Golden Girls v Designing Women... My Take
May 30, 2018 4:11:11 GMT
Douglas and tweetsfrommaude like this
Post by jasonb on May 30, 2018 4:11:11 GMT
It is a shame the only emmy for Designing Women got was for hairdressing. Shameful that the only nomination Dixie Carter would ever receive was for her Gloria Hodge role in Desperate Housewives. The show was amazing, fought golden girls for ratings, forced CBS to change the show's night, almost killed the show. The show would tie in ratings with golden girls. It was the same type of show, which makes you stand up and think about what happened at the time. If you think about it all 8 ladies played a role exactly like each other.
The Premise-
Golden Girls debuted in 1985 with Designing Women debuting a year later in 1986, they had an all female cast (GG's had all the same cast for all 7 seasons.. DW changed in season 6 with Smart and Burke departing.). Storylines relating to everything from AIDS, to incompetent doctors and illness, both shows did this.
When They Get It Right-
And as many say you can have episodes that are "preachy" or "overbearing" every show has that, not just DW and GG's. Not all casts gel at the same time, they may take a season or two, and the fact that no one on Designing Women had worked with each other before (expect Delta and Dixie on a show called "Filthy Rich") is a site to behold, the Golden Girls on the other hand Rue, Betty and Bea worked together, just not at the same time. But both series got the casting right, and even in interviews you know they got it right, the cast say it, the writers say it, the director says it and even the creator says it.
The Awards Wins-
As everyone knows Designing Women won their only emmy award and it was for hairdressing... (wait WHAT, what a farce..).. But the series won many other awards including 15 Awards from the "Viewers for Quality Television", 1 TV land award for best guest star, 2 BMI awards and 1 GLAAD award. I guess it was something..
Golden Girls awards included 11 emmys,, 4 golden globes, 2 VQT awards, 4 American Comedy Awards, two DGAA awards...I think you get the picture they won a lot of awards.
Even if Designing Women never took home more emmys or even a golden globe, it doesn't mean the show was any less worthy then the awards it did receive.
After Both Shows Ended-
After Both shows ended, Golden Girls continued with Golden Palace on CBS, that ended after a year, DW ended the same year as well. Fans weren't interested in Golden Palace and either was the network.. They were close to giving it a second season, but decided it was time to leave it behind. DW was cancelled after 7 seasons and declining ratings.. So where/what did everyone do after their respective shows ended?
Dixie Carter- Went on and did several movies and tv shows, and made a return to series television with her appearance on Diagnosis Murder, Fired Up, Ladies Man and her a 3 year stint as Randi King on legal drama "Family Law", she made a bunch of new fans with her last TV series role as Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives and was in 2 movies, her last one was with husband Hal Holbrook in "That Evening Sun". Dixie passed away in 2010.
Annie Potts- Became the voice of "Bo Peep" in Toy Story and since then has been all over the place ever since, and she has had many recurring roles on many other shows. She is currently on hit show "Young Sheldon"
Jean Smart- Has remained very busy since leaving Designing Women, she voiced Kim Possible's mother for 40 episodes, was on 24, Samantha Who?, and many more as a guest star.
Delta Burke- According to her imdb her last role was in 2012 in a pilot that failed to air after she fell on set, but she remained busy with a return to network tv after her fallout with DW creator Linda Bloodworth, but they made up for her to be the main character in "Women of The House" which aired for a year.. Since then its possible she went into a quiet retirement away from the cameras.
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Betty White- Betty has remained very busy since Golden Girls ended, she is still going very strong, Betty made a strong return to series TV with "Hot In Cleveland" which ran for 5 years, she hosted SNL, and takes care of animals at the LA zoo, there is no stopping Betty White..
Rue McClanahan- Fought her entire life to be happy and healthy, but had a wonderful career regardless of the circumstances, she had a huge filmography, and she loved to do everything and her work, her last series was Sorrid Lives and her last appearance on tv was in 2009s "Meet the Browns".. Rue passed away in 2010
Estelle Getty- Estelle made her TV debut on Golden Girls and when that finished she went on to empty nest and a few other tv cameos until 2000 before she retired from acting because of dementia. Estelle gave her all to golden girls even when fighting stage fright. Estelle passed away in 2008
Bea Arthur- Bea remained one of TV legends in the eyes of everyone who watched #Maude or #GoldenGirls, her comedic timing and legacy will never be forgotten. Bea semi retired from acting in the late 90s and went back to broadway to open her own show. Bea struggled with fame and its possible she never got used to it or ever got over divorcing 2nd husband Gene Saks. Bea passed away in 2009.
Now in the 2010s-
Whilst I can say there will always be a comparison between Designing Women and Golden Girls, they still have a large following til this day. I can say because I feel now more then ever that re-runs, and DVDs all that jazz are bringing in new fans for a new era, remakes, reboots everything is happening now.
And some people can say that "This show was cringey and so was this one.." blah blah.
sometimes you need to sit down and view a couple of episodes of a series and watch it just to see how far the writers went, see how good the storylines became. As everyone knows Norman Lear's "All in the family" was going to be cancelled after its first year, but somehow and someway summer re-runs saved the show and it had 5 seasons consecutive at number 1 in ratings, how many shows can do that (not many..) the show went out in 1979 ranked 9th and had a finale with over 40 million tuning in to say goodbye.
The Legacies-
Two different shows, with two different legacies.
Golden Girls-
The Golden Girls has the legacy that stands up to today. And As much I talk about it, the more involved it sounds. Betty White or "The Survivor" is still going strong to this day. Golden Girls has over the last few years taken off again (fan wise) with tv viewing services such as Hulu/TV Land/LOGO/ YouTube and many streaming sites. Twitter accounts dedicated to the show and people recording funny bits of the show and posting them. For a show from the 80s the ended in the 90s you don't get as good as the golden girls.
Designing Women-
You can say what you like about Designing Women, but to me it will always be the show that couldn't compete with Golden Girls, but other then that it still remains popular today, though with a much smaller fanbase, there are people on twitter who have podcasts for the show, retweet pictures of the show and character, remember who their favourite characters were. And we all know now that no matter what to some people they do prefer Designing Women over Golden Girls.
While there will always be comparisons to both shows (like which one had the "cleaner" writing or which one was funnier..) we can all agree they were two different shows set up to be very different from each other, and even if they did have comparisons who cares? it was the 80s/90s most shows were doing it and most shows had a huge fan following. You just don't forget shows like Golden Girls or Designing Women..
You just don't forget about either one of them.
The Premise-
Golden Girls debuted in 1985 with Designing Women debuting a year later in 1986, they had an all female cast (GG's had all the same cast for all 7 seasons.. DW changed in season 6 with Smart and Burke departing.). Storylines relating to everything from AIDS, to incompetent doctors and illness, both shows did this.
When They Get It Right-
And as many say you can have episodes that are "preachy" or "overbearing" every show has that, not just DW and GG's. Not all casts gel at the same time, they may take a season or two, and the fact that no one on Designing Women had worked with each other before (expect Delta and Dixie on a show called "Filthy Rich") is a site to behold, the Golden Girls on the other hand Rue, Betty and Bea worked together, just not at the same time. But both series got the casting right, and even in interviews you know they got it right, the cast say it, the writers say it, the director says it and even the creator says it.
The Awards Wins-
As everyone knows Designing Women won their only emmy award and it was for hairdressing... (wait WHAT, what a farce..).. But the series won many other awards including 15 Awards from the "Viewers for Quality Television", 1 TV land award for best guest star, 2 BMI awards and 1 GLAAD award. I guess it was something..
Golden Girls awards included 11 emmys,, 4 golden globes, 2 VQT awards, 4 American Comedy Awards, two DGAA awards...I think you get the picture they won a lot of awards.
Even if Designing Women never took home more emmys or even a golden globe, it doesn't mean the show was any less worthy then the awards it did receive.
After Both Shows Ended-
After Both shows ended, Golden Girls continued with Golden Palace on CBS, that ended after a year, DW ended the same year as well. Fans weren't interested in Golden Palace and either was the network.. They were close to giving it a second season, but decided it was time to leave it behind. DW was cancelled after 7 seasons and declining ratings.. So where/what did everyone do after their respective shows ended?
Dixie Carter- Went on and did several movies and tv shows, and made a return to series television with her appearance on Diagnosis Murder, Fired Up, Ladies Man and her a 3 year stint as Randi King on legal drama "Family Law", she made a bunch of new fans with her last TV series role as Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives and was in 2 movies, her last one was with husband Hal Holbrook in "That Evening Sun". Dixie passed away in 2010.
Annie Potts- Became the voice of "Bo Peep" in Toy Story and since then has been all over the place ever since, and she has had many recurring roles on many other shows. She is currently on hit show "Young Sheldon"
Jean Smart- Has remained very busy since leaving Designing Women, she voiced Kim Possible's mother for 40 episodes, was on 24, Samantha Who?, and many more as a guest star.
Delta Burke- According to her imdb her last role was in 2012 in a pilot that failed to air after she fell on set, but she remained busy with a return to network tv after her fallout with DW creator Linda Bloodworth, but they made up for her to be the main character in "Women of The House" which aired for a year.. Since then its possible she went into a quiet retirement away from the cameras.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Betty White- Betty has remained very busy since Golden Girls ended, she is still going very strong, Betty made a strong return to series TV with "Hot In Cleveland" which ran for 5 years, she hosted SNL, and takes care of animals at the LA zoo, there is no stopping Betty White..
Rue McClanahan- Fought her entire life to be happy and healthy, but had a wonderful career regardless of the circumstances, she had a huge filmography, and she loved to do everything and her work, her last series was Sorrid Lives and her last appearance on tv was in 2009s "Meet the Browns".. Rue passed away in 2010
Estelle Getty- Estelle made her TV debut on Golden Girls and when that finished she went on to empty nest and a few other tv cameos until 2000 before she retired from acting because of dementia. Estelle gave her all to golden girls even when fighting stage fright. Estelle passed away in 2008
Bea Arthur- Bea remained one of TV legends in the eyes of everyone who watched #Maude or #GoldenGirls, her comedic timing and legacy will never be forgotten. Bea semi retired from acting in the late 90s and went back to broadway to open her own show. Bea struggled with fame and its possible she never got used to it or ever got over divorcing 2nd husband Gene Saks. Bea passed away in 2009.
Now in the 2010s-
Whilst I can say there will always be a comparison between Designing Women and Golden Girls, they still have a large following til this day. I can say because I feel now more then ever that re-runs, and DVDs all that jazz are bringing in new fans for a new era, remakes, reboots everything is happening now.
And some people can say that "This show was cringey and so was this one.." blah blah.
sometimes you need to sit down and view a couple of episodes of a series and watch it just to see how far the writers went, see how good the storylines became. As everyone knows Norman Lear's "All in the family" was going to be cancelled after its first year, but somehow and someway summer re-runs saved the show and it had 5 seasons consecutive at number 1 in ratings, how many shows can do that (not many..) the show went out in 1979 ranked 9th and had a finale with over 40 million tuning in to say goodbye.
The Legacies-
Two different shows, with two different legacies.
Golden Girls-
The Golden Girls has the legacy that stands up to today. And As much I talk about it, the more involved it sounds. Betty White or "The Survivor" is still going strong to this day. Golden Girls has over the last few years taken off again (fan wise) with tv viewing services such as Hulu/TV Land/LOGO/ YouTube and many streaming sites. Twitter accounts dedicated to the show and people recording funny bits of the show and posting them. For a show from the 80s the ended in the 90s you don't get as good as the golden girls.
Designing Women-
You can say what you like about Designing Women, but to me it will always be the show that couldn't compete with Golden Girls, but other then that it still remains popular today, though with a much smaller fanbase, there are people on twitter who have podcasts for the show, retweet pictures of the show and character, remember who their favourite characters were. And we all know now that no matter what to some people they do prefer Designing Women over Golden Girls.
While there will always be comparisons to both shows (like which one had the "cleaner" writing or which one was funnier..) we can all agree they were two different shows set up to be very different from each other, and even if they did have comparisons who cares? it was the 80s/90s most shows were doing it and most shows had a huge fan following. You just don't forget shows like Golden Girls or Designing Women..
You just don't forget about either one of them.