First off, I like the show. Not a huge fan, but somewhere in between. My least favorite character of all is Sophia. She gets away with murder!

Nevermind her heavy accent, but the way she puts down people all the time and they give her shes an old lady excuse.

Like when Blanche's daughter Rebecca is heavy set, Sophia insults her several times, yet everyone jumps on her BF when he does it. But Sophia was just as bad as he was!

Sophia got more annoying in the later episodes. She became almost too unbelieveable. Yes, there are spry 80 somethings like that, but she was almost like a cartoon. Maybe it could be the acting on Estelle Getty's part.

Who I thought was the least seasoned of the 4. But I think the show would have been better without Sophia.

I definitely can't agree. It was the way she delivered her lines that made them hilarious. They all put each other down, it was part of the humor of the show.

I definitely can't agree. It was the way she delivered her lines that made them hilarious. They all put each other down, it was part of the humor of the show.

It was never funny to me. Just mean spirited. Even when Dorothy insulted someone, it had a little bit less sting to it. Made it alittle more funny.
Like "silly putty, Rose!" Okay thats funny

"What did you model, car carpets"? Not funny. :mad:

I always felt that Sophia was the best thing about the show! In fact I would go so far as to say that without Sophia there would be no show! It would be a snooze fest.

It was never funny to me. Just mean spirited. Even when Dorothy insulted someone, it had a little bit less sting to it. Made it alittle more funny.
Like "silly putty, Rose!" Okay thats funny

"What did you model, car carpets"? Not funny. :mad:

Well, the thing is that they ALL insulted each other. I don't see how one could be considered hateful while the others are humorous. To me, they were all hilarious with their insults.

I always felt that Sophia was the best thing about the show! In fact I would go so far as to say that without Sophia there would be no show! It would be a snooze fest.

It's true. Without any one of them, there wouldn't be a show, but I'd agree with Sophia, especially. She definitely seems to be a fan favorite.

Sophia was a riot. She could shoot off those one-liners like nobody else. There were also episodes where she showed her love for Dorothy. One such show was when Dorothy had chronic fatigue symptom. She talked about a parent burying a child. It was sad. Whenever it came to her daughter, she was a barracuda. She was a barracuda anyway, but nobody messed with Sophia's loved ones.

I recently saw the episode where Sophia had escaped from the rest home, to end up living with the GG. It was explained that she had a disorder where she said whatever was on her mind. She had no filter from her brain to her mouth. It was like Tourette's Syndrome without the profanity. That may explain why Sophia had an extra razor sharp tongue. Everyone's got their opinion. I may love or hate a character, and someone may feel the complete opposite. It would be a boring world if we all agreed.

I too thought Sophia was funny. Estelle Getty may not have been the most seasoned or best actress compared to the others but those one liners were a riot. Bea Arthur did say that "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duo`s ever."

Some of the things I didn't like that Sophia said,
"You idiot!" or "you moron!" to Rose and maybe "look in the mirror, blubberbutt!" Then Sophia had the gall to say to
Dorothy (after she let the girls sit in jail for over an hour) , "Jealosy is a very ugly thing...and so are you in
anything backless!" Most of the lines IMO where funny even though
insulting like when she called Blanche a 50-year-old mattress or called
Blanche a slut/slutpuppy. Blanche once even wanted to be called "the slut"
after she she found out Rose had 56 boyfriends during her life!

First off, I like the show. Not a huge fan, but somewhere in between. My least favorite character of all is Sophia. She gets away with murder!

Nevermind her heavy accent, but the way she puts down people all the time and they give her shes an old lady excuse.

Like when Blanche's daughter Rebecca is heavy set, Sophia insults her several times, yet everyone jumps on her BF when he does it. But Sophia was just as bad as he was!

Sophia got more annoying in the later episodes. She became almost too unbelieveable. Yes, there are spry 80 somethings like that, but she was almost like a cartoon. Maybe it could be the acting on Estelle Getty's part.

Who I thought was the least seasoned of the 4. But I think the show would have been better without Sophia.

I think Sophia definitely made the show. I can't imagine it without her. However, they did change her character in later seasons to be over the top and silly acting. In the early seasons, she was a riot with her quick wit and her stories. But in the last couple seasons, Sophia became more obnoxious and immature in the things she would do. I assume it was the writers that made her this way. It was not as appealing to me as the way her character was during the first years of the show.

Not like Sophia? Oh well, different strokes for different folks, but count me in the I :heart: SOPHIA camp. I loved her feistiness, and yes she wasn't shy abt giving zingers - but - to me - you always knew that when push came to shove she had a good heart and really loved her "girls" esp. "pussycat". BTW, all the gals were great, and I love them all, but...its Sophia I love the best ...she was such a hoot and the icing on the cake.

"Jealosy is a very ugly thing...and so are you in
anything backless!"

:rofl: That's one of my all-time favorite Sophia lines.

:rofl: That's one of my all-time favorite Sophia lines.


Mine's when she and Blanche are fighting over the same man and Sophia catches Blanche flirting with him and says "Beat it, you 50 year old mattress."

Mine's when she and Blanche are fighting over the same man and Sophia catches Blanche flirting with him and says "Beat it, you 50 year old mattress."

My favorite is also from that episode, but it's the, "You're only gonna sit in an inch of water?!" line. :lol:

My favorite is also from that episode, but it's the, "You're only gonna sit in an inch of water?!" line. :lol:

Good ol' Sophia was on a roll in this ep! When she wants a guy she doesn't mess around boy! She gets in a few cute one liners when she does the eulogy too!

Good ol' Sophia was on a roll in this ep! When she wants a guy she doesn't mess around boy! She gets in a few cute one liners when she does the eulogy too!

She was good in this episode.

Blanche: "Blanche Devereaux has never shared a man!"
Sophia: "Or a pizza!"

I could have done without her also. The show would have been just fine.










His name can be found at Ps 83:18

"Nevermind her heavy accent, but the way she puts down people all the time and they give her shes an old lady excuse."


Actually, the excuse was NEVER that she was an old lady (age had nothing to do with it). It was that she had suffered a stroke, and it did something to her in which she couldn't "sensor herself"...at least that's how it was explained in the first few episodes for her crassness.

However, what always struck me as odd (and inconsistent) was the fact that whenever they showed clips of the younger married Sophia in Brooklyn, she was just as crass - and there was no stroke to blame then.

Some of the funniest moments on Golden Girls came from Sophia. I don't think the show would have been as successful without her.

I love Sophia! :) She is my fave.

My favorite line of hers is "Why dont ya just blow it out your ditty bag". LMAO I just die laughing everytime I hear her say that.

I could have done without her also. The show would have been just fine.
His name can be found at Ps 83:18

I wasn't crazy about her character. She seemed mean to me.

It was never funny to me. Just mean spirited. Even when Dorothy insulted someone, it had a little bit less sting to it. Made it alittle more funny.
Like "silly putty, Rose!" Okay thats funny

"What did you model, car carpets"? Not funny. :mad:


I completely agree. That episode ruined Sophia for me. She was my least favorite throughout the entire run of the show with Rose not far behind. Dorothy and Blanche made me the obsessed fan that I am.

I think the difference is....some people can just relax and remember it's only a TV show, and nobody's really getting hurt.

Others, (like me) tend to take things way too seriously, and relate it too much to real life.

I loved Estelle Getty as an actress, but felt the writers often overdid her character's meanness. I also thought she was an odd choice to begin with for her role.

She was way too short to ever be Dorothy's mother, especially since Dorothy's father was also rather short. She had very blue eyes and fair skin. As a Sicilian myself, I can tell you there's really no such thing as a blue eyed, fair skinned Southern Italian. Northern Italian, yes, but Sicilians are pretty much always dark featured.

So I guess I'd say I'm a fan of all four girls, but would have preferred to see Sophia's antics toned down. They went way off track the episode they had her almost bash Rose in the head with a cooking pot, thinking it would cure Rose's insomnia. In real life, that would have been evidence of a dangerous level of dementia.

Sophia was what made the show funny. Her and Dorothy are my favorite characters. They got the best punchlines and one liners.

It was never funny to me. Just mean spirited. Even when Dorothy insulted someone, it had a little bit less sting to it. Made it alittle more funny.
Like "silly putty, Rose!" Okay thats funny

"What did you model, car carpets"? Not funny. :mad:

It was car covers.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDEwMDA=/z/cjMAAOSwxyRU2yvV/$_32.JPG

Blanche once even wanted to be called "the slut"
after she she found out Rose had 56 boyfriends during her life!

In one year! :lol:

Rose: I probably would've had more, but I wasn't allowed to start dating until I was a senior.

Dorothy: So the woman had 56 boyfriends in one year. She's not a slut. She is the slut.

[I]However, what always struck me as odd (and inconsistent) was the fact that whenever they showed clips of the younger married Sophia in Brooklyn, she was just as crass - and there was no stroke to blame then.

Agreed. Sophia was just as nasty in the flashbacks and recollections.

So I guess I'd say I'm a fan of all four girls, but would have preferred to see Sophia's antics toned down. They went way off track the episode they had her almost bash Rose in the head with a cooking pot, thinking it would cure Rose's insomnia. In real life, that would have been evidence of a dangerous level of dementia.

Sophia didn't really think it would cure Rose's insomnia; she just told Rose that, because it was her way of shutting up Rose, who'd begun to tell a dreaded St. Olaf story. So, Sophia was going to strike Rose with a pan to knock her out and silence her... if not for Blanche's entrance.

"Sophia didn't really think it would cure insomnia; she just told Rose that. It was her way of shutting Rose up."

All the more reason to insist that Sophia belongs back in Shady Pines. Seriously.....not as a punishment, but for the protection of innocent people. Whether she was going to bash another human being in the head out of confusion, or out of meanness, she would not, if it were real life, belong unsupervised any more.

Another vote for Sophia from me. That old broad is a national treasure in my eyes.

I like Sophia alright, but in the later years they wrote her "too obvious", like they were trying to point out how funny she is, and that just backfires with me when I watch those episodes.

Blanche once even wanted to be called "the slut"

Yet she is greatly insulted when Dorothy calls her one in an early season one episode; this is just one of the several reasons I don't consider seasons 5-7 GG canon. There are too many changes and inconsistencies with the characters' behaviors and dialogue (all the inconsistencies of their families during all 7 years notwithstanding, lol).

Rose having 56 boyfriends? Nope, not in my GG universe. Again, writing I majorly disagree with in those later seasons...


Agreed. Sophia was just as nasty in the flashbacks and recollections.

I never got that impression. From what I recall she certainly never said anything as stinging as her car covers comment.

I don't know that young Sophia would hurl insults at strangers like she did after her stroke, but the way she treated her husband certainly would imply she was never exactly a sweet-natured person.

My Dad was Italian. I certainly don't remember my mom ever calling him a "dumb boccigalupe" or throwing bread at him. She also had a history of calling her son-in-law names (Yutz), long before his infidelity was revealed and before she had the stroke.

Any way you slice it, Sophia was, at best, a smart mouth and a spit fire throughout her life. :argue:

Sophia and Estelle Getty was the best character on the show. Ma ruled! The Golden Girls should have been named "The Estelle Getty Show".

Saying things completely off-the-cuff was part of Sophia's "charm". Sometimes, she definitely crossed the line into cruelty, such as when she pretended to channel Rose's dead husband Charlie. She certainly could be cruel to Dorothy, but equally cruel to Rose and Blanche, as well as total strangers!

At she was honest.

@king of comedy

(I'm going to assume you meant "At least she was honest")

An interesting comment. We all see things differently in life, based on our life experience, and our personality, I guess.

Personally, I'm not one of those people who believes "brutal honesty" is the only way to go. Blurting out whatever crosses your mind may be cathartic for the person doing it, but it certainly can inflict a lot of pain on the people on the receiving end. I prefer more civilized, socially conscious behavior.

Hopefully, people laughed at Sophia because of how outrageous her comments were, but kept in mind that they were only watching a sit-com.

The reason I take this more seriously than some might, is because I've observed people mimicking behavior they've seen on TV all the time. It does shape real-life behavior, whether we like to admit it or not. Especially in young people.

Remember when we started to see so many young women tattooing themselves all over? Direct cause and effect from the TV shows "Miami Ink" and "LA Ink". The need to have manicures done professionally instead of just polishing your own nails? Came directly as a result of seeing so many rich women on TV act like it was a necessity, and not a luxury. And the need to constantly snipe at the people you love instead of speaking with respect is a staple in television.

Sorry for prattling on so long, but hopefully you get my concern. :lol:

I did assume to say At least. Don't forget there were other characters like Sophia like Carla from whom I hate so much.

Sophia "is just a mean old lady like the paperboy said."

Don't forget there were other characters like Sophia like Carla from whom I hate so much.

Ain't it the truth! :rolleyes: I have always really liked Rhea Perlman, but her character Carla on Cheers was a despicable human being. I don't think she was ever nice to anyone except Sam, and that's because she had a crush on him.

I'm not sure I'd like to live with her. She has a sharp and sometimes quite nasty tongue. Plus she can be prone to very bad and potentially financially disastrous judgment and she really is quite cruel sometimes in the way she takes advantage of Rose's naivety

But within the context of the show, she helped make it so entertaining for me. Her one-liners and jibes at the expense of the other girls can reduce me to hysterics. Her contribution to the show was, for the most part, priceless. She did rub me the wrong way once or twice -such as when she pretended to be the spirit of Rose's husband for instance. But otherwise she is a key part for me of why the show is so good and it would be -in my view -much poorer for not having her in it