Enough Wicker: Intellectualizing the Golden Girls

Happy Halloween! It is the perfect time to get out your bolo tie because Big Daddy Hollingsworth is back in Miami! This time to introduce Blanche to his would-be bride, Margaret Spencer, aka the Widow (pronounced Widdah) Spencer. Excited at first, Blanche's enthusiasm quickly deflates when she realizes Margaret is barely 40, or as Blanche puts it, "practically my age." Meanwhile,  Dorothy and...

Dorothy's college roommate and all-around lovely person Jean is in town for a visit. Though she lives her life out and proud, Rose's fascination with ice cream sundaes and Blanche's immediate insistence that she go out with a man from the discard pile inspires Jean to keep the lesbian thing her hat. But you know what they say about the Lebanese--they bring a u-haul to the second date. Jean finds h...

There is nothing like civic participation. In this episode, we see all four ladies rally together to save an old Oak tree on Richmond Street. While their petitioning tactics vary (and are sometimes questionable), it is admirable to see how seriously they take environmental and historical conservation.   The girls have a formidable opponent in Freida Claxton, a crotchety peeping tom of a...

We sat down with the lovely and brilliant Deborah A. Macey, a communications scholar currently teaching at the University of Portland, to talk about her paper, Ancient Archetypes in Modern Media: A Comparative Analysis of Golden Girls, Living Single, and Sex & The City .  In this interview, our new pal Debbie regales us with how she came up with her dissertation topic and how she went abo...

Stanley, king of the yutzes, shows up and needs a friend. Since Dorothy is busy with her new naval officer boyfriend, she calls in a favor from Blanche. The two hit it off platonically, but their new-found closeness still leaves Dorothy feeling a little jealous, confused, angry--magenta--all of which becomes exacerbated by the end of her own relationship. Meanwhile, Rose and Sophia team up to musc...

In what can only be described as a classic, the girls win three tickets to see Mr. Burt Reynolds (who really appears in this episode and apparently wears monogrammed underwear) at a star-studded event. Ever the Tonto of the group, Sophia is left out and while Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose feel bad for a moment, they mostly think 'WHO CARES!" The tables turn, however, when the girls are arrested and n...

In the first episode of the second season, Dorothy and Rose are doing something completely out of character--breeding minks in their garage! While the B-story is whacky, the A-story of Blanche confronting menopause and all that comes with it makes for a wildly progressive (and hilarious) episode. 

In the final episode of the first season, the girls revisit how they met. Mr. Peepers, Madame Zelda, and Rose’s tactic for finding the perfect melon all emerge as unsung heroes in this hilarious wrap-up.

Big Daddy Hollingsworth is in town with his antebellum lexicon and a gee-tar, as he informs Blanche that he sold the entire estate in order to pursue a country music singing career. Meanwhile, Dorothy and Sophia deal with Mr. Barton, aka "Mouth" and his complete disregard of neighborly responsibility through both civic involvement and the old stand-by, a Sicilian curse.   PS. Go to EnougWicke...

Turn on Channel 5, Lily burned the house down! Well, almost. Rose’s sister Lily, who recently lost her sight, comes for a visit, and the rest of the girls prep for the first of many garage sales at 6151 Richmond. The two stories allow the audience to bear witness to two equally difficult struggles: adjusting to life as a blind person and parting with a hockey stick once used by Bobby Hull.

When Rose is laid off from her job as a grief counselor, she does what anyone would do---starts a pro bono 24-hour counseling service out of her home without telling anyone else that lives there. When that gets out of hand (pretty much right way, if you can believe it), Dorothy and Blanche step in to help their defeated friend in what turns out to be a very tender moment. 

The flu knocks out Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose just in time for the charity event of the season. The girls, sick and irritable, are at each other's throats over the misplacement of a Nyquil cup and a stolen heating pad. They force their recovery, however, when Sophia reveals a rumor that one of them is winning the big award at the banquet. 

In this one, Blanche is pursuing a [deleted by authority of the Governor] degree at a local community college, and is sexually harassed by the ultra-creepy Professor Cooper. She shows courage and determination as she deals with handling this is an environment that values a man's word over a woman's, and Dorothy shows the same qualities while she tries to secure Frank Sinatra tickets. 

In this one, uh, Lou,  Dorothy and Rose attempt to re-do their bathroom in the name of feminism, and Blanche contemplates marrying an old, rich man who uses racial slurs aboard his private jet. Plus, an homage to the late, great Rue la Rue cafe and an emphatic celebration of Sarah's husband's carpentry skills! 

Dorothy's dreams of appearing on stage with her tap team, Rose and Blanche, are dashed when she discovers she has a small tumor that needs to be removed. We validate Dorothy's fears of seeking help in a healthcare system that is barely functioning, celebrate her roommate and under-appreciated guest star, Bonnie (played by the late, great Anne Haney) and emphatically endorse old ladies drinking she...

Blanche's niece Lucy is in town and arrives with a bang (literally). The girls become concerned with Lucy's promiscuity, all while debating how to handle a field mouse who has taken up residency in their kitchen. Eventually, Blanche is able to offer Lucy some powerful words on self-respect and knowing your worth, and Rose finally finds a friend who appreciates her brain, if only for the vast amoun...

In this episode, we break down the 16th episode of The Golden Girls, The Truth Will Out. Rose is forced to have a tough conversation with her daughter Kirsten about her will, which is made more difficult by Kirsten's hard-to-place accent. Plus, we explain what a dickie is and advocate for more girls to go to Space Camp for themselves! 

Rose wakes up to find Al Beatty dead in her bed, the second time a man has died while having sex with her. The girls help her work up the courage to tell Mrs. Beatty, who experiences all five stages of grief right before our eyes. Plus Sophia invents normcore and Rose dresses like a pilgrim. All a day in the life at 6151 Richmond! 

We examine Dorothy's love affair with the first (and lesser, in our opinion) Glen O'Brien and the complicated nature of infidelity. Plus Blanche tries to scam Rose and reminds us that you can take the girl of the Antellbeum, but... 

In our 13th episode, we take a look at a great love story that never was--Rose Nylund and Dr. Jonathan Newman. Dorothy and Blanche stumble through dinner with this esteemed doctor who also happens to be a little person.  

We take a look at the 12th episode of the Golden Girls, which has us exploring the complexity of sibling rivalry and relationships as Gloria swoops into town. After a minor spat with Dorothy over her lack of social life, Sophia contemplates leaving her life with a slut and a moron to join her daughter who visits once a year in her mansion in Burt Convy's neighborhood. 

We are talking about the Girls and the Gays in our first Very Special Episode! In a lot of ways, the show was leaps and bounds ahead of mainstream American pop culture in regard to the LGBTQ  community. From Jean to Clayton to Rambo the Caterer, we reminisce about our favorite queer-centric moments, examine why the show is still so pervasive in gay culture today, and express our deep apprecia...

Stanley is back in Miami in the 11th episode of the Golden Girls. He came to sell some property but somehow ended up in Dorothy's bed (and nightgown!). We break down how satisfying it is for Dorothy to finally choose to walk away on her own terms and examine the ethics of leaving your 80-year-old mother at home so you can go on vacation with your two best friends.

The girls have their first brush with death when Sophia goes from having a bubble in her chest to what she believes is a heart attack. We examine the finer points of this episode, such as Blanche's willingness to step in as the logical decision maker, Rose and Dorothy's shared vulnerability during a tender moment, and once again, how so many Miami doctors are still making house calls in the late 1...

We take a scholarly look at the 9th episode in the first season of The Golden Girls, Blanche and the Younger Man. As the title suggests, Blanche has a young chippie of her own, but we're more captivated by the B story, Mrs. Lindstrom's visit and Rose's struggle to treat her as an adult.