So a couple nights ago after rehearsal - Steve and I are watching a show we both love and often watch together - when we find ourselves still awake at 1 am. The show is Golden Girls.
It was great to just relax and watch this great TV show. Steve asked me to rank the girls in order of funny. (I am sure there is a less awkward way to put that question but whatever.)
I didn't have to think about it for long. Betty White, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan. When he asked me to explain -I said it was a tough call between Betty and Bea and the reason Betty wins out for me is because Bea, as Dorothy gets most of the best one liners - she and Estelle, and Betty is forced to tell some of the dumbest stories and she has me in stitches doing it.
then it occurred to me that it has been a while since I have done a "list" post.
Lets rank the Golden Girls - and tell me why.
what other shows do you think should be ranked and I will re-post with a list of shows for everyone to rank.
Have fun. Happy ranking.
15 comments:
Betty White...is one of THE funniest actresses ever. Have you ever seen her as Sue Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore show? Complete opposite of Dorothy. Ah, Brilliant! Bea Arthur takes kudos for her dry sarcasm and fab. delivery. Estelle Getty, great character actress. That leave Rue last...but she was a pretty damn great Southern Belle. And, I would know darlin'. LOL!
Hope you're doing swell JB.
love,
Debra Bari (remember? heehee)
Of course I remember Debra Bari! Why, just last month I ran into my "Intimate Stranger" Jan Bari!
Thanks for keeping my BFF company out there.
Did you ever see Betty White on the Roast they did for William Schatner? I think you can rent it - it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. She was so raunchy!
Break-a-leg with your multiple shows this week. I will be thinking about you. :)
Oh good! I was hoping you would do this...we both are in show burnout right now, so LVA must stand aside!
I agree with miss debora! That is why Betty White would be first for me...because seeing her work in the Mary Tyler Moore show and then Golden Girls was so wonderfully different. She is an amazing comic talent!
I think I read a story somewhere that in the original casting Betty White was cast in the Bea Arthur role. I wonder what that would have been like?
my favorite is betty white. i think they're all funny but i don't like the kind of funny that rue is so much. i like betty white funny, and maude funny. i with my name was maude.
hey Sissy, have you been drinking? Seriously - read over what you just wrote. ha-ha.
Betty White, hands down.
Bea Arthur next, then Estelle and Rue in a tie....
Sparki
when i read it, it all makes sense except i meant to write "i wish" instead of "i with". I wasn't drunk!
Bea
Betty
Estelle
Rue
(Bea and Betty are actually pretty close, but Bea gets extra points for Mame)
THE EXPERT weighs in.
Not to offend you, Ms. O'C, but the actual casting swap was between Betty and Rue. Betty was originally cast as Blanche, but the character became to similar to Sue Ann Niven, so they swapped them.
I agree with Robyn: Bea, Betty, Estelle, and Rue. I make the miniscule difference between first and second place because I believe Bea not only delivered great comic performances, but I believe she created a character archetype through her career. Betty is more flexible and brilliant performs in any character she is given, whereas Bea played basically the same character throughout, but she created it so fully and originally that it is now known as hers.
Other trivia:
Did you know Maude originated on All in the Family as Edith's cousin?
Did you know Rue also was on Maude as the neighbor AND on All in Family where she played Victor Gardinier's (?) wive in an episode where Edith inadvertently invite a couple of swingers over to socialize.
Bea originate roles in Fiddler on the Roof and Three Penny Opera. She beat out Elaine STritch for the role of Dorothy.
yes...I am THIS gay.
So I guess this exercise would be an admission of sorts that I have watched the show. Oh well, here goes. I would rank them the same as you. There is something about Betty White and her delivery that just works for me. The innocence, the sweetness, and then the zinger. And I can relate to Bea Arthur's character - she is like me, direct, to the point, not sugar coating things, sarcastic. I'd have to put Rue last because the character and lines were just so predictable. Just like Sam in SATC. And that leaves 3rd place for Estelle.
Here is a good exercise - which SATC would be which GG in 30 years? Charlotte would be Betty Davis; Samantha would be Rue; Miranda would be Bea; Carrie would be Rue (not the best fit, but that is the only spot left). Hmm, it seems that SATC is really just a GG prequel when you think about it like this!
One of the things I love about the Golden Girls is the same thing I love about SATC - that is that we can identify to all of them a little. We may tend to be more one or the other but at some point we can relate to all of them. I have always thought Golden Girls was very similar to SATC - in the same way that Living Single was to Friends. Friends totally ripped off Living Single if you ask me.
Anyway - I would have to agree with you Suzanne on your match ups but I think we will have to say there is no Carrie character in Golden Girls.
And.
I heart Flying Buttress!
Ooops, I just re-read my comment. Carrie would have been Estelle because she was the only one left.
Estelle Getty passed away today at the age of 84.
I don't mean to sound incensitive but I thought she had passed away already. I am sad about the news.
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