The Golden Girls took trips and lovers, ignoring taboos and reframing senior life.
AMERICAN CHRONICLES
It started, like many good things, as a joke. NBC was filming a preview of its 1984 lineup, and Selma Diamond, a comedian in her sixties, had been tasked with introducing "Miami Vice," a flashy affair of Ferraris, cocaine cartels, and designer sports jackets. She pretended to misunderstand. "'Miami Nice'?" At last, a show about retirees, with their mink coats and cha-cha lessons. She got a laugh. And some execs thought it might not be a terrible idea.
The network proposed Diamond's concept to two producers, Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. The show, an executive explained, should feature ostensibly "over the hill" characters who were nonetheless "young in attitude." Witt brought the idea to the writer Susan Harris, his wife, who came up with a pilot script. Harris had already pushed television's limits with a show featuring an openly gay character ("Soap"), a show about a lusty divorcée ("Fay"), and a controversial storyline about abortion (on "Maude"). Having written four seasons of "Soap" episodes, she was drained and planning to leave television. Still, a sitcom about older women was hard to resist. Here was another barrier to smash, Harris felt "a demographic that had never been addressed."
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Denne historien er fra December 02, 2024-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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BADDIE ISSUES
\"Wicked\" and \"Gladiator II.\"
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
\"Death Becomes Her\" and \"Burnout Paradise.\"
ANTI HEROES
\"The Franchise,\" on HBO.
FELLOW-TRAVELLERS
The surprisingly sunny origins of the Frankfurt School.
NOW YOU SEE ME
John Singer Sargent's strange, slippery portraits of an art dealer's family.
PARIS FRIEND - SHUANG XUETAO
Xiaoguo had a terror of thirst, so he kept a glass of water on the table beside his hospital bed. As soon as it was empty, he asked me to refill it. I wanted to warn him that this was unhealthy - guzzling water all night long puts pressure on the kidneys, and pissing that much couldn't be good for his injury. He was tall, though, so I decided his insides could probably cope.
WILD SIDE
Is Lake Tahoe's bear boom getting out of hand?
GETTING A GRIP
Robots learn to use their hands.
WITHHOLDING SEX FROM MY WIFE
In the wake of [the] election, progressive women, who are outraged over Donald Trump's victory at the ballot box, have taken to social media with public, vengeful vows of chastity. - The Free Press.
DEADLINE EXTENSION
Old age, reborn.