So, Golden Girls was very popular. But Bea Arthur decided it was time to hang up her hat and step away. I've heard and read conflicting reports about what led to this decision. Some say that she felt that the show had reached its apex, and that continuing on would be like beating a dead horse. Others say she felt that the jokes and references weren't quite as funny anymore, and that all the references where really going to start dating the show. Others say that she had wanted to leave after season five (in solidarity with Terry Hughes leaving), but was talked into staying. But it doesn't really matter why she left, the point is....now we have a car with only three wheels.
I've also read where Rue was against the idea of doing The Golden Palace, that she wanted to ask Debbie Reynolds (who had appeared as a possible replacement for Dorothy, when she was going to re-marry Stan) back on the show. From what I gather, Rue just wanted to more or less keep doing what they were doing, only with a new and interesting character thrown in the mix. Its not hard to imagine why she held this mentality.
The Golden Palace presents a huge tonal and characterization shift when compared to its mother show. I can only imagine that the people in charge felt that changing things and shaking up the status quo was the way to go. It didn't work very well.
First of all, throughout the entire run of Golden Girls, we've been told that the girls don't really have a lot of money. They were panicked by the idea of gathering 10,000 dollars for a new roof. I'm no real estate person...but I would imagine that buying a hotel costs significantly more than that....where did they get the money? Even selling the house wouldn't seem adequate to buying a hotel. Its also implied that Blanche and Rose gave up their regular jobs to focus on running the hotel. Isn't that going to put a strain on your already floundering new business?
Then, we find that pretty much everyone that works here...also lives here. That's not a good thing Blanche! The idea of a hotel is to have rooms available to your PAYING guests. You now have at least five rooms that are now permanently off-limits; incapable of bringing in any money. These occupied rooms seem to include the Presidential suite in regards to Blanche occupying it.
But enough about that. Let's talk about the employees...or lack thereof. In the first episode we learn that the people that sold Blanche the hotel had cooked the books a bit. In order to make it seem like the hotel was turning a profit, they had fired most of the staff. At the end of the episode, we're told that the girls made enough money to hire more staff.....we never EVER see this new staff.
You have ONE guy working the desk. You have ONE guy acting as the chef. Now, we're told that the hotel has over forty rooms. But for simplicity, we'll say 40. Let's pretend that every room is booked by couples. That's eighty people this guy has to cook for! Anyone who's ever cooked a day in their life knows: Cooking is time-consuming and hard even for two people...let alone eighty!
While we're told that they do have a housekeeping staff, we never see them, and such things are usually taken care of by Rose. Sweetie....that's 40 beds to change. 40 rooms to vacuum. 40 toilets to clean. 40 sets of blankets, sheets, and pillowcases to wash/dry/fluff/fold/put back. And that's not even counting scrubbing the showers, wiping down counters (etc). Is it any wonder that when Dorothy came for a visit she was upset that the girls were working her mother to death?!
While we're on the old characters. They all seem a bit...off from their former selves. Estelle often seems like she's either forgotten her lines, or just can't be bothered. There are times in the show when she's supposed to have a line, and you just see her staring vacantly off into space. Rose is now the strong one. (When did you become the strong one?...I don't know!) Good question! You probably shouldn't point out that one of your characters is a different person now show!
We learn that Miles (Rose's boyfriend) has fallen in love with another woman out of the blue and says that he's just confused and needs more time to sort it out. Rose gets all high and mighty about it and breaks off their relationship. Um Rose? Do you not recall the time when Buzz (her old boyfriend) came to town and you fell back in love with him? You told Miles that you were confused and needed more time! Granted, this relationship has never been particularly stable. At one point on GG, Miles was going to dump rose because she wouldn't go to bed with him (she was being celibate at the time). Then, he left the safety of the Witness Protection Program in order to be with Rose again. Then, he kissed Dorothy behind Rose's back. So, who knows with this relationship?
Blanche meanwhile, has picked up a brand new brother. One that we've never heard about in SEVEN years of GG. But he's totally always been there folks! The reason for this oversight we're told is that: Blanche is ashamed of him because he's mentally handicapped. And the writers evidently saw nothing wrong with portraying their character as being so selfish and horrible as to lie about such a thing...for over 40 years! But its okay, Blanche comes to accept him as he is, and to love him despite the embarrassment he causes her....he's never seen or spoken of again.
But, onto the staff. We have a cute little Cousin-Oliver-Syndrome child named....Oliver. Wow! Weren't even trying to hide it were you show? But don't worry. Out of 24 episodes, he only sticks around for 8 of them. Guess they figured out that Cousin-Olivers just don't work. I particularly love how within the first few episodes the character makes a comment about reporting them for child labor. Yeah...that's not a joke people, you're making a (12?) year old do the work of 5 grown men.
Then we have Chuy, the cook. (Which one is Cheech and which one is Chong?) I'm still not entirely clear on what characterization this guy was supposed to have beyond the fact that he was Mexican. As is so often the case...it was basically just "Look! It's Cheech everybody!" But I gotta say, if I was staying in this hotel, I'm not sure I'd want to eat the food. Chuy wears the same filthy smock-apron day in and day out. He's often seen wandering about the hotel in this filthy thing. If I saw that....think I'd stick with take-out.
Then we have Roland the manager, played by Don Cheadle. This character alone made me really resent this show. From the moment we're introduced to him, we see he has a completely reprehensible attitude problem. Within five minutes of meeting the new owners (his new bosses!) he flies into a rant about "Well congratulations! You ran a house!" Excuse me? Perhaps we weren't clear on the fact....we are the new BOSSES! One or two episodes later, Roland completely disregards what Blanch tells him to do. He completely countermands her orders and tells the staff to "Ignore her, go back to how it was, and come to HIM with any problems." All right in front of Blanche's face. And the episode would have you believe that it was Blanche that was in the wrong here, forcing her to apologize to Roland. If Blanche's name was Gordon Ramsey...I think we'd agree: Roland would have been out on his back...and possibly in a full-body cast. But instead, we're handed: "Now now WOMAN, you go ask that MAN over there if its okay that you run your own business and make your own decisions."
I hate to play the gender card...but had Blanche been a man, I think we'll all agree that he wouldn't have done anything approaching that level of disrespect. It seems a very poorly thought out thing to have your female character always "being wrong" when compared to the male character. To have her always having to apologize to him, beg his forgiveness, and go running to him to fix her problems when "she screws up". That the poor little women just have no idea how to run a business and need a man's help in order to function...way to be progressive show.
All in all, The Golden Palace is the hollowed out husk left behind by The Golden Girls. It reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns 'died' and Homer and Smithers had to rig his corpse to wires and jostle him about, in order to convince people he was still alive. The characters are no longer the people we came to love. The plot and setting are rather illogical. The jokes aren't particularly funny. I only recall actually laughing out loud once...when Rose shot the 'ghost'. So, its generally best to pretend that this show never happened, as it leaves a stain on the Golden Girls name.
Review of The Golden Palace
