The Golden Palace coming to Hulu

The whole series used to be on YouTube

As terrible as your overuse of commas?

r2, even, worse, believe it, or not!

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You’re cute, R3.

I think I like you!

Heyyyy.

I eat shit

Bring back "Life With Elizabeth"!

Never watched it. The only thing I know plot wise is Miles cheated on Rose.

[quote]Well, that happened. I’m not going to hide my disdain for this episode, which actually upset me. Most of the plot was unspectacular and predictable but harmless enough, but then the writers decided to throw away the character of Miles to serve their forgettable episode about unfaithfulness. It’s not as though I love Miles or anything; I feel like the original program played pretty fast and loose with the witness protection angle that kind of came out of nowhere, and it always got on my nerves that he continued to go by the name Miles even after the truth of his past as Nicholas Carbone was revealed, and even after the threat that forced him into the program in the first place was removed, just because the audience had gotten so used to the name. But despite these weaknesses, the fact remains that The Golden Girls spend a lot of time developing this character, one of the few men on the program who stuck around for more than an episode or two, and his affection for Rose and connection with her was clearly established. To have that history tossed aside in service of this show seems kind of insulting, and I actually would have preferred they just ignore the character of Miles altogether if they weren’t intending to use him. It seemed like the writers were basically dropping him into the role to say “Hey, remember this guy? See, this show is just as good as what you remember, right? Right?” Wrong. I acknowledge that the writers of this episode also penned some episodes for The Golden Girls, and who knows what would have happened if The Golden Palace had lasted for more than a season, but hey, that’s just the way I feel right now.

Here ya go, r6

Who is that attributed to, R7?

r7, Yep, and then later in the season a woman comes to the hotel wanting to hold her wedding there...and it turns out to be the woman Miles is marrying. So we get to watch Rose in tears as she watches through the kitchen window as they get married. The writers weren't satisfied kicking her once, so they kicked her again!

In another episode, a man who looks exactly like Charlie visits, and Rose falls for him. When she tells him she looks like her late husband he naturally doesn't think she likes him for himself and doesn't want to see her again, but he gives her the chance to tell him what she wishes she could have told Charlie. So we get to see her cry again.

Betty pulled it off, but we watched Rose cry more in one season of The Golden Palace than in 7 of TGG. It was so miserable. And that's before we got to the very special episode with Blanche's secret mentally handicapped brother and Stan fakes his death and leaves forever (and Sophia cries!)

And don't forget the episode with the Confederate flag.

[quote] In another episode, a man who looks exactly like Charlie visits, and Rose falls for him

Didn’t they do that with Blanche’s husband on The Golden Girls as well?

Who is that, R8?

Bring back suddenly Susan

Don’t bring back that shit Murphy Brown ever again like they did a few years ago

r12, yes.

I didn't know that Cheech Marin was married to Ricky Martin! That's what IMDB says.

Betty talking about it starting at 18:48. She says it didn't work and blames the writers, in the nicest most Betty White-way possible.

Rue says it didn't work either. (5:30, if the timing doesn't work).

I think Marc Cherry once said that he had a apologized multiple times to Don Cheadle about the writing because even he didn't like it.

At least Don had a good time and says he loved working with Betty, Rue, and Estelle.

I wonder if they will add Women of the House, to complete the Designing Women saga?

Women of the House is streaming on both Tubi and Pluto. I'm sure Hulu could have it if they wanted since the studio's just giving it away.

R23 I tried watching it on Tubi but there were way too many ads. Some of the breaks were also at strange locations.

I liked the episode with Stan.

Did Stan really die and Sophia was hallucinating out of a mixture of grief and dementia or did he fake his death? It seems ambiguous.

It also didn't make sense that Dorothy wasn't in that episode.

[quote] I wonder if they will add Women of the House, to complete the Designing Women saga?

Until your post I’d never heard of Women of the House.

r26, I'm pretty sure he really faked his death. In the first scene with Sophia he (accidentally) tells her he's going to Madrid. Later, Blanche and Rose say he left all his money to someone in Madrid. It's unlikely Sophia could have hallucinated that, because how would she have known about Madrid to imagine that?

I don't have an opinion about Stan faking his death because I never watched the show but I did find this recap:

[quote]Alone for a moment, Sophia appeals to God to cut Stan a break and let him into Heaven.  Sure, he sucks, but he has done his best.  Right on cue, Stan enters the kitchen and walks up behind Sophia to reveal that he’s alive.

[quote]Wait, Stan is alive?!  Yes, he is really there and still kicking, and Sophia seems momentarily thrilled until he reveals that he faked his death to avoid trouble with the IRS.  He didn’t tell Dorothy about his death because, as he and Sophia agree, she definitely would have turned him in.  But he wants Sophia to let her know the truth in a month or so, after he has had the time to evade justice and flee the country.  Much to Sophia’s disappointment, he’s headed to Madrid…or, somewhere…

[…]

[quote]At the funeral, the attendees are presented with a video that Stan left behind (you know, in case he died unexpectedly), in which he begins to read a poem for his friends. Unfortunately, he inadvertently taped over the poem with Bikini Fest. After a screen wipe, Blanche and Rose say some words about Stan while Sophia boos. The priest attempts to say some final words, but Sophia can’t take it and stands up to tell those gathered that Stan is still alive. Blanche and Rose assume she is overcome with grief and delusional and attempt to quiet their friend.

[…]

[quote]Blanche and Rose talk about the scene that Sophia made at the funeral and mention that Stan left them nothing in his will.  In fact, he left all of his money to some random guy in Madrid.  Weird.  Sophia is in the kitchen alone, and Stan sneaks back in to see her.  The dude can’t even flee the country right!  His ship leaves in 45 minutes and he came to say goodbye (again, for some reason).  Sophia knows that this is a crucial moment and tells Stan that he shouldn’t run.  She loves him, but if he walks out the door he really will be dead.  Stan says that he loves her too, but he’s still a coward, and he still leaves.  Sophia cries because her son-in-law is now really “gone.”

All of the Golden Girls scripts are posted on various sites but I couldn't find any for Golden Palace. I saw speculation about Sophia hallucinating but as R28 said, Stan leaving his money to some guy in Madrid negates that theory.

Wtf? Apologies for the length of the link preview at R29.

For easy reference

All you really need. I love how long that entrance applause is for Bea.

R32 Wasn’t there talk that if they came back for a second season Bea was going to at least be a semi-regular?

The DM says today that she is being filmed for her 100th birthday, so she must not be too bad off right now.

r34, wonderful news!

The Golden Shower

They should've just brought Coco back for Season 8 of TGG.

There's also an episode where Blanche asks Rebecca to carry her child, or some off the wall thing.

At least they had the good sense to bring back Deborah Engel and not recast for the third time.

Was Rebecca the fat daughter or the one that beat her kid?

R32. I lived that clip especially when Sophia fucked out the group hug for a cookie.

The show had too many superfluous characters.

There was also an episode where a con artist (Barry Bostwick) was trying to con Blanche out of her money. Rose called him out and told him to get lost, so Blanche was saved from getting ripped off and never found out the truth about him.

Kind of like when Rose was targeted by a con artist pretending to be an army buddy of Charlie's to get her money, but she was so sweet he ultimately couldn't do it and she never found out the truth about him.

I'm surprised that this has never been put on DVD. With the immense love of Golden Girls in pop culture, you would have thought some of it would have extended to the spinoff as well.

But Empty Nest isn't on DVD either, and that was a huge hit back in the day, even outperforming GG in the Nielsen's at one point.

R43 I want to see Nurses again, I loved that show.

R43, The Golden Palace wasn't loved when it was originally aired (rightly because it was dreadful); no reason to believe it would be now just because the original series lives on. If anything, they might be worried it would hurt the originals reputation. (I think it's telling that any time TGG is posted on YouTube or the like, Disney makes a copyright claim and has it pulled, so only weird manipulated versions (sped up or slowed down; strangely cropped) exist on those sites. Meanwhile The Golden Palace is all kn YouTube, and Disney doesn't care.)

Empty Nest bombed in syndication, so I can see why they don't think there's be any interest in DVDs. But then, it was one of those shows that was huge but dropped like a rock by the end, so it went out on the bottom. That couldn't help its reputation. People were already over it before it stopped airing.. Whereas TGG lost a bit in its final season, falling out of the top ten for the only time in its run, but didn't fall nearly as much and still got over 25 million (27? 28?) for its finale, so it was still loved when it ended.

R42 that’s one of maybe 3 episodes I saw when they showed it on Lifetime. I just remember when Rose is trying to bust him “one of my favorite shows is on - Cops.”

If I remember correctly, Rose wasn’t dumb anymore (or basically, Betty was now playing Betty).

I loved the episode where George comes back from the grave mentioned earlier. Rue should have got her second Emmy for a great performance. It was only marred slightly by the stupid B-plot with Sonny Bono.

R47 But the Sonny Bono/Lyle Waggoner subplot is a great comedic story and to me one of the most laugh out loud memorable ones they had. The main plot was very melodramatic, they needed an absolutely surreally comical subplot to keep people laughing. Also, Sonny looked better on that episode than he did when he was younger.

And definitely better than when he hit the tree.

I hope they show the piss scenes

TGP was so off in so many ways. 1. The kid in the cast was the most obvious mistake, and corrected half-way through. 2. The characters had changed too much - to two opposite ends of the spectrum. Sophia became mean beyond recognition. Rose was ditsier than ever in one episode and surprisingly smart in others. Blanche had to do double duty part time, filling in for Reasonable Dorothy but still being slutty and insensitive for social issues. The characters just didn't work any more. (They had started developing Rose further in later GG seasons already, but that was a lot more subtle.) The new characters were not fleshed out enough to root for them. Roland also took on Reasonable Dorothy duties, alas he wasn't funny. At all. 3. The stories became more shrill and outlandish.

I watched it once but never again.

They should've just continued it by having a hurricane destroy Blanche's house. With the settlement they then relocate into one of the then new retirement communities in Florida, where they meet a new woman to take the place of Dorothy, or make it some spinster niece of Sophia's.

Kaye Ballard should have replaced Bea Arthur.

r52, I think I read somewhere that Susan Harris briefly pitched them moving to a retirement home, but the network wanted a premise with more youth appeal. I don't know if it's true, but it makes sense since they forced the kid on the show.

Networks should never be listened to.

CBS was looking to go toe to toe with ABC's TGIF lineup, only with a power lineup geared towards the over forty crowd. So they got the Golden Girls, Bob Newhart, the Designing Women and Major Dad. The problem was with the exception of Bob's brand new show, the others were well past their glory days and riding on fumes by this point. All except Bob would be cancelled by the end of year.

Bob would come with the addition of Betty White.

Michael Eisner was the one who pitched to Susan Harris that TGP have a kid on the show, to freshen up the show. He also suggested the name Oliver, because Oliver Twist was a perennial favorite of his.

R56 Then they didn't learn anything and paid $40 million to air the last seasons of Family Matters and Step By Step, as part of the CBS Block Party both of whom were well past their glory days as well.

CBS owned Friday night in the eighties between The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, and Falcon Crest, but they couldn't figure out what to do in the 1990s.

[quote] Michael Eisner was the one who pitched to Susan Harris that TGP have a kid on the show, to freshen up the show. He also suggested the name Oliver,

That never works out well.

What are the chances of us getting a series reboot in 2022 with Betty, Rue & Estelle reprising their iconic roles? I'll keep my fingers crossed!!!

They should've had Rose getting a second blood test, which determined correctly, she caught AIDS. Then she becomes an anti-gay bigot.

Then Blanche's pacemaker go nuts and have leave her sexualy frustrated as, even a tiny bit of sex could kill her

And then Sofia have a stroke, which changes her to a nice person.

[quote] with Betty, Rue & Estelle reprising their iconic roles?

Are you sitting down? I’m afraid I have some news.

Really I'm expecting that sooner rather than later we will be watching AI created shows starring our favorite dead stars.

This is the definitive guide of how The Golden Palace came to be:

At the end of the sixth season, the ladies' contracts were all up and there was uncertainty if Bea would return as she was increasingly unhappy on the show. At the time, Golden Girls was still in the top ten and there is was no question of it being renewed for a seventh season. Not knowing if Bea was coming back, plans were discussed to continue the show with a new roommate to replace Dorothy. Debbie Reynolds was brought in for a guest appearance that was also, behind the scenes, marketed as a chemistry test...it's likely that this was more of a "scare tactic" to try and get Bea to sign for another season than an actual desire to replace her. Bea ultimately signed on for one more season (it's rumored that Bea was granted a percentage of the syndication profits of GGs for life), but made it clear it would be her last.

The other ladies wished to continue. Again, the idea of adding a new roommate to replace Dorothy was branded about and the writers apparently struck on the idea of adding Gloria, Dorothy's sister, as new a roommate -- that is why the story of Gloria losing her money and sleeping with Stan was added. Diana Muldaur (best known for her work on LA Law) was actually approached to the join the show as Gloria for a potential eighth season but the deal fell through (Muldaur talks about this in her Television Archives Interview). However, the shows ratings dropped significantly during the seventh season, partly due to move the show to a new time slot. NBC was very tepid about renewing the show without Bea and the decision was made that Golden Girls would end.

However, with the three ladies still interested in continuing, the producers began creating a spin-off. The idea of Golden Palace sprung from an idea Harris had of forcing the girls out into the world. She felt that for seven seasons the women lived sheltered lives in their house, and now for the first time they would have to go out and face the real world. The idea was pitched to NBC but they weren't all that keen on the idea and agreed to commission 13 episodes. CBS, who at the time were in a ratings slump, countered the deal with a full season guarantee. So CBS it was.

Initially, Golden Palace actually pulled in higher ratings than the 7th season of Golden Girls winning its time slot during its first few episodes, but that didn't last long. The ratings fell (the show started with 18 million viewers and ended the season with just under 9 million). However, the show hovered between being renewed and cancelled and apparently was the last show officially canceled before CBS announced its 1993/94 line up. The show was set to get a 13 episode second season order until the last minute when CBS needed to make additional financial cuts and GP was one of their more expensive shows due to the amount of money they were paying the ladies. They were making at least the same amount of money they made in season 7 of GG which according to Rue's book, she made just over a million during season seven of Golden Girls (for the whole season not per episode).

GP has its moments but it became obvious fairly quickly that the ensemble just didn't work without Dorothy. In Golden Palace, Blanche and Rose (more Blanche though) adopt more "dorothy" characteristics by being more centered and it just didn't work well. I think they should have just ended the Golden Girls when Bea decided to leave. The ending of the show rather than being a goodbye to the show becomes just a good bye to Dorothy and it doesn't work as a satisfying series finale.

[quote] the idea of adding a new roommate to replace Dorothy was branded about

Oh, dear!

Julia Duffy was actually signed on for the fourth and new roommate on NBC before they changed the format.

They should have added Gloria to Golden Palace, and left the other girls the way they had always been.

Any idea how Duffy’s character would have come to live with the others, R65?

r67

Completely missed the point. Duffy was an actress that was brought in at the last minute to save a lot of shows, like "Designing Women," "Baby Talk," "Grace Under Fire..." Even her iconic Stephanie was a replacement.

Thanks for the post, R63. I had wondered for a long time if they went into Season 7 knowing that it would be their final one, as it had a light-heartedness to it that was largely absent from Seasons 5 and 6, which were heavy on preachiness and "very special" themes. The Cheeseman storyline with Miles was an indicator that the show was running out of ideas, and I low-key loved how it was ignored by Season 7. There were no flashback episodes in Season 7 either.

We snark about the obsession DLers have about this show, but I learned so much more about the behind the scenes goings-on with it on here than on any fan group on Facebook (where the members seem to think that they're on the Mr. Phil show).

When Golden Palace first started appearing on YouTube, I tried giving it a fair shot. I really disliked the 'Miles cheats on Rose' episode, and only watched a few episodes after that one. Could not believe the writers decided to put a bullet to the Miles/Rose relationship and the Miles character that way. Setting aside the implausibility of them buying a hotel in a first place, not having Dorothy on without a suitable replacement didn't work, and that kid [italic]really[/italic] didn't work (the lazy TV trope of adding a kid to 'make things fresh' rearing its ugly head again). It did have appearances of a young Jack Black and a young Margaret Cho, however! It also had Roland using the word 'microaggression' in the Confederate flag episode, which surprised me a bit that it was a word people in the early 90s actually used.

r69, there were no clip shows in Season 7, if that's what you meant, but there was definitely a flashback episode ("Dateline Miami"). And the stupid witness protection plot wasn't ignored in Season 7, unfortunately (in "The Pope's Ring," Blanche uses it as a reason why Rose shouldn't trust Miles. Of all the times for them to finally remember continuity...)

R69 They went into season 7 knowing it would be Bea's last but I think the other three ladies and the producers knew the show would continue in some form. They went into that season still as a top 10 show, of course then the ratings dropped off because NBC moved GG to 8 pm rather than 9 pm on Saturdays.

The show as a whole didn’t work but there are some great written lines in there.

R72 that’s the thing though, on GP they’re just...lines.

Oh, I’m sorry - this is 411?

Well, can you give me the number for 911?

[quote] (in "The Pope's Ring," Blanche uses it as a reason why Rose shouldn't trust Miles. Of all the times for them to finally remember continuity...

And they still couldn't be bothered to address why he went back to a Teaching profession that he apparently wasn't even qualified for as well as using an alias name.

The lack of continuity really doesn't bother me much in the first five years, but the last two they seem to get incredibly sloppy and downright lazy. Even minute things like sets. I hate how in Dateline Miami there's a segment that supposed to occur on New Years Eve, but they don't even try making the house look festive.

R76 It is similar to The Lucy Show which also had continuity issues over its run. Like the GG the first few seasons it was ok, just sorta minor things, but like GG the last few seasons of TLS had major issues you were just scratching your head over. One in particular is that like Rose on GG, they seemed unable to decide if Lucy was a high school graduate, a drop out, and sometimes she had gone to college.

Hulu says they're releasing this terrible show in honor of her 100th birthday...she doesn't make it to her 100th birthday.

Thanks a lot for jinxing her, Hulu.

Hopefully they’ll release it earlier now. This could be a fun New Year’s Day binge.

They are capitalizing on a death. Sickos

R80, they planned this way before her death.

Who is watching? They’re on now.

I honestly wish the Golden Girls ran for another 3 seasons.

Susan Harris is still alive. I wish she would tell us what happened to the main characters between Golden Palace and Empty Nest as well as afterwards.

Like maybe write a novel conclusion that gives the main characters happy endings and closure for us fans. Because Miles dumping Rose and Sophia being separated from the others and put back into Shady Pines fucking sucks.

Wow this is really, really bad writing (watching it now). Not funny and sexist, even racist, and I am not the woke type. Amazed the Girls went along with it. Even more amazed that this did not taint the legacy of Golden Girls..

R84, which scenes specifically?

Why was Diana Muldaur approached to play Gloria and not Doris Belack who played her in season one R63? I'm not as familiar with the later GG seasons and always assumed Doris played the part throughout the show.

Off topic, but I also enjoyed Sheree North as Blanche's younger sister. If I remember correctly, she reprised the role in a later season when Blancje's dad died.

R86 It's likely Doris Belack was not available to play Gloria during the character's second appearance. If you look at her IMDB in 1991 she appeared in two films and was a lead in sitcom called Laurie Hill.

Laurie Hill didn't start until the fall of 1992 though.

I always though Belack was replaced because she no longer fit the tone of the show. She was a more naturalistic/realistic performer, which fit the tone of the show in season 1. "The Custody Battle" was believable human beings having genuine conversations. By season 7 the show had become really cartoony (Gloria's return was, of course, the one where Stan was carrying around a traffic cone with a monkey puppet on top of it) and Dena Dietrich was a broader, more sitcommy actress, which fit the show better. It was hard to imagine Season 1 Gloria, who seemed genuinely nice and empathetic, doing that stupid sing-song "Someone's getting maaaad" bit or ever sleeping with Stan. When they decided to destroy her character, they needed a cartoon.

[quote]The show as a whole didn’t work but there are some great written lines in there.

Such as? I'm not being snarky I'd like to know.