The Golden Girls | Disney+

[Bigdog]

Wow never even knew this spin-off show existed, though this was on at a point in my life were i would be up by 1pm and out until 4-5am so it makes sense.

[Torgon]

Golden Girls has been shown on the Hallmark Channel for years in the late evenings. It disappears in October and reappears in January after the Countdown to Christmas is over. Not sure if EVERY episode is/has been shown. IIRC, they show them in order every night for several hours. I wonder if the new year will see a switch to D+.

[Moviefan2k4]

This show has a special place in my heart, since it was one of a select few shows I could watch with my Grandma growing up. Most of the jokes went completely over my head as a kid, but revisiting them later just made me appreciate the show even more. Its a bit shocking to believe that Betty White is the only cast member still living.

[SteelbookCat]

there show goes RIP betty white

[savcast]

I wonder if the Spanish version of Disney+ will include the fragments from some episodes that were shortened when originall aired on public TV (like the shortening of some scenes on the episode A Midwinter summer's dream)

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by R3P0

No matter how old you are these 4 ladies are comic genius in their prime. I can still watch episodes on Nick at Night and laugh my proverbial ass off with every single episode.

So happy to see this news another win for D+

It's definitely a very funny show. Used to watch it here and there as a kid and it was funny then, funny now. The more adult humor would probably resonate way more now. I'd like to check out more episodes, but there are just so many and so little time. It's nice to see the show was a top 10 performer up until the last season; getting older/ageism is kind of a universal fear and I love seeing older people succeed.

[Lucas-Hollingsworth]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Only saw episodes here and there as a kid, but I recall it being funny. Would like to revisit a few episodes if it were remastered.

I would like a remaster myself. I have enjoyed watching the Miami Vice remasters. I think the camera equipment was even better the last few seasons of The Golden Girls. After all if you they can bring out the deep colors of Don Johnson's blue eyes, I can only imagine what they could do with this cast and guest stars.

[Cap.T]

Originally Posted by Lucas-Hollingsworth

I would like a remaster myself. I have enjoyed watching the Miami Vice remasters. I think the camera equipment was even better the last few seasons of The Golden Girls. After all if you they can bring out the deep colors of Don Johnson's blue eyes, I can only imagine what they could do with this cast and guest stars.

Wasn't "The Golden Girls" one of the sitcoms that was not shot on Film but on Video? If I remember correctly that's the case and unfortunately that means, that the show can't really be remastered it can only be upscaled. Usually I'm not a fan of that, but Sony did something like that recently to their sitocm "The Nanny". That show was also shot on Video and the SD versions have looked incredible bad since they first aired. But the show was added in an HD-Version last year on HBO+. And eventhough it's clearly and upscale and heavily DNR'd it's still much, much more watchable then the SD-Version.

[WonkaBedknobs83]

It wasn't as good as the original but it had its moments. It's interesting as a control experiment to see what the other girls would do if Dorothy wasn't around … except she was in a 2-part episode that hit home just how much she was missed. They also fumbled an attempt at a pie-in-the-face gag involving the episode's other guest star, Webster's Henry Polic II, by cutting away from it to the reaction in the kitchen.

The cast additions were a mixed bag. Chuy was funny; my grandmother liked him. Roland wasn't that funny, honestly, and that kid he was supposed to be the foster father of was just plain awful and not missed when they reunited him with his mother. Seriously, he was almost as bad as Seven from Married with Children, but in that case they were trying to make up for Katey Sagal's miscarriage of a pregnancy they had planned to write it into the show. Cheech Marin was not supposed to be the hotel cook originally. It was supposed to be Alexei Sayle from The Young Ones but that fell through somehow.

NBC wanted the show but was only willing to commit to half a season for what was technically a new show. CBS was in the same weakened position NBC was in during their post-Sanford and Son ratings slump and had basically become a mish-mash of Green Acres and Brady Bunch reunions, Peanuts and Garfield specials, and the annual Wizard of Oz showing outside a small handful of hits aimed at an over-35 demo. I remember so many bomb shows being promoted in the commercials I probably still remember them by name. They were hoping it would run at least as long as Archie Bunker's Place or Mayberry RFD so they were willing to commit to a full season. That's all it got since it couldn't beat its primary competition, Family Matters. It actually beat its other major competitor on Fox, America's Most Wanted.

The network change cut them off from crossovers. Empty Nest and Nurses kept crossing over between each other but never onto this new show.

After its only season ended at a disappointing 64th place in the ratings, Sophia became a character on Empty Nest and actually moved to Shady Pines where it reverted back to the same dilapidated state it had always been described as having been in, forcing her to fight for changes to be made. In Part 2 of Dorothy's Golden Palace appearance, Sophia goes back to Shady Pines because she doesn't want to live in Atlanta with Dorothy and her husband, and it looks like they made some improvements that were ignored. You thought Disney played fast and loose with Star Wars continuity from film to film, you ain't seen nothing until you start noticing contradictions between shows and between episodes within the same show in the Golden Girls Extended Universe!

I can't believe it's been 30 years since Dorothy walked out that door. As for those who pointed out that it was she who violated the pact made in the first episode: "no matter what happens, even if we all get married, we'll stick together" by moving to Atlanta with her new husband, they tried that when Sophia was briefly married to Max Weinstock and it didn't work out.

[Me-Hostage]

Still nothing on Disney+. I have the series on Vudu though. Would love to see them add Golden Palace to Vudu.

[WonkaBedknobs83]

Originally Posted by Cap.T

Wasn't "The Golden Girls" one of the sitcoms that was not shot on Film but on Video? If I remember correctly that's the case and unfortunately that means, that the show can't really be remastered it can only be upscaled. Usually I'm not a fan of that, but Sony did something like that recently to their sitocm "The Nanny". That show was also shot on Video and the SD versions have looked incredible bad since they first aired. But the show was added in an HD-Version last year on HBO+. And eventhough it's clearly and upscale and heavily DNR'd it's still much, much more watchable then the SD-Version.

The trend of shooting sitcoms on tape started with All in the Family. Susan Harris wrote a few early episodes of that and Maude before going off to her own production company. The best they can do is go back to the earliest generation of tapes available to them and use them as a basis for the upscaling. I just hope that if they do this, they don't screw with the aspect ratio or the frame rate. The Hulu versions look weird in the latter respect compared to the DVDs.

Ironically, Disney's pre-Michael Eisner, pre-Golden Girls attempts at sitcoms in the early 1980s, all on CBS and none of which ran more than a year, were shot on film. One was Zorro and Son, which had Eric Cohen as a writer before he wrote for both Golden Girls and The Nanny. Another was a TV version of The Apple Dumpling Gang with the cast of the original all committed to other shows and therefore unavailable, and yet another was a detective show called Small & Frye with Darren McGavin and a partner who shrinks. Those shows' failures underscored just how important this show's success was not only for Disney, but NBC, who only finally made it to #1 the year this show premiered after years of struggle concurrent with the ratings dip of The Wonderful World of Disney. Prior to 1985, the only hit scripted network prime time show the studio had other than the anthology series was Zorro.

Most Disney/Touchstone sitcoms of the 1980s followed this show's lead and were shot on tape with the exception of Dinosaurs.

[batman2000]

Originally Posted by WonkaBedknobs83

Nobody I've described that scene to has been offended by it. There was also a Cosby Show reference by Dorothy in that same scene, although considering this was the same studio where Bill played the Devil…

The irony that he played the devil after finding out now who he really was is crazy in hindsight.