For those who thought
NBC's drug-drenched crime show
Miami Vice was giving Miami a bad name,
the network launched this equally popular comedy - nicknamed "Miami Nice."
It
centered on four mature, single women living together in the
sunny city of retirees, and enjoying their "golden years" to
the hilt. Dorothy was the outspoken, divorcée, a substitute teacher
whose strong personality often seemed to overpower her housemates. Rose
was a flaky, naive, soft-spoken widow given to hilarious misinterpretations
of almost everything that was said in her presence. She worked, believe it or
not, as a grief counselor.
Blanche, who owned the house, was also a widow, but of a different stripe.
She was lusty, man-hungry, and dripping with charm, a Southern Belle who
never aged - in her own mind, at least. All
in their 50's and 60's, the three were joined by Dorothy's elderly mother
Sophia, who moved in when her retirement home, Shady Pines, burned to the
ground. Sophia had
the saltiest mouth in the house. She had had a stroke, it was said, that destroyed the
"tact" cells in her brain.
Herb Edelman was seen
occasionally as Dorothy's no-good ex-husband Stan, who had dumped her for a
young bimbo but who now seemed to want Dorothy back. Scatterbrained
Rose, for a time, had a boyfriend named Miles, who unfortunately turned
out to be a former mob accountant in the Witness Relocation Program who
had to leave town temporarily when his cover was blown.
In
the final episode, wedding bells broke up the old gang as Dorothy married
Blanche's visiting uncle Lucas (Leslie Nielsen). The following fall Blanche sold the house
and with Rose and Sophia moved into a new series, The Golden
Palace.
Golden
Girls was a smash hit and highly regarded in the industry. It won ten
Emmy awards, including best comedy (twice), and each of its four its four leads
individually won the best actress or supporting actress award - the first
time in TV history that all the regulars in a "gang" series
won Emmy's. Golden Girls was rerun on NBC weekday mornings from July
1989 to August 1990.
