"THE GOLDEN GIRLS: SEASON THREE"
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 |  |
Well, here we are with the third season of “The Golden Girls” on DVD. Like any resurrected television show being released on DVD now, this is quickly becoming a chore rather than a joy. I think I’m going to carry this box set with me wherever I go and flash it to anyone I meet who tells me how cool and easy my job is as a critic.
A couple years ago, I had to watch a couple seasons of “Felicity” on DVD. It was like trudging through purgatory to get through those shows, but I made it. (I just thanked God that there were only four seasons of “Felicity” in total. Sadly, there’s seven seasons of “The Golden Girls” breathing down my neck.)
Like sweating through “Felicity,” this process of watching all the old episodes of “The Golden Girls” gives me a sense of pride. Not pride for a job well done, but rather the sort of pride that soldiers feel after they’ve survived the battlefield together. It was hell when it happened, but I emerged stronger and more appreciative than life itself. After all, how many people out there in my fat, bald guy demographic can say with certainty that they’ve seen all the episodes of “The Golden Girls,” at least through the end of the third season?
It’s not that I really dislike “The Golden Girls.” It was a very clever show – and groundbreaking – in its heyday. But as I watched the third season, I did realize that it was still an old gal’s show. Think about it... you don’t see a whole lot of blue collar construction workers fondly reminiscing about the antics of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia.
If you’re a fan of the show, getting your hands on this DVD box set is as improtant as getting the first two seasons were to you. If you’re taste for television is more along the lines of “Jackass” and “The Daily Show,” you might not want to bother.
In this season, the plots diversified a bit. Sure, we still see the standard plot of one of the girls finding a new boyfriend or a relative coming for a visit, but those stock plots are seen less and less. The cahracters have fully formed into what they will be for the run of the show, which isn’t all that far from their conception.
A new stock plot was introduced in season three – the flashback episode. This really only appears after a couple seasons, considering the show would have nothing to flashback to if they sprung it in the second episode of the series. However, oddly enough, some of these flashback episodes weren’t even flashbacks – or at least I don’t remember the episodes in which they originally appeared (and remember, I have seen all the shows in order so far).
Like the first two seasons on DVD, this box set doesn’t have very many special features. There are “Golden Moments,” which is a compilation of the best jokes from season three. There’s also a “Golden Girls Scrapbook,” which breaks out the best one-liners from each actress. These are mediocre, considering they are a bit repititious if you’ve just trudged through the 25 episodes.
The bottom line is that “Golden Girls” fans will love this season. But anyone under 60 might want to check out something else at the video store.
Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Full frame (1.33:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
