Golden Girls DVD episode
Almost all the episodes of 'The
Golden Girls' were hits. The viewers immediately lapped up what was
dished out to them. Actually it was the topic of every episode that
connected with viewers. Each topic was different and during those
days such topics were not often aired on TV. It was through the
Golden Girls series that such topics came out more openly. The Golden
Girls episodes were conceived on topics like gay marriage, menopause,
impotence, drug addiction, infidelity, interracial marriage, racism,
transsexualism, homophobia, age discrimination, suicide,
cross-dressing, lesbianism, plastic surgery, euthanasia, homicide,
artificial insemination, sexual harassment, senility etc.
Now in those days most TV shows
steered clear from such topics fearing a backlash. However Golden
Girls attempted to present them by blending them to perfection with
humour. Though there were controversies, these died down eventually
as the topics were overshadowed by the fine performances by the lead
actors. Even then there were provocative elements in one or two
episodes. In one such episode Rose discovers that she has got AIDS.
This was because she had received untested blood transfusion some
years back.
The episodes for the first four
seasons were written by Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman. Actually they
didn't write all the episodes by themselves. They gave their ideas to
junior writers who did the job. However they did write a few episodes
every season. Thereafter new writers came in. Marc Sotkin took over
in 1989 and wrote till the final three seasons. In between two more
writers namely Richard Vaczy and Tracy Gamble took over for a brief
period till 1990. Marc Cherry and Jamie Wooten finally took charge
from them though Vaczy and Gamble kept their association till the
curtains came down. Another writer named Mitchell Hurwitz was also
associated with the writing department for a long time.
The Golden Girls show was aired by
NBC at the 9 pm prime time slot but owing other slot filling
difficulties changed that to the 8 pm slot from September 1991. It
was then that the decline of the show's popularity began. It fell
from the 10th place to 30th.
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