The Golden Girls is hands-down the absolute best television show I have ever watched, and is truly one of the few shows to in television history to ever reach perfection. The four main characters, aging from fifties to eighties, fit together perfectly to create what is arguably television's most dynamic, yet lethal, comedy team. Each character was written remarkably well, and each actress portrayed her character beyond perfection. I maintain that The Golden Girls is the most well-written, consistently funny show in the history of television, as nearly every joke works. That is quite a rarity! It would be my guess that in the series' seven-year run, less than 1% of the jokes fell flat. I also firmly believe that a large portion of the show's success was due to the fact that it was so unexpected, and defied all expectations, and stereotypes of old age. Perhaps the character of Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) defied viewers' stereotypes of middle- and old age most of all. A saucy, sassy Southern belle, Blanche has a hearty appetite for the company of men. A self-proclaimed slut, Blanche dates a different man (or men) in nearly every episode, and is both the source, and target of many of the show's raciest and most provocative (and sometimes shockingly surprising) jokes, and jabs. It is almost as if the show's writers were trying to push their limits, and see just how far they could go. The extremely racy sexual undertones of The Golden Girls were cleverly written into some of the best, most unpredictable jokes in television history. It seems to me that The Golden Girls pushed more boundaries, and is more provacative than any show on today. As my mom pointed out, "They're dirty old ladies!" My main point: What do you get when you mix a fifty-year-old self-proclaimed slut, a naive Scandanavian nit-wit who acts out the gang plank scene from Peter Pan alone in her bedroom, a tall sixty-year-old substitute teacher with a hilariously masculine voice who can never seem to get a date, and is the target of several cheap shots from her friends, and an over eighty Sicilian immigrant who drinks sherry in the park? Perfection at its best.
Review of The Golden Girls
