Let’s be honest…. most old sitcoms are terrible, and don’t hold up very well at all. For every I Love Lucy and All In The Family, there are fifty Small Wonders and She’s The Sheriff. (“It’s a sexy blonde woman who runs a police department! Isn’t that ridiculous??” That was sarcasm, by the way.)
One of the few old sitcoms that not only still holds up, but was actually ahead of its time in many ways, is The Golden Girls, which ran from 1985-1992. For those of you youngin’s out there who aren’t familiar, the show was about four women over the age of fifty-five, a divorcee and three widows, who started life over together in southern Florida. The Golden Girls were played by veteran TV actresses Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty and Betty White.
How ahead of its time was it?  For starters, Golden Girls was predicting acceptance of same-sex marriage twenty-five years before it happened (Sophia Petrillo is like Nostradamus!). And even though it’s been mentioned a million times before, Golden Girls really was the first Sex and the City. Before Golden Girls, it was unheard of to show women above the age of fifty to be anything other than doting moms and grandmas. That’s just how women on TV were portrayed.
And then, Golden Girls came along and showed that women past a certain age don’t suddenly stop being witty or sarcastic, or lose their libido. It’s no wonder women and gay men the world over still watch late night Golden Girls rerun marathons on Lifetime and LoGo with a bowl of cereral (and probably some straight guys too, even if they’re more on the DL with their love of the girls. Time to come out of the Golden Girls closet, straight guy fans!). It seems the show has only become more popular as time goes on.
Now a new YouTube Channel has popped up celebrating all things Golden Girls called Stay Golden, which mashes up the show with other unlikely TV series like Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, True Detective and Twin Peaks. Right now there are only five of these up, but expect more. So now is the perfect time to get out that slice of cheesecake and enjoy all of these awesome videos.
HT: Stay Golden
