POLL: Oddities and Errors on “The Golden Girls”

What the fuck happen to Coco after the first episode?

R1 I like to think they pushed him out so Sophia could have a bedroom.

Either that, or he got busted for selling cocaine and man-snatch on Fisher Island, and got sent up.

The house layout for one. The garage would be in the bedrooms.

So many inconsistencies in this series. Sophia's dating/marriage history is all over the place. The writers contradict themselves at every turn.

That being said it's still one of my fave sitcoms of all time.

For me, the only one on OP's list that really bothered me was the children. They could have worked that out better even in an era before shows regularly had bibles. Other sitcoms did.

But the rest?

Blanche getting an STD would take the fun out of her slut character. I'm glad they did the HIV fear storyline with Rose instead.

Airlines have lost my luggage several times. Not every time, but enough that I appreciate the humor.

The lovely fashion was worth it not making too much sense for Miami.

OK, the home layout, locks, etc. were a bit of a mess. Sure. But one could overlook that. Harder to overlook the family inconsistencies.

The baby Dorothy and Stan conceived as teens passed away early, they just didn't say it explicitly. That's how Dorothy lived with Jean while attending college, Stan went to Korea.

The other two kids were born later on but this early loss contributed to the complexities if Dorothy.

What was with the exclamation point on the front door?

Sophia’s friend Martha who was seeing a lot of Harvey Wallbanger and wanted to assisted-suicide herself was somehow also a geriatric Minnesota nursing home escapee who avoided capture by pretending to be Rose’s mother.

It's called fiction, Rose.

It was interesting that Dorothy got knocked up in highschool and was married to Stan and yet had a lesbian college roommate in Jean and was a sorority tennis pro with Trudy!

I thought Trudy was a high school friend though it was odd that their high school reunion was in Miami when they went to school in Brooklyn.

Rose’s family was a plot hole. Rose came from the land of idiots (St. Olaf) yet her mother, daughters, and sisters were all smart.

In the past, a gentleman was expected to unlock his date's door with her keys at the end of the evening. It was considered chivalrous, like pulling out her chair at the dinner table. It was realistic for people who were the girls' age in the 1980s to follow that tradition.

I never knew that R12, what if he refused to give the keys back unless she fellated him, or threw them into the bushes after being rebuffed? Seems like surrender of safety to me.

The reunion in Miami made no sense. Neither did her daughter’s impromptu wedding they were able to get a church for at the last minute as well as get 100s of guests to show up for

Arnie and Miles being played by the same actor. They couldn't find another old man instead of recycling him?

R15 There were a couple of actors who played 2 different roles. Miles. Enrique Mas, and Sophia’s suicidal friend all played at least 2 off the top of my head.

The family members are confusing because they typically changed actors every time aside from Michael and Stan and Virginia.

Dorothy and Sophia always had the same amount of kids. Rose and Blanche’s number of kids always changed.

Funny how none of Dorothy’s family showed up for her wedding in the finale.

I assumed after each of Sophia's "lifelong" best friends passed away, the next best got upgraded to fulfill her duties. Kind of like the Vice President stepping in. At her age her peers would have been dropping like flies in the 1980s.

[quote]Funny how none of Dorothy’s family showed up for her wedding in the finale.

Or Miles.

R19 One of Sophia's "lifelong best friends" was Esther Weinstock (wife of Max). Sophia claimed they grew up together. Except Sophia moved to America when she was 19 or 20. And I kinda doubt she grew up in Sicily with a Jewess named Esther.

That Sophia was able to walk normal after taking on the meat hammer of Cesar Romero was just absurd.

[quote]Sophia having a new “lifelong best friend” every month

My grandmother lived to be 101, and she lost many lifelong friends along the way, especially in her 80s and 90s. Anyone who lives that old is bound to see a significant percentage of their social circle die before them.

So I don't find this aspect of the show troubling.

Rose attends lots of weddings and we don't see her get "hot"

Maybe you didn't see it, r24.

I tried to play off the double casting by assuming producer Tony Thomas was doing an ode to old time casting like a repertory company. Multiple parts being played by the same actors.

The one unforgivable one for me was during the series finale. Dorothy goes out to dinner with Lucas and their waiter is played by her onscreen father Sid Melton. It took me right out of the scene. I suppose they wanted to give the actor a chance to appear in the finale, but why not a quick visit from dead Dad on her wedding day instead?

More inconsistencies with Dorothy's family including her grandmother. Uncle Angelo says he promised his mother he would become a priest when she was on her deathbed in Sicily. Then you have Sophia saying she and her mother were on the same ship coming to the US. Then you have the grandmother who supposedly died in Sicily decades before showing up in an episode flashback in Brooklyn (played by Bea Arthur.)

The three widows and their husbands' dates of death changed depending on the episode.

[quote]The one unforgivable one for me was during the series finale. Dorothy goes out to dinner with Lucas and their waiter is played by her onscreen father Sid Melton.

That was the Hal Linden episode.

And to make it even more bizarre, Sid and Bill Dana played roommates of Sophia's when she moved back to Shady Pines on Empty Nest. Really bizarre.

Dorothy was Jewish and he was a man.

Rose was both her high school valedictorian in one episode and never graduated in another because she missed her graduation ceremony due to an illness.

Why a ceremonial exercise would prevent her from receiving a diploma when all other requirements were fulfilled was never explained.

The writing went into the toilet when they hired Marc Cherry, an obese, unfuckable homo with a thimble dick.

That old miserable cunt Freida Claxton was later thought to be Dorothy’s mother.

The 30-year Sophia-Angela feud seemed preposterous. Especially since she was Dorothy’s “favorite aunt.”

You never wondered - or asked - in three decades why she never visited or spoke to her sister? And Angela didn’t even mention it when she agreed to visit for her birthday?

And neither of them had a clue their brother lived a double life for decades where he wasn’t a priest but banging women and perhaps even having a whole family of his own?

What a dysfunctional bunch.

The girls threw multiple surprise birthday parties for Blanche. But they went to the governor’s office to get Blanche’s birth certificate to learn her birthday years later.

Meanwhile, Blanche was born in Georgia, not Florida.

It’s like they didn’t even care to give the appearance of consistency.

R27, yes!. I thought it was the "John" Hal Linden ep but then I changed it thinking it was the seafood restaurant ep with Leslie Nielson. But you're right. He was dressed as a court jester and they had the minstrel singer doing a rendition of the Gilligan's Island theme. Totally different restaurants. Thanks.

R29, and in the flashback ep of how the roommates met, Rose was getting kicked out of her current apartment because she took in a stray cat she named Mr. Peepers, yet in a future ep it was said she was allergic to cats.

They're all liars. Perhaps retired con women.. Inconsistencies fixed.

Charmaine and Clayton were not at Big Daddy’s funeral

That you could often eat that quantity of cheesecak and not be enormously fat.

R37 = Rebecca Devereaux

There was a thread in from 2007-2009 with over 700 responses called Golden Girls Inconsistencies. That thread has apparently been lost. Here’s the follow up.

Here’s another one from 2029.

Oops - from 2020.

Here’s one from 2010.

Never watched often enough to notice.

Well what’s weird to me is Blanche’s house. I’m assuming it was her and George’s post-retirement home, not their family home.

Too busy eating life, r43?

The biggest oddity was how the show greenlighted in the first place- then how did a lame-ass 'comedy' stay on that long? Did Bea Arthur finance it herself?

“It took me right out of the scene”, says R26. As if this is Long Days Journey Into Night he’s watching.

I think the episode your’re misremembering was called “Long Day’s Journey into Marinara”, r47.

R46, it was a ratings blockbuster and won the Emmy for best comedy five times!wTF are you smoking?

R44, in one ep she said she raised her children in that home. Though, like you, I also had the impression she and George raised the kids close to wherever they grew up. Georgia?

R47, you're in a Golden Girls thread and you're mocking me?

Good one, R48.

Somehow Blanche’s sister Charmaine (“Vixen: Story of a Woman”) got herself entangled in not one but five murders foiled across roughly a decade by veteran mystery novelist, J.B. Fletcher.

Yes, R26

How about that time Rose referred to her parents as “Mr. And Mrs. Nylund” instead of Lindstrom? That was a doozy.

The women's ages

I found the original inconsistencies thread about 5 years ago and reposted under something like is this the Holy Grail? Can't find my old thread.

Love how OP has subbed the word for "oddities" instead.

r49

it won best comedy twice but was nominated 6 times

Neither Sophia or her sister had an Italian accent

Rose can't understand how Blanche hates her sister...yet Rose's sister visits and Rose actually says God I hate that woman. Still adore this show and those ladies. Have u noticed how the guest stars were so under written...the focus always stayed on the ladies.

Burt Reynolds wanting to take a vicious old bag out to lunch when he could have shagged three sluts. I wonder if the girls would have been up for a foursome?

R6 that is bullshit. There was never a storyline saying that Stan and Dorothy lost a baby. Dorothy and Stan got married because Dorothy was pregnant and remained married for 38 years. It was never once mentioned that they lost a baby, you are the only person who keeps saying this.

r60

we all understand that BUT how do you explain that NONE of Stan and Dorothy's children were remotely 38 though

I've said it before, but I would have cast either Jennifer Salt as "Sally Zbornak," the long-lost eldest child.

Dorothy and Sophia came across as Brooklyn Jews, not Italian Jews. There is really nothing "Italian" about them.

Often, when Sophia mentions her friends, they have Jewish surnames.

^^^ meant to write Brooklyn Italians ...

R60 are you trying to invalidate Dorothy's trauma?

Dorothy had a high-flying career before suffering a nervous breakdown when he left her. It isn't stated but you can read between the lines, she gambled the house away and lost her job. Moving on with Blanche was her fresh start, and her poor mind couldn't cope with more than being a substitute

[quote]and in the flashback ep of how the roommates met, Rose was getting kicked out of her current apartment because she took in a stray cat she named Mr. Peepers, yet in a future ep it was said she was allergic to cats.

Something like one in four cat owners is allergic. That one's not an inconsistency.

R67, in a later episode Rose was using an imaginary pet cat as an excuse for something and Dorothy says "You're allergic to cats." Catching her in a lie. So Rose supposedly did not have a pet cat. Can't remember the ep.

If Rose got evicted because she had a stray cat, what happened to the cat?

R69, she gave it to a little boy whose pet cat had recently died.

R50 I can’t imagine Blance raising the kids in that home. She had multiple children and remember when she used to have to scream for the governorness?

R71, yes and she talked about having to go downstairs or something to call for the governess. The Golden Girls house is a ranch.

[quote]Oh... oh, I see, missy, so this is the thanks I get for all those cold nights when you were a baby crying, and I'd have to get up out of bed and grope around in the dark for my slippers and robe, and make my way all the way downstairs, and... scream for the governess?

Yes, Blanche definitely raised her children in a two-story house. Didn't fat Rebecca also complement Blanche on her "lovely home"?

Blanche's ever growing list of children: Janet, Rebecca, Skippy...never mind Skippy, he has asthma.

Blanche didn't raise her kids so she doesn't remember that she and George bought the Miami house shortly before he croaked

Did Blanche raise her children in Georgia?

Not enough information, they could have had another Florida property before the current one.

This thread and others make me think that Datalounge is basically a secret underground civilization of people who have never seen the actual world above. The only clues they have to it are some ancient videotapes of the complete series of "I Love Lucy" and "The Golden Girls," and they watch these over and over again, obsessing about them, going over every last detail, and wondering just how life in the sunlit world above can possibly correspond to the details of what they're seeing on the holy videotapes.

They lived in Miami but never went to Disney World. Rose would have loved going to Disney.

I also didn't like how all the women hated their sisters but loved their brothers. Lots of misogyny from the writers.

R79 Sophia and Dorothy went in season 4 so Sophia could ride Space Mountain

A lot of the relatives were really one-note. No real characterisation, just there to support the cause of the week and spout talking points.

R78 we were waiting for you, as always. What kept you, you must surely have that ready to cut and paste at a moments notice.

R80 We never saw Disney World during that episode. Roseanne had an entire episode filmed at Disney.

Roseanne did that episode the year after Disney acquired ABC. It probably came from the top that they do a Disney World episode.

Most of the friends Sophia talks about are her friends in Miami, elderly Jewish women, that was/is a huge chunk of the population down there, so I don’t think is too out of place.

I read years ago that shows like the golden girls were the reason most long running shows had a “series bible” that new writers had to go through and existing had to reference because of the plot inconsistencies.

I want to know why there wasn't a bigger backstory or reveal of Miss Kim Fung Toy!

r21, I have several relatives in Italy named Esterina. One moved to Toronto and is known as Ester there (no H, it's rarely used in Italian.)

That's possible R84. Still, it would have been fun to see the women at Disney World. Rose thinks it's a real place, Sophia steals money from Dorothy's purse to buy souvenirs for all her elderly friends, Blanche flirts with Goofy and Pluto and Dorothy is completely miserable as usual.

Blanche accepted her gay police officer brother-in-law despite being a full blown “fuck blue lives” activist during most of the run of the series.

I missed many episodes and I’m sorry but do we realize that Martha Lamont -Sophia’s suicidal friend was Geraldine Fitzgerald of 1939 Withering Heights -just sayin…

Dorothy parading around in great looking long skirts, boots and cowl neck sweaters... but in Miami. I sweat watching.

Poor Dorothy was so homely. She deserved those jokes.

Sophia's parents certainly had a sense of humor, naming two of their children Angela and Angelo.

R93, when Angela visited from Sicily she was supposedly the only living sibling . She was asked how the family was and she said they were all dead. Yet Angelo was alive and well living in Miami in an apartment complex owned by Stan and Dorothy (Dan and Morothy.)

Rose's daughter Kirsten going from being a beautiful, sophisticated Deirdre Hall knock-joff, to being a frump living in a trailer in Talahassee...

Angelo was essentially a last minute replacement character for Angela. Nancy Walker was supposed to be recurring but her poor health prevented her from returning. So I've heard.

Basic math gives us a birth year of around 1905 for Sophia and 1930 for Dorothy and Rose. Blanche was possibly born in 1932 which would've made her 53 when she went through menopause in that one episode. Uncommon in real life but not unheard of.

Charlie died between 1976-1980. 1979-1980 seems to make the most sense. Sal died sometime between 1961-1974. George seems to have died between 1981-1983

The reason the main characters wore layers all the time in Miami is because the producers/writers didn't think the cast wearing accurate weather appropriate attire would look very fashionable for the viewers.

One of my abandoned projects would've been to watch every single episode of the Golden Girls, Golden Palace and at least two seasons of Empty Nest and take extensive notes for each episode in order to log every character fact and all of the inconsistencies in writing as well as fashion a rough timeline of events.

I'm hoping someday a fan with more time and patience will be able to pull it off and share their complete findings online with the rest of the fandom.

I believe early in the series Dorothy (at least maybe Rose, too) was supposed to be Bea Arthur's actual age, that is, early 60s. At some point, she became vaguely in her mid-50s and remained there until the end of the series.

R97 there was nothing vague about it, in series one Dorothy said to Rose you are the same age as me 55.

It was the episode where Rose lost her job at the grief counselling centre, she got a new job as a waitress with a perk of 50% off day old danish. Then in the very next episode she returned to working at the counselling centre, the waitress Job was never mentioned again.

R96 I read that Nancy Walker left as she was offered her own show, but it flopped. Then she got ill.

They were in their 60s to begin with, then de-aged.

It was a mistake to say Charlie was dead 15 years as it threw Rose's timing off

R98 that episode shows up late in Season One yet it seemed as if it was one of the first eps they filmed. The way Betty portrayed Rose and the entire feel of the ep seemed out of sequence with the first season. It did not seem like a natural progression.

It's like when Miles leaves Rose because of the "Cheese Man" then the next ep, he's off at some convention or seminar and she's going out to dinner with one of his friends. I believe it was one of the Stan/Dorothy wedding eps. Out of sequence airing or the writers' drug habits had graduated to the pipe?

Speaking of Niles: In one episode he brings his daughter for dinner. Next season he admits that he is in the witness protection program, and he isn't even Miles. Maybe the daughter was in the same program. This is at least odd.

"Job Hunt" was the second episode filmed. "Break In" was the third.

Didn't the girls get the Director of "Job Hunt", Paul Bogart, fired because he kept making them play their characters against their views? Such as Betty making Rose a hysterical moaner?

Rose's chicken could be a piano-playing chicken AND a plate of fried chicken - talk about casting the same actor in different roles.

R103. I like my chicken extra flat and crispy.

R100 just as bad was the time that Rose was in bits because she had to give a eulogy at a relatives funeral, she was going on about how she hates public speaking. Then in the very next episode she was due to give an international press conference to the entire world, including a media pack and the Russian premier from their living room. And she was looking forward to the whole thing.

I can’t understand how the actresses didn’t sometimes say something about the continuity. Betty was brave enough to challenge a director about how she should play Rose. And Bea was certainly not one to hold back about anything she disliked. She tried to get anyone on set chewing gum or wearing a back to front baseball cap fired.

It was odd that Bea shit on Betty’s dressing room floor.

We could have sorted out some of the bigger continuity mistakes if we were on the writing team, such as explaining the death of Dorothy's first baby in the "Ebbtide's Revenge" episode. Instead of all that offensive nonsense with the cunt of a Priest, have Dorothy empathize with Sophia about the pain of losing a child.

The show would have been vastly improved if they had killed off Sophia and had Barbara Thorndye have to move in after some bad investments left her nearly broke except for her membership to the Mortimer Club.

Sophia was the fan favorite

I think Posey McGlynn should have been promoted to lead status. The fact she never was is a big omission and/or error...

Posey was a slut who tried to sleep her way to the top at the museum

R111, you've stuck your nose in for the last time! *aims gun*

Barbara Thorndyke should have married Murray Gutman.