The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning seven seasons. The show stars Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty as four older women who share a home in Miami, Florida. It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions, in association with Touchstone Television, and Paul Junger Witt. Tony Thomas and Harris served as 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 three sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this. The series also ranked among the top-10 highest-rated programs for six of its seven seasons. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Golden Girls number 54 on its list of 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".

Year:
1985
21,749 Views

Sophia Petrillo:
[in response to one of the other elderly residents' telling her how good it is to have her back again] Well, it's good to BE back. They may not have wanted an activities director here, but they've GOT one! So come on - - let's get **active**.

[clicks on a portable boombox with a tape of dance-music, then turns amicably to an elderly Black gentleman in a wheelchair who's sitting a few feet away]

Sophia Petrillo:
Mr. Lewis, would you like to dance?

[He shrugs agreeably, so Sophia puts a hand on his shoulder and grips the wheelchair's arm in her other hand, then slowly waltzes them around in a small area, while the man just sits still and blithely goes along for the ride]

Sophia Petrillo:
Oh, I can see that you've had LESSONS.

Mr. Porter:
[hearing the commotion of the impromptu elders' party and hurriedly showing up in the room with a shocked disgusted expression] Oh, for cryin' out loud - - what's in tarnation's going on here?

Sophia Petrillo:
[in an innocent but determined tone] Seniors' dance night, Mr. Porter... care to join us?

Mr. Porter:
[giving a unimpressed impatient wincing wheeze and waving his arm to halt the festivities] Okay, come on - - party's over. Everybody back to bed!

Mr. Lewis:
[in a pleased, slightly dreamy tone] I danced tonight - - first time in 27 years!

Sophia Petrillo:
[staring at Mr. Lewis with a slightly startled expression] Why, Mr. Lewis - - you can SPEAK! How come you've never spoken before?

Mr. Lewis:
[grinning broadly] Nobody was LISTENING - - not until YOU got here.

Mr. Porter:
[sulkily] I'VE been here - - you could have spoken to ME.

Mr. Lewis:
[twisting his mouth in disgusted revulsion] Well, ah dohn LIKE **you**...!

Sophia Petrillo:
Don't you SEE, Mr. Porter? You're not LISTENING to these people - - I mean, you ignore their thoughts and feelings, and you make them feel old.

[turning to address Dorothy, who has been standing by during this conversation]

Sophia Petrillo:
And Pussycat, you make me feel old, too - - you treat me like I'm not capable of making my own choices.

Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak:
[gently but fervently] Well, Ma - - I did it because I CARE about you! I was afraid of losing you if I didn't look after your well-being.

Sophia Petrillo:
[understandingly but a little pointedly] I know that. But Pussycat, give me air. I know that you love me, but perhaps we can **both** start making decisions about me - - **together**.

Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak:
[putting her arm around Sophia and hugging her close] We will, Ma.

Bonnie:
[In hospital, Dorothy is very nervous about surgery on her foot. Bonnie, the lady in the bed next to her, is exercising] I hope my exercising doesn't bother you.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
No not at all. What is it some kind of therapy you have to do?

Bonnie:
No - I just like to stay healthy.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
Well, I hate to break this to you, Bonnie, but you're in a hospital the exercises aren't working.

Bonnie:
Surgery today, huh?

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
Yes. And I might as well warn you I am the best patient in the whole world.

Bonnie:
Oh I can put up with it for one night. And then tomorrow it is my turn in the operating room.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
You're having surgery too?

Bonnie:
Yep.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
And you're smiling?

Bonnie:
I've had this procedure before, the first time I was as nervous as you are. This time I know what to expect.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
You're having the same operation, again? I mean, don't they get it right around here the first time.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
Oh no, its nothing like that. About three years ago I had a mastectomy and - now I'm in for another.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
And you're not scared?

Bonnie:
I'm petrified. No one's that brave accept in the movies and on television. But at least this time I know what I'm facing. I've gone through all the steps before. I have considered the alternatives... dealt with the reality. The last time - I think I cried the moment the doctor told me and I didn't stop until they wheeled me off to surgery. And later, I cried because there was so much pain I didn't think it would ever go away, but it did. And it will again. You get through it. You go on. When it comes right down to it what other choice do we have? It could have been a lot worse I could have missed out on these last three years.

[Dorothy is teary eyed and silent]

Bonnie:
Dorothy, are you alright?... How'd you feel?

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
Like a fool. Like a damn fool.

Blanche Devereaux:
Oh, take it from me, honey, there is no gentle way to end it with a man. When you're gentle with them, they just don't get the message.

Rose Nylund:
Oh, Blanche is so right, Dorothy. That was exactly the problem I had with Eddie Parker. He was this real sweet guy who was crazy about me, but I just didn't feel the same way about him. You see, when Charlie went off to war, I went to work for our local USO club. And, that's where I first met Eddie the Aqua Midget.

Blanche Devereaux:
He was a blue midget?

Rose Nylund:
Don't be ridiculous, he was a diving midget. That was his act. He used to jump off a step ladder into this gigantic punchbowl.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
[stifling laughter] S-so, um... what happened?

Rose Nylund:
Nothing. He'd just swim to the side and hop out.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
I mean, uh... what happened between you and Eddie?

Rose Nylund:
We talked a lot between shows, and of course I didn't realize it but he- he was falling for me.

Blanche Devereaux:
Didn't have far to fall. [Dorothy grabs Blanche's hand in an attempt to stifle more laughter]

Rose Nylund:
It... it started with little things...

Blanche Devereaux:
I bet. [more stifled laughter]

Rose Nylund:
Pretty soon the situation got out of control, and I... I tried to let him down gently...

Blanche Devereaux:
You tried to make it short and sweet? [more stifled laughter]

Rose Nylund:
He just wouldn't take no for an answer. So I finally had to tell him straight out that I- I didn't feel about him the way he felt about me. It had nothing to do with his size. It- it was simply that... w-I- I could never become seriously involved with anybody in show business.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak:
[still stifling laughter] Thank you, Rose. I... I don't know what to say... And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.


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