Golden Girls:The Golden Palace as Sex and the City: ???

[SAdler]

So as a younger gay, I'm now reliving the Golden Girls life through Lifetime reruns. Now they're showing "Golden Palace," the spin off continuation of the original series. I'm of course doing all of this while I should be studying for my back to back finals Friday ... but I had two today so I deserve a break with with some Betty White.

 

What was different? Bea Arthur decided to leave the fold and thus the empire should crumble? The Golden Girl Queens got their continuation and a little more closure .... what about us new age gays? Sarah Jessica decides she's done with the project and our other girls have to roll over and do soda commercials?

 

I swear there were homos in the street mourning the loss of Sex and the City .... where is this movie there was talk of .... why hasn't our power dyke sister initiated a continuation? There are plenty of hotels in New York and between Miranda's legal experience and money, Charlotte's equity and money and Samantha's PR powers -- they could run that town -- and if Carrie knew what was good for her she'd come back to write about it.

 

So if the Golden Girls are like models for all of todays modern girl buddy programs .... what else could we expect?

[+ friendofsheila]

It's happened before: AfterMASH, Gloria (from "All in the Family"), and probably others I don't know.

 

Sad as it was, I finally learned that everything dies and there's eventually a replacement, e.g. after DYNASTY eventually came DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES with others intervening that I don't know about (I never followed these shows but read enough about them to laugh at the jokes at parties).

 

Maybe next up will be a gay one?

[Guest alanm]

Hey Scott,

 

You are too young to remember this, but even Lucille Ball eventually

failed on the 5th or 6th reincarnation of "I Love Lucy." She was about 75 and the show was called "Live with Lucy." It lasted about 8 or 9 weeks in 1986. ABC paid Lucy about a million dollars to cancel the show (that was still a lot of money in 1986). The pratfalls and cartwheels just seemed wrong, when performed by a 75 year old woman! Johnny Carson was smart to retire and never come back.

[Rick Munroe]

But The Lucy Show was just as good as I Love Lucy (at least, until Viv left the show), don't you think? When Lucy and Viv build a shower or use stilts to get into a bunk bed, it was classic stuff. Here's Lucy was awful and yeah, Life With Lucy was painful but it did have a great theme song sung by Eydie Gorme.

[J-Man]

>So as a younger gay, I'm now reliving the Golden Girls life

>through Lifetime reruns. Now they're showing "Golden Palace,"

>the spin off continuation of the original series. I'm of

>course doing all of this while I should be studying for my

>back to back finals Friday ... but I had two today so I

>deserve a break with with some Betty White.

>

>What was different? Bea Arthur decided to leave the fold and

>thus the empire should crumble?

 

You didn't mention the most interesting piece of casting in "Palace": their co-star was DON CHEADLE!

[Guest alanm]

Yes, the first few years of "The Lucy Show" were pretty good, but things fell apart after Viv left. I was away in college or in the Army for the rest of the '60s and early '70s, so seldom saw the follow up shows.

Those that I did see were pretty awful. It is amazing that Lucy always got high ratings until "Life with Lucy," considering the drop off in quality over the years. Jackie Gleason didn't last as long as Lucy, but

he came back in other shows in the '60s -- usually variety shows that also did well in the ratings. In between they both did Broadway musicals, Gleason ("Take Me Along") more successfully than Ball ("Wildcat"). Depression-era work ethic in full bloom, I guess!

[seattlebottom]

The Golden Girls was definetely an ensemble piece, with each lady playing off the others' quirks. It is amazing what is lost when one character in such an ensemble is lost. Bea Arthur was definetely the anchor of that show and this came across in The Golden Palace.

[Guest jeffOH]

As a huge Golden Girls fan, I find The Golden Palace to be almost painful to watch. In addition to the major void left by Bea Arthur, the writing seemed to take a nosedive and try as they might, Don Cheadle, Cheech Marin and that kid couldn't fill Dorothy's shoes.

 

BTW, seasons 1-3 of GG are now available on DVD!