Why you’ll never see a Golden Girls reboot

Even before all seven seasons of the ’80s sitcom about four feisty Miami grandmothers were available to stream on Hulu, it seemed nostalgia for The Golden Girls had reached something of a fever pitch. Just look at the recent bounty of homages, like the puppet parody That Golden Girls Show or the newly opened Golden Girls-themed cafe Rue La Rue Café in New York. But despite enduring love for the NBC series (and attempts to revive it in one form or another), don’t expect an official reboot anytime soon, says creator Susan Harris.

“They’ve wanted to do Golden Girls the Musical and re-do Golden Girls, and we’ve always said no because Golden Girls would not be Golden Girls without that cast,” says Harris, who admittedly learned that lesson the hard way.

When Golden Girls ended its seven-season run in 1992, she and producing partners Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas recruited stars Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Estelle Getty for a spin-off on CBS called Golden Palace, which found the three women (joined by co-stars Cheech Marin and Don Cheadle) running a hotel. But the series, which lasted for only one season, lacked one key component: Beatrice Arthur, whose character, Dorothy, only made sporadic appearances.

“Without Dorothy, it didn’t work,” recalls Harris, adding that The Golden Girls was “what it was and that’s the way it should remain.”

So we’ll just have to be content going down the road and back again with Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia. To the lanai!