"The
Golden Girls" strikes a humor vein with "The O.C."
set.
June 7, 2004
On the Fox youth-market hit, "The O.C.," it's
not unusual to hear the hunks and hotties of Orange County sharing
secrets. But last season included perhaps the most unlikely shocker
of all: Romantic rivals Summer (Rachel Bilson) and Anna (Samaire
Armstrong) bonded over their shared addiction to "The Golden Girls."
That's right: two stylin', lip-glossed
characters on a show adored by young viewers revealed their
addiction to an '80s sitcom that, even in its high-rated prime,
was considered about as cutting-edge as a flower-bordered casserole
dish.
But when it comes to pop culture,
you never know who will discover what and pronounce it good.
And "The Golden Girls" -- the adventures of four cheesecake-fancying
middle-aged (and older) single gals sharing a house in Miami
Beach -- has turned into an unexpected favorite among the younger
set.
"We gets hundreds of e-mails from adoring
fans every month about it," says Tim Brooks, the television
historian who's also executive vice president of research at Lifetime
Television. Since the cable channel known for its round-the-clock
programming of women-in-jeopardy TV movies added "Golden Girls"
reruns in 1997, the sitcom has become required viewing in some college
dormitories and hipster households.
"There's definitely a bit of a groundswell
about this," says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for
the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. Of "The
Golden Girls" and its renaissance, Thompson says, "When
this penetrates 'The O.C.' we know it's a force to be reckoned with.
Because 'The O.C.' has really become one of the bellwethers of hip,
young content."
Brooks, co-author of the definitive volume "The Complete
Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present,"
also cites the increasing visibility of "The Golden Girls":
"A new generation picked up on it, and
that found its way into pop culture, with skits on 'Saturday Night
Live' and MTV," Brooks says. "And that's the highest
form of tribute."
A strong ratings performer -- Lifetime runs
"Golden Girls" episodes in the morning, at noon, in early
evening and late at night (see Lifetimetv.com for specific show
times) -- the series defied the common pattern of shows that move
into syndication. "Shows like this often kind of wear,"
he says. "You run a few shows, and people get tired of seeing
it. But this one built and got more popular."
"The Golden Girls" mini-revival has
spawned a Lifetime reunion special that ran last June, fan Web sites
and such random tributes as this February post from the Internet
Movie Database: "LOVE THIS SHOW!!! I loved this show the minute
I saw it as a teen. I saw it once or twice as a kid, but never got
the jokes. Now that I'm a bit more grown-up, I've seen every epi
at least 10 times and watch it whenever it comes on."
For
those whose knowledge of "The Golden Girls" is less complete,
a refresher: The show debuted on NBC in 1985, and ran until 1992.
The stars were Bea Arthur (of "Maude" fame) as sarcastic
Dorothy; Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens, the lusty "Happy Homemaker"
on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") as naive Minnesotan Rose;
Rue McClanahan as the lusty Southern belle Blanche; and Estelle
Getty as Dorothy's salty Sicilian mother, Sophia.
All single, owing to various combinations
of divorce and widowhood, the quartet spent a lot of time making
jokes about men, sex and dating, prompting some to regard them
as silver-haired precursors to the "Sex and the City"
quartet.
Brooks says that when Lifetime has asked viewers
why "The Golden Girls" clicks with young women, "Sex
and the City" echoes aren't far off. "The Golden Girls
don't talk like ladies their age, they talk and act like young
people today," Brooks says. "They're not beholden to
men, they talk about sex, they run their own lives."
To Syracuse University's Thompson, "The
Golden Girls" taps into viewers' nostalgia and a female audiences'
appreciation of a show built around women. He also sees a link
between "Golden Girls" and the recently departed "Friends."
"There's something terribly optimistic
about 'The Golden Girls.' " Thompson says, "that feeling
that life can continue to be like a college dormitory not only
into our 20s and 30s, like it was on 'Friends,' but into our 50s
and 60s. What's pleasing to a young person now is it offers this
promise that becoming older doesn't mean you have to become a
stereotype."
With the finales of "Friends," "Frasier,"
"Sex and the City" and other sitcoms, the conventional
wisdom is that this venerable TV form is in trouble. Lifetime's
Brooks says viewers are possibly more choosy than they used to
be. "But the sitcom isn't dead, and it's never gone away.
The thing about sitcoms is it's not that pliable a format. It's
almost always a half-hour, always a small group who interact with
each other in a fairly limited space. It always has a situation,
the misunderstanding and the hilarious conclusion. It will always
be with us."
When it comes to "re-runnability,"
Brooks says, much depends on casting, a precedent established
by the most enduring sitcom, "I Love Lucy." Enduring
shows also feature characters you can relate to, Brooks says.
"Television is a very intimate medium. You're in your pajamas
in your own home, and maybe the TV's in your bedroom and you're
watching it over your toes. People watch television for the people
they like to spend time with."
For that reason, Brooks says, "I
think 'Golden Girls' is going to be popular 20 years from now,
just the way 'Lucy' is virtually eternal. Very few shows make
that cut."
