The Golden Girls finale

[JockTalk]

Okay, this thread is coming 23 years late BUT I wanted to discuss. The last episode, season 7 episode 26 was a total downer. Dorothy marries Blanch's uncle, says goodbye, leaves to live in Atlanta and Blanch, Sophia and Rose are left hugging each other in tears. Really? What happened to the happy montage of years gone by??

And then to add insult to injury they change networks and "Golden Palace" begins. Sophia, Rose and Blanch buy an old hotel and try to run it. It "ran" all of one season.

Of course the season 7 finale should have ended with a happy montage and season 8 should have begun with a new star like Shirley MacLaine for example. The ratings had been going down for the show but all the show needed was the right cast member and I think it could have gone on for at least a few more good seasons! Rue, Estelle and Betty DID want to continue but erroneously believed without Bea, it could not continue in the same house. Ugh, ladies!!

 

[jensu846]

i agree. It was such a downer of a finale. When Dorothy kept running in from all parts of the house. And I just couldn't get into the Palace at all. I disagree a bit, I don't think any person could have filled the fourth slot and made it work.. Those 4 ladies were like lightning in a bottle and it just cant be recaptured. Once 1 is gone, so was the magic. I still love to watch it even today.

 

[JockTalk]

i agree. It was such a downer of a finale. When Dorothy kept running in from all parts of the house. And I just couldn't get into the Palace at all. I disagree a bit, I don't think any person could have filled the fourth slot and made it work.. Those 4 ladies were like lightning in a bottle and it just cant be recaptured. Once 1 is gone, so was the magic. I still love to watch it even today.

Total downer and kind of pathetic. I agree those four ladies definitely had chemistry but remember when Debbie Reynolds starred because one of the girls was moving out? Dynamite. There are so many older actresses who could have breathed some fresh air into the show. Had Rita Moreno not been playing in "Empty Nest" she would have been another good candidate.

 

[JockTalk]

Years ago, when I wrote that Sex and the City was better than Golden Girls, y'all came out of the woodwork to tell me I was wrong and yet there's only one response to how the show ended. Come on, more dialogue!

 

[SFLMAN]

The Show had a good run. When one character leaves it throws off the entire show. It's not the same chemistry anymore.

I still enjoy watching the show in reruns.

 

[gsdx]

I liked the ending. The emotions were genuine and the tears were real. (Heck, tears worked for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.) I think it worked well at the very end when they looked at the front door, waiting for Dorothy to come back, then at the Lanai, and finally the kitchen door. When Dorothy didn't come back, they realised that she wasn't coming back anymore and all they had left was each other

Golden Palace, however, sucked as much as After M*A*S*H.

I don't think a retrospective would have been a good idea for the finale. There had been enough of those throughout the series.

 

[JockTalk]

I liked the ending. The emotions were genuine and the tears were real. (Heck, tears worked for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.) I think it worked well at the very end when they looked at the front door, waiting for Dorothy to come back, then at the Lanai, and finally the kitchen door. When Dorothy didn't come back, they realised that she wasn't coming back anymore and all they had left was each other

Golden Palace, however, sucked as much as After M*A*S*H.

I don't think a retrospective would have been a good idea for the finale. There had been enough of those throughout the series.

Oooo, thanks guys, for some added dialogue. I didn't so much think the show needed a retrospect as a shortish montage of memorable moments played to music. That would have been a real tear jerker for the audience.

Yah, Golden Palace sucked because the gals were out of their element. I still think the right roommate would have worked. Could you imagine the process? They could have brought in a series of stars like they did for Regis's replacement on Regis and Kelly. And then brought in the new character. That would have boosted ratings and yes, they could have thrown in some special guests who they knew would not be able to play the role permanently like a Shirley MacLaine. Anyhow it's all too late.

On another note, I wish the writers had not made St. Olaf sound like it was populated by a bunch of idiot simpletons. Whenever someone real from there came and visited like Rose's mother, they were generally normal regular folk and that went over very well. Rose's outlandish stories were the only aspect of the show that I thought was much too contrived.

 

[gsdx]

I think the show had run its course. Character replacements rarely succeed. The only real success stories I can think of are M*A*S*H with Col. Potter replacing Henry Blake, BJ replacing Trapper, and Charles replacing Frank (you can't count Klinger. He was already a regular.), and Three's Company with Mr. Furley replacing Mr. Ropper. Terri failed in replacing Chrissy. There are far more failures than successes, including: June Lockhart replacing Bea Benaderet, Billie Jo was replaced twice and Bobby Jo was replaced once (Petticoat Junction), Dr. Pulaski replacing Dr. Crusher (Star Trek: TNG), Cameron Mitchell replacing Jack O'Neill (Stargate - although Jonas might have succeeded had Daniel not wanted to return), Dick Sargeant replacing Dick York as Darrin and Sandra Gould replacing Alice Pearce as Gladys Kravitz (Bewitched), and, even though I never watched the show, Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men).

The 'girls' had chemistry that made the show what it was. I don't think that could have been replicated.

 

[MoufOfKhaos]

I don't get the logic of a show having to continue because YOU wanted it to. It ran its' course, it got to end on a high and not limp into oblivion - we wouldn't be talking about it now if it had a disaster of a season 8 - for a recent example, see How I Met Your Mother, or that abysmal Two And a Half Men.

I thought the way it ended was perfect - Dorothy, who could never get a man to save her life, other than her on-again off-again ex husband, finally finds someone she loves and that loves her back, someone of her dreams, and goes off to live life anew with him. The three hugging through tears, realizing the foursome was forever gone, was perfect because not everything needs to be sappy ending in a sitcom, and this was one of those shows where there were rare moments where it didn't end happily. The only reason people feel its a "downer" is because it was an actual definite end... something that's also rare in a sitcom.

Golden Palace, however, was a mistake, which is probably why even Lifetime couldn't stomach showing that series more than once.

 

[gsdx]

I was reminded via a comment to my post that I should have included Kirstie Alley replacing What's-Her-Name in Cheers. The simple fact is that I didn't include them because I have spent many years trying to flush What's-Her-Name from my brain. I can't stand her. The best thing she ever did was to leave the show.

I will say, however, that Woody was a good replacement for Coach after Nicholas Colasanto died.

 

[blanefan]

I had seen somewhere that at the end of the Golden Girls, Estelle Getty was losing her memory and they had to write her lines on her hand or something else so she could get through the scenes.

Didn't love the ending, but it was not the worst I have ever seen.

 

[gsdx]

I had seen somewhere that at the end of the Golden Girls, Estelle Getty was losing her memory and they had to write her lines on her hand or something else so she could get through the scenes.

That is true. She was suffering from 'Lewy body dementia' which had been misdiagnosed as both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. She had trouble remembering her lines throughout much of the series. If you watch closely, you can see her reading off cue cards. Sadly, whenever Bea, Betty, or Rue went to visit her, Estelle couldn't remember them at all and had no memory whatsoever of The Golden Girls. Ironically, she died of a stroke - the event which made her such a lovable character.

Estelle is gone, but Sophia will be with us forever.

 

[JockTalk]

That is true. She was suffering from 'Lewy body dementia' which had been misdiagnosed as both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. She had trouble remembering her lines throughout much of the series. If you watch closely, you can see her reading off cue cards. Sadly, whenever Bea, Betty, or Rue went to visit her, Estelle couldn't remember them at all and had no memory whatsoever of The Golden Girls. Ironically, she died of a stroke - the event which made her such a lovable character.

Estelle is gone, but Sophia will be with us forever.

How is it that Estelle even attempted "Golden Palace" then?

I guess I wanted to see them try to replace Bea. I don't think the show ending should have meant "she was gone forever" for a happier ending to a great 7 years. She did appear in Golden Palace I think for two episodes.

So why all this nostalgia on my part? I guess it's just that I hate when good things come to an end. I feel similarly about Will and Grace and Being Human, American version. I KNOW Meghan Mullally should have gotten her own show with Beverly Leslie and a fellow cohort (okay, that's more about a spinoff than continuing the show). I KNOW Being Human was really just starting to get good after a really slow first season. Oy.

But GSDX, don't forget all of the soap operas that continually went through characters/actors. The writers made the continuity work out of necessity. Oh! Don't forget how Bad Designing Women was after Charlene and Suzanne left!

 

[gsdx]

I never watched Will and Grace, and I watched only a few of the earlier Designing Women. I wasn't even aware that Charlene and Suzanne had left the show.

As for soaps, actors coming and going were almost a fact of life. It gave the fans something to talk about during commercials.

 

[paintact]

I actually loved how "The Golden Girls" ended. It felt...real. You could tell those tears were real. Bea Arthur would often tear up to the point of breaking down a bit when talking about the show and the end of it years and years later, even though she realized by season 7 it had run its course.

But there's something about that ending...the sadness of it, that feels right. I'm actually glad there is no sappy montage, no perfectly happy ending (except for Dorothy). They all had to accept that their time together as the 4 was over (in both the show, and the real world). That actually said something much more substantial than your typical sitcom ending.
And then that music swells, and it slowly fades to black... gets me everytime.






As for Estelle, yep...you can actually tell that by season 6 into 7 that even her reflexes, her movement, etc. are slowed down considerably compared to the previous 5 seasons. There was quickness, a sharpness to Estelle, not only to her lines, but her movements that is quite a bit slowed down in those last couple seasons. I believe she was on medication by then that might have slowed her down a bit. And yeah, you can see that she is often looking off camera at what was probably cue cards...mostly only in those last two seasons. (Though you notice Bea Arthur doing the same throughout the series...but I chalk that up to writing new jokes on the spot which they often do with sitcoms.)

Ironically, Estelle continued to work even in bit parts after both shows, and showed up a lot on Empty Nest. She worked a lot!