As a long time fan of The Golden Girls, I always knew how they enjoyed hosting people at their home (even more than they did dating men and then almost marrying them). But it wasn’t until I started watching the series from the first episode on Hulu how many of those times were in the very first season. In the first 25 episodes alone, they hosted:
- Dorothy’s daughter Kate
- Blanche’s sister Virginia
- Blanche’s trouble grandson David
- Augustine Bagatelli, Sophia’s old flame from Sicily
- Rose’s feisty mother
- Dorothy’s wealthy sister Gloria
- A married man Rose brings home, sleeps with, and accidentally kills (he stayed at the house, so I’m counting him as a visitor)
- Rose’s daughter Kirsten and granddaughter Charley
- Blanche’s niece Lucy
- Rose’s sister Lily
- Blanche’s father “Big Daddy” (not Kane)
Eleven out of 25 episodes is quite a few to have visitors in the first season of a sitcom (and I didn’t count Stan as a visitor since he became a pretty frequently recurring character). Often that’ll happen later on when storylines start getting harder to produce and new characters need to be brought in. And with how many different love interests were involved in the first season, it’s extra surprising they felt the need to bring in so many family members to pad out the lineup.
I’m not knocking the choice, of course. I mean, I enjoyed all of the characters, even Blanche’s jerk of a grandson with the barely-a-mustache mustache. I just can’t think of another show that did it to such a degree so early on (or in any given season, to be honest).
By the way, in case you were wondering, “Hey, did anyone ever put together a family tree for the Golden Girls?” The answer is, “Well, almost.” The GG Wikia character pages (like this one for Dorothy) show you each character’s family. Don’t forget that by the end of the final episode, Blanche was technically Dorothy’s niece!
Posted in Sitcoms
