Speaker 1: Hey there, Fana Ritos. It's been a while since we've
Speaker 1: stepped back into flight school, where we watch and discuss
Speaker 1: epic TV shows of the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 2: So Pilot's epic pilot.
Speaker 1: Pilots, yeah, not just TV shows, but pilot pilots, yes,
Speaker 1: and flight school yes. So pull up a wicker chair
Speaker 1: and prepare for some Miami mayhem, because today we are
Speaker 1: heading all the way back to nineteen eighty five, to
Speaker 1: the pilot episode that launched four of the most iconic
Speaker 1: women in TV history.
Speaker 2: Yes, we're talking the Golden Girl who Finally Love It.
Speaker 1: In this minisode, we're breaking down the episode that almost wasn't.
Speaker 1: We meet Dorothy, Rose, Sophia, and Blanche, and Blanche does
Speaker 1: not sound like she's from the South like for one
Speaker 1: of the only episodes, right.
Speaker 2: I don't know, she sort of did.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, as somebody who was thrown into doing
Speaker 3: an accent zero preparation, a pilot will say that sometimes
Speaker 3: they throw you into something and you try and they
Speaker 3: go that we're gonna get someone to help you, and
Speaker 3: you know, maybe that's what happened.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I am very excited about this
Speaker 1: This pilot first aired September fourteenth, nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just two years years before us. Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: Like I didn't read eighty six or eighty six. We
Speaker 2: were eighty seven.
Speaker 1: So yeah, just two years before Full House premiere and
Speaker 1: then Golden Girls ran for seven seasons. So this like we.
Speaker 2: Overlaed through our fifth Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's wild. I didn't really for some reason.
Speaker 2: I sad a lot.
Speaker 3: I know, I know I did too, because they're older
Speaker 3: and we were younger, and so we're like, they, that
Speaker 3: has to be so many ancient years ago, right, and
Speaker 3: then we're like, no, actually that was we. Wow, we existed.
Speaker 3: What a time to be alive. We existed and had
Speaker 3: a TV show on the same time as The Golden Girl.
Speaker 1: We could have been cast as guests on The Golden
Speaker 1: Girls if they had kids in the show.
Speaker 2: I think that wasn't really their demographic.
Speaker 1: Well no, you mean our demographics didn't overlap Full House
Speaker 1: and The Golden.
Speaker 3: Girls, and I don't think I mean maybe some of
Speaker 3: the grandparents and the mom.
Speaker 2: Look, I love Golden Girls. I watched Golden Girls more
Speaker 2: than I Watchful House. I watched you with my.
Speaker 3: Mom, I watched Full House but love the Golden Girls.
Speaker 1: I had until last night, I had never seen a
Speaker 1: single episode of The Golden Girls. I know, I know,
Speaker 1: Jony's like falling off her chair. I've seen I've seen
Speaker 1: clips and scenes and clips. I had never seen an
Speaker 1: entire episode starting to finish's.
Speaker 2: Quitting the podcast?
Speaker 1: Are you not going to be my friend anymore?
Speaker 2: Because they had met?
Speaker 3: No, because we've joked about it for years.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, I've seen clips and seriously thought.
Speaker 3: This was this, that that we spoke the language of
Speaker 3: the of the Golden Girls.
Speaker 1: Yes, I know the characters, I know the lore, I know,
Speaker 1: I know, I've seen clips, but I had not seen
Speaker 1: an episode from start to finish.
Speaker 3: This I am. I'm a little wounded by this. It's
Speaker 3: gonna take me a minute to recover knowing that, Uh,
Speaker 3: I've I've been led to all this time that I
Speaker 3: thought that you knew the Golden.
Speaker 2: Girls, and really, uh, you just knew who they were.
Speaker 1: I just knew, I just knew of them.
Speaker 2: I did not.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how it all began like it did
Speaker 1: in the pilot.
Speaker 3: So so so so like did my cheesecake jokes ever Land, No,
Speaker 3: you have no idea what the cheesecake.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the lnai.
Speaker 1: I know the l Nai. Yeah, the Lai is Famouskay,
Speaker 1: that's the fame. I want to recreate the Lunai here.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I know. Oh that's where Betty White is from,
Speaker 1: right old yes, yes, okay, thank you Rose. Yes, so see,
Speaker 1: I know I know certain things. But what's the cheesecake?
Speaker 2: They like to eat?
Speaker 1: Cheesecake?
Speaker 2: Yes, cheesecake was always the Yeah, it was always the thing.
Speaker 2: They eat cheesecake.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll see like at the end of the episode
Speaker 2: and stuff.
Speaker 3: And I think there's something else with the cheesecake, but
Speaker 3: I can't remember, but I do. I feel like they
Speaker 3: always are sharing a cheesecake, like at the end.
Speaker 1: Of as they should. That nothing sells better than a cheesecake.
Speaker 1: Girlfriends and a lanai. You know this was this. I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that I have. I first watched Golden Girls
Speaker 1: at age forty nine, almost fifty, because I found this
Speaker 1: very relatable.
Speaker 2: You're like, this is you know what the crazy thing is.
Speaker 3: That's how old they were when they were playing them.
Speaker 2: Tell me about it.
Speaker 1: I had to look up their actual agents. Okay, here,
Speaker 1: I've got it written down. Okay, Okay, b Arthur was
Speaker 1: sixty three. Oh, okay, she was a little she was
Speaker 1: playing She played Dorothy who was fifty three or fiftyfty
Speaker 1: five like somewhere in that red Okay, so so b
Speaker 1: Arthur was she was a little older. Betty White was
Speaker 1: also sixty three, but she was playing fifty five.
Speaker 2: Rose was fifty.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, this is better than I thought. For some reason,
Speaker 3: I thought they were younger.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, Blanche was no rue Rue Klanahan
Speaker 1: was fifty one. Okay, she was playing Blanche who was
Speaker 1: fifty three. Okay, you know, okay, right, and then stell
Speaker 1: Geedty was sixty two, younger then than b Arthur.
Speaker 2: Well, I know that she was younger than be Arthur
Speaker 2: and playing her mom.
Speaker 1: I remember that playing and Sophia was seventy nine, so.
Speaker 2: She was playing.
Speaker 1: Wow older. It's fascinating, I know this. This blew my mind.
Speaker 2: You know what.
Speaker 3: I this whole time, I thought they were much younger
Speaker 3: that they were like around their early fifties playing older
Speaker 3: playing that is still Getty was the younger of them,
Speaker 3: playing the.
Speaker 2: Oldest of them.
Speaker 3: So you know what, I was shocked their early playing
Speaker 3: New Fifth girls.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, like that's me. That's going to be me soon,
Speaker 1: that's going to be you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you better. But this is gonna find out find
Speaker 2: you a home or a Leni third, twenty July fourth,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty sixth.
Speaker 3: You celebrate your freedom because you're going in a home
Speaker 3: fifty that's.
Speaker 1: It, as long as it has a Leni and Miami.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna start getting you outfits with gigantic
Speaker 3: shoulder pads.
Speaker 1: The styling of this, like they all had like gray
Speaker 1: white hair.
Speaker 2: Who I don't know any fifty.
Speaker 1: Three fifty five year olds who have white gray hair,
Speaker 1: Like that's like eighty nineties, eighties and nineties.
Speaker 2: Now, I feel not back then? Back then? Did fifty
Speaker 2: year olds have yes? White back then?
Speaker 3: Oh God, because think about it, because like our think
Speaker 3: about our like as kids, our grandparents were what.
Speaker 2: Fifty five sixty.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and they grab my grandma had they certainly
Speaker 1: weren't wearing hoodies and chucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean like we are today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2: So it's it is.
Speaker 3: It's an interesting phenomenon that's happened, where like suddenly that
Speaker 3: doesn't seem so old because we don't it doesn't you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, like one, there's.
Speaker 2: Botox right too.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just like the idea I think of
Speaker 3: what fifty something is is very different today, so different
Speaker 3: because it's gen xers that are fifty something and they're like,
Speaker 3: we're not old.
Speaker 1: We're not Yeah, we're not old at all. We're denial
Speaker 1: forever exactly.
Speaker 3: And so I think, you know, it's I think creeped
Speaker 3: up a little bit. And I also think it just
Speaker 3: you know, uh, that was done.
Speaker 2: To make them look older.
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, this is intentional.
Speaker 3: If they had great hair, was you know, call you
Speaker 3: be like these ladies out all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, these ladies are these lady should be out in Miami.
Speaker 1: Oh it was, I was. I was stunned, like this
Speaker 1: whole thing. I'm now going to start a Golden Girl's
Speaker 1: rewatch podcasts because I.
Speaker 3: Just I just finished the brick Craft Golden Girls fortieth
Speaker 3: anniversary lego set.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, wait, is it the living room set
Speaker 1: or the Luni No?
Speaker 2: No, no, it's them. Oh it's them.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, that's amazing them. Zoe got it for
Speaker 3: me for my birthday.
Speaker 1: I believe that's a mate that's so perfectly awesome. Oh yes,
Speaker 1: pretty please send a photo that's Jenny. Jenny wants a
Speaker 1: photo because that's Oh.
Speaker 3: Yes, I will send a photo of that so that
Speaker 3: we can have a Golden Girls moment for Yeah.
Speaker 1: So great. Okay, so should we go through? Do we
Speaker 1: want to go through the main cast or should we
Speaker 1: just skip straight?
Speaker 2: I mean, we know we know Dorothy's Barnack is be Arthur?
Speaker 2: Who is we know Dorothy? We love Dorothy. Dorothy is
Speaker 2: who I aim to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you are have so many similarities between her and yes, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not kidding you though, Like I watched as a kid.
Speaker 2: I thought she was hilarious and.
Speaker 3: She thinks somewhere in there like absorbed in this sort
Speaker 3: of dead pan sarcasm.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know you imprinted on her at a young
Speaker 1: age and adult some of her traits and her comedy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh she's fantastic. She's so fantastic. I love her.
Speaker 1: Did you have you watched Maud her show before?
Speaker 2: I mean the whole thing through, but yes, I have
Speaker 2: watched some of Maud.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's so fantastic. And then Rose Nyland played by
Speaker 1: Betty White. I related to her in her like naivete
Speaker 1: and yes, yes.
Speaker 2: Yes, Betty, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Who? What do you mean what she's She's just so
Speaker 1: adorable and just lovely. I so much.
Speaker 3: Had such an amazing career, Yeah, such an amazing, lengthy,
Speaker 3: brilliant career.
Speaker 2: And she was gorgeous.
Speaker 1: Oh my godiness, she.
Speaker 2: Was stunnying when she was young.
Speaker 1: Yeah, stunning, beautiful, charismatic, Yeah, just so brilliant with comedy
Speaker 1: and goodness, yes, we're we It was just a joy
Speaker 1: to watch her, for sure. Yeah. Blanche Devereaux the man
Speaker 1: hungry Southern Bell played by Rue McClanahan. And it says
Speaker 1: here McClanahan notably does not use a Southern accent for Blanche,
Speaker 1: as the director told her he didn't want to hear one,
Speaker 1: how rude. But as the show was picked up, she
Speaker 1: brought back the accent and it became iconic.
Speaker 2: Thank god.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so that's it was the director's directors in
Speaker 1: this one. All right, Well that's the the director, right, because.
Speaker 3: The the southern accent she has is just icon it's
Speaker 3: it's it's a part of it. And also the end
Speaker 3: scene there was a like a single of her and
Speaker 3: I noticed how.
Speaker 2: Blue her eyes. Yeah, like she looked like she.
Speaker 3: Had blue conax and they were really, really like an
Speaker 3: ocean blue. Anyway, I was like, even blue. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: didn't realize. I just it was like, oh wow. I
Speaker 3: never really noticed how like brilliant her eyes.
Speaker 1: Were gorgeous or all all of them are extremely gorgeous.
Speaker 2: Oh I love them.
Speaker 1: Last, but certainly not least. We have a still getty
Speaker 1: plain Sophia. She was originally written just to be like
Speaker 1: a minor guest character, but impressed everyone so much in
Speaker 1: the pilot that they killed it. They got rid of
Speaker 1: the gay cook and and moved Sofia in and.
Speaker 2: He became a record poor Coco.
Speaker 1: I was so I was stunt because again I hadn't
Speaker 1: seen the show.
Speaker 2: I was like, and he's in the first scene. I'm like,
Speaker 2: who is this guy? Is he it? You'll never see
Speaker 2: him again?
Speaker 1: Is he a roommate? Is he the hired help? He was?
Speaker 3: He was there gay cook that he was like. He
Speaker 3: was like, there, it's Miami. It's like the equivalent of
Speaker 3: the bird Cage and Hank's Area's character. You know, it's
Speaker 3: like the yeah, yeah, it's Miami.
Speaker 2: You have like you have the gay cook, chef, housekeeper.
Speaker 1: You know, But did he live in the house he
Speaker 1: was in?
Speaker 2: Like I don't think he lived there.
Speaker 1: He was wearing like I thought he was wearing a
Speaker 1: robe and slippers and one of the even maybe I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, I don't know, I was I was.
Speaker 3: Just very confused by his mad and I don't remember
Speaker 3: an episode if he did, but but I do remember that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it started out that they had a little gay
Speaker 2: show wow, which again, thank you representation.
Speaker 1: Honestly, yes, in nineteen eighty five, there was a lot
Speaker 1: of representation in the show.
Speaker 3: And The Golden Girls is such an iconic gay queer show. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and that's like a big part of it is like
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, they started with that, and they but
Speaker 3: there was you know, there was also some jokes in there.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, yeah, some of the jokes didn't age well,
Speaker 1: but well but the four.
Speaker 2: Of them did. But so I love.
Speaker 1: Having a show centered on four older women to carry
Speaker 1: this like that was not That was almost why I
Speaker 1: didn't go.
Speaker 3: It was only yeah, they were like older women, who's
Speaker 3: gonna watch that?
Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know, other women like what do you
Speaker 2: mean man?
Speaker 3: And then it's just show is funny because it was hysterical,
Speaker 3: laugh out loud funny.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, what a what a treat what a.
Speaker 3: Gem like that is like a huge demographic to just
Speaker 3: be like, but they always do that, right, like older women,
Speaker 3: that's your that's who watches stuff, that's who watches Hallmark.
Speaker 2: Movies, that's who won Lifetime, and that is who your
Speaker 2: buying audience is.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, and this is why we don't see the
Speaker 1: executives don't take risks like this anymore. Like they're too
Speaker 1: cautious with their money and so they don't. Yeah, everything
Speaker 1: is all the same.
Speaker 3: Now we're going to see a resurgence in like indie
Speaker 3: shows and film. I think I hope so uh with
Speaker 3: I mean with obsession and back rooms. You know, Sorry
Speaker 3: not to sidetrack us, but but yeah, I do think
Speaker 3: we're going to see, you know, hopefully things that are
Speaker 3: more willing to take a risk on great comedy or
Speaker 3: great stories.
Speaker 2: Because these women. This was such a great show, such
Speaker 2: a great show.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm telling you, I'm gonna this is
Speaker 1: my show.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I'm going to watch the whole seven seasons.
Speaker 2: One of my it's funny, Zoe used to watch it
Speaker 2: to go to sleep better. Tests she it's comforting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but one of my favorite scenes is in this
Speaker 3: Pilot and it's the scene with and Dorothy and Rose,
Speaker 3: and Rose keeps wanting to say something and Dorothy keeps
Speaker 3: cutting her off and shutting her up or shoving her
Speaker 3: in the closet like it's just so the two of
Speaker 3: them together, it was so funny and it was so good.
Speaker 3: Weant you know, they didn't quite get along well really, yeah,
Speaker 3: if I remember right. Hearing from Lex Bizaris, who was
Speaker 3: our assistant director in Florhouse and worked on Golden Girls
Speaker 3: for several seasons, I forgot about.
Speaker 2: I think I think.
Speaker 3: There was some friction there between the two of them,
Speaker 3: and I think just be Arthur in general was a
Speaker 3: little bit of a harsher personality, Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: And Betty White I don't think was at all.
Speaker 3: So I think there was interesting just tension as far,
Speaker 3: not nothing terrible.
Speaker 1: But just didn't like each other.
Speaker 3: So right, interesting but you would never know it because
Speaker 3: it was brilliant. But yeah, their favorite scenes of the
Speaker 3: Golden Girls is just her and she looks like it's
Speaker 3: like you and Sergeant Slaughter.
Speaker 2: She's got really read block. That's what made me think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what That's what jogged my memory, and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: we never told that story. That's so funny. Gosh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this was amazing to watch. I have a quote from
Speaker 1: Susan Harris, the writer, creator EP of the show. This
Speaker 1: is a quote from her interview in The New York
Speaker 1: Times a week after this premiered Umber twenty second, nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty five. She said, a woman's worth is tied into
Speaker 1: what she looks like. At eighty two, Carry Grant could
Speaker 1: still be a romantic lead, but on television, a woman
Speaker 1: over fifty is cast as an axe murderer. Yep, Like
Speaker 1: that's there, you go, there's the impetus for making this show.
Speaker 1: It's like, let's just show about women over fifty. And
Speaker 1: they're real people too. They got jobs, they got careers,
Speaker 1: they talk about dating, they talk about sex, talking about it. Right,
Speaker 1: they're not just grandmothers, They're right.
Speaker 3: This is their grandma's they have their kids. They're talking
Speaker 3: about what life is like now that they're you know,
Speaker 3: back to being like single adults, single women. They still
Speaker 3: you know, they're still alive. They're not that old.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's such a great example of.
Speaker 2: Like a really women centered show that was not.
Speaker 3: That was not about their looks or their you know,
Speaker 3: it was it fell in the vein of a Murphy
Speaker 3: Brown or does women Micht Taylor the police officer at
Speaker 3: the end. Huh, that's me, Shak Taylor, who went on
Speaker 3: to start in designing.
Speaker 1: Oh no way, Oh that's fantastic. Oh that's a good
Speaker 1: little tidbit.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you know, those kinds of shows were starting
Speaker 3: to show like, oh, hey, wait a minute, maybe like
Speaker 3: this isn't an audience we haven't tapped into. Is you
Speaker 3: know women who are not twenty, right, you know, being
Speaker 3: with dudes who are fifty.
Speaker 1: I think it was the Small Wonder pilot. We were
Speaker 1: talking about the mom who's in the back of the
Speaker 1: kitchen like drying a dish, right for like the whole seat,
Speaker 1: whole thing, And that's how women portrayed how they served others,
Speaker 1: how they were moms, how they were housekeepers, and it's like, no,
Speaker 1: there's a lot we're a lot more layered than that.
Speaker 1: And this show shows it.
Speaker 2: Golden Girls shows it so great. Yeah, I love the show.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 3: I'm so excited. I want you to keep watching and
Speaker 3: then talk to me about it. I'll text you, yeah,
Speaker 3: text me because it is. It's such a great show
Speaker 3: and there's so many absolutely brilliant comedy moments in it.
Speaker 2: I mean, it is. It really is the reason that
Speaker 2: I always say, like, oh.
Speaker 3: You know, we've got to come back and we'll do
Speaker 3: it Golden Girls style is because the dynamic amongst them
Speaker 3: was so brilliant and so sharp, and they did such
Speaker 3: a good job with it, Like it's I just yeah,
Speaker 3: I'd love to come back and be able to, you know,
Speaker 3: play an old lady like that.
Speaker 1: Oh they were. They their chemistry was so strong. It
Speaker 1: confused me at first because I'm like, how long have
Speaker 1: these women known each other? Because we find out later
Speaker 1: that they answered an ad that right the roommates. Blanche
Speaker 1: needed some roommates, and so they answered an ad and
Speaker 1: moved in. But how long ago did they move in?
Speaker 1: Because they looked like they had been lifelong friends. They
Speaker 1: seemed so close, But no, they were just strangers who
Speaker 1: moved in together. So I'm like, when was that? How
Speaker 1: how long ago was that? Because they had insane chemistry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I loved it. I loved it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So well, I'm glad that you watched the pilot
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Golden Girls. Yeah, I can't wait to
Speaker 3: hear more of what you think about it.
Speaker 2: I can't wait, and.
Speaker 3: I hope some of our fana Ritos go back and
Speaker 3: check out the pilot of the Golden Girls, because it
Speaker 3: is hilarious.
Speaker 1: It's iconic. Good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1: It's a masterclass in how to do situational comedy.
Speaker 2: Like, yes, it is. It's held up. I mean it's
Speaker 2: it's really really great.
Speaker 1: The writing, the acting, the directing, like, all of it
Speaker 1: is fantastic. Chef's kiss, no.
Speaker 2: Notes, no no notes, no notes.
Speaker 3: Uh well, everybody, thank you for joining us for this
Speaker 3: little fun minisode of Golden Girls extravaganza.
Speaker 2: We love you guys.
Speaker 3: If you want to find us on Instagram, uh, we're
Speaker 3: going to post a picture of my little uh my
Speaker 3: little lego set, my my Golden Girls legosh. If you
Speaker 3: would like to follow us, find us on Instagram at
Speaker 3: how Rude podcast, or you can send us an email
Speaker 3: at how Rude tan Rito's at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Like and subscribe to the show. You know the deal
Speaker 2: and we will see you next time. But we're member.
Speaker 2: The world is small. The house is full of Sophia's purses. Oh,
Speaker 2: it's just full. There's so many of them.
Speaker 1: Wait to see it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well she's always holding on to it.
Speaker 1: That's what the queen she did too, Like I think
Speaker 1: that was so she didn't have to shake hands.
Speaker 2: We used to call my friends, uh, my friend's grandma.
Speaker 2: We used to call her Sophia because she would.
Speaker 3: Come to your house and sit in your house with
Speaker 3: her purse on her lap.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's like a security blanket.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we were pretty sure.
Speaker 3: It was because she was hiding her cigarettes, and then
Speaker 3: she'd say she had to go to the bathroom, and
Speaker 3: then she'd go out and smoke when she wasn't supposed to.
Speaker 1: But whatever, you know, that sounds like Sophia too.
Speaker 2: It sounds like Sofia too. Yeah, exactly exactly, but yeah,
Speaker 2: amazing Sophia's little bag. Just stuffed it in the house.
Speaker 2: Love it, love it, waiting for us to become the
Speaker 2: Golden Girl.