It bothers me how mean they are to each other. An occasional sarcastic remark is funny, but it's kind of excessive. I love the show, but if they had toned that down I would love it more!

I can't think of anything that I truly disliked about the show. Certainly, Sophia could be cruel in how she treated Dorothy and the other Girls, and Blanche was a total narcissist. Rose was dim-witted and could be taken advantage of, but she was a beautiful and wonderful person. But these traits were in-tune with their characters and helped make the show the smashing success that it was. If I had to think of anything I didn't like, it would have to be that it should have gone on a few more seasons!

The constant sex jokes.

The lack of overall continuity and story arcs. This is something that plagued most sitcoms of that era - as they typically didn't have arcing plot points outside the occasional to be continued... episode.

It just felt everything would resolve itself in 30 minutes. Characters would come and go, dates and boyfriends, only to be never mentioned of again. The only consistent relationship any of the girls had was Rose with Miles.

It just didn't seem very realistic.

Sophia 's treatment of Dorothy is what always bothered me. Dorothy was a good daughter to do all she did for her, but Sophia was more often cruel than kind.

The lack of overall continuity and story arcs. This is something that plagued most sitcoms of that era - as they typically didn't have arcing plot points outside the occasional to be continued... episode.

It just felt everything would resolve itself in 30 minutes. Characters would come and go, dates and boyfriends, only to be never mentioned of again. The only consistent relationship any of the girls had was Rose with Miles.

It just didn't seem very realistic.

I agree. The lack of consistency, especially involving relatives and their family backgrounds.

It bothers me how mean they are to each other. An occasional sarcastic remark is funny, but it's kind of excessive. I love the show, but if they had toned that down I would love it more!
I loved the show, but it bothered me a lot how Sophia would often put down her daughter Dorothy. She made too many inappropriate jokes about her and it got me mad.

This is a very easy question for me to answer.
The inconstincies (?) of all things, family relatives.

1. How many kids did Rose and Blanche have?
I don't believe Blanche had six kids, but six were mentioned.
2. One of Dorothy's kids should have been a lot older.
Dorothy's grandchild to be was only mentioned once.

Of course, there are a lot more examples.
To mention them all would be to write a novel.

This is a very easy question for me to answer.
The inconstincies (?) of all things, family relatives.

1. How many kids did Rose and Blanche have?
I don't believe Blanche had six kids, but six were mentioned.
2. One of Dorothy's kids should have been a lot older.
Dorothy's grandchild to be was only mentioned once.

Of course, there are a lot more examples.
To mention them all would be to write a novel.

Yes. And why didn't they visit more often? How many of Blanche's kids did we actually see on screen? If she had as many as she suggested, you'd think a few of 'em would visit - especially since Blanche was the only one from the region (the South) and most likely had her children, at least a few of 'em, within an easy drive.

I didn't necessarily like how, while they made even more fun of Dorothy in the last season or two, the jokes just weren't as funny. And I didn't like how the writers from season 5-on toned down Dorothy (not to mention Sophia). But, that has more to do with the change in writers and all that.

A lot of the great sitcoms had inconsistencies in character details and history (even I Love Lucy, so we shouldn't be surprised that GG had that, as well.

I agree sometimes the remarks were very mean and uncalled for, sometimes they used Sophia's stroke (disease) for her to say horrible and not so funny remarks; however this would be the writing, also how was Bea's son 29 when she had to get married and divorced after 38 yrs.? This is the one major flaw ,and I mean major, the writers just made somethings up and then if it didn't suit a storyline a year later? it was to be forgotten, many many times this was done. To this day I think Rue had the most children, but I am not sure.The biggest blunder was the age difference in Dorthy's marriage and the age of the kids.:) YET I LOVED THAT SHOW AND STILL DO!!!!

I have loved this show since I was 15 years old and there are very few complaints that I could give about it. Except these 4 things.

1. Whenever the girls went anymore, it didn't matter where it was they always lost their luggage. It became a long running joke on the show that after three seasons got very tiring.

2. Something would happen and their families would ended saying the same thing. "I shouldn't have come here." or "The biggest mistake was coming here at all." Once again it just became a standard thing to create unecessary drama

3. A Banqute or special event and whenever they would catch wind that one of them might win, the tables would turn and they insult and say mean things to each other.

4. I thought sometimes things that the Sophia and the girls would say about Dorothy was very cruel when they would make fun of her looks or how her body was. Dorothy was just as attractive as any one of them, but yet they take any opportunity they could to insult her. Especially Sophia who seemed to put her daughter down a lot.

I agree. The lack of consistency, especially involving relatives and their family backgrounds.

Agreed. I remember on a recent episode Dorothy mentions that her grandmother (Sophia's mother) was 98 when she was 6 years and says that she passed away. However, in the Mother Day episode it showed a flashback with Sophia's mother and Dorothy was clearly was a grown woman at the time.

I loved the show, but it bothered me a lot how Sophia would often put down her daughter Dorothy. She made too many inappropriate jokes about her and it got me mad.

That's why Dorthy put her mother in a old folks home, until the first episode when it burnt down (Sophia?) :lol:

This is a very easy question for me to answer.
The inconstincies (?) of all things, family relatives.

1. How many kids did Rose and Blanche have?
I don't believe Blanche had six kids, but six were mentioned.
2. One of Dorothy's kids should have been a lot older.
Dorothy's grandchild to be was only mentioned once.

Of course, there are a lot more examples.
To mention them all would be to write a novel.

Yes I noticed all the inconsistencies too! Doesn't stop me from loving the show at all :) but for example: when Blanche is trying to bribe Dorothy she says she has had four kids but has never had a Mercedes and she would give Dorothy one of her sons...however in another episode (and on Wikipedia- info about the show) it states Blanche does indeed have 6 kids??? I was confused to say the least. :confused:

About Blanche's kids - if you take away 1 episode then Blanche has 4 kids.

It's the 3rd season where girls are babysitting the pig episode, where Blanche mentions the names of 3 sons. Someone, Jiff and Skippy. The first 2 sons are never mentioned again. Skippy is and so is Matthew. Of course, her sons never visited her. Only her 2 daughters did.

What makes this even more confusing is this. Later in the 3rd season in the episode where Dorothy is upset about her son marrying a much older woman, she asks Blanche how she would feel if it were son. Blanche replied "nothing he would do would surprise me" implying she had only 1 son.

Matthew shows up in The Golden Palace. I don't think Doug, Bif and Skippy were for real. I think she just had 2 daughters, Rebecca and Janet, and son Matthew.

They were real...remember different writers at different times...Blanche wouldn't have mentioned children she didn't have, that would make no sense.

Newbie here. I've been a Golden Girls fanatic for well over a decade, own all the individual season DVDs, and recently got on a real kick of watching every episode in order.

I too have to vote for the continuity errors being the thing that annoys me the most about the series. One thing I notice quite a bit that doesn't seem right is the vintage of Sophia's "Picture it!" stories. If Sophia was 80 years old when the series started in 1985, she would have been born in 1905, and therefore only seven years old in 1912, when she claimed she and Mama Celeste had a pizza restaurant and when she claimed to have met Pablo Picasso. 1922 (which she seemed to use more often) seems more correct. Sure, I realize the stories are supposed to be fantastical, but notice no one ever calls Sophia out on it and points out that the stories couldn't have taken place in 1912 because she would have been a little girl then!

Another thing I find a little hard to swallow... Sophia lived in Sicily for the first 20 or so years of her life, but speaks perfect English with no trace of an Italian accent, and when she speaks Italian it's with an American accent. One would think that if English weren't her first language, there would be, even after sixty years, something of an Italian accent when she speaks English, and that her Italian would still sound perfectly natural. One could make the case that she had to learn to talk all over again after having her stroke, but even in the flashback sequences she speaks perfect English with no accent. Not to mention, Sophia's mother, in her one appearance during a flashback sequence (played by Bea Arthur), also speaks perfect English with no Italian accent. This is not to take away anything from Estelle Getty, who was brilliant in her portrayal, and it doesn't hinder my enjoyment of the show, but it couldn't happen in real life. (Of course, Bea Arthur herself said that the show itself was something that couldn't happen in real life.)

Re: the inconsistencies in Dorothy's grandmother - it seems hard for me to swallow that Dorothy's grandmother could possibly have been 98 when Dorothy was 6. Not impossible, I suppose, but not likely. I explain that to myself by thinking that Dorothy may actually have been talking about her GREAT-grandmother, which would seem more plausible.

A much more minor quibble - I was watching the Bob Hope episode today, and Blanche mentions that the weatherman of a local TV station who was supposed to emcee the talent show had to bow out. When Blanche says the call letters of the TV station, they start with a K. Miami is east of the Mississippi River, so the calls should start with W, not K.

I'd say all the inaccuracies. I mean. Sometimes they are funny. But, sometimes they are just stupid and make you wonder if the writers were smoking something "funny".

I would say from a technical standpoint, the only thing I would point to would be, PERHAPS, that Estelle Getty was miscast. We all know she had the look, but her acting chops were far below the skill and White, Arthur and McClanahan, and the show's production value and timing paid a price. I think perhaps they could have found a better actress with better comedic timing and a little more variety in her acting. I often wonder who else auditioned for the role of Sophia. I think Nancy Walker, actually, could have pulled off the role. So to answer your question, although I loved Estelle as Sophia, from a thespian standpoint, I think the role could have been better cast. It would have made the overall timing and production even that much tighter.

Estelle was already showing signs of dementia toward the end of the series. She often would forget her lines.

I think Estelle's acting was certainly just as good as the other performers.
Some bad moments sure, but overall her timing, intonation and facial expressions were absolute genius. However I do believe they gave her waaay too many lines and main stories. Should've kept her just as the supporting actress for the snappy one liners. Often I find the character Sophia annoying, disrupting and extremely cold/unkind.
That's what I like least about the show.

Sophia's unkindness, which sometimes went over the line, is one thing that I don't always like about the show. Another are the aforementioned continuity issues.

One other thing sometimes bugs me. The harp music during the opening scene, when the establishing shot of their house is shown. It's always the same. 200 episodes and they never thought to change out that establishing shot theme music?!

I agree that the lack of consistency is very bothersome. When I watched the series in its original run I never noticed this, but now that I own DVDs and can watch whenever I feel to it is noticeable. It must just be that in the era the program first ran, it was never imagined people would have the ability to watch their favorite episodes whenever they pleased. In the 80s and 90s one could hope for re-runs at best, which meant your favorite episode only rarely turned up. Of course die-hard fans would videotape everything, but this wasn't common or economical.

I also agree that Sophia's cruelty was hard to take. There was an episode where she turned away Dorothy's date (to the prom?) over some minor rudeness of his and it was depressing... To do that to one's own daughter seemed so hateful. At the time I saw this I was a fan of the show and a teenager, and this episode created a permanent (albeit minor) dislike for the character of Sophia. These jabs at Dorothy happened quite a bit. I also feel the girls insulted Rose unnecessarily. Rose made silly comments but I never thought she was stupid, and even if she was being foolish why would true friends mock her? I realize these comments made for drama or laughs but I felt the writers sacrificed character integrity in the process. I do think Estelle Getty was a great actress who could pull off that cruelty without becoming a villain or a character that people love to hate, so I would respectfully disagree that she was miscast. I feel the same about all the other actresses who were at times made to be cruel (even Rose at times was nasty which I suppose was played for laughs as being out of character). All of the actresses had such wonderful charisma and talent that they remained loveable in spite of the vindictive elements written in, but I do think these took away from the overall quality.

What Bothers Me The MOST is. . .


http://s14.postimg.org/x0vbyl5f5/roflbot.jpg

It's weird for me to actually point this out because I love the Golden Girls SO MUCH!!

However, it annoys me that they supposedly eat, eat, eat but in reality they never really do. Like the episode where Blanche is supposedly gonna eat a huge lasagna casserole but she hardly even touches the thing! The writers try to present them as eating around the table but they so don't! Sophia talks about Blanch pigging out on chips ahoy but Blanch just holds the cookie and barley even takes one nibble :rolleyes:

it annoys me that Blanch doesn't know how to read the word "bleach" even though its similar to the pronunciation of her own name!

it annoys me that Rose doesn't know what "long in the tooth" means referring to Blanch's older boyfriend but then in an earlier episode she uses it to describe Michael's girlfriend.

also, Rose acts so shocked that Blanche or anyone could hate their own sister; however in another episode Rose says she hates her sister that is coming to visit.

That's it for now cause I truly do enjoy the show over AND over again!

I would say from a technical standpoint, the only thing I would point to would be, PERHAPS, that Estelle Getty was miscast. We all know she had the look, but her acting chops were far below the skill and White, Arthur and McClanahan, and the show's production value and timing paid a price. I think perhaps they could have found a better actress with better comedic timing and a little more variety in her acting. I often wonder who else auditioned for the role of Sophia. I think Nancy Walker, actually, could have pulled off the role. So to answer your question, although I loved Estelle as Sophia, from a thespian standpoint, I think the role could have been better cast. It would have made the overall timing and production even that much tighter.
Nancy Walker could have also made a great Estelle. I can see her in it.

What do I like least about "The Golden Girls"?. . .


http://i.imgur.com/2sxnfi8.png (http://lunapic.com>)

One other thing sometimes bugs me. The harp music during the opening scene, when the establishing shot of their house is shown. It's always the same. 200 episodes and they never thought to change out that establishing shot theme music?!

The "stars" of that opening music are violins and flute, but that's part of what it makes it so much the classic comfort show that it is; that familiar establishing music that cozies you right in to the girls. You don't mess with perfection. :)

What I like least is how the quality deteriorated in seasons 5 through 7. The writers sacrificed character truth and genuineness for the sake of cheap jokes (they often wrote Rose as literally "stupid" instead of just extremely naïve).

"You know Golden Girls, I think that is the thing I like least about you!"

(Having recently watched the episode "Vacation", I can't believe no one in this thread spoofed that line of Dorothy's to Blanche yet, lol)

One thing that irritates me is how, almost any time there's a racial minority on the screen, someone has to make a comment about the person's race.

Some examples off the top of my head - Sophia prattling on about Chinese Checkers to Dorothy's doctor, Martinique "admitting" that she's black, Sophia asking the guy at the diner "Are you black?" when he asks if they can cook, and Fidel Santiago saying "My papers are in order!" when Blanche yells his name.

I think the main thing that will always bug me about the show is the series finale

I didn't buy into Dorothy marrying Blanche's uncle after such a short time of knowing him. It didn't feel true to her character. I would of rather the finale been a bit predictable and have her and stan remarry, or even a major job promotion to take her away. I just didn't like that this was how Dorothy's story came to an end on the show.

Someone else said it and I agree there were way too many sex jokes, there's no need for all that smut. And Blanche was...such a tramp. And that's putting it nicely. I can't believe anybody would want to live with a roommate like that in real life. Where they constantly have men coming and going all the time.

Ed.

I agree sometimes the remarks were very mean and uncalled for, sometimes they used Sophia's stroke (disease) for her to say horrible and not so funny remarks; however this would be the writing, also how was Bea's son 29 when she had to get married and divorced after 38 yrs.? This is the one major flaw ,and I mean major, the writers just made somethings up and then if it didn't suit a storyline a year later? it was to be forgotten, many many times this was done. To this day I think Rue had the most children, but I am not sure.The biggest blunder was the age difference in Dorthy's marriage and the age of the kids.:) YET I LOVED THAT SHOW AND STILL DO!!!!
Yes, how was Michael only 29 when Dorothy had to get married because she was pregnant with him THIRTY EIGHT years ago??? :crazy:

Yes, how was Michael only 29 when Dorothy had to get married because she was pregnant with him THIRTY EIGHT years ago??? :crazy:

She was most likely pregnant with Kate first, not Michael (that's what I've always believed).

I'll agree that Sophia was downright mean and cruel a lot of times. But Dorothy could be that way too, she gave as good as she got. But she usually took it out on Rose or Blanche instead of her mom.

Ed.

4. I thought sometimes things that the Sophia and the girls would say about Dorothy was very cruel when they would make fun of her looks or how her body was. Dorothy was just as attractive as any one of them, but yet they take any opportunity they could to insult her. Especially Sophia who seemed to put her daughter down a lot.
It was a running gag, much in the same way that Will on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air would always make fun of Uncle Phil's weight or Carlton's height or geekiness every episode.

I would say from a technical standpoint, the only thing I would point to would be, PERHAPS, that Estelle Getty was miscast. We all know she had the look, but her acting chops were far below the skill and White, Arthur and McClanahan, and the show's production value and timing paid a price. I think perhaps they could have found a better actress with better comedic timing and a little more variety in her acting. I often wonder who else auditioned for the role of Sophia. I think Nancy Walker, actually, could have pulled off the role. So to answer your question, although I loved Estelle as Sophia, from a thespian standpoint, I think the role could have been better cast. It would have made the overall timing and production even that much tighter.
Nancy Walker would've been terrible on the show IMO, she didn't impress me on the two episodes she guest starred in as Sophia's sister. IMO Estelle was great in the role for the most part, she had a way of delivering the lines with quickness and ferocity that made the lines hilarious. I think certain seasons Sophia's character was funnier than others however.

The continuity thing never bothered me about the series, a lot of times the writers did that to help the story at hand.

The thing that bothered me the most was the exit of director Terry Hughes and a lot of the orignal writers after season 5. The dip in quality from seasons 1-5 to seasons 6 and 7 is very pronounced. All the characters became caricatures during the final two seasons. Blanche was a slut (they seemed to use the word slut much more frequently in the final seasons) instead of just enjoying the company of men, Rose was downright ********, Dorothy was undateable and a homebody, and Sophia went from being colorful to an outright bitch.

One more thing that bothered me was Blanche's closed-mindedness. I felt it hypocritical that Blanche lived her life as she saw fit (a narcissistic, sex hungry, trollop), but had problems with her brother being gay, her brother marrying a man, her daughter getting artificially inseminated, her father wanting to become a singer etc;