The Golden Palace
Encyclopedia
The Golden Palace is an American sitcom
that originally aired on CBS
from September 18, 1992, to May 14, 1993. The show was a spin-off
and continuation of the sitcom
The Golden Girls
.
CBS cancelled the series in 1993 after only one season due to low ratings.
When Dorothy got married again and moved away, Blanche, Rose and Sophia buy a hotel. There they meet Roland Wilson, the manager, Chuy Castillos, the cook, and Oliver Webb as Roland's foster child. Beatrice Arthur
made a special guest appearance on a two-part episode, which was her final appearance as Dorothy Zbornak.
, changing networks from NBC
, which had aired The Golden Girls on Saturday nights for its entire run. CBS used The Golden Palace as one of four comedies assembled on Friday night
in an effort to combat ABC
's TGIF
comedy block; The Golden Palace was grouped with Major Dad
, Designing Women
and Bob
, all of which were either successful comedies prior to the move or, in the case of Bob, featured a previously successful sitcom star (Bob Newhart
).
The premiere garnered good ratings but viewership fell steadily for the entire block as the season progressed. CBS had scheduled the show for a second season, but canceled the show (and the entire block) the night before they announced their 1993 fall schedule. The only one of the four aforementioned shows to get picked up for the 1993-94 season was Bob, which hired Betty White to join its revamped cast.
Twenty-four episodes of the series are known to have been taped.
in the mid-2000s, rotating as a de facto "final season" of The Golden Girls. The current U.S. holders of Golden Girls rerun rights, Hallmark Channel
and WE tv
, do not include the series in rotation.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
that originally aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from September 18, 1992, to May 14, 1993. The show was a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
and continuation of the sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
.
CBS cancelled the series in 1993 after only one season due to low ratings.
Synopsis
The series featured three of the four characters from The Golden Girls moving out of their original home, and operating an upscale hotel called The Golden Palace.When Dorothy got married again and moved away, Blanche, Rose and Sophia buy a hotel. There they meet Roland Wilson, the manager, Chuy Castillos, the cook, and Oliver Webb as Roland's foster child. Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both...
made a special guest appearance on a two-part episode, which was her final appearance as Dorothy Zbornak.
Broadcast history and reception
The Golden Palace aired on CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, changing networks from NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, which had aired The Golden Girls on Saturday nights for its entire run. CBS used The Golden Palace as one of four comedies assembled on Friday night
Friday night death slot
The Friday night death slot is a perceived graveyard slot in American television, referring to the concept that a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings is destined for imminent cancellation....
in an effort to combat ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's TGIF
TGIF (ABC)
TGIF was the name of an American family-friendly prime time television programming block on the ABC network. The name comes from the initials of the popular phrase "Thank God It's Friday"...
comedy block; The Golden Palace was grouped with Major Dad
Major Dad
Major Dad is an American sitcom created by Richard C. Okie and John G. Stephens that originally ran from 1989 to 1993 on CBS, starring Gerald McRaney as Major John D. MacGillis and Shanna Reed as his wife Polly...
, Designing Women
Designing Women
Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
and Bob
Bob (TV series)
Bob is an American television situation comedy starring Bob Newhart. It was the actor's third series for CBS and proved to be far less successful than The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, his previous outings with the network. It lasted a season and a half, running from September 18, 1992 until...
, all of which were either successful comedies prior to the move or, in the case of Bob, featured a previously successful sitcom star (Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide...
).
The premiere garnered good ratings but viewership fell steadily for the entire block as the season progressed. CBS had scheduled the show for a second season, but canceled the show (and the entire block) the night before they announced their 1993 fall schedule. The only one of the four aforementioned shows to get picked up for the 1993-94 season was Bob, which hired Betty White to join its revamped cast.
Twenty-four episodes of the series are known to have been taped.
Ratings
| Season | Viewers | Rank |
| 1) 1992-1993 | 6.75 Million | #57 |
Cast
- Betty WhiteBetty WhiteBetty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
as Rose NylundRose NylundRose Nylund was born May 1930 in St. Olaf, Minnesota. She is a fictional character featured on the popular 1980s situation comedy The Golden Girls, and its spin-off The Golden Palace. She was portrayed by Betty White for 8 years and 208 episodes.Rose was comically portrayed as naïve and simple,...
, a jack-of-all-trades in the hotel. This series sees Rose being of a notably stronger will than her previous incarnation (as Dorothy ZbornakDorothy ZbornakDorothy Hollingsworth , is a fictional character from the TV series The Golden Girls, portrayed by Bea Arthur for 7 years and 183 episodes. Dorothy was the strong, sarcastic, sometimes intimidating, and arguably most grounded of the four women in the house...
noted in her guest appearance, "When did she become the strong one?"). - Rue McClanahanRue McClanahanRue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.-Early life:McClanahan was born Eddie Rue...
as Blanche DevereauxBlanche DevereauxBlanche Elizabeth Devereaux is one of the four main fictional characters on the 1985-1992 NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and its CBS spin-off The Golden Palace. In the pilot episode her last name was given as Hollingsworth, but this was somewhat "corrected" in later episodes by making this her...
, who served as the main operator of the hotel. She is slightly more helpful to the girls than in Golden Girls. She is also a bit less vain. - Estelle GettyEstelle GettyEstelle Scher-Gettleman , better known by her stage name Estelle Getty, was an American actress, who appeared in film, television, and theatre...
as Sophia PetrilloSophia PetrilloSophia Petrillo is a fictional character from the TV series The Golden Girls, and its spin-offs The Golden Palace and Empty Nest. She was portrayed by Estelle Getty for 10 years and 258 episodes and was arguably the breakout character of the show...
, the hotel's co-chef. In this series, her character is beginning to show signs of senile dementia, and is somewhat more kind and gentle than in the original series. - Don CheadleDon CheadleDonald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
as Roland Wilson, the hotel's manager. He is one of only two staff members retained by the previous ownership. Roland has a notably serious, all-business demeanor and has the least comedic role of any of the characters in the show. - Cheech MarinCheech MarinRichard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
as Chuy Castillos, the other co-chef and the other staff member held on by the previous ownership. He nearly quits after getting into a fight with Sophia over Italian vs. Mexican food, but comes back and remains with the staff for the rest of the series run. - Billy L. SullivanBilly L. SullivanBilly L. Sullivan in New York, USA) is an American actor. He is the brother of Michael Sullivan and sometimes credited as Billy Sullivan.-Selected filmography:*Light of Day ... Benji Rasnick...
as Oliver Webb, Roland's foster child for episodes 1-6, 11, and 14. A streetwise, arrogant preteen, Oliver was written out of the series fairly early on, with the character's birth mother retaking custody of him in episode 14.
List of episodes
| № | Title | Directed by: | Written by: | Original airdate |
|---|
Syndication
Reruns aired on LifetimeLifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
in the mid-2000s, rotating as a de facto "final season" of The Golden Girls. The current U.S. holders of Golden Girls rerun rights, Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
and WE tv
WE TV
We TV is the third TV channel from Malayalam Communications Ltd, in Kerala and based at Trivandrum. The other two channels of this company are Kairali TV and People TV. WE TV is mainly aimed at the youth and was officially launched on April 14, 2007. Mr...
, do not include the series in rotation.