featuring a middle-aged Sophia and a young adult Dorothy, Dorothy's younger self had black hair.

* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Rose. Bona fide Cuckoolander, and also gainfully employed at a grief counseling centre, and later, as a consumer reporter.

* [[The Butler Did It]]: Parodied when the girls participate in a murder mystery weekend. Rose immediately stands up and points to the waiter.

'''Rose:''' Thank you. [[Beat]] The maitre'd did it! }}

* [[Butt Monkey]]:

*** Blanche could actually hold her own against Sophia occasionally. Once, when she asked for advice and Sophia turned it back into an insult, Blanche said very simply, "I'm sorry, I thought that since you looked like Yoda you were also wise."

** Outside the main cast, Dorothy in particular is treated this way. In one episode it was revealed that she wasn't even invited to her ''own'' Sweet Sixteen party.

* [[The Cameo]]: Several celebrities played themselves over the years; these included Alex Trebek, Burt Reynolds, Bob Hope, and Sonny Bono.

* [[Casanova]]: Blanche is a female version.

* [[Casanova Wannabe]]: Stan.

** Oddly though, the times we've seen Rose's sisters, her children, and her grandchildren, all of them are quite intelligent (well, they're smarter than Rose), even her mother Alma is smart. Though this was before St. Olaf gradually became weirder and more bizarre as Rose's stories did to [[Flanderization]].

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Sophia also has shades of this, mainly due to her age.

'''Dorothy''': "Ma, it's Tuesday. And we're Catholic." }}

* [[Cool Old Lady|Cool Old Ladies]]: More like cool middle-aged women for Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose, but Sophia played the trope ''very'' straight; despite being in her eighties, she kept up with pop culture, even owning a Game Boy in one episode.

* [[Cure Your Gays]]: Played with in both episodes in which Blanche's brother, Clayton, appears (though only Blanche tries it) as well as "Goodbye Mr. Gordon" where Blanche and Dorothy are mistakenly thought of as lesbian on a daytime TV talk show. A man interested in Blanche claims she's only "like this" because she's never been with a "real man". If Blanche actually ''were'' lesbian, this trope would be played straight; as she isn't, it's simply [[Played for Laughs]].

** Blanche even takes it on as a new way to meet men, and gets Dorothy to play along; "Come on, Dorothy, I have to [[Wink Wink Nudge Nudge|''try this''.]]

* [[Dawson Casting]]: Inverted with Sophia. Estelle Getty was actually the second youngest cast member.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Both Dorothy and Sophia. Blanche had her moments too, and so did even Rose on occasion, although Rose would always apologize or qualify the remark afterward:

'''Rose''': No, Dorothy, I just finished milking the cow I keep in my closet. ... Gee, with only three hours sleep, I can be as bitchy as you! }}

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]

* [[Depraved Dentist]]: A perverted dentist sexually harasses Rose Nylund. Don't worry though, he gets it in the end.

* [[Dirty Old Woman]]: All four of them. But Blanche most of all, to the point that even ''Maxim'' felt obliged to acknowledge her as # 1 of "TV's Best Nymphos."

** In another episode, Blanche dared to attend her prom with Benjamin, despite the scorn of others. Dorothy assumes Benjamin was black. Nope. He was a Yankee from New Jersey. The same episode involves Rose dating a dwarf, and she spends the bulk of the episode learning to accept him as he is, only to be dropped because she isn't Jewish.

** Dorothy befriends vain authoress Barbara Thorndyke, whom the others dislike intensely. To bury the hatchet, she invites the four girls and their dates to a high class establishment named The Mortimer Club; however, when Sophia's date arrives, Barbara takes Dorothy aside and explains that they'll have to go somewhere else because the Mortimer Club doesn't allow Jewish people. The fact that Barbara would support an establishment that has such a policy enrages Dorothy to the point where she snaps at Thorndyke, terminating their friendship.

* [[The Ditz]]: Rose, Rose, Rose...

** Although not nearly as bad as Rose, both Blanche and Sophia have their moments as well, the former due to occassionally misunderstanding anything not traditionally Southern, and the latter due to occassional bouts of senility ([[Played for Laughs]] of course).

* [[Dream Sequence]]

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Sophia's friend Martha Lamont decides to kill herself after attending the funeral of her friend Lydia, and asks Sophia to be with her when she does. {{spoiler|She doesn't, in the end, thanks to Sophia's friendship.}}

* [[Escalating Punchline]]

* [[Et Tu, Brute?]]: One portion of the episode "One for the Money" has the girls showing up one-by-one at a dance marathon.

'''Rose''': No, it's me, Rose. I'm just wearing my hair a little differently. }}

** Count Bessie - the World Famous Piano Playing Chicken

'''Rose''': Why, yes! How did you know? }}

* [[The Faceless]]: We never get to see Charlie, Rose's husband. Dorothy's ex-husband, Stan, is a recurring character, we see Blanche's late husband, George, in a dream as well as in his brother, Jamie, who looks just like him (played by the same actor), and Sal/Salvadore, Sophia's late husband, is a regular in flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations. Charlie, however, remains unseen for the entire series. We're never even given a description of him beyond "six-foot-two".

* [[Fake Nationality]]/[[Casting Gag]]: In keeping with the precedent set by the casting of Dorothy and Sophia, every prominent Italian on the series was played by a Jewish actor.

* [[Filth]]

* [[555]]: "555-GIVE" and "555-EASY." One of them is the number of a fundraiser telethon, whereas the other is to reach Blanche during the campaign. Guess which number is for which purpose?

* [[Flash Back]]:

** There were several flashbacks to Dorothy and Sophia's past in Brooklyn. In a case of role reversal, Estelle Getty played Sophia's younger self and Bea Arthur played Sophia's mother.

** One episode flashes back to Rose's last birthday in Minnesota; she has a conversation with her late husband, Charlie, explaining her decision to sell the house and move to Miami.

* [[Four-Girl Ensemble]]: A textbook example. Rose is the [[Naive Everygirl]], Dorothy is the tough, mannish [[Deadpan Snarker]], Blanche is the [[Really Gets Around|promiscuous one,]] and Sophia is the wise [[Team Mom]].

* [[Gag Penis]]: Rose's husband Charlie is implied to have had one. Her parents taught her about the birds and the bees by showing her a bull's penis and testicles when she was young. The first time she saw Charlie naked on their wedding night, she thought "boy that bull would've been jealous of Charlie."

* [[The Gambling Addict]]: Dorothy's [[Compressed Vice]] in one episode, though Sophia remarks that Dorothy had been this once before as well, leading her to deep financial trouble. Sophia claims that she gets this from her father, Salvatore (as she claims: "In fact, his last words were, 'ten bucks says I don't need this oxygen tank.'"), which is a rare example of good continuity for the series. Sophia herself is no stranger to gambling, being an avid fan of the dog track. (Unsurprisingly, this was never mentioned during said [[Compressed Vice]] episode).

* [[The Game Never Stopped]]: The episode where they go to a murder-mystery party weekend with Blanche's [[The Maltese Falcon|Maltese Falcon Club]], and Blanche is accused of murdering her boss.

** There's also an episode in which all four women appear as contestants on a fictional game show called ''Grab That Dough!'', and pretty much everything that possibly could go wrong for them in the course of the appearance does.

** Rose did run into an [[Identical Stranger|exact duplicate]] of him during an episode of ''[[Golden Palace]]''. [[Fanon Discontinuity|Not that anyone remembers that.]]

** Phil, Dorothy's transvestite brother, is also this. The closest we get to seeing him is the ([[Epic Fail|visibly empty]]) coffin at his funeral.

* [[Good Parents]]: Dorothy, Sophia, Rose, Miles, and even Stan, who, for all of the bad that could be said about him, would do anything for Kate and Michael.

** Averted, however, with Blanche, who was ''very'' hands-off with her kids, and spends most of the series making up for it.

** Apparently [[Rilo Kiley|Jenny Lewis]] was quite the evil little Sunshine Cadet...

** [[Scott Menville|Lloyd Irving]] is the manager of a cowboy themed restaurant that Sophia and her friends work at.

* [[Hilarious Outtakes]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIrw_YzOsWk It had a few.]

* [[Hollywood Dateless]]: Dorothy. In fact, she's probably had more love interests than Rose or Sophia.

** Ironically, Betty White has no children, and Rue McClanahan had only one. The trope still rings very true, however.

* [[I Ate What?]]: In one episode Dorothy eats some snacks Rose left behind while the latter was taking care of a live chicken. Then the following dialogue happens:

'''Rose''': I'm not sure. The pet owner calls it "chicken chow." }}

** In another episode, Sophia recalled an event where she made a meal with "what she thought" was chicken, and we don't learn what it really was she served because Dorothy cuts her off. Only for Dorothy to interrupt her sentence and ask "oh God it wasn't my confirmation dinner was it?!"

* [[Ignore the Disability]]:

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1jvlIUJ2xU The scene involving Rose's boyfriend, who happens to be a dwarf.]

** Also in the episode "Before and After:"

'''Dorothy''': Blanche, please! How is she, Doctor Jew--uh, Wallenstein. }}

** Another in an episode where Blanche is dating a paraplegic:

'''Blanche''': No, no, not at all! Wheelchair! }}

* [[I Have Just One Thing to Say]]

* [[Interrupted Suicide]]: Sophia prevents her dear friend from killing herself.

* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'':

** In the episode "It's a Miserable Life," the girls hold a funeral for the curmudgeonly Mrs. Claxton, to which no one shows up, leading them to believe she really was a miserable, lonely, mean old woman. However, just before they leave, a woman shows up to pay her respects and says all of the good, philanthropic things Mrs. Claxton did anonymously. {{spoiler|However, when the woman mentions the person she thinks is in the casket by name, it turns out she arrived at the wrong funeral. When she finds out who ''is'' in the casket, she smiles politely and gives it a good kick.}}

'''Dorothy''': Stan, if you're doing what I think you're doing, you're in big trouble. }}

* [[Let Me Tell You a Story]]: A favorite tool of Sophia's. Sometimes subverted when her story ends up having absolutely no connection to the matter at hand.

* [[Lipstick Lesbian]]: Dorothy's friend Jean from the episode "Isn't It Romantic."

* [[Marshmallow Dream]]: Subverted.

'''Carol:''' It's not a joke. }}

* [[May-December Romance]]: Dorothy's son marries (and impregnates) a woman twice his age. Blanche briefly dates her much younger aerobic instructor, only to find out that he really ''is'' searching for a mother figure rather than a lover.

** The incident with the trick-or-treaters that got Sophia's dart gun confiscated. In her defense it was dark and she was "unaware of this Ninja Turtle craze."

** When the girls are discussing getting Sophia a sitter while they go out to the class reunion, in the episode "Home Again Rose":

'''Sophia''': She bit me first! }}

** It's mentioned that the sheriff of a certain city where Blanche has a tendency to get arrested for odd things [[Really Gets Around|still writes to her]].

** Blanche's sexual encounter with a man that cost him his party's nomination.

** While arguing about Micheal's attempts to marry a woman twice his age, Dorothy asks Blanche how she would feel if her son were trying to do the same thing. Blanche's response?

** How a chicken once saved Rose's life.

* [[Not What It Looks Like]]: Several, but the trope itself is spoken word for word by Blanche when she practices a dirty dancing routine with Rose, and is caught by Dorothy and Sophia.

** In point of fact, the routine they practice is ''the'' dirty dancing routine - the one from ''[[Dirty Dancing]]''.

* [[Only in Miami]]: None of the characters actually originate from Florida; Blanche, who grew up in Georgia, comes closest. Rose is from Minnesota. Sophia is originally from Sicily and moved as a young woman to New York, where Dorothy was born and raised.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: ''Lots''. From Dorothy's sister Gloria, to Blanche's daughter Rebecca, to Rose's daughter Kirsten, and even the cast of the episode that was a pilot for the spin-off series ''Empty Nest''.

** How Rose's husband died before the series. In the show itself, how another man she was dating also died!

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Stan, believe it or not.

* [[Parental Neglect]]: Blanche is strongly implied to have been a "hands-off" mother, which factors into any episode that features her children and grandchildren. She tries to reverse this tendency with one of her granddaughters, but ends up forcing her into a beauty contest she clearly doesn't want to be in.

** Blanche had a lot of these. In another episode, Rose was having a bizarre dream, and Blanche wonders why she doesn't have a normal, healthy dream, like "sweaty Argentinian men whipping things as they ride naked on the backs of Brahma Bulls." At this point, Dorothy decides she's never going to use Blanche's towels again.

** Rose admits to the girls right before a wedding that weddings turn her on, and during the show proceeds to look for men to have sex wisth.

** Rue McClanahan had previously appeared in a famous episode of ''[[All in The Family]]'' as the exhibitionist wife in a swinger couple whom Edith invites to the house after misunderstanding their personal ad.

** According to Rue, this was a major reason that Bea Arthur agreed to star; previously, she'd told Rue that she had no interest in doing "Maude and Vivian meet Sue Ann Nivens."

* [[Post Script Season]]/[[Retool]]: ''The Golden Palace''

* [[Prenup Blowup]]: Stan and Dorothy, when they're planning to remarry.

* [[Rage Against the Author]]: Twice, once when Dorothy befriends the racist high class snob Barbara Thorndyke (though in a subversion of the trope, Dorothy's problem with Barbara has nothing to do with her books), and another when Blanche's sister Charmaine writes a revealing book about a woman's sex life that Blanche perceives as being written about her.

* [[Real Song Theme Tune]]: "Thank You for Being a Friend" was originally a huge hit for Andrew Gold (its composer) in 1978.

* [[Rule of Three]]: "She'll get over it. And if she doesn't, who cares? We're going to meet Burt Reynolds!"

* [[Running Gag]]: Sophia complaining about food getting stuck in her teeth/dentures, usually corn.

** Rose being hit with a newspaper/magazine by Dorothy and "Shut up, Rose!"

** Sophia being told to get to the point of a Sicily story and asking [[Mad Libs Catchphrase|"Would you tell [famous storyteller/writer/philosopher] to get to the point?"]]

** Sophia listening to phone conversations on the extension in her bedroom and commenting on them when the girls talk.

** "Except Phil."

* [[The Scrooge]]: Rose's Charley.

* [[Social Semi-Circle]]: When all four women are at the kitchen table, Sophia pulls up a stool next to Dorothy rather than sitting on the camera side. There isn't even a chair on the camera's side. We're probably meant to assume that the table - and the oven, which is stage left but lined up with said table - are up against the [[Fourth Wall]].

* [[Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond]]: Rose simply can't get past this, much to the annoyance of the coworker she keeps trying to please -- and failing at it.

* [[Spin-Off]]: ''Empty Nest'' was about Dr. Harry Weston, the ladies' neighbor. That show in turn spun off the series ''Nurses''. The [[Shared Universe]] of all these shows naturally led to a few [[Crossover|Cross Overs]].

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: ''[[Hot in Cleveland]]'' shares ''many'' similarities with this series, even beyond the presence of [[Betty White]] in the main cast. See that entry for more information.

* [[Stripper Cop Confusion]]

* [[Take That]]:

** Several:

** And:

'''Dorothy''': Neither is Oprah Winfrey, but that doesn't make her a flying saucer. }}

** Also:

** Don't forget:

* [[Speaks Fluent Animal]]: Dorothy has this ability, at least according to Rose. Dorothy talked to a mouse and helped him to escape.

* [[Team Mom]]: Sophia.

* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Cheesecake for all the women, although Bea Arthur reportedly didn't even like it in real life.

** Don't forget Rose's mood swings in the episode "High Anxiety."

* [[Unexpected Positive]]: Dorothy takes a hearing test to show Sophia it's no big deal. Sophia does ''not'' need a hearing aid; Dorothy does.

* [[Vague Age]]: All of the girls, to varying extents. Sophia was in her early 80s for the entire seven-year run. Dorothy was ''about'' 60 (and consistently ''over'' 60 in later seasons). Rose was 55 in the first season, but her age was hard to pin down after that. But Blanche was the most famous example - nobody ever figured out her actual age. She usually claimed to be around 40, and in one episode where the girls tried to find out, she said 42 - which was presented as an obvious lie. They discover that even her birth certificate has been blanked "by order of the Governor." She seems to be younger than the rest of the girls (Rue McClanahan was in fact ten years younger than the other three), and is still fertile when the show starts (hitting menopause in an early episode), so 50-ish seems about right.

* [[Very Special Episode]]: Numerous, and not exactly unusual for a show of its time.

'''[[Cloudcuckoolander|Rose:]]''' ...strange? }}

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]:

** During Rose and Blanche's first meeting:

** Also, Rose's story about the bar in Tyler's Landing in the episode "Nice & Easy" - Rose, to illustrate "teenage rebellion," told a story about the time she snuck out to a gin mill to meet a boy and ran into her church's (married) pastor having an affair. "A week later we became Lutherans," she concludes, leading Blanche to react this way:

* [[Whole-Episode Flashback]]: Several.

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Dorothy's brother Phil.

* [[Writers Cannot Do Math]]: In spades, but the biggest example is this: Throughout the series, Dorothy stated that she and Stan ([[Shotgun Wedding|who got married in their teens because she was pregnant]]) had been married for 38 years, and divorced two years before the beginning of the series. Her son, Michael, varies in age between 23, 29, and 30 (and not in that order, either!), while [[The Other Darrin|the two actresses]] who play her daughter Kate appear to be no older than their late twenties.

* [[You Look Familiar]]: In the first season, actor Harold Gould plays Arnie Peterson, a date of Rose's. Years later, he would return to play Miles Webber, Rose's primary love interest, who appears in 13 episodes.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Eighties]]

[[Category:Dom Com]]