It’s a classic sitcom set-up that seemed so innocent back in 1985. But now, as The Golden Girls is hailed as one of the all-time greats of American television, it’s easier to see how the story of four elderly friends living together in Miami rewrote the sitcom template for modern comedy shows.
With its spicy mix of witty dialogue, brilliant characterisation and, like all the best sitcoms, heartbreaking pathos, The Golden Girls was, and is, must-watch television (and now every episode is conveniently on Stan).
And it’s even better when you hear that the Miami location was chosen to ride on the pastel-coloured shirt tails of Miami Vice. The show’s concept was to show a side of the city that wasn’t littered with drug dealers, speedboat chases and Don Johnson.
The Golden Girls’ working title? Miami Nice.
The four friends in question were a delightful collection of diverse personalities whose friendship was the strongest bond in their lives.
Sound familiar? That’s because The Golden Girls was a prototype for that other tale of four ladies, Sex And The City. In fact, it could almost be viewed as a sequel of sorts – that is, if Carrie and the girls retired to Miami and all lived in the same house.
Just look at the characters. The similarities between Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) and Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) are the most obvious. Blanche is a saucy, man-hungry Southern Belle; an archetype for Samantha’s sex-positive promiscuity.
Dorothy (Bea Arthur) and Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) are both the initial focus of their both shows and the central figure in these modern families. Rose Nylund (the wonderful Betty White) is Charlotte York (Kristin Davis): quirky, neurotic and prudish. And Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) is the Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) – both women talk tough with a winning line in sardonic wit.
Also, secretly the best one.
The Golden Girls broke the mould. In the eighties there were plenty of great television roles for women, especially in sitcoms, but they were always tied to the nuclear family with the male patriarch leading the cast. Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia were the reason to watch The Golden Girls: they were that family unit that sitcoms thrive on.
Both shows also portrayed a way of life rarely seen on television, by pushing the boundaries in the era in which they were broadcast. The “girls” may look like sweet old ladies, but the knowing gags and saucy innuendo that spewed from their mouths, especially Blanche and Rose, still raises eyebrows.
Fast forward to 1998 and NYC and the frank sex talk, raunchy shenanigans and portrayal of “girl power” was a gender defining moment that ensured that the “must see” HBO show became synonymous with The Big Apple for a generation of women.
Between the laughs The Golden Girls covered a host of then-controversial subjects including coming out, same-sex marriage, elder care and homelessness, HIV/AIDS, US immigration policy, death and assisted suicide.
Sex And The City also wasn’t afraid to cover some confrontational material, particularly when Samantha was diagnosed with cancer.
Both shows proved that women could deliver big laughs with heart, emotion and sass.
Behind the pearl necklace gags – and yes, both shows went there – The Golden Girls and Sex And The City were both about friendships that become family, and change your life forever.