THE GOLDEN GIRLS: Season One - November 23rd, 2004 (1 Viewer)

[LukeB]

The episodes run about 24:45 each. Don't think these are syndicated versions.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Well that's a relief Luke! Bring 'em on! I'm also glad to hear that Disney had decided to release these at a fast pase as you say with the next release being this spring! The preliminary artwork is great, in that it seems to be consistent with season one! So at a rate of every four months or so, hopefully we'll have the entire series in the next 1 1/2 to 2 years!

Andy

 

[MatthewA]

Thank goodness they're uncut.

I have several NBC airings and I think that is a consistent length of the uncut show without commercials.

Bye bye Lifetime!

 

[Andrew Budgell]

I wonder if the first season will have the original opening credits rather than the slightly different syndication credits. I hope so, but it won't stop me from buying my all time favourite show on DVD!

Andy

 

[Andrew Budgell]

There has been a review for this DVD set posted at SitcomsOnline. Apparently these are indeed UNCUT (!!!) and it's a very fine set, albeit lacking worthy bonus material. But I've said it once and I'll say it again - I'm just glad to have these episodes uncut and on DVD! Maybe we can expect more features with season two in the Spring.

Andy

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Rue McClanahan, TV's man-hungry Golden Girl, celebrates DVD release of sitcom
Tue Nov 16,11:28 AM ET

ANDREA BAILLIE

TORONTO (CP) - Rue McClanahan, who played frisky Blanche Devereaux on TV's the Golden Girls, isn't surprised to hear that the show about four mature Miami housemates has suddenly become hip.

She just laughs when told that the characters on Fox's ultra-cool The O.C. have been known to chat about the adventures of Blanche, Sophia, Rose and Dorothy. "I get so much fan mail. I can't keep up with the stuff," McClanahan, 70, says on the phone from her New York home, where she's conducting interviews to promote the upcoming DVD release of Season One of the Golden Girls.

"Wherever I go, people tell me how much they love the show. . . . I hate to confess, but I don't know what The O.C. is."

Fans of the Golden Girls, she says, run the gamut from eight-year-old girls to the gay community.

"Of course Blanche is terribly popular in the gay community," says McClanahan, sounding every bit the flirtatious southern belle she played on TV.

"I asked a gay guy (about it) . . . He had come over and said how much he loved me and I said 'I want to ask you something. Why does the gay community like Blanche so much?' 'Oh,' he said. 'Isn't it obvious? We all want to be Blanche."'

The show, which ran from 1985 to 1992, has endured because "it's one of the best written shows on the air even today," says McClanahan.

Dubbed "Miami Nice" when it first aired because it was so different from the gritty images seen on detective show Miami Vice, the show centred on the enduring friendships between four older women.

In addition to McClanahan's Blanche, Maude star Bea Arthur (news) played sarcastic divorcee Dorothy, while Estelle Getty (news) portrayed her acid-tongued mother Sophia.

Betty White of Mary Tyler Moore fame rounded out the cast as the ditzy Rose.

The Golden Girls won 10 Emmy awards, including two nods for best comedy. And in a rare feat, all four stars won best actress or supporting actress statuettes for their work.

The Season One DVD, to be released Nov. 23, also includes a bizarre Golden Girls clothing critique by mother/daughter tandem Joan and Melissa Rivers.

In it, the two women - known for their scathing red carpet fashion appraisals at the Oscars (news - web sites) telecast - take shots at everything from Blanche's '80s shoulder pads to Dorothy's house dresses and wide collars. It all comes across as a bit mean-spirited given the sweet nature of the show.

For her part, McClanahan - who also starred in the short-lived Golden Girls spinoff The Golden Palace - plans to be in Los Angeles this week to celebrate the DVD release with her castmates.

But that's just one event on her jam-packed work schedule.

She's just finished a TV movie and has an upcoming Broadway audition. Then there's her work with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

When asked if she'll start watching The O.C. now that she knows the characters talk about her, McClanahan laughs: "When do I have time to watch television? Please! I don't watch it, I do it."

--

PHOTO ADVISORY: Buena Vista Home Entertainment Presents DVD Release Party for THE GOLDEN GIRLS: 1ST SEASON at the Museum of TV & Radio

--

 

[Malcolm R]

Bea, Betty and Rue are also going to be on Lifetime's "TV's Greatest Sidekicks" on Thanksgiving night at 10 p.m. (repeats the next night at 11 p.m. too).

The special will celebrate women supporting women as sidekicks on TV through memorable clips and lively, on-stage interviews. Many of the original stars of classic sitcoms -- including Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, Fran Drescher, Judith Light, Valerie Harper, Marla Gibbs, Jackee Harry and Renee Taylor -- will gather together again for a rare reunion with their sidekick.

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks for the pictures Andrew!

Is it just me or is Betty White as cute and adorable as ever approaching her 83rd birthday?

Steve

 

[MatthewA]

I wonder why BV asked the stars to promote the DVD yet they didn't ask them to participate in its supplementary content?

 

[Sean Laughter]

Betty and Bea in the same room together? I'm surprised the space-time continuum didn't implode!!!

 

[Zachary Cohen]

I was JUST about to type that. Heh.

 

[Phil_L]

What's the story behind their rivalry?

 

[Malcolm R]

There are rumors they didn't get along, mostly because a couple of people somewhere claim Betty White was a real bit*h on the set. Also that Bea pulled the plug because she couldn't stand Betty's behavior any longer.

Personally, I don't believe it.

If there was any tension, I'd sooner believe it was Bea's fault when she didn't become the "star" of the show as she expected, but had to share the spotlight with a quartet of reasonably "equal" players.

Who knows? But Bea is the one who's always kept the show at arm's length. Betty and Rue have been friendly ever since and have appeared together for interviews about the show. Plus Bea guest-starred a couple times on "The Golden Palace" which I doubt she would have stepped foot on the set if the feud with Betty was as bad as some have made it out to be.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

She sure is! She seems like such a friendly, down to earth woman. That's why I don't believe all that nonesense about her being a diva on the set. While I don't know for sure, she has always seemed so professional to me. I will always treasure my autograph from her! She's a real sweatheart, and an American treasure.

Andy

 

[Malcolm R]

:b

 

[Andrew Budgell]

A 'Golden Girl''s Tragic Battle with Dementia

November 19, 2004
ET has learned that ESTELLE GETTY, 81, the actress who played the lovable and quick-witted Sophia on the hit show "The Golden Girls," is suffering from dementia. Despite recent tabloid rumors that she is dying, Getty's former castmates set the record straight Thursday night, saying she is "not near death ... not near death at all."

Tonight on ET, the cast opens up to our JANN CARL about their friend's battle with dementia.

"Golden Girls" stars BETTY WHITE, BEA ARTHUR and RUE McCLANAHAN reunited in Beverly Hills for the DVD release of the popular show and were quick to express how much they missed Getty at the event. "She should be in on all this," said White, who played the ditzy character of Rose on the show. "I went over there not too long ago and after I left, she told her caregiver that I was a nice lady ... it's just heartbreaking." She continues: "She has better days than others, but none of them are too good right now."

McClanahan recalls the last time she was in touch with Getty. "I spoke with her a few months ago on the phone," she said. "But she didn't know who she was talking to. And she didn't say anything but 'yes.' No matter what I said, she replied, 'yes.'"

Arthur, who played Getty's daughter Dorothy on the show, said there were signs of dementia back when they were still doing the show. "We should have known something was wrong right from the beginning because she had terrible trouble retaining her lines," she told ET.

No doubt, Getty would have joined in the girls' excitement for the three-disc DVD set that contains the entire first-season of the show, which makes its debut on shelves November 23. And Bea reveals what she and her castmates would say if Estelle had a lucid moment, "the three of us would say we love you, we love you Estelle, we love you."

 

[Robert Ringwald]

That's really sad to hear. I hope for the best.

 

[RobertSiegel]

I am excited about the Golden Girls set. It's about time. I have read some comments here about "edited" versions, are the ones on Lifetime not the entire show? Have they been edited to make room for more commercials? Hope someone can explain.

As a graphic artist who has mainly done entertainment graphics for years, I was really disappointed in the artwork for the first set. First, the typeface they used for GOLDEN GIRLS, well, could it have been more dull? And the separate photos on the cover? They're not even professional stills. How about that great first season color group photo we see all the time? I have to say from a professional point of view, this cover was thrown together in about 10 minutes, I don't like it. It doesn't take long to throw a few palm strees in the background and insert 4 photos.

As for the extras (or lack of), I can't believe with all of the girls alive and willing to do promotion, they didn't have any of them do the commentaries, or at least special interviews, each could have discussed an episode.. I also know for a fact that Buena Vista Television has dozens of hours of outtakes, still have the scripts, and all kinds of extras that could have been spread over the sets. It's a shame that such a popular tv series didn't have a full disc of extras, they are available. I don't believe Buena Vista owns those tv specials that were aired, they were produced by Lifetime, but they do have, as I said, alot of other materials, I know this for a fact as a friend of mine did research on this program about 9 years ago for his major at UCLA...and told me of all of the boxes of materials that he was allowed to go through at the Disney studios. He was able to even see the screen tests, everything is still there. So that gives us an idea of the effort put forth in this dvd set. Hopefully, at least the quality will be superb of the episodes themselves.

I don't remember much of the Golden Palace, but I sure hope they air them someday, I know they were not up to the Golden Girls but I would love to see them again.

 

[Greg Madsen]

Golden Girls episodes are heavily edited when aired on Lifeteime. Shows in syndication shows are edited when aired on any network.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

With all that extra material floating around in the Disney archives, and with the added great sales of season one (it has been on the top 100 at Amazon since it was announced, and has even hit number 1) maybe we'll see more of an effort made for Season 2.

Andy