"The Golden Girls: Season Two"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) STARRING Beatrice Arthur as DOROTHY Rue McClanahan as BLANCHE Betty White as ROSE Estelle Getty as SOPHIA Rated TV-PG Studio: ABC Created by: Susan Harris Back to DVD Review Home |
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I was recently in Las Vegas on a family trip, and we were driving down Tropicana Boulevard. Near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard, we saw one of the many lighted signs advertising a new star coming to town. This time, it was at the old-school Tropicana hotel and casino, and it was announcing the coming of Bea Arthur to their stage.
“Hey look,” I said to my wife, pointing to the sign. “She’s still alive.” Only in Vegas.
And that’s the bizarre sense surrounding the stars of “The Golden Girls.” While Betty White has had a bit of a career as a wacky character actor after this 1980s sit-com, it seems the others have disappeared into obscurity. Estelle Getty has gotten sick, and we don’t seem to see the others very often. (Sure, Rue McClanahan had a strange bit part in “Starship Troopers,” but that’s about it.)
But in their post-menopausal heyday, these four women were the big thing in Hollywood. “The Golden Girls” gave hope to some women, proving that there is life after 40 (or after 50), not just for men but for women too.
The second season is on DVD, and much like the first season, it has a lot of heart. It can be a bit tedious to watch, with recycled storylines and some pretty weak supporting characters, but it was a funny show. (I have to keep telling myself this to prepare for the next five seasons, due out on DVD in quick succession.)
The bonus features on the second season are as scant as they were on the first. All we get is a “Go For the Gold Trivia Challenge,” which tests your knowledge of the show itself.
The show was groundbreaking, portraying women in their 50s and 60s (and one in her 80s) as real folks and not just doting grandmothers. The first season established several often-used storylines: 1) one girl planning on getting married while the others cope, 2) a visit from a friend or relative that turns everyone’s life on its ear and 3) someone gets sick and they are faced with their impending mortality.
The second season stretched a little bit, offering some different plotlines, or at least approaching a stale plotline from a different angle. In one episode, Rose is faced with a crush from a lesbian friend of Dorothy’s. In another, three of the girls are mistaken for prostitutes in a vice bust. A different approach to the sensing-your-own-mentality story comes with the death of a neighbor that nobody liked, and the girls are the only ones to go to her funeral.
So, new ground was broken, but it also opened up some bad apples as well. The biggest flaw is one episode which attempted a spin-off that would eventually become “Empty Nest.” The television show that eventually evolved was far different than the pilot within this series, but there was no subtlety, and it was a crummy way to end the season.
As with any show that learns it has legs, it takes its characters to a more extreme nature, finding its own chemistry. Rose is dumber than ever, Blanche is promiscuous as ever and Sophia is as cantankerous as ever. Dorothy remains the focused center, but always keeping a sarcastic comment at the ready.
In this second season, the show has grown on me a bit. Just a bit, mind you. Six hundred and fifty minutes is still a long time to wade through this matriarchal comedy. But for fans of the show, it’s a must have.
Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Full frame (1.33:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
