In an announcement that is certain to set minds spinning with memories of yesteryear, Logo TV announced that it is planning an on-air celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Golden Girls.
Yes, as of September 14, it has been 30 years since Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia entered our lives through our TVs, teaching us about life, love, and how to casually read someone to filth without a moment’s pause. TV shows may come and go, but The Golden Girls — currently broadcast in reruns on Logo — endures, thanks to its delicious combination of sisterly love and bickering. Gay men in particular, who culturally prefer to fight with their words before their fists, worship at the feet of The Golden Girls, the Patron Saints of Bitchy Quips and Exasperated Facial Expressions. The gays aren’t the only queens who love the show: even Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II requested a private showing by the cast, and she found the sex jokes funny; her ex-daughter in-law, Princess Diana and her pal, Queen’s Freddie Mercury, liked to drink champagne with while they watched the show on mute and improvised lines. Diana and Freddie, drunk and cackling at The Golden Girls, is simply too marvelous to comprehend.
Speaking of queens, endless parodies of the show abound, usually featuring men in drag hamming it up for every bitchy laugh; the Cavern Club Theater in Los Angeles recently staged a sold-out run ofThe Golden Girlz Live featuring drag royalty Jackie Beat and Sherry Vine, with celebs such as Katy Perry stopping by to sit in the audience and giggle. Of course, Logo’s Golden Girls tribute will feature four cast members from the only other show on the network that anyone watches, RuPaul’s Drag Race (see photo above, from left to right): Shangela, Delta Work, Pandora Boxx and Willam, playing Sophia, Dorothy, Rose and Blanche, respectively. They’ll chit-chat about the show during episode breaks while mocking each other for fun. In honor of the Girls, they better be in top form.
Thanks to reruns over the years on numerous networks, The Golden Girls is a part of the American identity; most people won’t know the names of their local political officials, but ask anyone and they’ll probably know who Dorothy Zbornak is. But The Golden Girls‘ enduring popularity is more than just four old women being funny. They demonstrated how relationships can be complicated, yet sex is simply a part of life. Monogamy and promiscuity are choices, not morals. Learning to laugh at yourself once in a while will make it more fun to laugh with your friends.
Perhaps most importantly, if there’s one thing The Golden Girls taught us, it’s the fact that age is just a number. Growing older is something to acknowledge, not dread, because life is as fun as you make it. Although if you want to sit inside all day and watch reruns of an old TV show about a bunch of old ladies, go ahead. You’ve probably seen those episodes 10 times, but who cares? And yes you have to pig out and eat ice cream and cheesecake the entire time.
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