Hanging with Kristina

Hello! Welcome! How are you doing today? Thank you for joining us. If you’re a first-time visitor, welcome. If you are returning, welcome back… it’s so nice to see you again. Today we’ll be discussing a classic, or at least what I consider to be a classic, tv show. We’ll be talking about one of my favorite shows, The Golden Girls. What can I say about The Golden Girls? I may be wrong, but I think they are classic, iconic, and legendary. They had storylines that no other show had really done before… and to see it being done with women over a certain age is quite something.

So, with that being said, where shall we begin? Well, I think it’s best we start with the wonderful ladies who starred in this funny show: Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. These four ladies were absolutely fantastic together. They had amazing chemistry and watching some of the bloopers, they had great fun filming the show. If memory serves me correctly, after watching some interviews and behind the scenes footage, Estelle Getty was the first of the 4 ladies to be cast. Bea Arthur was the last. She actually didn’t even know there was a script out for this pilot until she received a phone call from her agent, or someone like that. Betty, Rue, and Estelle had already been cast when Bea got the phone call about the Golden Girls pilot.

I don’t think many people know that Bea Arthur had to be, sort of, talked into doing the pilot. After hearing who had been cast, she had said she didn’t want to do a show where Maude meets Sue Ann Nivens and Vivian Cavender. Once Bea found out that Betty would be playing the naive role and Rue was cast as the man hungry woman, Bea thought it would be interesting. Once that happened, Bea said “okay” and the rest is, as they say, history. Thinking about the cast and the characters they played, I can’t imagine any of the roles being reversed. Sure, I’ve seen clips of Betty being Sue Ann Nivens, but for some reason she just stands out as Rose Nyland. It was as if the roles were written specifically for these 4 ladies, even though the production staff originally wanted Betty and Rue to be in similar roles they were in before.

Betty White had mentioned once or twice in interviews that Rue had taken Blanche into orbit where she wouldn’t have dared to have gone, if she had played Blanche. I think it worked out for the best, because Rue had fallen in love with the role of Blanche, just by reading the script. She wanted to read for that part but was told that they wanted her to audition as Rose. Rue had no idea who Rose was. That’s okay though, because I honestly have a hard time picturing Betty as a “southern belle”. I also can’t imagine Rue trying to pronounce those Scandinavian sayings that Rose often says. I’m not sure if Betty has any Scandinavian in her, but she pronounced those silly words well. I’m part Scandinavian and I don’t have the kind of “accent” she throws in there to pronounce those words. More power to her.

Now, there is something from the show that I have found eerie, maybe even a bit ironic. I’ve been thinking about it for almost 12 years… wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long! Anyway, there is a scene in one of the episodes of The Golden Girls where the girls were talking about staying together forever. They talked about how, if they had to move into a retirement home or a nursing home, they would go together. They would help take care of each other. They had agreed that that’s what they were going to do. However, Rose (Betty White’s character) asks, “what happens when there’s only one of us left?” That gets me every… single… time. At the time the episode aired it meant one thing… but YEARS later it would have a COMPLETELY different meaning. I find it interesting that not only was the person who said it the oldest of the 4 (in real life), but she would also be the last surviving member.

Which also gets me to thinking about Betty and how hard those 2-3 years were for her. It started in 2008 when Estelle passed away, then in 2009 when Bea passed, and then in 2010 when she lost Rue. I just can’t imagine what Betty went through during that time. I mean… back-to-back-to-back, losing 3 ladies you were close to for 7-8 years. Betty was an only child, so I think she felt like she had lost her sisters, her family.

Anyway, moving on. Does anybody know how many cheesecakes they consumed over the course of the 7 seasons? I think I read it somewhere, but I can’t remember what it was. And it is interesting to know that they ate all those cheesecakes, as Bea Arthur was not a fan of cheesecake… but she ate them anyway. She did her job. Eating cheesecake, for me, has kind of been a tradition. Any time I do a Golden Girls marathon with one of my friends, we always have a cheesecake, because it just wouldn’t feel right without one. And I too, am not a huge fan of cheesecake, but every once in a while, I’ll get one for a good cause. I think the strawberry cheesecake is pretty good, from my local grocery store.

Wow, there is so much to say about this great show. Storylines they had, even the wide range of guest stars that appeared on the show. I honestly can’t tell you who my favorite guest star was. How do you pick? I mean there was: Burt Reynolds, Mario Lopez, Lyle Waggoner, Sonny Bono, George Clooney… just to name a few. But I think my favorite recurring character was Miles Webber, played by Harold Gould. I can’t quite put my finger on why. It may have been because he was kind and he really loved Rose. He didn’t care if she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He loved her for her, and that’s really sweet. Do you have a favorite guest star, or a favorite recurring character?

Now, when it comes to episodes, I don’t know if I have a favorite. There were so many good ones it’s hard to pick. There could be ones that were funny, or ones that tackled some serious topics, but either way, the episodes were still good. There is one episode that comes to mind called “A Little Romance” from the first season. Rose is dating a psychiatrist; however, he is a little person, and the way they make jokes about it, and the characters being uncomfortable about it is funny. They were being funny without trying to be offensive, because they knew how it would sound. Most of the time it would just be a slip of the tongue, or it was meant to be referring to a food item or something.

I do have a favorite musical number from the show. It is from the season 2 episode, “Big Daddy’s Little Lady”. Blanche’s dad comes to visit Miami and share some news with her. This all happens while Dorothy and Rose enter a songwriting contest. They compose a song about the city of Miami. They go through a couple of rough drafts, which is funny, but the song they come up with in the end is my favorite. It’s so catchy. And the fact that all 4 ladies are singing it to end the episode is just icing on the cake.

Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia… or should I say: Bea, Betty, Rue, and Estelle? Whichever way you would prefer it, I just want to say (on behalf of myself and MANY others around the world) thank you for being a friend.