Do the inconsistencies on the show bother you? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Cheesecake101 · 05-23-2017, 12:32 PM

We all know how the show has many plot holes that the writers seemed to overlook like the fact that Blanche's daughter went from overweight and low self esteem to boney thin and confident about artificial insemination in such a short amount of time. Do these things in the show ever bother you?

They don't bother me. I love this show so much that I just roll with it.

623East68Strt · 05-27-2017, 07:21 PM

The only goof that bothers me is that Dorothy and Stan were married for 38 years, as mentioned several times through out the series, and neither Kate or Michael could possibly have been the result of a teen pregnancy as they each look to be in their mid twenties in the 80's. Dorothy married Stan somewhere between 1945-1949. Their oldest child would've been 40/nearing 40 when the series started. Otherwise i can deal with the other goofs.

Cheesecake101 · 05-28-2017, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 623East68Strt

The only goof that bothers me is that Dorothy and Stan were married for 38 years, as mentioned several times through out the series, and neither Kate or Michael could possibly have been the result of a teen pregnancy as they each look to be in their mid twenties in the 80's. Dorothy married Stan somewhere between 1945-1949. Their oldest child would've been 40/nearing 40 when the series started. Otherwise i can deal with the other goofs.

I always thought it was possible that they had another unnamed child besides Michael and Kate who was the result of her teen pregnancy. Kind of like Blanche's 3/4 sons that were mentioned but never seen on the show. Plus Dorothy had grandchildren and Kate had no children while Michael only had a baby with Loraine so she must have another child with children for her to be a grandmother.

Wawwie · 05-28-2017, 12:49 AM

In the very first episode, Dorothy tells Rose that she is from Queens, then miraculously she is suddenly from Brooklyn.

Cheesecake101 · 05-28-2017, 01:45 AM

Funny I don't remember that. I know that in the first episode they had a gay male cook living with them but he was never seen again. I was curious as to how he would turn out as a character if they kept him in the show.

But if they hadn't gotten rid of him then the show wouldn't have an excuse for Sophia to show off her great Italian cooking skills or for Rose to whip up those viking-scandanavian midwestern concoctions. Lol

Wawwie · 05-28-2017, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesecake101

Funny I don't remember that. I know that in the first episode they had a gay male cook living with them but he was never seen again. I was curious as to how he would turn out as a character if they kept him in the show.

But if they hadn't gotten rid of him then the show wouldn't have an excuse for Sophia to show off her great Italian cooking skills or for Rose to whip up those viking-scandanavian midwestern concoctions. Lol

Sorta off topic: I'm wondering if their gay cook was the same man who played Vera's husband in "Alice." His name was "Elliot" in that show.

But yeah, no explanation about the cook's absence after the first episode?

bandonurse · 05-28-2017, 10:20 AM

Yes, you nailed it. Charles Levin was Elliot on "Alice" as well as being Coco on GG.

He must have been a very good actor, because I just assumed he was gay in real life, until I read Betty White's autobiography, in which she happens to comment that he was not.

JR1 · 05-28-2017, 08:18 PM

While an undisputed class, this show indeed did have a number of inconsistencies- the writers just did not pay the attention they should have to the details. It's such a well done show, though (especially seasons 1-4), that they don't detract from enjoying the show.

One of my "favorites": Sophia saying she and Angela are the last remaining of the original family- before Angela morphs into Angelo.

One of the words writer goofs? Having Rose, in a later episode, say her parents' last name was Nylund. D'oh!

Cheesecake101 · 05-28-2017, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR1

While an undisputed class, this show indeed did have a number of inconsistencies- the writers just did not pay the attention they should have to the details. It's such a well done show, though (especially seasons 1-4), that they don't detract from enjoying the show.

One of my "favorites": Sophia saying she and Angela are the last remaining of the original family- before Angela morphs into Angelo.

One of the words writer goofs? Having Rose, in a later episode, say her parents' last name was Nylund. D'oh!

Maybe Rose hooked up with the family? An extra peice of the puzzle lol after all she did say that in Saint Olaf everybody had the same family tree and could be traced back to the same brother and sister.

Also I found it kinda odd that Blanche and Virginia repatched their relationship in the episode where she needed a kidney transplant but in the episode where Big Daddy died they went back to hating each other and Virginia was never seen again. Like seriously why did their relationship in the show have to be left off on such a bad note?

schmave · 05-30-2017, 04:40 PM

The way my mind is wired, the inconsistencies have always bothered me to an extent. Granted Golden Girls began airing in a time when it probably couldn't have been foreseen that someday, viewers like us would be able to nitpick anything we wanted "on demand," to use a modern term. But the writers were inexcusably lazy when it came to the inconsistencies. It would not have been that hard to maintain a history for each character that could be easily be referred to when needed.
As for a few bloopers mentioned here, the "original family" comment by Sophia was true as far as we knew at the time, so that is more amusing. It's the contradiction of previously established information that bothers me.
IMO, the Nylund/Lindstrom error by Rose is the single worst writing mistake of the entire series. The writers, other cast members and/or Betty White herself should have caught that immediately. Eventually it was caught, because Lindstrom was referred to as Rose's maiden name thereafter.

bandonurse · 05-30-2017, 06:22 PM

Quote:

"The writers, other cast members and/or Betty White herself should have caught that immediately".

I so agree schmave.

Betty has been known to say that she let's the writers do their job when she's working, and I love her for that (not being a diva) But the surname issue she should have intervened in, in my opinion.

Golden Girls will always be my favorite sit-com of all time, for sentimental reasons, because I dearly love Betty White, and because the show in totality was just heartwarming. But by comparison, Frasier is probably one of the smartest written scripts I've ever watched. It was also perfectly cast. Although Estelle was absolutely adorable as Sophia, I always thought that physically, she was an oddball choice. Blue eyes, way too small to be Bea's mother, and with a New York accent instead of an Italian one. Just didn't make sense. She was so funny in her role that they completely got away with it, but as a Sicilian myself, I can assure you she looks and sounds nothing like one.

I'm especially not sure what to make of how loose and fast the writers played with the ages of Dorothy's children. When we first met him, Michael was 29. When he got married to Lorraine, he was 24, then less than two years later, Dorothy says "he's 30 years old!"

And as others have pointed out, none of those ages made sense, since Dorothy had been pregnant with one of them at the onset of a 38 year marriage.

Cheesecake101 · 05-30-2017, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bandonurse

Although Estelle was absolutely adorable as Sophia, I always thought that physically, she was an oddball choice. Blue eyes, way too small to be Bea's mother.

Believe me it is possible for a small woman to give birth to children who are much taller than herself. My own mama is an example of such a thing she is on the short side like my grandmother but my brothers and sister are all very tall compared to her much like Dorothy is compared to Sophia. Plus in one flashback episode Sophia's mother was played by Bea Arthur herself so Dorothy could possibly take after her grandmother more than her mother which would explain the difference in height.

80sTrivia · 05-31-2017, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmave

Golden Girls began airing in a time when it probably couldn't have been foreseen that someday, viewers like us would be able to nitpick anything we wanted "on demand," to use a modern term

This is very true, and I had not thought of it in this way. I imagine most long-running series have inconsistencies as well, but you probably wouldn't notice unless you binged watched episodes over a 24-hour period, as I have done!

schmave · 06-01-2017, 01:04 PM

And on top of that 80sTrivia, series that came out long before the Golden Girls were far more consistent. I can't think of many series I've ever watched, regardless of the era in which they aired, that disregard canon as much as the Golden Girls.
If a modern show had those inconsistencies, viewers will take to social media, etc. immediately to highlight them.

Dianne3 · 06-01-2017, 03:52 PM

The GG have too many inconsistencies, compared to other shows.
Some you can overlook, some you can't.

Yes it does bother me if the later writers who wrote for GG, if they didn't watch the earlier episodes. Did they?

A lot of the inconsistencies have to do with family members. It is very unclear how many children Rose and Blanche have, for example.

05-23-2017, 12:32 PM	#1
Cheesecake101 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 15, 2017 Location: Non of your business Posts: 29	Do the inconsistencies on the show bother you? We all know how the show has many plot holes that the writers seemed to overlook like the fact that Blanche's daughter went from overweight and low self esteem to boney thin and confident about artificial insemination in such a short amount of time. Do these things in the show ever bother you? They don't bother me. I love this show so much that I just roll with it.
	Last edited by Cheesecake101; 05-23-2017 at 07:05 PM.

05-27-2017, 07:21 PM	#2
623East68Strt Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 21, 2017 Location: USA Posts: 6	The only goof that bothers me is that Dorothy and Stan were married for 38 years, as mentioned several times through out the series, and neither Kate or Michael could possibly have been the result of a teen pregnancy as they each look to be in their mid twenties in the 80's. Dorothy married Stan somewhere between 1945-1949. Their oldest child would've been 40/nearing 40 when the series started. Otherwise i can deal with the other goofs.

05-28-2017, 12:49 AM	#4
Wawwie Member Forum Star Join Date: Jul 26, 2006 Location: New York Posts: 14,376	In the very first episode, Dorothy tells Rose that she is from Queens, then miraculously she is suddenly from Brooklyn.

05-28-2017, 01:45 AM	#5
Cheesecake101 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 15, 2017 Location: Non of your business Posts: 29	Funny I don't remember that. I know that in the first episode they had a gay male cook living with them but he was never seen again. I was curious as to how he would turn out as a character if they kept him in the show. But if they hadn't gotten rid of him then the show wouldn't have an excuse for Sophia to show off her great Italian cooking skills or for Rose to whip up those viking-scandanavian midwestern concoctions. Lol

05-28-2017, 10:20 AM	#7
bandonurse Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 17, 2015 Location: Mentor, Ohio Posts: 1,082	Yes, you nailed it. Charles Levin was Elliot on "Alice" as well as being Coco on GG. He must have been a very good actor, because I just assumed he was gay in real life, until I read Betty White's autobiography, in which she happens to comment that he was not.

05-28-2017, 08:18 PM	#8
JR1 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 07, 2009 Location: USA Posts: 742	While an undisputed class, this show indeed did have a number of inconsistencies- the writers just did not pay the attention they should have to the details. It's such a well done show, though (especially seasons 1-4), that they don't detract from enjoying the show. One of my "favorites": Sophia saying she and Angela are the last remaining of the original family- before Angela morphs into Angelo. One of the words writer goofs? Having Rose, in a later episode, say her parents' last name was Nylund. D'oh!

05-30-2017, 04:40 PM	#10
schmave Member Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 23, 2013 Location: Reynoldsburg, Ohio Posts: 653	The way my mind is wired, the inconsistencies have always bothered me to an extent. Granted Golden Girls began airing in a time when it probably couldn't have been foreseen that someday, viewers like us would be able to nitpick anything we wanted "on demand," to use a modern term. But the writers were inexcusably lazy when it came to the inconsistencies. It would not have been that hard to maintain a history for each character that could be easily be referred to when needed. As for a few bloopers mentioned here, the "original family" comment by Sophia was true as far as we knew at the time, so that is more amusing. It's the contradiction of previously established information that bothers me. IMO, the Nylund/Lindstrom error by Rose is the single worst writing mistake of the entire series. The writers, other cast members and/or Betty White herself should have caught that immediately. Eventually it was caught, because Lindstrom was referred to as Rose's maiden name thereafter.

06-01-2017, 01:04 PM	#14
schmave Member Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 23, 2013 Location: Reynoldsburg, Ohio Posts: 653	And on top of that 80sTrivia, series that came out long before the Golden Girls were far more consistent. I can't think of many series I've ever watched, regardless of the era in which they aired, that disregard canon as much as the Golden Girls. If a modern show had those inconsistencies, viewers will take to social media, etc. immediately to highlight them.

06-01-2017, 03:52 PM	#15
Dianne3 Member Senior Member Join Date: Aug 07, 2002 Posts: 1,057	The GG have too many inconsistencies, compared to other shows. Some you can overlook, some you can't. Yes it does bother me if the later writers who wrote for GG, if they didn't watch the earlier episodes. Did they? A lot of the inconsistencies have to do with family members. It is very unclear how many children Rose and Blanche have, for example.