That time ‘The Golden Girls’ taught America an invaluable, life-saving lesson about AIDS
Welcome back to what is normally our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” However, in this week’s column, we’re shifting gears in honor of the 35th anniversary of “72 Hours,” a very special episode of The Golden Girls.We typically go deep into milestones of queer cinema in this column, but film is just one of the many forms of media that make up the canon of LGBTQ+ entertainment and permeate our culture.
This week, we’ll dive into the television series that has perhaps made a mark with our community the strongest, and a groundbreaking episode that tackled an issue in a way no one else was at the time.Long before gays spent their brunches arguing whether they were a Carrie or a Miranda, they were arguing who was the Blanche or the Dorothy of the group.
The Golden Girls—the beloved NBC sitcom that ran for seven seasons from ’85 to ’92—quickly became a pop culture staple for the community of the time, and it remains an oh-so-important touchstone to this day.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.The show followed the lives and misadventures of four elderly women living together in a condo in Miami: the pragmatic Dorothy (Bea Arthur), her cranky and mischievous mother Sophia (Estelle Getty), the man-loving Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and the air-headed Rose (Betty White).
It was created by Susan Harris, with a team of writers behind it that would go on to create the next generation of great television series, from Modern Family to Desperate Housewives.
