Where To Watch
Bea Arthur said producers had previously passed on The Golden Girls because they didn't believe a series focused on older women would succeed
"It never really dawned on me that it was about these older women," said Arthur.
When Bea Arthur met Dorothy Zbornak, it was love at first sight.
During an interview with The Times, Arthur confessed that she adored the script for The Golden Girls when it first crossed her desk. “When I was first sent the script for the pilot, I fell in love with it,” said the actor. “It was so bright, so witty, so adult,” Arthur explains. “But it never really dawned on me that it was about these older women.”
But while such a factor went unnoticed by Arthur, it was not missed by Hollywood elites who had passed on the script.
Watch The Golden Girls on MeTV!
BACK-TO-BACK EPISODES
Weeknights at 10 PM, Sundays at 6 PM & 8 PM
*available in most MeTV markets“Apparently, [the series] was presented to a number of producers and they turned it down — ‘Who cares about older women?’” said Arthur. “I guess it was revolutionary because it was the first time older women were shown in an atmosphere where they were well groomed, well dressed, and had active sex lives. Prior to that, when old people were shown on television, you could almost smell them.”
Luckily, Arthur’s instincts proved to be more powerful than the executives' indecision. The Golden Girls aired on NBC and ran for seven years. In that time, it became one of the most popular sitcoms on television, beloved by audiences everywhere. It was a level of fame that even surprised Arthur.
“It amazes me that it was so popular,” said the actor. “We recently did a reunion show that was the highest-rated special on the Lifetime channel. Four elderly women living together — I couldn’t tolerate it.”
Related
