Saturday, May 2, 2009
Troy Patterson on what made "The Golden Girls" a memorable sitcom. It really is hard to believe that the show was a ratings smash -- on a Saturday night! Americans watched sit-coms on Saturday nights! I rewatched a few episodes a few nights ago. Patterson's quip that the writers shaped one-liners to the characters so well that these scripts would work for radio is apt. If "The Golden Girls" never rises to the heights of "The Cosby Show" -- it never feels as lived in or comfortably rumpled (blame the old bats' shoulder pads too) -- it's because its creators treated the old birds as a gimmick, complete with instant rimshot laughter to reinforce the ping-pong patter.
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3 comments:
I never understood the appeal of that show.
The appeal of that show is that it was exactly what you were not supposed to show on TV. The fact that people are alive beyond the 18 to 39 range. It was about a bunch of OLD PEOPLE, funny and smart and still dealing with the fact that they're as alive as they ever were, they just don't look good on television anymore. THAT WAS THE POINT. Counterprogramming? Brilliance!
Showing people something that had been there all along but hadn't been admitted-OLD PEOPLE ARE US, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, let's be fucking funny about it- that was the brilliance of the Golden Girls.
Twenty points off for the "twittering or whatever those damn kids are doing these days, get the hell off my lawn!" line.
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