“Golden Girls” Creator Susan Harris Turns 80

R1 She traveled down the road and back again.

At the wig shop, apparently.

Kamala's hair could use some of that volume.

That's a man, baby.

I can't seem to find any photos of her that aren't at least 15 years old (even when adding a recent year while googling). Wonder what she looks like now?

She created a show and wrote maybe three episodes- not even the best ones.

Shady Pines.

She's a phenomenon, writing every episode of the underappreciated SOAP, among other accomplishments.

Fun facts, courtesy of IMDB:

Brilliant Emmy-winning television comedy writer, she either wrote or co-wrote every episode of her series Soap (1977). According to a documentary on The Golden Girls (1985), the only reason she did not take more of an active role in the production of the latter series once she created it is because she suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Her shows usually feature a character who likes to impart wisdom through stories. (The Governor on Benson (1979), Rose and Sophia on The Golden Girls (1985)).

She studied English Literature at Cornell and New York University.

She has one child with actor Berkeley Harris, Sam Harris, born in 1967, who is a world renowned author and neuroscientist whose latest book is 'Free Will' (2012).

She was inducted into the Museum of Television and Radio.

The Writers Guild of America awarded her as the recipient of its Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television in 2005.

Also created Nurses (1991), a third installment in the franchise that started with "The Golden Girls" and "Empty Nest". This series is completely located in the hospital and stars mainly nurses, but also orderlies and an administrator.

Step-sister of George Segal.

Susan Harris has suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since the 1980s (the two parter in which Dorothy is diagnosed with this illness was base don Harris' own experience). During the production of Golden Girls, Harris' involvement waned heavily after the first season due to her illness. For all intents and purposes, she retired from the business by the late 90s. Her last known public appearance was about 10 years ago. Her husband Paul Junger Witt (an Executive producer on Golden Girls) died in 2018 from lung cancer.

That's Michael Bay, OP.

No, it's Michael Bolton.

Maybe her illness and not being involved with GG day to day is what led to the lack of continuity on the show.

Is Gail still around?

Wow, decades younger than most of its fans.

[Quote] She has one child with actor Berkeley Harris, Sam Harris, born in 1967. Sam is a world renowned author and neuroscientist whose latest book is 'Free Will' (2012).

Fixed.

My Favorite Pony

Dialysis

[quote] Maybe her illness and not being involved with GG day to day is what led to the lack of continuity on the show.

Or maybe it’s just because Disney doesn’t give a damn about continuity with any of their intellectual properties. You saw how they fucked up [italic]Star Wars[/italic], and even in the pre-Eisner days they’d stopped caring about the continuity of the Herbie movies if by the third one they’d pretended Michele Lee’s character from the original movie didn’t exist when she and Dean Jones’ character got married at the end of it.

Disney had nothing to do with [italic]Soap[/italic] or [italic]Benson[/italic].

[quote]No, it's Michael Bolton.

I thought it was Turhan Bey.

R12 In fairness, most sitcoms had frequent continuity errors until television became increasingly serialized and character-based. The idea of strong continuity and character development in sitcoms really didn't start until just after the Golden Girls went off the air. Sitcoms were designed as "reboot" shows. That means that despite the situation the characters faced each week, by the start of the next week's episode, everything was reset back to the show's default setting. This was done so that people could watch the show at any point (particularly in syndication) without being lost.

The discontinuity on Golden Girls (and other sitcoms) has to do with the turnover in the writer's room. Golden Girls effectively had three different teams for writers throughout its run. Most original writers hired left by the end of the first season, then the same group from season 2 to 4, and then another entirely new group from season 5 to 7. Also in the 80s and 90s before the internet, it was difficult for writers to keep track of every aspect of a character's backstory even if they kept character bibles. Often it would involved having to go back an rewatch entire episodes and there simply wasn't the time.

The single worst GG continuity error was in season four before the change of writers and producers a year later. Rose said she never graduated high school when two years earlier she said she belonged to a sorority called the Alpha Yams. How can you belong to a sorority if you haven’t graduated from high school?

Has Susan Dey released a statement yet?

That's only for deaths, R22.

There are sororities that accept women who've never attended college.

Those sororities are called brothels.

Maybe she went to university as a mature student??

Yes let us applaud her. The writers are the creative fount the actors convey.

She looka likea da mans.

But seriously, Soap and GG get her cred for life.

Cred? Fuck cred. They got her $$$$$$$$.

She looks MTF.

Fucking bitch.

She’s a hack.