I hate to rain on the parade of praises for this comedy series and suspect my views will not be very popular. I realize I'm taking on a cherished icon here, but must comment on the flaws as I see them whether or not others may disagree.
This show has the unusual and comedy ripe premise of four 'older' previously married women spending their golden years in Florida, sharing a home and developing very touching bonds of friendship. The four have extremely disparate personalities. Dorothy is a cynical, pragmatic, witty divorced English teacher. Sometimes her previously unfaithful ex husband, Stan, appears in the hopes of rekindling the flame and stirs up trouble, emotional and otherwise. Dorothy's widowed mother, Sophia, has many tales (often embellished) from her native Sicily. She is a sharp tongued, feisty loose cannon and quite a handful for her daughter and the other two ladies to contend with. Rose is a super friendly, super cheerful, super naive widow from Minnesota, who reminisces about her life with late husband, Charlie, and regales her room mates with endless absurd stories of her hometown, St. Olaf, and its bizarre inhabitants & customs. Blanche, the owner of this Florida home, is a bold & audacious widowed Southern belle and proudly promiscuous. Her tales revolve around her numerous and legendary sexual exploits...real, exaggerated, and sometimes even totally fictitious.
The actresses are all amazing in their roles...Beatrice Arthur (Dorothy), Betty White (Rose), Rue McClanahan (Blanche), and Estelle Getty (Sophia). Getty is actually middle aged and younger than Beatrice Arthur, who plays her daughter. The four characters depicted are all likable ladies, each with her own well conveyed little personality quirks. The ridiculously innocent, well intended Rose is my personal favourite.
I admit to sometimes watching this series for a laugh and it does have many good points. The show clearly depicts that post menopausal women can still be smart, vibrant, and interested in romance (well, sex, to put it bluntly). Also, it's a powerful tribute to friendship. Despite these ladies' assorted scrapes and frequent spats with each other, their bond of friendship always emerges triumphant. They support each other through financial & career difficulties, offspring dilemmas, and especially love affairs gone awry. Often this support manifests itself by late night gatherings at the kitchen table, where they guiltily but jovially console themselves and each other with cheesecake or ice cream. Their camaraderie is magnificent, and segments of the program often resemble a college dorm or cute slumber party for seniors.
However, my problem with the series stems from its focus on sex. Sure, it's fine to indicate that these ladies are still interested, that they aren't ready to curl up & die just yet, and the fire hasn't gone out. But frankly, does every single episode need to embrace their sex lives, and such a large percentage of the laughs revolve around the topic one way or another? The comment has been quite accurately made that it was the original Sex and the City. Call me old fashioned but I don't consider that a compliment. Non marital sex is no more fine and dandy for these older gals than it is for the young Sex and the City crowd. They should be older and wiser, if anything. Also, not that ladies of this vintage should never discuss the matter, but these dames' conversations are literally sex obsessed. Of course Blanche is a hoot on the show, but occasionally I wonder a little about a society that finds unlimited humour in her antics. Sometimes I'm as guilty as the rest, but really it doesn't speak well of Western civilization!
So, a very mixed review. Despite the hilarity and the touching friendships, I have to give it an overall thumbs down. Maybe it's okay for adults, but this show is generally shown in re runs at family hours. If my youngster were viewing it, I'd certainly feel as though I should do quite a lot of explaining to counteract its messages. Golden Girls is morally a vicious wolf in cute, funny, and heartwarming sheep's clothing.
This show has the unusual and comedy ripe premise of four 'older' previously married women spending their golden years in Florida, sharing a home and developing very touching bonds of friendship. The four have extremely disparate personalities. Dorothy is a cynical, pragmatic, witty divorced English teacher. Sometimes her previously unfaithful ex husband, Stan, appears in the hopes of rekindling the flame and stirs up trouble, emotional and otherwise. Dorothy's widowed mother, Sophia, has many tales (often embellished) from her native Sicily. She is a sharp tongued, feisty loose cannon and quite a handful for her daughter and the other two ladies to contend with. Rose is a super friendly, super cheerful, super naive widow from Minnesota, who reminisces about her life with late husband, Charlie, and regales her room mates with endless absurd stories of her hometown, St. Olaf, and its bizarre inhabitants & customs. Blanche, the owner of this Florida home, is a bold & audacious widowed Southern belle and proudly promiscuous. Her tales revolve around her numerous and legendary sexual exploits...real, exaggerated, and sometimes even totally fictitious.
The actresses are all amazing in their roles...Beatrice Arthur (Dorothy), Betty White (Rose), Rue McClanahan (Blanche), and Estelle Getty (Sophia). Getty is actually middle aged and younger than Beatrice Arthur, who plays her daughter. The four characters depicted are all likable ladies, each with her own well conveyed little personality quirks. The ridiculously innocent, well intended Rose is my personal favourite.
I admit to sometimes watching this series for a laugh and it does have many good points. The show clearly depicts that post menopausal women can still be smart, vibrant, and interested in romance (well, sex, to put it bluntly). Also, it's a powerful tribute to friendship. Despite these ladies' assorted scrapes and frequent spats with each other, their bond of friendship always emerges triumphant. They support each other through financial & career difficulties, offspring dilemmas, and especially love affairs gone awry. Often this support manifests itself by late night gatherings at the kitchen table, where they guiltily but jovially console themselves and each other with cheesecake or ice cream. Their camaraderie is magnificent, and segments of the program often resemble a college dorm or cute slumber party for seniors.
However, my problem with the series stems from its focus on sex. Sure, it's fine to indicate that these ladies are still interested, that they aren't ready to curl up & die just yet, and the fire hasn't gone out. But frankly, does every single episode need to embrace their sex lives, and such a large percentage of the laughs revolve around the topic one way or another? The comment has been quite accurately made that it was the original Sex and the City. Call me old fashioned but I don't consider that a compliment. Non marital sex is no more fine and dandy for these older gals than it is for the young Sex and the City crowd. They should be older and wiser, if anything. Also, not that ladies of this vintage should never discuss the matter, but these dames' conversations are literally sex obsessed. Of course Blanche is a hoot on the show, but occasionally I wonder a little about a society that finds unlimited humour in her antics. Sometimes I'm as guilty as the rest, but really it doesn't speak well of Western civilization!
So, a very mixed review. Despite the hilarity and the touching friendships, I have to give it an overall thumbs down. Maybe it's okay for adults, but this show is generally shown in re runs at family hours. If my youngster were viewing it, I'd certainly feel as though I should do quite a lot of explaining to counteract its messages. Golden Girls is morally a vicious wolf in cute, funny, and heartwarming sheep's clothing.