--- description: The politics, sensibilities, and humor of the show's pathbreaking creator help explain its enduring appeal. title: The Woman Behind 'The Golden Girls' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01081f8dccf1513f/6998c9d383ec37f749c7aef8/golden-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Made by History](/tag/made-by-history/) ## Made by History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Woman Behind _The Golden Girls_ by [Peter C. Kunze / Made by History](/author/made-by-history/) ## Peter C. Kunze / Made by History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Sep 18, 2025 1:42 PM CUTPublished: Sep 17, 2025 1:00 PM CUT  A scene from THE GOLDEN GIRLS: Betty White as Rose Nylund, Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux A scene from THE GOLDEN GIRLS: Betty White as Rose Nylund, Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Rue McClanahan as Blanche DevereauxRon Tom—NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images by [Peter C. Kunze / Made by History](/author/made-by-history/) ## Peter C. Kunze / Made by History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Sep 18, 2025 1:42 PM CUTPublished: Sep 17, 2025 1:00 PM CUT This fall, the sitcom _The Golden Girls_ turns 40 years old. Although a new episode hasn’t aired since 1992, and its four stars have now all passed away, the show remains a vibrant part of American pop culture. It lives on in syndication, in TikTok clips and Instagram memes, on T-shirts and on coffee mugs, and at fan conventions and drag shows. It has even inspired multiple books, including [a recent collection](https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-golden-girls/9781978836846/ "undefined") on its social and cultural impact_._ The series itself was created by Susan Harris, one of the most important — and underrated — voices in American comedy. While she has never received the recognition afforded to her male mentors, Garry Marshall and Norman Lear, Harris was integral to bringing a feminist sensibility and consciousness to primetime television. Her legacy continues to shape popular sitcoms today. Shows with women protagonists and nuanced explorations of their personal and professional lives reflect her wit, irreverence, and commitment to social justice. In 1970, Harris was a single mother when she wrote a prospective script for a drama series, _Then Came Bronson._ It became her first television writing credit. While the show proved to be short-lived, it opened the door to television writing for Harris. She moved on to write for _The Partridge Family_, _All in the Family,_ and _Love, American Style_ before working on the Bea Arthur-led sitcom _Maude_. In 1972, while working on _Maude,_ Harris wrote one of the most famous and controversial episodes in sitcom history. In the two-part episode, “Maude’s Dilemma,” Maude decided to have an abortion. The episode aired in November 1972, two months before the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in _Roe v. Wade_. It was one of the first times that feminist politics around reproductive rights were so openly expressed in a primetime sitcom. CBS reported that an estimated 65 million Americans watched one or both parts of the episode, and the show received over 7,000 letters from concerned viewers. The episode was typical of an era in broadcast history where television comedies explored important social issues from multiple perspectives. Reflecting on the episode in 1992, Harris observed that the political landscape in the 1990s would have made it much harder to air such an episode, because "the networks would feel less likely that they could take a stand.” **_Read More:_** [Remembering Norman Lear, TV Titan and Icon of American Progressivism](https://time.com/6343345/norman-lear-dead-obituary/ "undefined") Harris’ blend of sharp wit and social commentary continued with _Soap_, a show she both created and co-wrote. Like _Maude_, _Soap_ was politically groundbreaking because the cast of characters included Jodie, the first recurring gay character on primetime television, portrayed by comedy legend, Billy Crystal. Unlike most gay representations at the time, Jodie defied expectations: he was neither reduced to a stereotype nor doomed to a tragic fate. Harris also challenged racial stereotypes. _Soap_ featured the character Benson, a butler, who was portrayed by Black actor Robert Guillaume and who had a superior intellect and cutting sense of humor. He often made his befuddled employers the target of his sharp wit. Harris created a spinoff starring Guillaume, entitled _Benson_, which followed the character’s ascent from household service to public service (as the lieutenant governor). Guillaume’s performance in _Benson_ earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He was the first Black actor to win the award. In 1985, Harris’ new sitcom premiered: _The Golden Girls_. The idea of a sitcom starring older women came from NBC executive Warren Littlefield. During _The NBC All Star Hour_ special in 1984, seasoned actresses Selma Diamond and Doris Roberts performed a comedy bit confusing the new show _Miami Vice_ for _Miami Nice_, which caught Littlefield’s attention. He realized that networks were failing to tap into a pool of comedic talent: older women. When Littlefield expressed interest in a series that could showcase older women’s comedic abilities to producers Tony Thomas and Paul Junger Witt, Witt had the perfect writer in mind: his wife, Susan Harris. Harris took the creative lead on the new show, establishing its format and sensibility, as well as writing the pilot episode. The characters Harris created would prove iconic. Blanche, an amorous widow, takes in two roommates: Dorothy, a no-nonsense divorcee from Brooklyn, and Rose, a sweet but simpleminded Minnesotan. The fourth roommate was Sophia, Dorothy’s wisecracking mother, who moves into the house after a fire at her retirement community. (A fifth character, Blanche’s gay cook, Coco, was dropped from the show after the pilot allegedly to focus more on the four women, though network reluctance over a gay character probably factored in.) With so many talented actresses to consider, casting proved a challenge. Harris wrote Dorothy for _Maude_ star Bea Arthur, but the actress was wary to take the part because it seemed too similar to Maude_._ Yet, when she heard Rue McClanahan would play the flirtatious Blanche and Betty White would play the naive Rose, she was intrigued — because it involved the actresses playing against character type from their respective roles on _Maude_ and _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_. The producers cast Estelle Getty, who had gained fame on the Broadway stage in _Torch Song Trilogy_, as Sophia. She proved to be perfect person to play Dorothy’s 80-year-old mother— even though she was actually a year younger than Arthur. **_Read More:_** [Betty White Has Died at 99\. Here's How _The Golden Girls_ Transformed Her From Star to Legend](https://time.com/5610061/betty-white-golden-girls-dies-99/ "undefined") In the pilot episode, Sophia jokes, “I never get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I go in the morning, every morning, like clockwork. At 7 AM, I pee. Unfortunately, I don’t wake up til 8.” The punchline reflected Harris’ playful sense of humor. Her uncompromising social consciousness also shined through from the beginning. The first episode also discussed aging, elder care, and losing a spouse to death or divorce. Harris compassionately explored these issues that many women faced later in life — and which rarely went represented on television. From the beginning, _The Golden Girls_ was a critical success. The New York _Times_ reported the show “has been getting the most enthusiastic advance word-of-mouth since _The Cosby Show_.” Even though The Washington _Post_ chided Harris’ “bathroom humor,” its critic admitted the show had well-developed characters. Audiences agreed: _The Golden Girls_ finished its freshman year in the top 10 shows on television at a time when new hit sitcoms were a rarity. It went on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series for its first season, besting ratings powerhouses _Cheers_ and _The Cosby Show_. Even though Harris only wrote the occasional episode after the pilot, her investment in foregrounding the issues that older women face in their everyday lives resonated throughout the show’s seven seasons. A prime example was the two-part episode, “Sick and Tired,” in which Dorothy struggled to find a diagnosis because male doctors repeatedly dismissed her symptoms. In addition to women’s health, _The Golden Girls_ explored ageism, addiction, sexual harassment, gay marriage, homelessness, and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Perhaps _Golden Girls_’ enduring legacy was its format. Harris revised the family sitcom, replacing the nuclear family unit with a found family unit. (The celebration of self-selected family was one of the many reasons that the show had a strong fandom among the LGBT community.) Furthermore, it centered four older women not only as mothers and wives, but as independent, opinionated, and sexual people. This template would later be replicated and reinvented by a plethora of series: _Designing Women, Living Single, Sex and the City_, _Girlfriends,_ and _Girls,_ among them. Like _Golden Girls_, many of them were women-led, both on screen and behind the scenes.  Susan Harris is rarely mentioned alongside Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, or Mary Tyler Moore, but her contribution and influence on television comedy is palpable through the enduring legacy of _The Golden Girls_. In a career spanning 40 years, she created 13 sitcoms, many of which centered on women’s daily lives. She also was a powerful writer-producer when the opportunity was granted to too few women. Her pathbreaking work opened the door for countless women writers and producers in primetime television, especially those who used the sitcom to explore the joys and challenges of womanhood. _The Golden Girls_, in its celebration of romance, mother-daughter bonds, and the family we choose, glorified the different kinds of loving relationships that enrich women’s lives with joy and good humor. So the next time you sit down to laugh with Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia, remember the woman behind the scenes who brought them to life. _Peter C. Kunze is assistant professor of communication at Tulane University. He is the author of_ Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood, and the Disney Renaissance. _Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians._ [_Learn more about Made by History at TIME here_](https://time.com/6317798/introducing-made-by-history-for-time/ "undefined")_. 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