Happy 40th birthday to The Golden Girls! From the hilarious one-liners to the onscreen chemistry between the ladies, this sitcom changed television history forever.
It first premiered in 1985 with writer and creator Susan Harris taking the lead. But did you know a 1984 skit featuring Dorris Roberts and Selma Diamond was the original inspo? They were introducing a clip for Miami Vice, which soon got a hilarious twist as Miami Nice — a show about elderly women. The banter was so well-received that the idea for The Golden Girls was born!
Susan Harris got her start in the ’70s and was considered a pioneer in television writing, with credits including All in the Family, Maude, Soap, and more. “It was always important to me to have something real at the heart of a show,” she said. “Something that people could relate to and could not feel so alone about.”
And when the opportunity for The Golden Girls came up, she was the perfect writer for the job. “I really didn’t like writing for young people as characters because they just didn’t have a history,” she said. “And older women did, they had stories to tell.”
Next, the sitcom needed its leading ladies. The cast featured Bea Arthur as Dorothy, Betty White as Rose, Rue McClanahan as Blanche, and Estelle Getty as Sophia. At the time, there were no shows with four female leads, so this was a huge moment.
Originally, Betty was being considered for Blanche, while Rue was being considered for Rose. Rue felt a connection to Blanche, and she ultimately landed the part after director Jay Sandrich said she and Betty should switch roles. He was onto something!
One of the biggest revelations was that Bea Arthur didn’t want to do any more television as the cast was being built. Thankfully, that didn’t happen because the show wouldn’t have been the same without her! The character of Dorothy was intended for Bea specifically, and after reading the script, she thought it was “brilliant.”
The iconic theme song, “Thank You for Being a Friend,” was originally made famous by Andrew Gold. When singer Cindy Fee created her rendition, she had no idea what it was for and was out of the studio within 30 minutes.
After the pilot premiered on a Saturday night in 1985, it skyrocketed to success with 21.5 million viewers.
Many guest stars appeared, including Debbie Reynolds, Burt Reynolds, Dick Van Dyke, Bob Hope, and more. George Clooney and Mario Lopez were also featured, long before they ever became household names.
From sex to LGBTQ+ rights, no topic was off limits for The Golden Girls. During Mario’s guest appearance as Dorothy’s “prized pupil,” they covered the issue of immigration, a subject on everyone’s mind today. “And now I look at it as an adult, and I’m like, wow, that’s a pretty poignant episode for a sitcom,” he said.
As the special continued, we got a candid look at the table reads to the outtakes as the cast prepared for a new episode each week.
And if you’ve ever heard about the “feud” between Betty and Bea, the tea was spilled. Despite having different personalities, the two never let their professionalism slip. In an effort to reduce tension on the set one day after a fight, the stagehands played a practical joke by slipping risqué photos of themselves into a prop calendar. The result? No more drama, and so many laughs.
In the later years, Estelle was having trouble remembering her lines and was later diagnosed with dementia. “When you realize that she was struggling so much, but you didn’t see it, that tells you what a good actress she was,” coproducer Marsha Posner Williams said.
After seven seasons on the air, the sitcom’s final credits rolled in 1992. Today, the legacy continues with The Golden Girls still being watched worldwide by fans, new and old. All I can say is, thank you for being a friend!
Stream The Golden Girls on Hulu.