The Golden Girls is one of the funniest sit-coms ever written. Its dialogue zips, licks, and zings, each performance by the members of its main cast a masterclass in marrying archetype to authenticity to create larger than life characters that never-the-less still ring true in the real world.
The Golden Girls showed older women leading rich, fulfilling and interesting lives: pursuing relationships, nurturing friendships, wise-cracking, problem-solving, and enjoying full and healthy sex lives – not laying down and preparing to die, or fading into thankless quasi-matriarchal obscurity. At a time, and especially in an industry, where executives weren’t overly inclined to put older women front-and-centre, here was a group of older female actresses who were not only carrying a successful prime-time comedy show, but one of the most successful prime-time comedy shows of all time. The legacy of The Golden Girls, and that talented quad of actors, is the laughter that still rings in the air – from generations old and new – many long decades later.
I loved The Golden Girls as a kid, and I love it still. My partner and I recently started a re-watch, and we’re re-hooked. Even my 8-year-old caught an episode and chortled heartily at these women 55 who were years+ his senior.
I got into the rhythm and cadence of the show so much that I started hearing fresh dialogue in my head. I decided to get it all down, and see if I could pull off a successful facsimile of a ‘new’ episode. Not a whole episode, mind. Just a short sequence. You can access it in PDF form by clicking on the link immediately below:
I know it isn’t formatted correctly, especially the dialogue, which shouldn’t run along the lines as far as it does, but the exercise – for me – was to see if I could successfully capture the show’s tone, and the characters’ voices.
If you’re a fan of The Golden Girls, I want to know if you can see and hear Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia in your mind’s eye as you’re reading along.
Let me know. I fancy tackling Red Dwarf next.