Maude and Vivian were best friends on Maude,just as Dorothy and Blanche were friends.My guess is that Bea Arther and Rue McClunahan are good friends in real life.However,while Dorothy is not too much different from Maude,Blanche is quite a difference from Vivian.For one thing,Vivian did not have that beautiful southern accent Blanche had.Vivian was a somewhat ditzy dimwitted character,with the tendency to cry like Lucille Ball,as opposed to the aggressive man hungry southern belle character that Blanche was.The ditzy dimwitted character on The Golden Girls appears to be Rose.

I think Dorothy and Blanche look so much better in GG than they did in Maude. Some people improve with age, but I guess they both lost weight and Bea had an eye job.