The Golden Girls' Mel Bushman was TV's first "old-guy fun buddy"

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https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/...ls-mel-bushman

"Whenever The Golden Girls’ man-crazy Blanche Devereaux found herself without a date, she’d call up her old standby, Mel Bushman, who was always waiting for her in the wings," Brian VanHooker says of Alan King's guest-starring role on a 1991 episode. "Bushman liked things simple, and a little fantastic went a long way: His idea of a nice evening was to order a little pastrami and rent Out of Africa, a movie he and Blanche never managed to make it all the way through. Bushman was comforting and predictable, and when the mood struck Blanche — or when Out of Africa was on — she’d stay over. Bushman’s relationship with Blanche wasn’t quite as serious or romantic as a committed boyfriend, nor was it as fleeting as one of her many one-night stands. Bushman was unique, not just to Blanche’s rolodex, but also to TV at that time. As author Steven W. Thrasher put it, 'Pretty sure Blanche Devereaux and Mel Bushman were the first example of outright booty-call/f*** buddies/friends-with-benefits ever presented in a prime time sitcom, no?'"