2020 was something else. We laughed, we cried (mostly cried), and we watched hours upon hours of reruns of The Golden Girls. (As did everyone else: In April alone, Hulu viewers watched nearly 11 million hours of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia.)
One thing we observed — while watching this show for the umpteenth time — was how many dark plot points came up. Like, REALLY dark. Sure, maybe you’d expect some health scares or dating woes in a show about four single women over 50. But deep-seated abandonment issues? Sexual assault? HIV/AIDS? …
In October, The Atlantic published an article by Rhaina Cohen called “What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life?” It highlighted individuals who place a friendship, rather than a sexual partnership, as the most important relationship in their lives — and it had The Golden Girls written all over it.
The premise of The Golden Girls (which ran on NBC from 1985–1992) is that four older women find themselves living together as roommates during a ‘second act’ of life. Three of the women, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia, are widowed and one, Dorothy, is divorced. …
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