Golden Girl's Opening Theme - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mike22580 · 09-26-2004, 03:17 AM

The Golden Girls opening theme is the same for all seasons, in most cases the theme is condensed and shortened and in a few episodes you hear the long theme and the rare longer theme. But if you watch the opening credits the scenes depicted are the same for the whole series they did not change and put new scenes into the opening credits in syndication, but i recall when the show aired on NBC in the late 80's and then 90's the opening credits were different, reflecting the changes to the characters, and the different scenes. I think one at the end showed sophia holding a coffee cup... I think each season had a different opening. if not each season the latter seasons did i think. Why in syndication do they show the same old boring opening for the whole series?

boechsner · 09-27-2004, 02:00 AM

Actually, the openings on Lifetime are different from the original openings or the ones used in syndication.

During the original run:

NBC used the medium version with the scenes being:

1985-1986 Season had totally different scenes of Miami and scenes of Dorothy and Blanche from the "Pilot" episode, a "Job Hunting" scene of Rose and the "Break-In" scene of Sophia.

1986-1989 Seasons had the same scenes except a "Take Him He's Mine" scene of Blanche.

1989-1992 Seasons had a "Sophia's Choice" scene of Blanche and a (I think) "High Anxiety" scene of Sophia.

When the Golden Girls came to syndication in 1990 through 1997, the extended version/the short version and the medium version were all used in specific cases so after editing, each episode would come out to approximately 22 min.

In 1997, the Golden Girls came to Lifetime and in general, Lifetime uses the standard short version of the 1986-1989 seasons. However, they do use the long and medium version for certain episodes. (For example, the The Stan Who Came to Dinner and the Bringing Up Baby episodes have the long version, while Blanche Delivers has the medium version.) Recently though, Lifetime has aired 2-parter episodes of The Golden Girls in their original 1-hour format. And the 1989-1992 version of the theme was intact. Watch for them!

Mike22580 · 09-27-2004, 03:38 PM

Thanks for answering the question i knew from when i watched them saturday nights on NBC they were different but it was so long ago i forgot what the openings were, then they did air on a local channel here for about 5 years... and went off to lifetime in the spring of 1997 i believe... lifetime however aired the ending credits to the series until 2000. They canned them and used a screen to promote more advertising of what was coming up next or the movie. Now they don't even show the original ending music with the freeze frames of what happened during that episode.

Joker85 · 09-27-2004, 03:50 PM

Let's just hope that the original beginning and ending credits will be included on the DVD set.

IAlsoLoveRaymond · 03-23-2005, 04:07 PM

This is why we get seasonal DVDs. I can't believe what gets cut from the reruns now.

MichaelKane20 · 03-24-2005, 01:02 AM

I hope they add the deleted scenes from the openings in later dvd editions i would really like to see them.

09-26-2004, 03:17 AM	#1
Mike22580 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Sep 14, 2003 Location: Northeastern United States Posts: 85	Golden Girl's Opening Theme The Golden Girls opening theme is the same for all seasons, in most cases the theme is condensed and shortened and in a few episodes you hear the long theme and the rare longer theme. But if you watch the opening credits the scenes depicted are the same for the whole series they did not change and put new scenes into the opening credits in syndication, but i recall when the show aired on NBC in the late 80's and then 90's the opening credits were different, reflecting the changes to the characters, and the different scenes. I think one at the end showed sophia holding a coffee cup... I think each season had a different opening. if not each season the latter seasons did i think. Why in syndication do they show the same old boring opening for the whole series?

03-23-2005, 04:07 PM	#5
IAlsoLoveRaymond Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 04, 2004 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 710	This is why we get seasonal DVDs. I can't believe what gets cut from the reruns now.
	__________________ I'm IAlsoLoveRaymond, and I approved this message.

09-27-2004, 02:00 AM	#2
boechsner Member Senior Member Join Date: Oct 18, 2000 Location: Green Bay, WI Posts: 2,212	Actually, the openings on Lifetime are different from the original openings or the ones used in syndication. During the original run: NBC used the medium version with the scenes being: 1985-1986 Season had totally different scenes of Miami and scenes of Dorothy and Blanche from the "Pilot" episode, a "Job Hunting" scene of Rose and the "Break-In" scene of Sophia. 1986-1989 Seasons had the same scenes except a "Take Him He's Mine" scene of Blanche. 1989-1992 Seasons had a "Sophia's Choice" scene of Blanche and a (I think) "High Anxiety" scene of Sophia. When the Golden Girls came to syndication in 1990 through 1997, the extended version/the short version and the medium version were all used in specific cases so after editing, each episode would come out to approximately 22 min. In 1997, the Golden Girls came to Lifetime and in general, Lifetime uses the standard short version of the 1986-1989 seasons. However, they do use the long and medium version for certain episodes. (For example, the The Stan Who Came to Dinner and the Bringing Up Baby episodes have the long version, while Blanche Delivers has the medium version.) Recently though, Lifetime has aired 2-parter episodes of The Golden Girls in their original 1-hour format. And the 1989-1992 version of the theme was intact. Watch for them!

09-27-2004, 03:38 PM	#3
Mike22580 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Sep 14, 2003 Location: Northeastern United States Posts: 85	Thanks for answering the question i knew from when i watched them saturday nights on NBC they were different but it was so long ago i forgot what the openings were, then they did air on a local channel here for about 5 years... and went off to lifetime in the spring of 1997 i believe... lifetime however aired the ending credits to the series until 2000. They canned them and used a screen to promote more advertising of what was coming up next or the movie. Now they don't even show the original ending music with the freeze frames of what happened during that episode.

09-27-2004, 03:50 PM	#4
Joker85 Back in St. Olaf... Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 18, 2003 Location: Alabama Posts: 481	Let's just hope that the original beginning and ending credits will be included on the DVD set.

03-24-2005, 01:02 AM	#6
MichaelKane20 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 07, 2003 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 128	I hope they add the deleted scenes from the openings in later dvd editions i would really like to see them.