‘Golden Girls’ writer exposes what they ‘got away with’ on hit Emmy-winning sitcom’s first season

“Golden Girl” It is widely regarded as a groundbreaking series to showcase women’s lives and friendships in the 1950s and 60s when older women were rarely central on TV.

The show lasted for seven seasons from 1985 to 1992, tells the story of the comics about four single women who lived together in Miami. Starring Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, “The Golden Girls” became an instant hit single, which attracted more than 21 million viewers when it premiered on September 14, 1985. In addition to breaking the stereotypes around aging, the show also pushes the boundaries of risquéunor with its sometimes boundaries and sometimes with a risquéunor.

Betty White’s Golden Girls’Castmate

As “Golden Girl” celebrates its 40th anniversary, TV writer and “Girls: From Golden to Gilmore” writer Stan Zimmerman worked on the show in his Emmy-winning first season, recalling being surprised by some of the racing jokes he showed on the spot.

Zimmerman told Fox News numbers, “I can’t believe what we got rid of in the show.”

“I think once you get hit, you’ll get away with more,” he continued. “I’ve been on some shows that didn’t work out, so I think the network is tighter and don’t shut down anyone down. We’ve escaped a lot.”

“I think it’s also because people think, ‘Oh, they’re just these old ladies. What can they say. They look harmless.”

Zimmerman remembers to be a specific line in Season 1 “Adult Education” was aired and later became iconic.

The line was delivered by Blanche Devereaux of McClanahan for being sexually harassed while doing a psychology night shift at a local university. In this episode, Blanche’s professor is willing to give her an overachieving score in exchange for the person who sleeps with him.

During the climax of the episode, Blanche tells her professor that she won’t sleep with him and uses a double temptation when announcing that she thinks she’s working hard to make money in the course.

“Blanche said to her teacher, ‘You can kiss my A.’ I think it will never be marked by the examiner,” Zimmerman recalled. “That was on the show. Now it was on the T-shirt.”

After Zimmerman took over as The Golden Girls, he continued to write for other popular comedy shows, including “Roseanne” and “Gilmore Girls.” He also co-wrote the 1996 feature film “The Sequel to Very Brady” and wrote and directed dramas including “Meet & Greet & Greet”, “The Heart the Heart the Heart”, “Have a Good” and “Yes Virginia”. Zimmerman recently directed an outside show on the comedy show “Hyprov: Improv under Hypnosis”.

On September 7, Zimmerman’s suicide awareness drama “Before I Go” began his three-week New York Tank layman.

Watch: “Golden Girl” writers reveal what they escaped in an Emmy Award-winning sitcom.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Zimmerman reflected on his early career working in the “Golden Girls” writer’s room, admitting he was a little upset when writing jokes for star-studded actors.

“We knew it wasn’t just some ordinary performance, I think the producers were under pressure, too,” he recalled. “We can’t just give them ordinary jokes. We have to give them the best, because they’re the best.”

Zimmerman also screwed up the long-term between White and Arthur. Despite playing close friends in “Golden Girl”, the actresses are not very friendly in off-screen relationships.

During a June panel discussion, former “Golden Girl” writer, producer and staff gave an inspiration to the duo’s vitality.

“When the red light is on [and the show was filming]there is no more professional person than those women, but when the red light goes out, if they are cremated together, the two will not be able to warm up with each other. Hollywood Reporter.

Williams claimed that Arthur complained to her about white outside cameras and often referred to her co-star as “C —“. In his appearance on the “Original” podcast in 2022, Tom previously claimed that Arthur used the same language when talking about white in front of him.

“Literally, I’ll say it later, I’ve said, ‘Oh, she’s a f — c —,’ using the word.” “…she calls her the word c. I mean, I hear my own ears. [the restaurant] Joe Allen Bea Arthur [when she was] In the collection of “beggars and choosers”.

Instead of using the c word to describe White, Tom’s PR staffer clarified Fox News digitally, claiming that White was “probably B —-“.

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Betty White

Zimmerman told Fox News Digital that he had never heard Arthur call White “c —,” though he pointed out that he was recently told there was “some tension” between the actresses.

“But they are professionals like this, they never let it get in the way of their work,” he said. “The show is the most important thing.”

“And you have to remember that I was there in season one, so people were in the best shape of their best behavior,” he continued. “People were very excited in season one, too, because at that time, no one thought the show about older women would be successful because we’re going to talk about it 40 years later.”

Zimmerman added: “So, reading in the writer’s room and on the table that we have that excitement every Monday. ‘Oh my god, people really like this show. ‘And then, no, they love not only it, they love it. They are obsessed with it. They can’t get enough roles. ”

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Zimmerman speculated that Arthur and White might have clashed due to their different performance backgrounds. After starring in the hit sitcom “Maude,” Arthur became famous for winning a Tony Award on Broadway, before becoming a household name. Meanwhile, White became a comedy legend and sitcom star.

“It’s going to happen at any job,” Zimmerman said. “You only have different work ethics. Bea Arthur comes from the stage, so she wants to keep the character in between. Betty White, once they yell, she’ll joke and go to the studio audience. I don’t think Bea likes that.”

White plays Rose in Golden Girls, a gentle but dim Midwest widow, while Arthur plays Dorothy Zbornak, the ironic but caring substitute teacher.

Getty plays Sophia Petrillo, the clumsy but charming patriarch of Arthur’s mother, and McClanahan plays the lightweight Southern Belle Blanche.

After the end of “The Golden Girls”, White, McLanerhan and Getty reprised their roles in the spin-off “The Palace of Gold” but the show was cancelled one season later.

In 2008, Getty died of 84-year-old Lewis’ internal dementia. Arthur died in 2009 at the age of 86. McClanahan died in 2010 at the age of 76. In 2021, White was 99 years old after suffering a stroke.

In a 2011 interview with Country Voice, White shared the reasons behind her hatred of Arthur for her.

“The BEA has a reserve,” White said. “She doesn’t like me.”

“Mary Tyler Moore’s performance sometimes finds pain in my neck.” “It’s my positive attitude – sometimes driving Bea crazy.

“Sometimes, if I’m happy, she’ll be angry!”

10 Things You Have to Do with “Golden Girl”

Despite any on-screen tensions between Arthur and White, Zimmerman told Fox News Digital that he believes the show’s lasting message is one of the solidarity.

“I think one of the lessons we can learn from ‘Golden Girls’ in 40 years is that there are a lot of people in different corners of this world, and we have to find places we can connect with different perspectives, we can find tables we can sit there, we can all sit there, we can all sit there, no matter what political point of view we have about the world or what perspective we have about the world,” he said. ”

Zimmerman added: “I think this is the next step for us to develop as a country, to find that era, like those times when we come back like each other.”

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