My Favorite Characters-The Golden Girls

Gonna try something a little different today. So far I have talked about single characters that I liked. Now when we have ensemble tv or movies, very often it’s that one character that stands out. Sometimes however, you get an ensemble where the characters need each other to be good characters. For example, when Gabe Kaplan left Welcome Back, Kotter the show sucked. The Sweathogs were the same, but without Kotter the characters didn’t click the same. Another sitcom that you can argue is like is one of my favorite sitcoms ever…. 

The Golden Girls

 Now of course these were four good characters, played four fantastic actresses, but I maintain that it’s the four together that make these characters work. Seeing them interact and even comment on each other. We had Dorothy played by Bea Arthur, the strong smart one. Blanche played by Rue McLanahan, the vain sex pot. Rose played by Betty White, the good hearted but simple minded one, and of course Sophia played by Estelle Getty the wise old lady with a sharp tongue.

 

For proof that this ensemble needed each other, look no further than the awful spin-off “The Golden Palace”. Without Dorothy the chemistry was just wrong. And when the characters made appearances on the other spin-off “Empty Nest” it never felt quite right either. There always felt like something was off when these ladies didn’t have each other to bounce of.

 

So you may be wondering, well how come that’s the case here but not with other shows like “Designing Women”? In that shows case the women were so independent that you never felt like they needed each other for the show to work. Despite what the series desperately tried to claim. This is why Delta Burke was the breakout star of that show, and on The Golden Girls there was no breakout star. Now don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that and Designing Women was a fine show. But it was structured differently. The Golden Girls was a true ensemble in every sense of the word. So good in fact that I liked watching the show even though I was a kid. My father never understood why I liked watching the show about “four old ladies” but the characters worked so well that it didn’t matter I couldn’t relate to them at all. They were funny and fun to watch.

And I should point out that the characters did evolve with the series. By the final episode Dorothy is getting married and it’s clear the other three are older and wiser. They looked up to Dorothy for her wisdom and now they had to figure things out on their own. It makes sense that this was a somber final episode, the dynamic had changed and that was gonna be a a huge adjustment. Though deciding to buy a hotel still seems lile a stretch……