The Golden Girls season 1

NBC
Sep 14, 1985

NBC
Sep 14, 1985

Summary The Golden Girls, which aired on NBC from 1985 until 1992, features four women all near or above the age of 50. Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak (Bea Arthur) is the tall, headstrong, witty and sometimes mean Golden Girl. Rose Lindstrom Nylund (Betty White) is the innocent Minnesota dumb (bleached) blonde of the girls. Blanche Elizabeth Hollingsw...

Created By: Susan Harris

NBC
Sep 14, 1985

NBC
Sep 14, 1985

The Golden Girls

Season 1

7 Seasons

Season Premiere: Sep 14, 1985

Metascore Universal Acclaim Based on 6 Critic Reviews

User Score Universal Acclaim Based on 15 User Ratings

8.7

My Score

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Where to Watch

Created By: Susan Harris

Where to Watch

Season Episodes

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Episode 1 • Sep 14, 1985 • 30 m

The Engagement

Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche are three women who share a house in Miami, Florida. Dorothy's elderly mother, Sophia, unexpectedly moves in after her retirement home burns down, and Blanche accepts a proposal of marriage.

Episode 2 • Sep 21, 1985 • 30 m

Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding?

When Dorothy's daughter Kate gets married, Dorothy must confront her ex-husband Stanley, who walked out on their 38 year marriage for a younger woman.

Episode 3 • Sep 28, 1985 • 30 m

Rose the Prude

Rose is afraid of sexual intimacy with her boyfriend, Arnie, because she feels she would be cheating on her late husband, Charlie.

Episode 4 • Oct 5, 1985 • 30 m

Transplant

Blanche's sister, Virginia, with whom she has had a tense relationship for years, comes to visit. She reveals that she needs a kidney transplant to save her life.

Episode 5 • Oct 19, 1985 • 30 m

The Triangle

When Dorothy's doctor boyfriend makes a pass at Blanche, their friendship becomes threatened.

Episode 6 • Oct 26, 1985 • 30 m

On Golden Girls

Blanche's belligerent grandson David comes to visit.

Episode 7 • Nov 2, 1985 • 30 m

The Competition

The girls' friendship is tested by a bowling tournament.

Episode 8 • Nov 9, 1985 • 30 m

Break In

Rose feels unsafe in her own house after a burglary.

Episode 9 • Nov 16, 1985 • 30 m

Blanche and the Younger Man

Blanche dates an aerobics instructor who is considerably younger than she is. Meanwhile, Rose's mother comes to visit and resents the way her daughter treats her.

Episode 10 • Nov 23, 1985 • 30 m

The Heart Attack

Sophia falls ill suddenly, and the other girls worry she may be having a heart attack.

Episode 11 • Nov 30, 1985 • 30 m

Stan's Return

Stan returns to try and make amends with Dorothy.

Episode 12 • Dec 7, 1985 • 25 m

The Custody Battle

Dorothy's wealthy sister Gloria wants Sophia to move to California with her.

Episode 13 • Dec 14, 1985 • 24 m

A Little Romance

Rose doesn't tell her friends that her boyfriend is a little person because she fears people will make fun of them.

Episode 14 • Dec 21, 1985 • 30 m

That Was No Lady

Dorothy's affair with a married co-worker meets with disapproval from her friends and her mother.

Episode 15 • Jan 11, 1986 • 25 m

In a Bed of Rose's

After Rose's boyfriend Al dies in her bed, she believes his death was her fault; her late husband had died under similar circumstances.

Episode 16 • Jan 18, 1986 • 24 m

The Truth Will Out

Rose goes over her last will and testament with her daughter, who is shocked when she learns what happened to her expected inheritance.

Episode 17 • Feb 1, 1986 • 25 m

Nice and Easy

Blanche is concerned about the flirtatious behavior of her niece, Lucy.

Episode 18 • Feb 8, 1986 • 30 m

The Operation

Dorothy is afraid to have an operation for a benign growth on her foot.

Episode 19 • Feb 15, 1986 • 25 m

Second Motherhood

A wealthy widower with two young children asks Blanche to marry him.

Episode 20 • Feb 22, 1986 • 30 m

Adult Education

An adult education teacher offers Blanche a passing grade in his course if she sleeps with him.

Episode 21 • Mar 1, 1986 • 30 m

Flu Attack

Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche all come down with the flu at the same time.

Episode 22 • Mar 8, 1986 • 30 m

Job Hunting

Rose loses her job and has trouble finding another one.

Episode 23 • Mar 29, 1986 • 30 m

Blind Ambitions

Rose's sister Lily must come to terms with the fact that she is blind and needs assistance.

Episode 24 • May 3, 1986 • 30 m

Big Daddy

Blanche's father visits, telling that he has sold the family mansion to finance his dream to become a country music singer. Dorothy disputes with the girls' next-door neighbor over storm damage.

Episode 25 • May 10, 1986 • 30 m

The Way We Met

The girls remember how they came to live together; Blanche put an ad for a room for rent on a grocery store bulletin board, and Rose and Dorothy answered it.

7 Seasons

Top Cast

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Bea Arthur

Dorothy Zbornak, Sophia's Mother

Betty White

Rose Nylund

Rue McClanahan

Blanche Devereaux

Estelle Getty

Sophia Petrillo

Herb Edelman

Stan Zbornak, Stanley Zbornak

Harold Gould

Miles Webber, Arnie Peterson

Sid Melton

Salvadore Petrillo, Don The Fool

Bill Dana

Angelo, Papa Angelo, Uncle Angelo

Bear the Dog

Dreyfuss

Meg Wyllie

Edna, Millicent Kennedy, Myra

Lynnie Greene

Young Dorothy Zbornak, Young Dorothy

Jonathan Schmock

Cop #1, The Director, The Robber, Waiter

David Jay Willis

Comedian, Delivery Boy, Orderly, PA

Debra Engle

Rebecca

Scott Jacoby

Michael Zbornak

Chick Vennera

Enrique Mas, Pepe

Tony Carreiro

Doctor, The Waiter, Tommy Cochran

Ellen Albertini Dow

Lillian, Mrs. Leonard, Sarah

Stan Roth

Cop, Make-up Man, Policeman

Richard Mulligan

Dr. Harry Weston

View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

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Metascore

Universal Acclaim Based on 6 Critic Reviews

83% Positive
5 Reviews

17% Mixed
1 Review

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

View All

Metascore

Universal Acclaim Based on 6 Critic Reviews

83% Positive
5 Reviews

17% Mixed
1 Review

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

100

Miami Herald

Feb 27, 2013

This wonderful half-hour pilot has distinguished this show as the very best of the crop of new series this fall. The writing, by the bawdy, brilliant Susan Harris, who was lured back to television by the promise of doing a show with the kind of characters seldom seen on the tube, is on a par with her wittiest days as the creator of "Soap". [14 Sept 1985, p.D5]

FULL REVIEW

Washington Post

Feb 27, 2013

The reason it works so well is that performers and script are ideally matched; they join forces to obliterate resistance. [14 Sept 1985, p.C1]

By Tom Shales FULL REVIEW

Los Angeles Times

Feb 27, 2013

Not only does The Golden Girls offer meaningful portrayals of women in their post-middle-age years, but, as a bonus, it's one of those TV rarities, a comedy that's funny. Very funny. [13 Sept 1985, p.C1]

By Howard Rosenberg FULL REVIEW

Christian Science Monitor

Feb 27, 2013

If anybody ever doubted the funny-lady talents of Bea Arthur, even after ''Maude,'' then her many golden moments in Golden Girls should win her a permanent place in everybody's hierarchy of comic genius, ranking with Sid Caesar and Lucille Ball...The Golden Girls is adult, literate, witty, poignant, funny. And, oh yes, honest. [12 Sept 1985, p.26]

FULL REVIEW

Chicago Tribune

Feb 27, 2013

Watching Golden Girls, you get the feeling that Harris had the good sense to fit the brand of humor with the actresses. There is a kind of Borsch Belt, take-my-wife-please approach to chasing the laughs, with everything in place but the nightclub rim shot, the obligatory ba-bump from the drummer on top of the punch line. [13 Sept 1995, p.5]

FULL REVIEW

The New York Times

Feb 27, 2013

Everyone is clearly having a good time, and the fun is catching. One should be grateful for that much, perhaps, but the sheer professionalism cannot entirely hide some potential weaknesses. A little too much of the humor is directed at ridiculing certain signs of aging, from having hair in one's ears to incontinence. Bathroom jokes have their limitations. And Miss Getty's character threatens to demolish the ensemble work with the need to get a laugh every time she opens her outrageous mouth. [14 Sept 1985]

FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score

Universal Acclaim Based on 15 User Ratings

8.7

93% Positive
14 Ratings

0% Mixed
0 Ratings

7% Negative
1 Rating

User Reviews

View All

User Score

Universal Acclaim Based on 15 User Ratings

8.7

93% Positive
14 Ratings

0% Mixed
0 Ratings

7% Negative
1 Rating

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Where to Watch

Where to Watch

Season Episodes

Top Cast

Bea Arthur

Dorothy Zbornak, Sophia's Mother

Betty White

Rose Nylund

Rue McClanahan

Blanche Devereaux

Estelle Getty

Sophia Petrillo

Herb Edelman

Stan Zbornak, Stanley Zbornak

Harold Gould

Miles Webber, Arnie Peterson

Sid Melton

Salvadore Petrillo, Don The Fool

Bill Dana

Angelo, Papa Angelo, Uncle Angelo

Bear the Dog

Dreyfuss

Meg Wyllie

Edna, Millicent Kennedy, Myra

Lynnie Greene

Young Dorothy Zbornak, Young Dorothy

Jonathan Schmock

Cop #1, The Director, The Robber, Waiter

David Jay Willis

Comedian, Delivery Boy, Orderly, PA

Debra Engle

Rebecca

Scott Jacoby

Michael Zbornak

Chick Vennera

Enrique Mas, Pepe

Tony Carreiro

Doctor, The Waiter, Tommy Cochran

Ellen Albertini Dow

Lillian, Mrs. Leonard, Sarah

Stan Roth

Cop, Make-up Man, Policeman

Richard Mulligan

Dr. Harry Weston

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

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