Why Did Bea Arthur Walk Away From ‘The Golden Girls’?
The Golden Girls was a comedy powerhouse for seven seasons on NBC, until it concluded its run in 1992 — due in large part to Bea Arthur‘s disinterest in continuing with the show. While ratings had been declining a bit during the seventh season, the show had been a top 10 hit for its first six seasons, as well as an awards magnet — not the type of show that stars usually flee. But Arthur left for two reasons — one of which had to do with her disappointment about how the show handled her character.
Though some believe Arthur left the show because of her on-again, off-again, occasionally icy relationship with co-star Betty White, but that really wasn’t it. Despite their extremely different personalities, both stars had a ton of respect for each other.
So, what was it? Why would Bea Arthur walk away from such a universally beloved show like The Golden Girls?
According to Jim Colucci, the author of the book Golden Girls Forever, it really boiled down to two things. The first was a simple feeling that the show had run its course. Bea felt like the quality of the show’s writing was declining, and if ratings were any indicator, she may have been right. With most shows, there are a finite number of stories to tell, and after that, things just start to feel a bit redundant.
Chris Haston / ©Touchstone Television/courtesy Everett Collection
The other reason is a little more personal. Bea was starting to feel a bit worn down by what she called “Dorothy bashing” by the show’s writers. According to Colucci, when the writers called Rose dumb, Blanche a floozy, or Sophia old, the actresses could just brush it off; it could roll off their backs because they weren’t like their characters. Unfortunately, the jokes that were made about Dorothy were often about her appearance and that really began to wear Bea down after a while.
After Bea indicated that she would not be returning to The Golden Girls, NBC made the very difficult decision to end the show after seven seasons. However, despite the network’s willingness to call it a day, the show’s producers had other ideas and repackaged the program without Bea as The Golden Palace. Instead of living at Blanche’s house, the ladies now ran a hotel.
After hearing the new pitch, NBC said that they would be willing to give the show a try for 13 episodes, but CBS trumped that offer with a commitment to run it for a full season. But you know what? Despite that guarantee and the full faith and backing of the network, the show just wasn’t the same without Bea, and the new premise felt less genuine and more like your routine, run-of-the-mill sitcom. While ratings for the new show started strong, they quickly fell off, and by the end of the season, The Golden Palace was gone.
As a side note, it’s not like Bea Arthur completely abandoned her Golden Girls colleagues. She did make a guest appearance on a couple of episodes of The Golden Palace. Yep, even though she had left the show, Bea never truly walked away from her friends.
Puzzler '80s Comedy Classics
Vol 1, Issue 6
This issue is packed with puzzles and trivia from all your favorite '80s sitcoms.
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