"To you, this is just a job. To me, it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80."

Years ago, when I first met Joel, he mentioned that Julie's parents had not let her watch Golden Girls when she was growing up. "Because of Blanche?" I asked, in a very disbelieving tone of voice. He confirmed that they thought it was "too racy." I was floored. There are many words which I would use to describe the Golden Girls, but "racy" is not one of them. If ever there was a show one could confidently watch with my extremely religious grandmothers, it was the Golden Girls. Also keep in mind that my creative writing teacher at my Jesuit high school showed us an episode of Golden Girls as an example of really great writing. However, even if I didn't feel the Golden Girls had been sanctioned by the powers that be, I found it impossible to consider Blanche risque or to take her sexy Southern Belle act too seriously because, unlike A Streetcar Name Desire or Gone With The Wind, there was the character of Sophia to take the wind out of her sails. It's hard to rely on the comfort of strangers or to flirt with the Tarleton twins when there is a little old Italian lady at your elbow making snarky comments.

Estelle Getty waited a long time to achieve success in her acting career (In this obituary she is quoted as having said, "I knew I could be seduced by success in another field, so I'd say, 'Don't promote me, please' "). It is only fitting that we should still be watching her in syndication twenty years later.