Season 4 of the Golden Girls is here now, and if you have any doubts as to its pedigree, just look at the sales figures.
Seriously! Other classic 80s TV series like Dynasty, Dallas, and Twin Peaks have all mysteriously stopped coming – due to poor sales. The Golden Girls is one TV run that we may well see released as a whole. Which is very, very good news.
Anyway, back to the review at hand. Season 4 of the Golden Girls does two quite important things: it removes almost all of the pop culture references that littered Season 3, making its appeal even more universal, and it continues to build on the strong roots of multidimensionality laid down for each character in Season 3.
For example, the 2-parter ‘Sophia’s Wedding’ shows that Estelle Getty isn’t simply playing Sophia for wisecracks – there’s some very funny humanity in there, too. ‘Scared Straight’ has probably Rue McClanahan’s funniest scene so far (dealing with the acceptance of her gay brother’s coming out) and shows more of the versatility of the actress who so often gets predictable, if likeable, one-liners about her sexual past. Dorothy and Rose have similar depth added to them, “Two Rode Together” shows a manic and unreasonable side to the normally intractable Dorothy and ‘The Impotence of Being Ernest’ brings out the bitch in Rose Nylund.
Situations run a gamut here, too, from homeless shelters to hospitals to questionable retirement homes to an hilarious little-old-lady beauty parlour run by recurring guest star Lloyd Bochner (Cecil Colby from ‘Dynasty’, fact fans).
Writing is as together and as solid as ever, and, as a collaborative effort, “Golden Girls – The Complete Fourth Season” deserves top marks for sheer entertainment value.
