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80-576: The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur , Betty White , Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty , the show is about four older women who share a home in Miami, Florida . It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions , in association with Touchstone Television . Paul Junger Witt , Tony Thomas , and Harris served as

160-483: A live studio audience using a multiple-camera setup , the latter of which continues in some modern productions such as The Big Bang Theory and Fuller House . Other formats make use of a laugh track or "canned laughter". Since the 1990s, sitcoms have since expanded to animated sitcoms , with successful shows of the genre including The Simpsons , King of the Hill , and Family Guy . Critics have debated

240-540: A 30-minute time slot. Throughout their history, American sitcoms have often drawn inspiration from British counterparts. Popular shows like All in the Family , Three's Company , and Sanford and Son were adapted from successful British series. More recently, The Office achieved significant popularity in the United States , following the success of its British counterpart. Numerous television networks in

320-544: A core group of characters who interact in a recurring setting, such as a family, workplace, or institution. However, British sitcoms typically consist of shorter series, often six episodes, and are frequently developed by a smaller writing team. The majority of British sitcoms are half-hour comedies recorded in studio settings using a multiple-camera setup. While many adhere to traditional sitcom conventions, some have ventured into more unconventional territory. For example, Blackadder and Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister shifted

400-432: A dark cloud the day before tape day... You could see a big difference in her that day. She'd be walking around like Pig-Pen , under a black cloud. By tape day, she was unreachable. She was just as uptight as a human being could get. When your brain is frozen like that, you can't remember lines." Getty died in 2008, the result of dementia with Lewy bodies . Her co-stars, in an interview, said that her disease had progressed to

480-474: A house in Miami. The owner of the house is a widow named Blanche Devereaux (McClanahan), who was joined by fellow widow Rose Nylund (White) and divorcée Dorothy Zbornak (Arthur) after they both responded to an ad on the bulletin board of a local grocery store a year before the start of the series. In the pilot episode, the three are joined by Dorothy's 80-year-old widowed mother, Sophia Petrillo (Getty), after

560-542: A little bit far and I think she let it be known she didn't love that." Estelle Getty's stage fright , which affected her from the beginning of the show, grew worse as the show went on. According to McClanahan, by the end of season three, Getty had significant problems remembering her lines, which was attributed to anxiety. To aid her retention, Getty tried hypnosis, and the show hired an assistant to run lines with her before taping; neither method worked. She took to writing her lines on props at which she could glance easily, like

640-566: A regular gay character (Terry Bader as journalist Leslie). In 1987, Mother and Son won the Television Drama Award for portraying a woman suffering from senile dementia and her interaction with her family, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission . In 2007, Kath & Kim ' s first episode of series 4 attracted an Australian audience of 2.521 million nationally. This

720-423: A series based on the geriatric humor the two were portraying. Shortly afterward, he met with producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas , who were pitching a show about a female lawyer. Though Littlefield nixed their idea, he asked if they would be interested in delivering a pilot script for Miami Nice , instead. Their regular writer declined, so Witt asked his wife, Susan Harris , who had been semiretired since

800-435: A sitcom that has aged well. An instant ratings hit, The Golden Girls became an NBC staple on Saturday nights. The show was the anchor of NBC's Saturday line-up, and almost always won its time slot, as ABC and CBS struggled to find shows to compete against it, the most notable being ABC's Lucille Ball sitcom Life With Lucy in the beginning of the 1986–87 season although it aired at 8:00, an hour earlier. The Golden Girls

880-644: A sitcom with this kind of image as a "four women" show, which became Designing Women on CBS. Designing Women began competing against The Golden Girls . At the request of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother , who was reputedly a big fan, the cast of The Golden Girls performed several skits as their characters in front of her and other members of the British royal family at the 1988 Royal Variety Performance in London . The Season 3 episode "Mixed Blessings"

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960-557: A staple of the government broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In the 1970s and 1980s many British sitcoms also screened on the Seven Network . By 1986, UK comedies Bless This House and Are You Being Served? had been re-screened several times by ABC Television ; they were then acquired and screened by the Seven Network. In 1981, Daily at Dawn was the first Australian comedy series to feature

1040-606: A white wig to look the part. The character of Sophia was thought by the creators to enhance the idea that three retirement-aged women could be young. Disney's Michael Eisner explains, "Estelle Getty made our three women into girls. And that was, to me, what made it seem like it could be a contemporary, young show." Getty continuously battled stage fright during her tenure on the show. In a 1988 interview, Getty commented on her phobia and expressed how working with major stars, such as Arthur and White, made her even more nervous. At times, she even froze on camera while filming. Hired to shoot

1120-564: Is one of the leading channels in India, dedicated entirely to Sitcoms. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is the longest-running sitcom of Indian television and is also known as the flagship show of SAB TV . On Tiptoes and Shabhaye Barareh were among the first and most important sitcoms that led to the growth of this type of comedy in Iran, both receiving wide critical and audience acclaim. El Chavo del Ocho , which ran from 1971 to 1980,

1200-560: Is to join her, but in the end, she stays behind with the other women in Miami. This led into the spin-off series The Golden Palace . The series finale of The Golden Girls was watched by 27.2 million viewers. As of 2016, it was the 17th-most watched television finale. Ideas for a comedy series about older women emerged during the filming of a television special at NBC Studios in Burbank, California , in August 1984. Produced to introduce

1280-725: The Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series . In 2020, the sixth and final season of Schitt's Creek was nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards . This broke the record for the most Emmy nominations given to a comedy series in its final season. During the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards , the show became the first ever comedy or drama series to sweep the four acting categories ( Outstanding Lead Actor , Outstanding Lead Actress , Outstanding Supporting Actor , Outstanding Supporting Actress for Eugene Levy , Catherine O'Hara , Dan Levy , and Annie Murphy respectively) and one of only four live action shows, along with All in

1360-586: The Nielsen ratings ' top ten for six of its seven seasons. The Golden Girls has been widely regarded by many as one of the greatest television shows of all time. Terry Tang of the Associated Press reported that the series continues to attract new fans in the 21st century and characterized it as an example of a sitcom that has aged well. The show, featuring an ensemble cast , revolves around four older single women (three widows and one divorcée) sharing

1440-753: The RTR channel. The "boom" of Russian sitcoms began only in the 2000s, when in 2004, the STS started the highly successful sitcom " My Fair Nanny " (an adaptation of the American sitcom " The Nanny "). Since that time, sitcoms in Russia have been produced by the two largest entertainment channels in the country — STS and TNT . In 2007, the STS released the first original domestic sitcom — " Daddy's Daughters " (there were only adaptations before), and in 2010, TNT released " Interns " —

1520-547: The United States feature sitcoms in their programming. CBS , TBS, Nickelodeon , and Disney Channel are just a few examples of networks that air sitcoms. Warren Littlefield Warren W. Littlefield (born May 11, 1952) is an American television executive. Born in Montclair, New Jersey , Littlefield attended Montclair High School and graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York , where he

1600-439: The retirement home where she has been living has burned down. The first episode features a cook/butler named Coco (played by Charles Levin ), but the role was dropped before the second episode. The writers observed that in many of the proposed scripts, the main interaction between the women occurred in the kitchen while preparing and eating food. They decided that a separate cook would distract from their friendship. In addition,

1680-414: The 1984 Los Angeles run of Torch Song Trilogy . Afterwards, Getty had returned to New York, but gained permission from her manager to return to California in early 1985. Getty figured it would be her last chance to find television or film work. She would return home to New York if she were unsuccessful. Casting director Judith Weiner had seen Torch Song Trilogy , and thought Getty was terrific in it. She

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1760-431: The 1990s these included: Dekh Bhai Dekh (1993), Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001), Ramani Vs Ramani (Tamil 2001), Amrutham (Telugu 2001–2007), Khichdi (2002), Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2005) F.I.R. (2006–2015), Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008–present), Uppum Mulakum (Malayalam 2015–present), and Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain (2015–present). SAB TV

1840-482: The 2010s, resulting in a decline in sitcom popularity. Nevertheless, there have been recent efforts to revive the sitcom genre. For instance, Netflix released So Not Worth It in 2021, featuring many creators from popular South Korean sitcoms. Popular South Korean sitcoms include the High Kick series, which has spawned several spin-offs. British sitcoms , like their American counterparts, often revolve around

1920-482: The 60 Best Series of All Time. In 2014, the Writers Guild of America placed the sitcom at number 69 in their list of the "101 Best Written TV Series of All Time". In 2023, Variety ranked The Golden Girls #18 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time. Terry Tang of the Associated Press reported that the series continues to attract new fans in the 21st century and characterized it as an example of

2000-417: The Family , The Golden Girls , and Will & Grace where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy Award. Sitcoms started appearing on Indian television in the 1980s, with serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Nukkad (1986), and Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) on the state-run Doordarshan channel. Gradually, as private channels were permitted to operate, many more sitcoms followed. In

2080-542: The Florida setting. According to Evans, "I wanted a sexy, soft, and flowing look for Rue, a tailored, pulled-together look for Bea, a down-home look for Betty, and comfort for Estelle." Anna Wyckoff of the Costume Designers Guild wrote, "Evans took the direction from the producers to create a vibrant look for the four mature leads, and ran with it...redefining what 'dressing your age' looked like." Many of

2160-735: The Street , Caroline in the City , NewsRadio , 3rd Rock from the Sun , Suddenly Susan , Just Shoot Me! , Will & Grace and The West Wing . In 2012, he wrote a book, with T. R. Pearson , about his time at NBC entitled Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV . Since leaving NBC, Littlefield has executive produced TV series such as My Generation , Fargo , The Handmaid's Tale , and The Old Man . Littlefield

2240-588: The United States in 1926 with the radio show Sam 'n' Henry . The subsequent success of Amos 'n' Andy , also created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll , solidified the sitcom's place in American radio programming. The transition to television brought about significant changes in the sitcom format. Mary Kay and Johnny , which premiered in 1947, became the first American television sitcom. Today, American sitcoms typically run for 22 minutes, allowing for approximately eight minutes of advertising within

2320-459: The character of Dorothy with a "Bea Arthur type" in mind, Littlefield and the producers initially envisioned actress Elaine Stritch for the part. Stritch's audition flopped, however, and under the impression that Arthur did not want to participate, Harris asked McClanahan if she could persuade Arthur, with whom she worked previously on the CBS sitcom Maude , to take the role. Arthur flipped upon reading

2400-597: The character of Sophia had originally been planned as an occasional guest star, but Getty had tested positively with preview audiences, so the producers decided to make her a regular character. The pilot was taped on April 17, 1985. The Golden Girls came to an end when Bea Arthur chose to leave the series. In the hour-long series finale , which aired in May 1992, Dorothy meets and marries Blanche's uncle Lucas ( Leslie Nielsen ) and moves to Hollingsworth Manor in Atlanta . Sophia

2480-438: The characters' outfits were designed by Evans and made especially, but seven to ten costume changes per episode were made between the four actresses, which entailed a great deal of off-the-rack shopping. Evans generally dressed the actresses in expensive pieces and high-quality fabrics, despite the recurring theme that the four characters were struggling with money, because, "The main idea was to make them look good. We didn't want

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2560-528: The conclusion of their ABC series Soap . She found the concept interesting, as "it was a demographic that had never been addressed," and she soon began work on it. Though her vision of a sitcom about women in their 60s differed from NBC's request for a comedy about women around 40 years old, Littlefield was impressed when he received her pilot script and subsequently approved production of it. The Cosby Show director Jay Sandrich , who had previously worked with Harris, Witt, and Thomas on Soap , agreed to direct

2640-435: The creators were named in a federal copyright infringement suit filed by Nancy Bretzfield claiming the show was based on a script rejected by NBC in 1980. The suit was later settled. The part of Sophia Petrillo was the first of the four roles to be cast. Estelle Getty auditioned and won the role as the feisty mother of character Dorothy Zbornak, due, in part, to the rave reviews she garnered in her off-Broadway role reprisal for

2720-451: The disparaging jokes made about her physical appearance, which were often in the scripts. She expressed that she would not continue if changes were not made, but changes were made and jokes regarding Dorothy's physique appeared less often. Christopher Lloyd later said, "I think that was a mistake we made, to be a little bit insensitive to someone who was an extremely sensitive person... I think we pushed that [the jokes about Arthur's appearance]

2800-410: The episode is back streaming on Hulu. During its original run, The Golden Girls received 68 Emmy nominations, 11 Emmy awards, 4 Golden Globe Awards, and 2 Viewers for Quality Television awards. All the lead actresses won Emmy awards for their role on the show. The Golden Girls is one of four live-action shows, along with All in the Family , Will & Grace , and Schitt's Creek , where all

2880-510: The exact definition of a sitcom, mostly regarding productions created at the turn of the 21st century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use a single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, instead more resembling documentaries or the comedy-dramas of the 1980s and 1990s. Although there have been few long-running Australian-made sitcoms, many American and British sitcoms have been successful in Australia, since sitcoms are considered

2960-420: The first season, but became less involved with the sitcom throughout its run; she continued reading all scripts, however, and remained familiar with most of the storylines. Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman were the first head writers of the series, and wrote for the show's first four seasons. As head writers, Speer and Grossman, along with Mort Nathan and Barry Fanaro, who won an Emmy Award for outstanding writing for

3040-471: The first season, gave general ideas to lower staff writers, and personally wrote a handful of scripts each season. In 1989, Marc Sotkin, previously a writer on Laverne & Shirley and a producer on another Witt/Thomas series, It's a Living , assumed head writing responsibilities, and guided the show (to varying degrees) during what were its final three seasons. Richard Vaczy and Tracy Gamble, previously writers on 227 and My Two Dads , also assumed

3120-647: The first sitcom, filmed as a comedy (unlike dominated "conveyor" sitcoms). Sitcoms, or "시트콤" in Korean, gained significant popularity in South Korea during the 1990s. This popularity was fueled by the success of shows like Dr. Oh's People , LA Arirang , and Men and Women . The use of computer graphics (CG) in sitcoms began to increase in the late 1990s as more broadcasters adopted CG technology. This led to more visually dynamic and creative sitcoms. However, viewer preferences shifted towards dramas and thrillers in

3200-441: The focus from domestic or workplace settings to the world of politics. A more recent development in British comedy is the mockumentary , a style that blends documentary and comedic elements. Shows like The Office , Come Fly with Me , W1A , People Just Do Nothing , and This Country have successfully employed this format to explore a variety of topics and characters. Sitcoms, or situation comedies, made their debut in

3280-409: The furniture. The kitchen set seen on The Golden Girls was originally used on an earlier Witt/Thomas/Harris series, It Takes Two , which aired on ABC from 1982 to 1983. However, the exterior backdrop seen through the kitchen window changed from the view of Chicago high-rises to palm trees and bushes for the Miami setting. Space was limited on the soundstage, so when the kitchen was off camera, it

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3360-484: The house from the third season through the end of the series was part of the backstage studio tour ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. This façade, along with the Empty Nest house, sustained hurricane damage leading to Disney's 2003 decision to bulldoze the houses of "Residential Street" and construct its Lights, Motors, Action!: Extreme Stunt Show attraction, later replaced by Star Wars : Galaxy's Edge . The façade

3440-442: The joke was a good one, the women found a way to make it work the very first time they read it. You have a lot of table reads where the actors will mess it up because they don't understand what the characters are doing, or they misinterpret. But the women were so uniformly brilliant at nailing it the first time... we basically knew that if the women didn't get it right the first time, the joke needed to be replaced." According to Cherry,

3520-433: The network's 1984–85 season schedule , two actresses appearing on NBC shows, Selma Diamond of Night Court and Doris Roberts of Remington Steele , appeared in a skit promoting the upcoming show Miami Vice as Miami Nice , a parody about old people living in Miami. NBC senior vice president Warren Littlefield was among the executive producers in the audience who were amused by their performance, and he envisioned

3600-496: The original English version. After reruns on different regional channels of the ARD Network, the show later aired on private channels RTL , VOX , Super RTL , Disney Channel and RTLup . While RTL initially chose to cut some scenes for time, some of the gags remain incomprehensible for their broadcast and all subsequent reruns, only to be restored partially for the release of DVD in 2005. As of September 15, 2021, every episode

3680-518: The original executive producers. The Golden Girls received critical acclaim throughout most of its run, and won several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series twice. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy . Each of the four stars received an Emmy Award , making it one of only four sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this. The series also ranked among

3760-415: The other girls then told a story from her own life, which somehow related to the problem (though Rose occasionally regaled the others with a nonsense story that had nothing to do with the situation, and Sophia told outrageous, made-up stories). Some episodes featured flashbacks to previous episodes, flashbacks to events not shown in previous episodes, or to events that occurred before the series began. Although

3840-422: The pilot episode. The pilot included a gay houseboy, Coco ( Charles Levin ), who lived with the girls. Levin had been suggested by then-NBC president Brandon Tartikoff based on Levin's groundbreaking portrayal of a recurring gay character, Eddie Gregg, on NBC's Emmy-winning drama Hill Street Blues . After the pilot, the character of Coco was eliminated from the series. The Walt Disney Company, NBC Studios and

3920-495: The pilot, director Jay Sandrich also became instrumental in helping to cast the roles of Blanche Devereaux and Rose Nylund. Both Rue McClanahan and Betty White came into consideration, as the series Mama's Family , in which the two co-starred, had been cancelled by NBC. Producers wanted to cast McClanahan as Rose and White as Blanche based on roles they had previously played; White portrayed the man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show , while McClanahan co-starred as

4000-424: The point that she was not able to hold conversations with them or recognize them. Her difficulties remembering lines were later thought to be early signs of her dementia. During season six, some uncertainty arose over whether Bea Arthur would commit to future seasons, or leave the show once her contract expired, to pursue other projects. Arthur felt the characters had been in every possible scenario, and wanted to end

4080-564: The principal actors have won at least one Emmy. As a tribute to the success of The Golden Girls , all four actresses were later named Disney Legends as part of the class of 2009. Beginning July 3, 1989, NBC added daytime reruns of the show, replacing long-running Wheel of Fortune (which had moved to CBS ) on the NBC schedule at 11:00 am(EST); it ran until September 1990. At this time, syndicated reruns began airing, distributed by Buena Vista Television (now Disney–ABC Domestic Television ),

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4160-538: The rights to the series. In Australia, the show airs Weekends on FOX Comedy. As of 2019, every episode is available for streaming on Stan . As of December 1, 2021, every episode was made available to stream on Disney+ . In Canada, Corus Entertainment's digital specialty channel, DejaView , aired reruns of The Golden Girls until 2017. As of September 8, 2021 all 7 seasons of The Golden Girls were made available to stream on Disney+ in Canada. In Germany, airing of

4240-420: The roles of producers and head writers. Beginning in 1990, Marc Cherry served as writer and producer, years before creating Desperate Housewives , which ran on ABC from 2004 to 2012. Mitchell Hurwitz also served as writer for the show in its last two seasons. Hurwitz later created Arrested Development for Fox and later for Netflix. Cherry commented on read-throughs of the scripts that "generally, if

4320-463: The script, but felt hesitant about McClanahan's approach, as she did not "want to play (their Maude characters) Maude and Vivian meet Sue Ann Nivens." She reconsidered, however, after hearing that McClanahan and White had switched roles. Arthur and White worked well together in shared mutual respect, but they did not pursue a personal friendship with one another outside of The Golden Girls set. Arthur's son, Matthew Saks, later spoke of tension between

4400-461: The series while it was still successful. Debbie Reynolds was brought on as a guest star in the season six episode "There Goes the Bride: Part 2" to test her chemistry with the other actresses as a possible replacement for Arthur, but Arthur chose to commit to a seventh and final season. The house's address was mentioned as being 6151 Richmond Street, Miami. The model used for exterior shots of

4480-532: The show has earned an estimated $ 1 billion in syndication fees alone for Televisa . Gliding On , a popular sitcom in New Zealand in the early 1980s, won multiple awards during its run including Best Comedy, Best Drama and Best Direction at the Feltex Awards . The first Russian sitcom series was "Strawberry", which resembled "Duty Pharmacy" in a Spanish format. It was aired from 1996 to 1997 on

4560-536: The show started in January 1990, only months before the German reunification , by German public broadcaster ARD in the late evening programme on their main channel Das Erste . The show was aired as a bilingual broadcast using a two-channel sound system ( Zweikanalton ). If technically supported by the home television, this system allowed their audience to watch the show either in the dubbed German version (by default) or

4640-400: The show to be about four dowdy ladies." Bea Arthur had a preference for wearing loose-fitting clothing, like slacks and long sweaters, along with sandals, because she hated wearing shoes. She had established this signature look while playing Maude , and Evans honored it in her designs for Dorothy. Much of Arthur's wardrobe was custom-made because at the time, finding off-the-rack clothing that

4720-474: The show was picked up for a first season, new director Paul Bogart felt exactly the opposite, insisting that McClanahan use a Southern accent. McClanahan deliberately exaggerated her accent, stating, "I played Blanche the way I felt Blanche. She thought an accentuated Southern accent... would be sexy and strong and attractive to men. She wanted to be a Southern heroine, like Vivien Leigh . In fact, that's who I think she thought she was." Though Harris had created

4800-509: The sweet but scatterbrained Vivian Harmon in Maude . Eager not to be typecast , they took the suggestion of Sandrich and switched roles at the last minute. In the pilot script, Blanche was described as "more Southern than Blanche DuBois ", so McClanahan was perplexed when she was asked by director Sandrich during the filming of the pilot not to use the strong Southern accent she had developed, but to use her natural Oklahoma accent instead. Once

4880-858: The syndication arm of Disney, whose Touchstone Television division produced the series. In March 1997, the Lifetime cable network acquired the exclusive rights to repeat the episodes of The Golden Girls in the US until March 1, 2009. Many episodes were edited to allow more commercials and for content. Both the Hallmark Channel and WE tv picked-up the reruns in March 2009. As of February 2013, WE tv's rights expired and Viacom networks' TV Land , home to Betty White's last series Hot in Cleveland , purchased them, as did Logo TV . In 2020, CMT purchased

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4960-517: The two actresses, stating that his mother, "unknowingly carried the attitude that it was fun to have somebody to be angry at...It was almost like Betty became her nemesis, someone she could always roll her eyes about at work." Both actresses had dramatically different training and acting backgrounds; Saks commented on White's habit of breaking the fourth wall to engage and joke with the studio audience during breaks between filming, which Arthur found unprofessional. In 2011, White stated that she believed it

5040-512: The whole series was up on the Israeli Disney+ . Sitcom The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners . These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term "sitcom" emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filmed in front of

5120-432: The wicker purse Sophia always carried with her. The cast often had to stay behind after the audience had departed to redo scenes where Getty had flubbed her lines, and although this was at first met with resistance from the producers, cue cards were eventually introduced to help her. Rue McClanahan, who shared a dressing room with Getty, described the severity of Getty's stage fright: "She'd panic. She would start getting under

5200-507: The writers' room was "a competitive atmosphere. There was a lot of competition to get your words into the script." Writer Christopher Lloyd explained that the usual situation was for all of the more junior writers to be assigned the same scene to write, with the one judged the best version becoming the one chosen. This "created a great deal of stress and competitiveness amongst those of us who weren't in that inner sanctum." After season three, Arthur had expressed her growing dissatisfaction with

5280-482: The writing was mostly comical, dramatic moments and sentimental endings were included in several episodes. Bea Arthur actually hated cheesecake. On Metacritic , the series has an overall score of 82 out of 100, based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". During the NBC upfronts, the preview screening of the show got a standing ovation. The show promptly received a full order of 12 episodes. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of

5360-446: Was also impressed by Getty's audition for the role of the mother of Steven Keaton (played by actor Michael Gross ) for a guest episode of Family Ties . Although Getty was impressive, the show's producers went with another actress. Getty came to Weiner's mind soon after, when it became time to begin casting of The Golden Girls. Getty, who went through a three-hour transformation to become Sophia, wore heavy make-up, thick glasses, and

5440-600: Was awarded a BA in Psychology . A protégé of Brandon Tartikoff , Littlefield developed Cheers , Seinfeld , The Cosby Show , and The Golden Girls as senior and executive vice president of NBC Entertainment under Tartikoff. During his time as President of NBC Entertainment (1991–1998), Littlefield oversaw the creation of many shows for the network throughout the 1990s such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , Wings , Blossom , Mad About You , Sisters , Frasier , Friends , ER , Homicide: Life on

5520-700: Was based on a real house at 245 North Saltair Avenue in the Westgate Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles . Producers used this residence for exterior shots during the first two seasons. In 2020, owners marketed the property for $ 3 million. The show's designer, Ed Stephenson, took inspiration from his time living in Florida to design a "Florida look" for The Golden Girls house set. The wooden accents, columns, and doors were painted to mimic bald cypress wood, popular in South Florida homes, with rattan furniture and tropical-printed upholstery chosen for

5600-874: Was criticized by several social commentators as inappropriately disrespectful to the office of the Prime Minister. The show nevertheless proved very popular with both television audiences and critics, becoming the most-watched Australian scripted comedy series of 2011. It was nominated at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Television Comedy Series. Although there have been several notable exceptions, relatively few Canadian sitcoms attained notable success in Canada or internationally. Canadian television has had much greater success with sketch comedy and dramedy series. The popular show King of Kensington aired from 1975 to 1980, at its peak garnering an average of 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. The 1999 movie Trailer Park Boys

5680-402: Was flattering for a taller woman was difficult. Rue McClanahan had a special clause written into her contract allowing her to keep her costumes, which were mostly custom-made for her, utilising expensive fabrics. Eventually, McClanahan went on to create a clothing line for QVC called "A Touch of Rue", inspired by Blanche, but made with affordable fabrics and practical designs. The Golden Girls

5760-530: Was followed up by a television series of the same name that ran from 2001 to 2018, airing in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Corner Gas , which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009, became an instant hit, averaging one million viewers per episode. It has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards. Other noteworthy recent sitcoms have included: Call Me Fitz , Schitt's Creek , Letterkenny , and Kim's Convenience , all of which have been winners of

5840-760: Was her "positive attitude" and perky demeanor that got on Arthur's nerves. However, Arthur preferred that all four castmates break together for workday lunch. The show was the second television series to be produced by the Walt Disney Company under the Touchstone Television label, and was subsequently distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc. (which holds as the ownership stake in Disney Channel Southeast Asia , now Disney–ABC Television Group ). Creator Susan Harris went on to contribute another four episodes to

5920-551: Was made available to stream on Disney+ in Germany and Austria. In Italy, the series aired on Rai Uno (or Rai 1) as Cuori senza età ( Ageless Hearts ) from 1987 until 1994. In Israel, the show was brodacast in Israeli Educational Television on its transmission strip on Channel 1 , and in 1993, it was moved to IETV's transmission strip on Channel 2 right after it went on air. In February 2024,

6000-472: Was noted as controversial. In it, Dorothy's son Michael ( Scott Jacoby ) plans to marry a black woman, Lorraine ( Rosalind Cash ). In one scene, Blanche and Rose walk out of the kitchen wearing mud masks and Rose says "We're not black." Hulu pulled the episode in 2020 due to blackface concerns but, as an article in Vulture pointed out this was not an example of blackface; they were just mud masks. As of 2023,

6080-753: Was part of a series of Brandon Tartikoff shows that put an end to NBC's ratings slump, along with The Cosby Show , 227 , Night Court , Miami Vice , and L.A. Law . The show dealt with many controversial issues, such as coming out and same-sex marriage , elder care , homelessness , poverty , HIV/AIDS and discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS , US immigration policy, menopause , sexual harassment, teenaged pregnancy, artificial insemination, adultery, bad medical care, sexism, miscegenation and interracial marriage , antisemitism, age discrimination, environmentalism, addiction to pain killers, problem gambling , nuclear war , death , and assisted suicide . Writer and producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason created

6160-455: Was shot on videotape in front of a live studio audience. Many episodes of the series followed a similar format or theme. For example, one or more of the women would become involved in some sort of problem, often involving other family members, men, or an ethical dilemma. At some point, they would gather around the kitchen table and discuss the problem, sometimes late at night and often while eating cheesecake, ice cream, or some other dessert. One of

6240-559: Was the highest rating for a first episode in the history of Australian television, until the series premiere of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities in 2009, which garnered 2.58 million viewers. In 2013, Please Like Me received an invitation to screen at the Series Mania Television Festival in Paris, was praised by critics, and earned numerous awards and nominations. Also in 2013, At Home with Julia

6320-546: Was the most-watched show on Mexican television and had a Latin-American audience of 350 million viewers per episode at its popularity peak during the mid-1970s. The show continues to be popular in Central America as well as in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, the United States, and other countries. Syndicated episodes average 91 million daily viewers in all its American markets. Since it ceased production in 1992,

6400-399: Was usually detached from the rest of the set and the space used for something else. The doorway from the living room, with the alcove and baker's shelf just inside, was designed to give the illusion that the actors were walking into and out of the kitchen. Costume designer Judy Evans created distinctive looks for each of the four actresses to suit their characters' personalities and to reflect

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