Shady Pines, Ma! Join the Golden Girls Fandom

Four roommates, one kitchen table, and a whole lot of late-night dessert therapy, The Golden Girls is the kind of sitcom that sneaks up on you. We sit down with our friend Kristen to talk about why a show that premiered in 1985 still feels weirdly fresh, from its razor-sharp jokes to the way it lets older women be the center of the story instead of the punchline.

We break down the premise, the relationships, and why the series is easy to jump into without a perfect starting point. Along the way we dig into what makes each character pop, Dorothy’s straight-faced delivery that’s still genuinely funny, Sophia’s brutal one-liners and surprising wisdom, Rose’s St. Olaf stories, and Blanche’s groundbreaking confidence for 1980s TV. Yes, we also explain the famous cheesecake scenes and why they work as the show’s emotional landing pad.

Kristen shares how her Golden Girls fandom turned into something deeper during breast cancer recovery, when gifts and merch became a steady reminder of community and comfort. We also talk memes, AI “cast it today” videos, and why some classics are better left alone than rebooted into a movie or modern remake.

Subscribe for more fandom deep dives, share this with a friend who needs a smart comfort watch, and leave a rating or review so new fans can find us. Who’s your Golden Girl, and why?

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Transcript

Cold Open And Summer Catch-Up

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Well, I guess I get to be Michael. Uh welcome back to the fandom outpost. That was that's what he's calling it.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

He hits a new a new starter, and I forget we should have asked him how he introduces us these days. So you didn't hit the horn though. That's I don't even know where it is. Uh we need Michael. Push a button. Push a button. That's what Michael would do. Ben, how's uh how's your week been, man? What's it has been crazy. I guess it's been how long has it been since we recorded? It's been probably almost three weeks at this point, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Yeah, no. Uh it's just been crazy busy at work. I worked like an extra uh 14 or so hours over the like the three-day weekend. So I'm exhausted. This is my first full day off in a long time now. So uh yeah, I'm feeling good about that.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

But did you so did you get to actually enjoy like a shorter work week this past week? Then was that the No, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

I worked over I well, I mean it worked like a half day on Monday, but still I didn't get yeah, the full time off experience. But that's okay. That's how it goes sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Make it back around. Well, I am excited because today is my first full day of summer vacation. There we go. There we go. I am uh yeah, so I the the reason that I wore my shirt today is twofold. I'm both celebrating the start of summer vacation, and it felt appropriate knowing our our subject of today. Uh, because we're gonna be talking about golden girls actually this time. I know we we've forgotten that the last episode we were supposed to do that, but we had to reschedule. Um but uh no, we're gonna talk about golden girls, which famously takes place in Florida. So I felt like you know uh in Miami.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Yeah beach of palm trees.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, it's not yeah, exactly. Something so it felt like appropriate to the motif. But uh yeah, I guess we'll we'll kick things off here a little bit. You want to hit the the intro music, bring it in for us, Ben. Hello and welcome to Fandom of Fandoms, the show where every single episode we are diving into the worlds that fans love most. And today we are gonna have some fun talking about golden

Meet Kristen And Golden Girl Types

SPEAKER_01 2:00

girls with my friend Kristen. So thank you so much for being here today, Kristen.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

And uh it should be a fun time. I it's a guilty pleasure show of mine, so it's gotta be guilty. Uh I you know what, that's fair. It's just a pleasure. It's just a pleasure, really. So I I've got a cold open question for us. What's golden girl do you think that you're the most like, and which one do you think that you actually are, if they're different, I guess. So they might be the same, but like where what what do you think, or which golden girl do you think you're the most like?

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Uh well, I would say I'd probably be a cross between Dorothy. Um, because I don't have very good luck in the love department either. And then her mom, so uh Sophia. I have a little bit of that quick wit, sarcastic humor. Um, so yeah, that would be I'd probably be a cross between those two.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

I'd have to see if I if I was gonna be a golden girl, the one that I'd want to be is Dorothy. She was always my favorite. I I always thought that she was the funniest. So that was and then Sophia had the had the best one-liners for sure. But Ben Ben hasn't doesn't have as big of the background. I guess that brings us into the next one of the next things. We like to start off by saying like what our our background is in the show. So, Ben, what where where are you at with the show? Have you watched much of it?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

I have watched none. None? Zero. I it's just it was never like a a fan, like it was never on in my household growing up. I knew of it, yeah, but I never watched it. My family never watched it, and I've just haven't been around it much. So you gotta watch an episode here, but it's it's you're missing out. I believe it. I I believe it. It's just again, it was I there's so much content to consume, and it's just never been on, or the people I'm around just yeah, have never like pushed me to watch it. So blame this guy. No, we watch a lot of things. Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

It's totally disappointed in you now, Nick. Like, as much as you prepped me on this, and I was so excited and then to come here and find out you've never seen one, I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

I'm truly sincerely sorry.

SPEAKER_04 3:59

You know what? I this is gonna date me, but I have all the seasons on DVDs.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

The back in the day when we actually own things, I was actually making this joke that like, you know, one day we're gonna go back to those DVD box sets or whatever it was, because now everything's streaming. We don't actually own it, we're just renting it.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

And so I yeah You have to choose to take take it off streaming. So you're out of luck if you want to watch it.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Gotta go and find it on DVD, which you know I I will have it.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

There we go. Well, then use this episode to convince me that I need to watch it.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

You should. You should. It's a great, it's a great show.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

It is. I I have not watched all of the show. I've seen episodes here and there. I did sit down and I think I made it through uh part of like all the way through the watching from the beginning to like the second season or somewhere in there, maybe in the third. But I hadn't actually I I wanted to watch it all the way through, but like you said, there's always just so many other things I'm trying to get through. Well it's a lot too.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

I mean seven seasons.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, that was getting my next question is how much is there? But seven seasons, probably 24 episodes season. Yeah. I was gonna say longer, longer seasons.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

Longer seasons too compared to the well, is that that's what they used to do, yeah. Yeah, so there's a it's a lot. I I haven't seen all of them. I know there's still some that I'm missing.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

But um even though you have the DVD box set, even though I have that, yeah, because uh you know, kids, life probably gets you. But I I and I didn't start watching it until I was in college.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

That's when I picked it up. I know my grandparents would watch it, but um, my roommate and I, that's how we started it to go. Lifetime had it on at like 10 o'clock. So we would they would have two two episodes, and that's how we fall asleep. So that's how we got into it. And then um she got me all the DVDs for a gift last year one year. And so that's how I've had them. But I've still I haven't had time to just actually sit and watch all of them.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

So well,

What Golden Girls Is About

SPEAKER_01 5:50

uh we usually do some sort of an overview, so I'll I'll go ahead just for the people that maybe you know you haven't ever watched any golden girls or not sure of the premise of it. Um it premiered all the way back in 1985. It was created by Susan Harris, uh, and it follows four older women sharing a home in Miami that is Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, uh, Sophia, and who did I just miss? No, I already said Rose. You said four. You said four. Yeah. Four. I got all four. Okay. I thought I missed one. Dorothy, Dorothy, Rose, Sophia, and Blanche. Yeah, there we go. Um, and uh yeah, it was really uh obviously it's sitcom, very, very funny. Um, but just like a lot of sitcoms do, really dove into some some bolder topics, some um surprisingly emotional topics at times, um, and for sure has uh has a lasting legacy that uh kind of is still thought to be one of the greatest sitcoms ever created. So at least in a lot of people's books. I'm not gonna say that for everybody, but that's you know, that's what the show's about. It's about fandoms. So I would say in a lot of people they would they would not uh disagree with that statement.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

So all four of these women are they retired?

SPEAKER_04 7:00

No. Okay, semi, semi-retired, basically through this. Okay. Um Dorothy is still a substitute teacher uh through the majority of it. Uh let me see. Lanch works off and on. Her main job was a uh worked like in an art gallery type of thing. Okay. Um Rose had many different jobs. She would volunteer at the library, she worked for a like a suicide crisis kind of hotline because that was a hot topic back in the day. Um, and then Sophia actually was in a home, Shady Pines. There's there's a clip we missed. Shady Pines Ma. That was that would have been the clip. Um, the soundbite. And so she was actually in a home and it burned down. So that's how she comes to live with them.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

I forgot that was the story.

SPEAKER_04 7:51

Yeah, yeah. So um, but because of the home burning down, she moved in, and then throughout the entire uh series, you've got Dorothy always saying Shady Pine's Ma, which basically was like, I'm gonna threaten to put you back in the home. Okay, gotcha. Calm calm down, you know. She had a I think it was she had a stroke, and so it did some brain damage, so she has no filter. So that's how she gets this quick wit, like just says what rolls off the top of her tongue, yeah, type of thing. But she can't she can't help it. But you don't really know that unless you know the whole backstory of like from the pilot and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Gotcha, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

So you hear Shady Pines Ma a lot of it. Gotcha. Okay. That's why.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Man, we did miss one. See, I knew there'd be one that come up with the thing.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

It'll come up probably as we yeah, as we start talking about it, like, oh, that one, that was a line. That was a line.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Nice. So, what are the relations between the other the other two women then? Since there's a mother-daughter.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

So there's mother-daughter. Well, they let met in a supermarket.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

Um, so it's Blanche's house um that she had with her husband, and he's since passed, and she she was looking for roommates. And so she put an ad up in the supermarket, and that's how she met Rose and and Dorothy, and then they just became they became family. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

And then mom moves in and kind of is that all subtext, or did they do an episode on that? No, they do an episode on that.

SPEAKER_04 9:06

Oh, is there like a like a it's on the first season, I believe. Is it?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

I must have missed it.

SPEAKER_04 9:10

Man, I didn't remember that being the and may and maybe and it don't don't quote me on this because it might not be, but there is one, um, there is an episode where they kind of go through that, like how they all came to meet and those types of things.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

The flashback episode, right?

SPEAKER_04 9:24

Yeah, there is there is one. There is one that explains all that.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Awesome. So, I mean, you you talked a little bit about how you got into Golden Girls watching it with your roommate and stuff like that. But uh, what what do you feel like, you know, if it started off as like a falling asleep to show, what keeps you like kind of coming back to it then? Because like for me, like, you know, that can be a show that like I'll watch occasionally, but it's not one that I like I dive deep into all the time. So what what is it for you?

SPEAKER_04 9:49

I think it's one of those things like they're very controversial when you when you watch it now and you think about the mostly you think about the time when this was actually on the air and you're like, oh my gosh, they talk like they talk they talked about that. They that was um like I would have never grown up around something like that. So I think now that you're older, it like a lot of things make more sense to you, and you're like, oh my gosh, that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Um But I don't I don't know. It's just for me, I just it's funny. It's just funny the way they correct jokes, the way uh some of the lines, you know, Rose is kind of an idiot in this and talks about being from St. Olaf and some of the things that she'll say and like they do. It's just funny. I don't I don't I don't that's the only thing I can say.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

You you've got a teenage daughter, so has she watched any of the show?

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Yes, actually, she watches it with me. Okay, she will watch the show with us.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

How does she feel about it?

SPEAKER_04 10:43

She thinks it's funny too. Yeah. Um, I think some things do go over her head, kind of being a teenager.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Um, so I think maybe when she's older, she'll be like, You actually let me watch that. Like, mom. Come on now. But you know, you've also got some characters in there too that have now grown up. Like Mario Lopez was a character on it at one point in time. He was um a student of Dorothy's.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Really?

SPEAKER_04 11:06

Yeah, yeah. So Mario Lopez was on it. Uh George Clooney was on it. Okay, dude. He had a mullet. He had a mullet. It was funny. Um, there's a couple other people. Uh those are the two that I think of off the top of my head uh that were on it. But I know they've had like a couple big cameos. Yeah. Some big ones.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

So do you think that uh I mean, since it is it's been off the air for a long time, I'm sure that there have been people that have uh discovered it since it was off the air. Obviously, even from my perspective, like it would have been even before I was born, like it was almost off the air. So lots of people have discovered it after the fact. Why do you think that that is like what what is you've kind of a lot kind of alluded to it a little bit, I think, but why do you think that younger audiences are still discovering the show and that it's still coming up?

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Um, I don't I think I caught that fly.

unknown 11:58

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

There is there is a fly buzzing in fandom outpost studio.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

Like all of a sudden it's like, wait, it's in my face.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

You hear it, it's it's our nemesis today.

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Um, I don't that's a good question, Nick. I don't I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure I have the answer on that. Like why why it has become such a classic.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

But those cult classics are kind of fun. Like, I don't know, you just never know what is gonna like catch and still be relevant years later. And um, you know, I I've I

Why The Show Still Feels Relevant

SPEAKER_01 12:30

I guess I've thought a little bit about it, but not a not a whole lot. I do think that what you mentioned earlier about like the sh the show was very progressive at the time that it came out. And even today, like when you go and you watch uh, you know, certain episodes of it, they are still like there's a lot of stuff that's like, all right, that's old reference and and not really like relevant to today. But there are some stuff that it comes across every once in a while that you're like, that's still a thing. Like it's still a a topic that is is sensitive and is is meaningful. And I don't think that I mean, I'm trying to think. Uh there's, you know, I mean, uh there are especially with them being all older, there's a lot of of instances where they're dealing with uh I guess their own mortality kind of thing. I know there's an entire episode where um Sophia thinks that she's about to die, that she's had another stroke or whatever, and they think that, you know, they take her to the hospital and she's kind of having a moment and there's like this heart that's behind it. And it's not something that when you think about, I don't know. I mean, how how many other shows can you really think of these days that are about older characters? Like just older women are the main characters in the show and and has that same kind of mode. I think it's even been tried, you know. Like there has been since uh since Golden Girls ended, there's been other shows that have attempted to do what it did, but I don't think that it's been to the same level of success or the same level of like it gathered this following and has has continued to be a part of the culture that we were still in now, you know. So I don't know. That's that's kind of my my take on it anyways. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Yeah, especially like like you were saying, like I can't think of another I I can't think of another sitcom that focused on older characters, period, let alone four older women. Right. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:15

Uh well so it's funny that we say old because we were checking their ages because I was like, I don't know that they ever say how old they were. They're like only only like 50 between 55 to 60, like mid-50s to 60s. And like you look now at the longevity that people live in. Yeah, right. Like that doesn't seem that old, but I'm like, back then you were like, oh my gosh, they're like really these are really old ladies, they're grandmas. But then I'm like, no, they really weren't. They weren't even grandmas yet in the series. Like they become grandmas.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, that is really early on, right? What is it? One of the was it Dorothy's daughter? I think she's one of the first ones that shows up. Is is Dorothy's daughter's on there and has had a baby, maybe. I might be mis mistaken, but um, yeah, no, that's that's funny to to think about the fact that, yeah, 50, 55.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

No, definitely from like my perspective, like I've always viewed it as like for older grandmother.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

You're thinking like you know, like for me, like 70s, 80s. It's like, no, they were still working, they were you know semi-retired, they're like, you know, they're comparable to like J Lo now, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Oh, that's oh no.

SPEAKER_04 15:20

No, it's crazy, but like literally, like that would have been they can like I've seen some uh not TikToks, but some Instagrams on like comparable to like who they would be, and Blanche was compared, like this was Blanche in her fifties, and this is J Lo in her fifties, and you're like, Oh my gosh. Like, so I think that's another thing too, is that you you do that comparison to like life today versus what it was when they were filming this show, and you're like, Wow, like how how things have changed. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

So it'd be interesting to see what if they filmed the show now, like what their styles would be like, what they would look like, different things like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Um so oftentimes we're dealing with with things that have different offshoots and things like that that um make it kind of big to so we we ask the question of like, well, if somebody was gonna get into it, where would they start? And I imagine like when we're dealing with a show like this, most people are like, well, just start at the beginning, you know, start at the pilot, whatever. So I always try to to change this question up a little bit and maybe say, if there was uh the season of the show that you felt like was the best, like where would you want somebody that like feel like, hey, this is this is really gonna capture golden girls and and some of the best episodes are a part of this season or whatever. Where would you have somebody start?

SPEAKER_04 16:28

Oh man. So I I I don't really I don't think there is a season that you could start, like I don't think you have to start at the beginning with them. Because it kind of like I don't want to say like hodgepodges together, but there's never like it's not like a series where you like grow up with the characters or anything like that. So I think you really could pick any season you want to to watch it, which I think is also another reason maybe that the Golden Girls is kind of special because you can just jump in wherever and really watch them and it's gonna capture what they are and who they are as people. Um now I will if you've never watched it, I guess don't don't watch the last season because then you find out how like it ends, and then you're like it's it's it's nice how it ends, but it's also kind of like oh that's it, like they're not gonna be together anymore. So um and I don't want to give it away. Yeah, but you gotta you you get excited, but at the same time you're like, oh Sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

I mean, starting the last season of anything would be kind of weird. But yeah, I mean But yes, uh noted for sure.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

Yeah, but I think yeah, like any of them. I wouldn't say that there's one particular one that would be one better season than the other.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I was I was thinking about how I mean it's a it's a sitcom in the true fashion of sitcoms, you know, that it is each each episode kind of has there's not a through storyline for much of it. Um, you know, especially in the 80s, they were definitely making the show for just anybody that could tune in. And if you've got a new audience that hadn't happened to watch the show before, like it's gonna be easy for them to um know what's kind of going on. And so I think that there's something to that type of storytelling that is is fun about like it does make it so that oh, I don't feel like I've got to start I've got to start at a certain point, or you know, in order to capture these things, like you're gonna you're gonna catch on pretty quick, and the characters themselves, excuse me, are you know, I mean, I I don't want to say they're they're not one note. There they're there are there are complexities to them. You're gonna learn more about them in different episodes and things like that, but you you kind of get a sense just by watching any episode that you're gonna capture who these characters are, who they like what the their their personalities are in every single episode, which is kind of fun.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

Um I think that got me thinking too, is like nowadays you've only got so many episodes and like everything ends on a cliffhanger. And so like you had to wait, you have to wait until the next week or whatever. And like these were actually like almost they were just like individual ones. Like you never really sure you didn't have to wait another week to be like, oh, it's gonna it was a a new story with each episode too.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

This is well outside of the like the binge bubble like era where like yeah, everything is like okay, we want you to keep watching now, or like yeah, like because it's I mean it's built for streaming now as opposed to that, which yeah, like you don't have to wait a whole week.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

Yeah. So I think you've got you've got that aspect of it too, that it like you can just pick up wherever every episode would be would be different. So I guess that's that's why you want to keep watching. It's kind of like what are they gonna come up with next? Like what what fun thing or is gonna or crazy things gonna happen with these guys next?

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah. Okay, uh, since we don't have like a a season that you would recommend, if you were gonna sit down with a good friend, yeah, watch an episode with them for the first time, and you like do you have like a perfect episode that you would be like, this is the one that I'm gonna show you that will convince you to watch it?

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Um so no, and the only reason I say that is because I uh I struggle now with chemo brain. So um I for me to pull stuff out of my memory is is kind of hard. But I don't know that there's one episode that's like, oh, this is this is the one that you have you have to watch this. Um they're just all great too. Great, yeah. I I'm just a nerd. Oh, that works. I was like, just watch them all. Really, just watch them all.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

There we go. Um, so last thing before we kind of move on to our next segment is uh our our elevator pitch. So if you were gonna convince somebody to watch, like Ben. So Ben hasn't watched before. Why why should Ben watch? What's I know we've talked about some things, but what's what would you say in 30 seconds to a minute to convince Ben to watch the Golden Girls?

SPEAKER_04 20:36

Oh my gosh. I I feel like I should have prepared for this more or something. Um it is just a shock, a shockingly hilarious, hilarious show. Um compare it to things today, and you'll just I don't know. I I don't really know how to uh how I would sell it other than you just have to watch it. You have to you have to watch at least one episode. It's like 25 minutes, if that you just gotta you gotta watch it.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

It's great. Uh short and sweet. I love that. We've got we've heard impassioned plays like that before. Like you just you just gotta experience it. So I love that.

Theme Song Break And Reset

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Oh gosh. All right, well, we're gonna take a quick little break, and then we'll be right back with our next segment.

unknown 21:21

Thank you for being a brain.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Travel down the road and back again. Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

My uh so I did a wedding where uh these uh it was actually two guys that got married, but they they did the the share version of that song. It was like I can't remember what it was. It was uh but they used it as one of their special songs throughout the night, and I was like, Yes, okay, some Golden Girls Love.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

I mean, I do know that song. Not being a a watcher, I do know that song. So yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

There's a win.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

You've gained a point back.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Bit much take us into our our next segment

Merch Love And Cancer Recovery

SPEAKER_01 22:06

here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

So we were talking a little bit about like just what other content outside of the show that you enjoy? And like we were talking a little bit about there's some merch that you have, some things that you okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

I have a lot of merch. Okay. Not enough, but I I have a lot. Um so I was actually uh two years ago now, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Okay. And had um a double massectomy. And so with my recovery for surgery, uh, this is how I became a merch holder of I had some stuff, a little, a little bit, but my collection has grown because people just gifted me. Like stuff would just show up on my porch. Okay. So I've got there's hot sauce. Nice. There's golden girl hot sauce. I I don't like hot sauce, but I have it displayed in my kitchen and like Blanche is like it's called hot slut. That's the one I remember. So like they're all named, particularly for the Golden Girls. It's funny. Um Amazon has a lot of stuff. I've my kitchen is like plastered with Golden Girl stuff. Nice that like got like wooden spoons and it's got all their faces on it, and one and so like shady pines, ma. And then you've got, you know, um St. Olaf and just random things. I've got socks. People have given me socks over the years uh to keep my feet warm.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

I think my favorite of your your merch is gotta be your uh your car windscreen. Not the windscreen, the the whatever it is, the cover. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_04 23:25

So that's how I find my car in the summertime is it's literally it's all four of the golden girls in in the front of them. So it looks like they're sitting in my car. It's great.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Nice. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

My neighbors actually gave me that. She bought it for her husband, and it didn't fit in his vehicle. So she's like, Okay, here, Chris. I was like, oh my god, this is amazing. Yeah, that and I have a backpack. My sister-in-law got me a backpack and it's bright yellow and it has all their heads. Like, it's like a caricature of them, but it's all their heads. I would take that into the hospital all the time because I would just carry all my stuff with it, all my notebooks, everything. And like that's how the the nurses and everybody in the hospital staff got to know me. They're like, here's Kristen, come with their golden girls backpack, but I still wear it today. I take it multiple places when I travel in the airport. People are always like, I love your backpack. I was like, Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

It's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Yeah. Uh, but yeah, they have they have everything, they have tons of coloring books. Okay. I got a lot of coloring books. Um so blankets, just anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

I was gonna I was gonna even change change this over a little bit. I saw uh we talked about before the show, you posted a pretty good uh golden girls video on your social media the other day. Why don't you talk to us about that?

SPEAKER_04 24:32

Somebody had created if the golden girls was casted today, like what they would look like. And it was uh it was actually those characters. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

This is gonna this is gonna offend Ben. It was AI. So like I know bit Ben it it offends his sensibility. It does.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

But that's other people. That's another topic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

So it it went, excuse me, it went through and had like you know, the pictures of the characters today, like Dorothy and Blanche, Sophia, and then they it slowly changed them into like what their how their hair would be like and their their clothes and everything.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

It was so cool. It was really neat. So like I follow like a bunch of people on Instagram and that in some groups on Facebook. Yeah. So they'll share memes or little clips or whatever, uh different things like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

I do feel like it is very from what I've seen, like a memeable show. Just like again, the one-liners and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

That like Yeah. Yeah. Blanche has a uh eat eat trash and or eat turd and die trash or something. Like I can't oh now I'm like tongue-tying it. I can't think of what it is. I'll remember it probably as soon as we're done here.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Um are there any um I I I like this segment because it can bring up some good stuff.

Memes, AI Casting, And Fandom Vibes

SPEAKER_01 25:39

I don't know if it will on this this show or not. Maybe uh somebody might might comment at some point about one, but are there any hot takes or or debates within the fandom that you're aware of? Like things that people have that are unpopular opinions. Um or do you yourself hold any unpopular opinions?

SPEAKER_04 25:55

I not that I know of, honestly. Um no, I think everybody just shares stuff that's hilarious. And, you know, what's your favorite cheesecake to eat now because of it? Or, you know, you're uh the big question is always, you know, which golden girl you or you know, who would you want to be? So I think those are the things that really kind of it's a wholesome fandom.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

There's not debates and there's divisiveness. That's nice.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

Yeah, it's not. I mean, they may bring bring up some things on like how controversial like in to like today they wouldn't be, but the fact that they like pushed that envelope back then. Yeah. So like those types of things get brought up sometimes, but for the most part, no, it's just really some good memes.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

I remember around the time that uh I don't remember what it was, but the the the big one, I think it was I think Don Cheadle was actually a uh a guest on the show at one point, young Don Cheadle, and that there was a the a big thing about race, and it was centered around Blanche, you know, being this southern bell and kind of the way that she you know handles race and that sort of thing. Ver again, it very much demonstrated how progressive the show was at the time in the 80s. Um and um, you know, it was it was interesting to kind of see and I I remember making the rounds um at one point in social media just because like people were kind of looking at this one little clip of the show and was like, this is still relevant, this is still something that you know I think parts of the the country don't necessarily understand, or maybe they need to hear this same kind of message and kind of see um what what Blanche kind of realizes in the episode. Um but do you do you remember that one?

SPEAKER_04 27:29

It's sounding familiar to me.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

I think it had to do oh, you know what it was? I remember why now it was because around the time it had to do with the Confederate flag. Oh and so uh Blanche was was arguing like that it was you know part of her culture and everything like that. And then Don Cheetah was I I believe he was the guest and he was kind of educating her about like, oh well, this is what it means to me and this is why it's not and it was again very, very progressive in the in the 80s for sure. So that was that was one that kind of like came to to me as being something that really I I don't know, it got into to the just the times of today, and I can remember it kind of going a little bit viral, um, that particular clip.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

But anyway, so do you have any personal hot takes on the show? Is there like a character that you just can't stand? Is there like a a bit that you're like, I I I don't get why everyone thinks it's it's so funny or anything like that?

SPEAKER_04 28:23

Um I don't think so. I I couldn't stand Stan, who is Dorothy's ex-husband.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

But you're not supposed to, but okay, uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

I mean he was her cheating ex-husband, so you know, kind of can't like that. But I also feel but he also loved her in his own in his own quirky way. And so I feel like if they didn't have that character, it really wouldn't make Dorothy who who she was. Okay. Yeah, but I would have like, yeah, I couldn't his mustache. I just couldn't shave off that thing. I think maybe one or two episodes he actually might have uh shaved his mustache off, but he always wore like the ridiculous clothes, and he was he was bald, but he had like the hair down on the side, like the sides, and it was like really bushy. And I was just like, oh, like could you not like could we have got a better character? Like some like better looking, like please. I don't know why that just annoyed me.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

I think it was it was it was interesting too because you do, I think at points in the show they he does kind of pull people towards him a little bit because there are episodes where you're kind of meant to, I can't remember what happens to him that you're meant to feel a little bit bad for him. Yeah, and even Dorothy does at one point.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Like Dorothy does it multiple times. Oh, is it multiple times? What is interesting is like Sophia, so being the protective mom over Dorothy, like they're you know, you can tell she does not like Stan because he knocked her up when she was like 19, 18, 19, or whatever. That was just mom hated that.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:48

And so, and then you know, they get married, and then years later he cheats on her. So, of course, Mama Bears just like no. But there are even times where she's like, you know, this is my son, really. I need to take care of him. So there's little episodes like that. And I think there is one episode where he and Blanche actually start to kind of form a little bit of a relationship.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

But it doesn't, it doesn't end. Like it, I mean it ends, it doesn't like blossom into anything. So gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

I mean, kind of as a segue into our next seg segment, because uh you guys have mentioned it once or twice and I saw I see this question and like there was some debate before

Cheesecake Scenes And Running Jokes

SPEAKER_02 30:26

we got into it. Okay. Describe to me what a s the cheesecake scenes are, because apparently that's a thing.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

Yeah, yeah. So they in in their kitchen, it's always if they're up late at night or one of them wakes up and like comes in, Blanche comes in late or something, they all end up in the kitchen and they all end up eating cheesecake. It does become a thing, like throughout the episodes. But when you first start it, it's not they're not known for their cheese, it's not known for cheesecake. Like they're eating ice cream.

SPEAKER_03 30:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Or I just saw a little clip this morning on Instagram where they were like Blanche or not Blanche, Dorothy was talking about eating chocolate cake, and like she's I don't care about being thin because that means I can't eat cake. And then um, so it was like its own, yeah, it's own little thing. And so they pulled this chocolate cake out of the fridge. So it's it becomes cheesecake. Okay, and that becomes the center of stuff. Like I even have literally I have a like I have a game, a slice of cheesecake game, and it's for the goal, it's for the golden girls. You build your cheesecake as you do the trivia. Nice, nice, yeah. That's awesome. It it's a thing for them, and it does become mostly cheesecake throughout the seasons, but when it first starts, it's it's just really dessert. It's it's more about eating the dessert.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

I mean, a lot of times it's like towards the end of episodes, right? Like it's almost like they've gone through this thing. Like the button, like yeah, like at the very end, it's their oh, we're gonna come together, and uh, they might have been fighting throughout the episode or whatever, and then like, ah, having cheesecake at the end of the show or whatever. This is them kind of making up or bringing it to a cloud. At least that's what it seems like to me.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

Is that yeah, I think it's yeah, more towards the end. I also find it funny that if it's four of them, one of them always pulls up a stool, so you don't have one back to the camera. I was like, I always find that funny.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Studios, you gotta figure out how to cheat out towards the camera.

unknown 32:15

Yeah.

Would You Rather Rapid Fire

SPEAKER_01 32:17

All right. Well, we like to we like to start out our our um bigger group discussion with uh kind of would you rather rapid fire questions. So these aren't meant to have like they might require a little bit of background knowledge for people that haven't watched the show before, but just kind of something quick to go with. So uh I'm gonna start us out with some would you rather? Would you rather live with Dorothy or Blanche?

SPEAKER_04 32:38

Probably Dorothy.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Uh Dorothy's funnier.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Well, Dorothy's funnier, but Blanche also has a plethora of men coming in and out all the time. I like my sleep. So all right.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

This one might might require at least a little bit of background. Would you rather attend one of Rose's St. Olaf festivals or Sophia's family gatherings? Uh-oh. Oh if somebody that's not familiar with the show, why why is this even a question? Or what are those two things within the show?

SPEAKER_04 33:05

Well, Sophia's just, I mean, she comes from a you know, an Italian family. So I think there'd be lots of good food. Uh man, but I don't know. There will be some really, really good people watching at something in in a St. Olaf festival for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

So it's is is it supposed to be Minnesota, right? Minnesota? Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah. Minnesota. I can't I can't do the accent, honestly. Yeah. It's a good try, though. Sorry, you know. Um, no, that was uh it's again, another running gag, right? Like the Sophia's always you know starting off. And I think, do we have the soundbite? Do we get Sophia in Sicily?

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Picture it. Sicily, 1922.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

And that's kind of the uh a running gag. She's always telling stories about you know her her childhood growing up in in Italy and how true those stories are, are uh that's always within question. Um and then same thing with uh with Rose, except for she's talking about oh, this is what we used to do in St. Olaf.

SPEAKER_04 34:04

One time in St. Olaf. And yeah. Garb Garbagukin, like that's how she talks.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Like something like their backstory, part of their character. Yeah. Um here's a good one. Would you rather have Sophia roast you daily or Blanche flirt with everyone you know?

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Oh my god. I have some tough, I have some thick skin, so I'd probably go with Sophia roasting me just because it'd be funny to see what she would come up with.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

She's she has oh man, the one-liners are just hilarious.

SPEAKER_04 34:35

Yeah, they're good. See, uh, this should convince you. I don't know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Yeah, I definitely want to know about not my own liners, but just more of this, yeah. Um, unlimited cheesecake or unlimited sarcastic comebacks.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

If I did unlimited cheesecake, I'd be like 500 pounds. Oh my gosh. Um I I live off of sarcastic humor, so I would probably have to stick with that one.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Uh let's see. Uh spend a week in Miami with the girls or at a modern luxury resort. So if you could, if you could hang out with all of their real people, would you rather hang out with them in Miami or get a chance to go to a resort and just hang out by yourself?

SPEAKER_04 35:15

I I would spend a week with the Golden Girls for sure. I love Betty White. Like just as a per as a person, I love Betty White. So I that's I would have hands down would have loved to have met her. And the other ladies too. Like they were.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Which character did Betty White play?

SPEAKER_04 35:30

She played Rose. Okay, gotcha. Yeah. She was from from St. She actually was supposed to play Blanche.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_04 35:39

Yeah, yeah. So there's there's a little bit of history. Yeah, she's interesting. She had auditioned for Blanche's role and initially was going to take that role. And I can't remember exactly how it ended up switching to her going to Rose, and I was like, man, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

I guess I can see her as is as Blanche more than I could Dorothy. Like she wouldn't fit as Dorothy or Sophia, but I guess I could see Betty White possibly doing a Blanche style character. That's a that's a possibility.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

So yeah, I I guess for for Ben and anybody else, that's like Blanche is kind of we've kind of alluded to it, but she's known as being the the the loose one, the one that's you know just Oh, they they they call her a slut.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Many times.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

They call her a slut, yeah, many times in that show. Um so yeah, she's uh she per perceives herself to be much younger than 50. You know, like that's the other thing. She's very she's very, very vain. I mean, she is a she's a great character too.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

But she's very vain and she's just like uh It was interesting.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Do you remember do you remember the episode? I this was actually a really interesting one. It was um, I think it was her her niece that came into town and was even more like loose and and stuff than she was, and then there was this whole entire like uh I don't know, like Blanche was upset at at her niece for the way that she was just so casual with these guys and stuff like that. I don't know if I've seen that one.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

That might be one I'm I'm missing. I one episode that does come to my mind though, where she had a trainer from the gym, and she thought he, and he was like, you know, tw like late 20s or whatever. Gotcha. She thought he was like totally in love with her until one time he drops her off the house and says, You remind me so much of my mom. And she was like it crushed her.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Yeah. I think she spent most of that episode. She was trying to like seduce him. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

And he was just like, everybody was like, really, like, no, he doesn't like you. And she's like, Well, yes, he does. Like, it was just it was so funny. That is a funny, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

When he said he's a much younger man. Yeah, I do remember that episode. That was a funny one.

SPEAKER_04 37:43

And the funny thing is, he literally says, like, you remind me, my mom, my grandma, like right in front of the other ladies. So they were all right. Perfect, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

It's it's not far. So I think it's in that same season, the one where her where her niece comes to town. Um, it's probably only a few episodes from that one. Because I rem I remember that one, and I remember this one being being pretty close together. Um yeah, so here's again, so some rapid fire. Who who do you think is the funniest golden girl?

SPEAKER_04 38:08

Sophia.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Sophia.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Is there a best insult that comes to your mind from the show?

SPEAKER_04 38:16

Oh, um probably just the shady pines mine. Yeah, the shady, yeah, shady pine, because I use that on my mother now, and my daughter uses it on me. So it's the gift that keeps on giving.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

The generational gift, yes. I feel like there's so many different things that they I mean, Dorothy's all the time just like harping on uh Rose for how dumb like just dumb things that she says. Yeah. Like kind of is kind of kind of mean. Like there's some there's some good ones in there for sure.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

Yeah, they're all they're all really funny in their in their own unique ways. Um as much as Dorothy is like the I guess like kind of like the matriarch out of all of them, you know, she does come up with some funny stuff. Like there's just some it's that quieter like jab a lot of times in between them.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

What do you think is the best friendship pairing in the show?

SPEAKER_04 39:10

Wow. Um I don't know. Man, that's a tough one because I think without without all of them, they're kind of that's fair.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

They all hold each other up in a certain way.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Yeah, I think you can't We've already kind of talked about uh, you know, Sophia and Dorothy like that. I mean it's not a friendship, but it is like another.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

Well, I think really when as the show evolves, like they really all become sisters, and then you've got Sophia as their mom. And so without without having I think you definitely need Sophia there. If Sophia's not there, it kind of all falls apart with them. And there's there's are some episodes where they've like I just watched one the other day where uh Rose actually moves out. She get they get in a fight and she moves out, and then she moves in with like two other ladies and she wants to be like best friends with them, and they're just like, no, we're just roommates.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:06

Like so in that whole episode, she's moved out for like a couple days and then moves back in because she was like, girls, girls, girls, like I I missed you so much, and they miss her too. So when one leaves, like they they all fall apart. I think there's some other times where Dorothy or Sophia's moved out a couple times um with it, and she comes back and vice versa.

Emotional Moments And Friendship Dynamics

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Is there any episode that stands out to you? I know you said it it's hard to remember specific things, but is there any uh emotional moments from the series that stand out to you? Is or one that stands out as being the most emotional moment within the series?

SPEAKER_04 40:37

Yeah, probably the uh the last two episodes uh uh Dorothy actually gets she gets married and it's like oh she finally gets her happy ending. And it's actually Blanche's uncle that she fall yeah, that she falls in love with. And it's kind of nice though, because that's one of the times where you hit where you you uh love a stand where he actually like kind of lets her go and it's like to let you be happy and you gotta get your happy ending and stuff because she struggles with relationships the whole the whole way through the seasons.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Gotcha. I was trying to think myself if I had a if there was an emotional one that I saw. I know there was the um I don't know, there they they do like the there's the just like a lot of the the sitcoms of the 80s, I think that there's like this undertone of like the the serious things where they would deal with serious issues of the day and then also like try and do it in a lighthearted way, you know. I think about I mean Fool House is another one that comes to mind like in that same kind of vein, and then just I don't know, just some of the stuff that they would uh just deal with from time to time. I know there was um oh man, I I don't know why this is coming to my mind right now because I don't think of it as being particularly emotional, but it was for the character of Blanche. I think it humanized her when she was again this is uh a specific episode, she was in love with this man who just had a ton of money. Um, was was doing all these things for her, took her on it on his private jet and all that stuff, and they were even gonna get married, I believe. And Blanche had to like come to terms with the fact that, like, okay, do I actually do I love this man or do I just love the idea? Yeah, the the stuff that he does for me and that sort of thing. And I don't know, it was it's not particularly emotional, but I the the depth that it gave to her character made her less of a I don't know, like the punchline of just oh I'm you know, I'm a I'm loose and I'm trying to seduce these men and that sort of thing. And it kind of humanized her a little bit as far as who who she was.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

That reminds me too of another there is an episode where she goes back home to uh where she grew up because they're selling the house. Oh and so they walk through all of that and kind of like how she you get an idea of like how she was raised because she had an it's just basically they're raised on a plantation in in a sense. Like her dad, they called him Big Daddy.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

Like that's yeah, that's that's I think that's the episode with Don Cheadle. I I might be wrong, but I think that's the one that I was talking about earlier.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

It might be, yeah. I have to I have to watch it to see if that's if that has him in it and stuff. So it kind of goes through some different things like that, and they walk through different areas of the house, and uh her dad is past too in this, so she like you know, the wind chimes go, and so she thinks it's Big Daddy, you know, say you know, saying goodbye or whatever. But yeah, it's like if you've got those big moves or something like that, that's another episode I think that comes to mind.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 43:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Well, Nick's looking stuff up. Uh Amelia kind of or you got something like that.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

I know you're good. I was just looking up the that that episode. I was the the one that went big a few years ago. Um but yeah, it is about the um, let's see, it would have been in a 1988 episode. It was oh, I didn't even know this. He was in huh. Uh he starred in the Golden Palace, the the spin off to the Golden Girls. There was a spin off.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

There's there's a spin-off. It's not as good.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

I mean, I'm sure rarely is it.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

I forgot about that that it were that there was a spin off.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

I didn't know about it until just a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Who does it focus on?

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Around or it's on Dorothy's Not In It.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Dorothy gets married, she leaves the original series. The remaining three women invest their life savings into buying a failing art deco hotel in Miami, bringing on Cheadle's character as the manager. So I guess that was so it wasn't him. So that's what it was. It was not from the Golden Palace. Yep. Okay. Interesting. Huh. So yeah, that would have been, I guess, in the 90s, so not in the in the 80s. But even still, like it was uh still way ahead of it. Yeah. The clip still still hits today and is is meaningful for sure.

Character Deep Dive And Best Traits

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Well, Nick, you broke out some of these questions by character, which I really appreciate. I thought it was fun last year. Well, that we yeah, and especially with four like focal characters, it's it's a a good break from that. And we've talked a little bit about Sophia having no filter. So what do you think makes her insults feel kind of funny instead of mean spirited?

SPEAKER_04 44:57

I don't know. Someone this phone can be pretty mean spirited. Okay. Uh I mean, yeah, they are. You have to have a thick skin. But it's it's not only that, sometimes it's um like you can tell she's getting ready to say something, and Dorothy literally just smacks her hand over her mouth or like nice, or like just gives her like the look and like don't say it, Ma. And she's like, What?

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Like what?

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Yeah, so I don't I think it just depends on the context. I mean, a lot of them are directed at Blanche, okay, and they're directed at Rose. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

She gets all of them a lot though, because she I I think about how much like her and uh her and Dorothy, like Sophie can be pretty mean towards Dorothy. It's a funny relationship they've got for sure.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

They've got I I I honestly see myself and my daughter a lot, although I think my daughter's the Sophia character because she could be pretty mean to me sometimes. And I'm just like, girl, like calm it down. She's like, what, Ma?

SPEAKER_02 45:56

Do you think it's one of those things where have you guys seen like I famously I've seen it with like the Big Bang Theory, where you they show clips without the laugh track and it just hits way different. Do you feel like that would be one of those things where like if without the laugh track, you would hear a comment and be like, ooh, like probably okay.

SPEAKER_04 46:12

There's there's probably a lot of those where you're like I didn't think about that.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

It's okay to laugh. So yeah. It's not mean if you laugh. Like it's just it's just funny. It was a joke.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Do you think we could find some of those? Like you probably have those without the laughs?

SPEAKER_02 46:26

Somewhere, I'm sure, yeah. YouTube is a wide, wide world.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

So true. Well, continuing into this this character deep dive that we're this new segment, I guess, for for some shows at worst. For some, yeah. Um, do you think that Sophia had a better understanding of the rest of them than what they even realized, like the I don't know, emotionally, maybe?

SPEAKER_04 46:46

Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, she's a mom. So without her, I mean, she she talks through a lot of them, through some of their problems or whatever, whether even if she's being harsh or whatever, there's a lot of times where she can come in and just kind of pull them all together, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

It is always nice when they do because there is a lot of those moments between Sophia and Dorothy that are kind of mean, and then every once in a while there is something where, you know, she's it's kind of reminding that, oh, that's that's her mom, and the way that they're interacting is more, you know, I guess uh I don't know, in a in a comforting way, in a you know, in a nice way. Yeah. And so I I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

So Dorothy has a uh a brother, Phil, and you don't really see him in the show very much, but you hear about him a lot. And like Sophia leaves to go help him for whatever reason, so like she with his kids, and so she moves out and like goes across the country or whatever, and Dorothy's like really upset with it. And so you learn in some of those types of episodes. She comes back and and finally is like, Why don't half she's like, Why are you always babying him and doing all this different stuff for her? And she finally like tells her one day, she's like, Because I never had to worry about you, like I knew you would be okay. So you learn like different pieces and episodes about you know that stuff. Yeah, but even though she may be really hard on Dorothy, it's also that she knows that she can handle herself and she's always gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

I'll take us to our next character. So had a couple about Sophia. Um, let's let's talk about Rose. I feel like uh, you know, definitely the the longest surviving golden girl, the one that was definitely the biggest national treasure. Uh, you know, kind of uh Betty White got typed into this where she was kind of this ditzy blonde as as this show went on and and kind of continued throughout her career. Um, but I guess my question is do you think that Rose is actually smarter and more emotionally aware than the others give her credit for?

SPEAKER_04 48:37

No.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

No, she's that like that's fair. There's a weird one, I was just thinking about a like a weird Rose moment. Do you remember the one where she there was uh they've got a rat or a mouse or something living in their their kitchen, and uh Rose was talking about how she can communicate with animals? No, no, oh that's a it's so funny. So it's kind of I mean, I don't know. It's you you think that hey, is she just a uh is it just all an act or whatever? And then you see an episode like that, and you're like, no, she's kind of weird. Like she's just a weird character, and uh I think that's part of the mixer.

SPEAKER_04 49:16

There is an episode that I did that does stand out to me. She never got her high school diploma.

SPEAKER_03 49:21

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 49:22

So she's going, Dorothy is teaching GED classes, and so she shows up and she's like, What are you doing here? And she's like, Well, I never got my high school diploma, and it's some weird sain-aloff reason why something happened to the town and exploded. I don't know. And so she goes to this class and they get to the point where she's taking a final and she fails. And Dorothy's like, Well, you got this. She's like, No, I got this one right. She's got the test, she's like, I've got this right. And she pulls out this book and she's like, This is blah blah flukenflogin. I don't know. Oh no, I'm telling you, this was him, and he was married to like this gym teacher, and like you're she's like, Are you sure? She's like, Well, if you know. So, like, they're literally saying that like basically Adolf Hitler like infiltrated the Americas and he was living in St. Olaf and he was married to the gym teacher.

SPEAKER_02 50:11

Oh my word.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

She was like, I swear that this is who it is. And I'm then thinking, Yeah. So when you say that, like, no, Rose is I don't know. I don't know. She is just no, she is just Rose. Like that's hilarious. Yeah, that was a it's a good episode. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

Yeah. Uh let's move on to uh to Blanche. Um, how groundbreaking was she as a character for the time, especially?

SPEAKER_04 50:35

Oh gosh. She was very uh she was out there. Uh she had no no um no qualms about her. She knew what she wanted and she went after it for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

I think there were a decent amount of characters in the like other sitcoms and stuff like that. It wasn't uncommon for you to have a male character that was always going after women, but to have it the other way around and an older woman going, you know, like just on the prow, going after younger men a lot of times and stuff like that. That was definitely a a change of pace from what was normal on television, I would say, in the 80s. Yeah. Is she the first cougar?

SPEAKER_04 51:17

She's the OG. Yeah, okay. I would say she is the OG cougar. Like for sure.

SPEAKER_01 51:23

Uh how about one for Dorothy here? So I we were actually talking about this a little bit in the car. Um I would argue that Dorothy is kind of the straight man in the in the sitcom a lot of times. So how is she different from other, you know, just straight men within the the sitcom realm, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 51:45

Um she's just I don't know. I think without without her character, I don't know that you'd have a really good show. You kind of need her to kind of pull it all together a little bit. Um I think we struggled. I struggled with this one in the car too. I was maybe. No, it's all good.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Yeah, yeah. I I I guess I'll I'll share a little bit of thought that I've got on it anyways. Like, um, obviously, the the entire point of that straight man character is that they're not necessarily meant to be the funny. Like it's more about their reaction to things than it is them actually being funny. And Dorothy is actually funny. Uh-huh. You know, like throughout the show, she's I mean, they're all funny. They've all got quips, they've all got things like that that make them so in their own way. I mean, I think that Dorothy is the one that is probably that fits the role the best, but they all have their own, like just funny bits and things like that throughout that just keep them all being a part of it. Like that, no, nobody is just that one straight manner. That's her only role that she is pigeon-holed into. She also gets to be funny and just, I don't know, show that part of her character off a little bit. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Well, to kind of cap us off as we start to wind down our discussion a little bit.

Recasting Golden Girls For Today

SPEAKER_02 53:04

Uh if you were to bring this show back in today's generation, what would it look like? Who are there any actors or actresses that you would put in it?

SPEAKER_04 53:14

Yeah. So Nick and I were actually talking about this on the I prepped her.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

I prepped her.

SPEAKER_04 53:18

And I'm glad you did, because I was like, oh my gosh. Like, I'm like, could anybody play this? And I know a couple years ago, they were actually it was uh fake news, heaven forbid, was it was not real on the internet. But they had I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

They did there was a big thing trying to convince you it was real.

SPEAKER_04 53:38

Tina Faye, Kristen Wig, Amy Polar, and Maya Rudolph were here.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

Okay, that would that would be that would be a group, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

Yeah. So I'm like, uh, but I still am like I'm torn because I the ladies that played them played them so well, and it's like, could we really recreate them now? But I think yeah, I think those would the Maya Rudolph, I think would be hilarious in one of these roles. I'm not maybe a I think she would be a great Blanche.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

I said I feel like you had to have Meryl Streep in there. Meryl Streep. Like she's in everything. So yeah. If I was gonna put her in a role, it'd have to be as like a Sophia. I was gonna say, would she be a Sophia? Yeah, I think so. I because she's got the just the I don't know, the quippiness to her, just that sharp like delivery, that sort of thing. And that's what Sophia was known for, just the the delivery and the way that it was there. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 54:30

That'd be I could see her being I'm picturing like her devil wears product character just saying everything very matter-of-factly and just like this is out of those.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

She would be great in that in that. We also were I think Kristen Wig would be a good Dorothy.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:43

I think that could that could really work.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

I'm trying to picture Kristen Wig.

SPEAKER_04 54:47

She was in uh Bridesmaids' Bridesmaids.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah. See here. That's where Melissa McCoy and SNL.

SPEAKER_04 54:53

Yeah, that's Melissa McCarthy was also in Bride Maids with my and then Maya Rudolph. They were all in that together. Well, I think Melissa McCarthy would be good. Okay. But I don't know who she would. I don't know if she would be one better than the other for a character. So I'm not really sure.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Here's the thing too. Like, do we do would you have to invent new characters essentially, or just like paste, copy and paste these roles over to new people?

SPEAKER_04 55:17

Yeah, I don't I think it it would depend on who you would find in there. Because I like I think Melissa McCarthy would be a good one, but I'm like, I don't maybe she would be like a special character that would come in and out, you know. Like there's a couple of things. Yeah. And then I didn't think of this, but who would play Stan? Like who would play Dorothy's husband?

SPEAKER_01 55:35

Ooh. He is, I guess, how often is he in the show? Does he come back? He's fairly he's in it a lot.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

Yeah, he's a pretty regular guy. Yeah. I mean, he's not in every single episode, but he is consistent.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

I feel like you have to have somebody the the there's some good chemistry between whoever that is and whoever plays Dorothy. So you'd have to have somebody that like they've got a a connection in some way, shape, or form. Actually, you know, you know what just popped into my mind it'd be funny just because of their friendship off-screen. But what if you had like a uh what if you had a Jennifer Anniston as a as a Dorothy along with Adam Sandler? I don't know. That'd be a I don't know. I'm just throwing out names. I was I was thinking about somebody that's got like off-screen chemistry, and they do. If you've ever watched they've been they've done a they've done like 10 Netflix movies, haven't they? Like yeah, I can't say I've seen a single one, but to watch them together is fun. Like I can see why they wanted them to do the first time that I ever watched one of their movies, I was like, what you know, like why, you know, and then I I saw them interact and just they're the I don't know. Interesting. They they they interact well together for sure. Um well we're kind of I think we're bringing it to a to a close a little bit. You'd already mentioned um that the show doesn't really work without one of the characters, so um c case in point, the golden palace is not a good show. That's a good point. Well, well, you're also taking a I mean, in my opinion, the best Golden Girl. Like I I I mean, it's between her and Sophie. The Golden Girl. The Golden Girls.

SPEAKER_04 57:10

I I guess I think you really could say Dorothy is the backbone of that show.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

She holds it, she holds it together.

SPEAKER_01 57:16

Yeah, I don't I don't know. That's yeah, that's exactly why it couldn't go on without her, for sure. Um why did I did she actually leave? I'll have to look this up later and see. Did she leave the show or what uh what happened that that she didn't come back on for the golden palace? Or she if she ever did show up for the show.

SPEAKER_04 57:31

That's that's a good question. I I don't know, because she actually had a show prior to the Golden Girls. She was a comedian, she's a comedian. It's Maud. I think that's um Yeah, it was Maud. And that's how her and um Betty Ro Betty White were were on that show together. So and it those are some pretty hilarious like to watch that. It was kind of like a Johnny Carson type of I want to say like Harold and Maud or No. I I don't know, but I know the character's name was Maud. Okay, but it was she was she's funny. She's like she was a great comedian, I think. M-A-U-D-E, I think that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 58:12

And it was in a show? Oh, oh, okay. When was that? 1970. Yeah, it was she started. Okay, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 58:22

She had Betty, Betty White was on there.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

Oh, no kidding. Huh. Yeah there you go. There's always got to be something that like kind of starts things off. Wow. Okay. I didn't see I didn't even know that. You learned something. I that's six seasons? That's a lot. Like to have a six season show and then to go into uh another show that ran for what seven seasons or whatever it is. That's a that's a great career.

SPEAKER_04 58:43

I never yeah, she had a good she had a good run.

SPEAKER_01 58:45

Nice. Okay. Well, let's uh I think we're we're coming to the end of our time, right? Should we bring it around to the the last part of

Legacy Talk And Why Not Reboot

SPEAKER_01 58:54

the discussion? I want to talk about just the legacy of the fandom a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Great, yeah, because like we use we usually end it talking about what's the next big thing in the fandom. And it doesn't seem like there's anything coming in the future for Golden Girls as of now, unless you believe internet stories.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

But there's a part of me that like hopes that maybe it could I I don't know. It's so hard with some of these properties that have been gone. There's certain ones that it's like I don't think you could ever redo, and this one I think maybe falls into that category. Like it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:24

I hope they don't ever make it a movie though. Like, please don't make it a movie.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

There was a show that I have to see what it is. I I can't remember what it was, but there was a show that was meant to be in that same vein of Golden Girls recently when they tried they tried to do something that was very uh just the same kind of premise and everything. I think it had a different name. And I tried to watch it and I was like, this is Platinum Women. This is Platinum Women. I wish I could remember what it was called because I remember trying to watch it and it just uh it did not hit in the in the same way. And I I think that it could be done, but you'd have to have the right, the right person that knows how to how to hit it. But I don't know. That'd be I'd be interested to see if it could be something that comes back. Well, to kind of talk about the the legacy of the fandom and bring it back, um, you know, is there do you think there's a chance? This is kind of what we're talking about right now, is is there a chance that they could have another show or another sitcom that's like it? How could they capture the energy?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:21

I I don't know if they could. I I because in today's world we don't have shows like that anymore. Everything's the sit-down and binge watch and have the cliffhangers and uh are there really good comedy shows on it? I don't I don't know that there are everything so suspenseful and there's fewer, that's for sure. Yeah, I just yeah, I don't I don't know that you can. I think this is one of those, it's a classic, it will always be a classic, and sometimes you just don't touch the classic. Yeah, you gotta let them you gotta let them go. Case in point, dirty dancing, great movie. They've tried to redo that, and I'm like, No. Roadhouse, that was something that was I hate the new Roadhouse, I'm sorry. I so I feel like, yeah, I don't think you can touch the golden girls.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:03

Well, then that's a I think that's a good place to to leave us there for the end. So don't touch the golden girls, leave them as they are, let it be what it is. I I like that. Well, let's what about the fandom

Next Up James Bond And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 1:01:14

here? The fandom of fandoms. What's next for us?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:17

Yeah, so Mikey will be back, thank goodness, because uh this is I I'm not good at this.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:22

In my book, you did really great. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:24

Appreciate that. I there were he he likes to use a lot more sounds, so like yeah. Um, anyways, uh he's gonna be back, and his buddy Jeremy is gonna be on, and we're gonna be talking James Bond, which I'm really looking forward to because there's just because it's this one that's been rebooted so many times that like I think there's a lot there for us to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

For sure, for sure. I'll look forward to that conversation. I think the the most recent thing, there's a there's a game out now that I want to try and play.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

Gotta try it out for sure. Well, as always, well, I guess I should start by thanking Kristen. Thank you, Kristen.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:57

Of course. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

There we go. The applause.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:01

Woo!

SPEAKER_01 1:02:02

Um, we're so thankful that you came and uh spent you know the last hour with us talking, Golden Girls. Um, thanks to all of you that tuned in to listen. And uh yeah, we're right here at the very beginning of of year two. So thanks for sticking around with us, and we got a lot more fun things coming. So we'll see you around. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Fandom of Fandoms. If you had fun, be sure to follow us at FOF.pod on Instagram and threads and at fandomoffandoms on YouTube. Make sure to leave a rating or review wherever you get your podcast. It really helps new fans find the show. Lastly, if you've got a fandom you want us to cover, shoot us an email at fandomofpodcast at gmail.com. Until next time, keep being passionate, keep being curious, and keep being a fan.