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Rick Hurst, who portrayed the good-hearted Deputy Cletus Hogg on the long-running CBS action comedy The Dukes of Hazzard, died Thursday. He was 79.

Hurst’s death was announced by the Cooter’s Place museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. He had just canceled a scheduled July 3-7 appearance there.

“To fans, he was more than a character — he was family,” reads a Dukes of Hazzard post on Instagram. “His gentle smile, impeccable comedic timing and kind-hearted spirit made every scene brighter.

“Offscreen, Rick was known for his generosity, humility and love for connecting with fans at events across the country. Whether it was a reunion special or a meet-and-greet at Cooter’s, he never stopped sharing his joy with the people who adored him.”

Before his most famous role, Hurst played a prisoner named Cleaver alongside Tom Poston and Hal Williams on the 1975-76 ABC sitcom On the Rocks, which revolved...

Actors Steven Weber, Lori Petty, Cynda Williams and Mitchell Anderson have joined the lineup of Pride Live! Hollywood, which continues through June 29 at venues across Hollywood.

The inaugural pop culture festival will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the LGBT comedy Jeffrey with star Weber, who will be reunited with his Wings and Dracula: Dead and Loving It co-star Amy Yasbeck.

Meanwhile, Petty, Williams and Anderson have joined Relax … It’s Just Sex co-stars Billy Wirth, Tim Perez, Chris Cleveland and Eddie Garcia in a tribute to pioneering producer Steven J. Wolfe and his groundbreaking film.

Elsewhere, festival partner Amoeba Music will sponsor a free Pride Live! Hollywood concert performance by Durand Jones & The Indications, followed by a signing of their latest album, Flowers.

Also added to the schedule is a screening of disco movie Can’t Stop the Music with screenwriter Bruce Vilanch and cast member Leigh Taylor-Young.

As previously announced,...

The Golden Girls was nearly renewed for season 8, but a major actor decided that she would not be returning to the show. Though rumors of a Golden Girls reboot continue to this day, the original series ran from 1985 through 1992, and there have not been any major rebooting efforts. Aside from a few spinoffs, the show's legacy remains strictly tied to the legacy of its four major actors: Betty White (Rose Nylund), Bea Arthur (Dorothy Zbornak), Rue McClanahan (Blanche Devereaux), and Estelle Getty (Sophia Petrillo).

The season 7 cancellation cemented the show's fate, but it was not always going to end with its seventh season. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, co-producer Marsha Posner Williams admitted that one star made the executive decision to end the series. While White, Getty, and McClanahan were all interested in continuing with Golden Girls, Arthur had no interest in another season, as her disdain for...

While The Golden Girls featured a group of friends, the cast was not quite as warm as their characters were. Having run for seven seasons from 1985 to 1992, the sitcom was extremely unique and set itself apart by focusing on four older women living out their golden years together. It received both critical and audience acclaim during its run, earning 11 Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes. Tragically, all four major Golden Girls cast members, Betty White (Rose Nylund), Bea Arthur (Dorothy Zbornak), Rue McClanahan (Blanche Devereaux), and Estelle Getty (Sophia Petrillo) have since passed on, having left their marks on Hollywood.

While the main characters were friends in The Golden Girls, their actors were not. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, co-producer Marsha Posner Williams confirmed that White and Arthur could not stand each other, confirming long-standing rumors of a feud. While they remained "professional" during production, they hated each other off-screen,...

While the classic ’80s sitcom “The Golden Girls” has amassed a large gay following, former writer Stan Zimmerman said that the set itself was not as open as some might assume. One co-worker even told Zimmerman to burn thrifted sweaters from a garage sale because they had probably belonged to “somebody that died of AIDS.” But the writer — who later worked on “Gilmore Girls” — said that was just “the climate then.”

“I know you see all these progressive scenes and you think, ‘Oh, it was one big gay party there,’ but we couldn’t be who we really were,” Zimmerman explained during a Pride Live! Hollywood panel (via The Hollywood Reporter). He said that their representatives even advised them to stay in the closet. But he added there was one titular “Golden Girls” gay crew members couldn’t fool.

“Our first day on the set, we noticed Estelle [Getty] come running toward us,...

The comedy world is littered with duos who couldn’t hang for the long term — so much so Lorne Michaels, who appears on this list of comedy partnerships that imploded, has another one that’s not even cited here: Susan Morrison’s new Michaels biography tells the story of how he parted ways with his comedy partner Hart Pomerantz a few years before creating Saturday Night Live. The feud between Golden Girls co-stars Beatrice Arthur and Betty White is also well-known, but the thing about a good piece of gossip is that there’s almost always something more to unpack. And some people who worked on the show behind the camera have been sitting on stories for a while.

The Golden Girls is in the midst of a 40th-anniversary celebration, including a live reading of two episodes that closed out the Atx TV Festival earlier this month, attended by several...

The Golden Girls is famous for big laughs and high emotion. But one of the other famous things about it is the well-known feud between stars Bea Arthur and Betty White.

The two actors -- both beloved by audiences -- never got along with each other. Speaking at a panel for Pride Live! at NeueHouse Hollywood, the show's co-producer Marsha Posner Williams opened up about how deep and vicious the feud between White and Arthur went. She remembered, via Hollywood Reporter, that the C-word was used more than once.

“When that red light was on [and the show was filming], there were no more professional people than those women, but when the red light was off, those two couldn’t warm up to each other if they were cremated together,” Williams commented, cracking a joke that wouldn't have been out of place on the show itself. She remembered that Bea Arthur used to call her and say,...

While the ladies of The Golden Girls were best friends on TV, things were the opposite behind the scenes. Several crew members of the beloved sitcom reflected on their experiences during a 40th-anniversary celebration event on Wednesday, June 18, as a part of the Pride Live! Hollywood festival. During the discussion, coproducer Marsha Posner Williams spilled new details on the alleged feud between leading ladies Betty White and Bea Arthur. “When that red light was on [and the show was filming], there were no more professional people than those women, but when the red light was off, those two couldn’t warm up to each other if they were cremated together,” Williams told attendees, per The Hollywood Reporter. “[Bea] used to call me at home and say, ‘I just ran into that c**t at the grocery store. I’m gonna write her a letter,’ and I said, ‘Bea, just get over it for crying out loud.

Creatives behind The Golden Girls shared funny and, at times, very candid behind-the-scenes stories — namely, among the long-rumored feud between stars Betty White and Bea Arthur — during a 40th-anniversary celebration of the long-running hit show on Wednesday night.

The sold-out event, held at NeueHouse Hollywood as part of the monthlong Pride Live! Hollywood festival, featured a panel of writers, producers and others who worked on the show, which ran for seven seasons on NBC, from 1985-92. The series, created by Susan Harris, starred Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Betty White as Rose Nylund, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux and Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo. (The Hollywood Reporter is the presenting media sponsor of Pride Live! Hollywood.)

Co-producer Marsha Posner Williams brought up a topic that has been much-discussed and speculated on: whether Arthur and White got along in real life.

“When that red light was on [and the show was filming], there were no more professional people than those women,...

Media in the '80s was full of larger-than-life personalities, and TV was no exception. From high-concept action to star-driven crime solving and even confined comedies, bigger was usually better. Some of the best shows just kept growing, and a couple of the titles on this list of the best 1980s TV shows are still around (or at least have been revived very recently). Those that didn't last nonetheless made their mark on pop culture at large.

While not every show named below is an American show, they are all, to some degree, scripted. Even though the decade spawned many iconic talk shows and nonfiction programming, with hosts ranging from Phil Donahue to Robin Leach, those are best covered elsewhere. These are the stories that kept us coming back to their characters, actors, plots, and wild gimmicks, in a decade where money was seemingly no object, and TV tried to cater to every age group.

Some television shows never go out of style – and the ’80s gave us plenty of them. It was a golden era of TV, packed with unforgettable moments, larger-than-life characters, and stories that still feel relevant through pop culture today. Decades have passed, but these iconic shows just refuse to fade. They’ve aged like fine wine and are still quoted, streamed, and loved by fans old and new.

Whether it’s a sitcom that defined family life, a crime drama, or a sci-fi series that predicted the future, these ’80s gems continue to shape how we watch and talk about TV. So, let’s take a look at 10 shows from the ’80s that are still just as powerful and relevant as ever.

10. The Golden Girls (1985 – 1992)

The Golden Girls is one of those rare ’80s shows that still feels fresh no matter how many years go by. It followed four older women – namely,...

Recently, Superman star Nathan Fillion revealed the surprising television icon that he channeled to play Guy Gardner/Green Lantern. Alongside Fillion, the DC Universe film stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Sara Sampaio, Anthony Carrigan, Edi Gathegi, and Isabela Merced, among others. Fillion's Green Lantern, along with Gathegi as Mister Terrific and Merced as Hawkgirl, will be part of the corporate-sponsored Justice Gang, a group of superheroes who operate differently from the kind-hearted Superman.

Fillion's casting as Guy comes after years of fans dream-casting him as Green Lantern, though many thought he would be more suited to the Hal Jordan iteration of the hero. Nonetheless, the Firefly star is a long-time collaborator and friend of Superman's director, James Gunn, so his having a role in the film is hardly a surprise. What is a surprise, however, is the character he modeled his Green Lantern after.

In an appearance on...

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Duster” Episode 2.

Adrienne Barbeau, best known for the films she made with ex-husband John Carpenter, including “The Fog” and “Escape From New York,” guest stars in this week’s episode of “Duster” as an FBI agent’s secretive wife.

The ep also includes a different actress playing Barbeau as she might have looked in 1972. The younger Barbeau (played by Mikaela Hoover of James Gunn’s “Superman”), helps lead character Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway) by distracting an older businessman so Jim can steal a valuable pair of Elvis Presley’s blue suede shoes.

Barbeau spoke to TheWrap about having someone play her as a character for the first time — the 79-year-old actress said she was “tickled pink.”

“The ’70s was my era,” said Barbeau, who was nominated for a Tony for her portrayal of Rizzo in a 1972 production of “Grease” on Broadway, which led — as...

The Golden Girlsis a beloved series that took us into the lives of Blanche, Rose, Sophia, and Dorothy. The show ran for seven seasons and has since remained one of those series you can always find airing reruns. Starring Estelle Getty as Sophia, the mother to Bea Arthur's Dorothy, the two lived with their friends Rose (Betty White) and Blanche (Rue McClanahan) – and the rest was sitcom history. But that means that people are constantly wondering if the show is going to get remade or rebooted, and fans had thought that Tina Feywas going to try to undertake the seemingly impossible task.

During a conversation with Entertainment Tonight, Fey addressed the rumor that she was going to be working on a reboot with Amy Poehlerand Lisa Kudrowstarring in it. For context, Dorothy was supposed to be in her early-to-mid 50s when the show began and Poehler is currently 53 years old,...

Comedy icon and 30 Rockcreator Tina Fey shoots down rumors of a remake of The Golden Girls.

Per People, Fey responded to a fan-made poster for a The Golden Girls remake starring her alongside Amy Poehler, Lisa Kudrow, and Maya Rudolph. "Oh, this. I did know about this," Fey said after being shown the poster, which originally circulated the internet in 2024. "I like that this was fooling people. Like, why would we ever take a picture where Amy and Lisa Kudrow are in costume, but we're not?" Fey added, "If this fooled you, you might be a Boomer. And if you're Gen X, and this fooled you, go to a hospital. I would never touch this. This is too perfect. The original is ... those ladies can't be touched."

Created by Susan Harris, The Golden Girls premiered back in 1985 and quickly established itself as the then-latest hit sitcom. The series broke new...

Tina Fey is clarifying details about the alleged Golden Girls remake that was in development.

In a recent interview, the 30 Rock star and creator addressed the viral poster of The Golden Girls that was shared on social media.

“Oh, this. I did know about this,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I like that this was fooling people. Like, why would we ever take a picture where Amy and Lisa Kudrow are in costume, but we’re not? If this fooled you, you might be a Boomer. And if you’re Gen X, and this fooled you, go to a hospital.”

The fake post claimed Disney+ had ordered a remake of the classic sitcom starring Fey as Dorothy, Amy Poehler as Sophia, Lisa Kudrow as Rose, and Maya Rudolph as Blanche.

Fey says that she “would never touch” the sitcom and produce a remake, adding, “The original is … those ladies can’t be touched.

Remember Saved By the Bell ripoff California Dreams? Redditor Vegetable-Tooth8463 does, recalling in r/Sitcoms that the teen comedy had a surprisingly depressing final episode. The kids in the band decide that their musical dreams won’t come true after all, and the show’s central couple, Tiff and Jake, break up. Everything goes to hell, the end.

But that’s not the only bummer way to end a TV comedy. Other Redditors chimed in with their nominations for most depressing sitcom finales.

1 M*A*S*H

The gold standard for sitcom episodes that require a box of Puffs Plus. “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” gathered 125 million Americans around their TV sets (a record). All these years later, it’s still hard to keep a dry eye when Hawkeye and B.J. say farewell to Colonel Potter riding off into the sunset on his horse, and then to one another.

2 Dinosaurs

Whoa,...

At a time when “The White Lotus” and “Severance” are the most-talked-about shows on TV, few big-name actors are hitching their wagons to sitcoms, and even fewer are taking the risk in front of a live studio audience. But Nathan Lane, whose recent projects range from “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and “The Gilded Age” to “Dicks: The Musical” and “Beau Is Afraid” in just the past two years, has always been one to chart his own course.

In his latest project, “Mid-Century Modern” — the new Hulu series from “Will & Grace” co-creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan — Lane throws his star power behind a multicam sitcom about three gay men living in a Palm Springs mansion, despite the many potential pitfalls along the show’s road to success.

“If this works, we’ve won the lottery. It’s a miracle,” Lane, who stars opposite fellow Broadway regulars...

Patty Maloney, the 3-foot-11 actress who played the alien Honk on the Sid & Marty Krofft family show Far Out Space Nuts and Chewbacca’s son, Lumpy, on the long-lamented Star Wars Holiday Special, has died. She was 89.

Maloney had suffered several strokes over the years and died Monday in hospice care in Winter Park, Florida, her brother, Dave Myrabo, told The Hollywood Reporter. “For a little person growing up in a big world, she did everything she wanted to do,” he said.

Maloney did lots of work alongside the 3-foot-10 Billy Barty. The two appeared together in the Wizard of Oz feature Under the Rainbow (1981), starring Chevy Chase, and on episodes of Little House on the Prairie, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Trapper John, M.D. and more.

Far Out Space Nuts, starring Bob Denver and Chuck McCann as bumbling maintenance workers turned accidental space travelers, aired for one season (1975-76) on CBS.

Hulu's newest series, Mid-Century Modern, is now available to stream and co-creator Max Mutchnick is opening up about the television series' reception as well as comparisons to an iconic 80s sitcom. The series stars Matt Bomer (White Collar), Nathan Lane (The Producers), and Nathan Lee Graham (Zoolander) as a trio of friends in Palm Springs, California who move in together for a new chapter in their lives. Bomer plays Jerry Frank, Lane plays Bunny Schneiderman, and Graham plays Arthur Broussard. They're joined, for the first part of the series, by Linda Lavin, who plays Bunny's mother Sybil, until Lavin's real-life death in December cut her appearances short. If the basic premise of these three men, plus a mom all under one roof over the age of 65, sounds familiar, you may have heard of The Golden Girls.

The comparisons are not lost on Mutchnick, in fact, they're embraced. When speaking...

Hulu's new comedy Mid-Century Modern is not a gay reboot of The Golden Girls. It's a nice compliment, if not daunting, but stars Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham describe their R-rated laffer as more of a "spiritual sister" to the iconic sitcom that ran for seven seasons on NBC.

"It was a quick way of pitching the idea for the show and then once people latched on to that — are you Bea Arthur and are you Rue McClanahan — we're really not doing that kind of show," Lane tells Gold Derby (watch the video interview above). "It's its own entity. It is about a group of friends living together in my house with my mother, but once you establish that it goes off in its own direction. But look, if that gets people to tune in — wonderful!"

Mid-Century Modern was created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan,...

There’s not a lot that’s modern about Hulu’s broad and campy sitcom Mid-Century Modern. A fusion of Will & Grace and The Golden Girls from the W&g creators, it’s a classic multi-cam comedy (directed by legendary sitcom pro James Burrows), juiced up with hysterical audience laughter that erupts every time its characters talk in punchlines, Neil Simon by way of Harvey Fierstein. The setting replaces Miami with Palm Springs, a place so gay “even the trees are named Joshua” (some of the jokes are actual groaners). And Ketel One martinis have replaced cheesecake as the go-to nightcap for the three gay men of a certain age who decide to live together after a member of their close circle of friends suddenly passes away. The great comic actor Nathan Lane leads the cast as neurotic mama’s boy Bunny, who, like The Golden Girls‘ Dorothy (Bea Arthur...

“You don’t look sad … you just look like a reluctant bottom.”

When a new series receives the James Burrows stamp of approval, it’s almost guaranteed to be a hysterical ride. After all, the iconic television director has been at the forefront of some of the most recognizable sitcoms in history, including “Friends,” “Cheers,” “Frasier” and a significant number of episodes of “Will & Grace.” The sitcom genre has seen better days with the invention of streaming services that have practically made the format obsolete, but Burrows keeps chugging along when he finds a show worth investing his talents in.

At 84 years old, Burrows continues his impressive run as sitcom’s greatest living director by taking the helm with a new series from “Will & Grace” creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, “Mid-Century Modern.” Starring Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, Nathan Lee Graham and Linda Lavin, the Palm Springs-set series...

If The Golden Girls had gay besties, they’d totally be the sunshine boys of Mid-Century Modern. Unapologetically queer and audaciously TV-ma, Hulu‘s new comedy from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan essentially redesigns Golden Girls retirees Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche into buddies Bunny, Jerry, and Arthur — played by Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham. The late Linda Lavin is also there as Sybil, Bunny’s Sophia-esque mother. And like the iconic Girls, these guys pack as much sass as Bea Arthur‘s withering glares. “I haven’t done a [multi-camera sitcom] in a very long time, so it certainly helps to do it with some of the best,” says Lane, whose lingerie-biz mogul Bunny invites Bomer’s flaky airline attendant and Graham’s cultured ex-Vogue columnist to move into his sprawling Palm Springs home after the death of their fourth friend, George. “It’s also...

Since getting his big break crafting jokes for Bette Midler in the early 1970s, Emmy-winning comedy writer and personality Bruce Vilanch has found success writing for the small screen and stage. But by his own admission, the scribe behind 25 Academy Award ceremonies and more than his fair share of Miss Universe and USA pageants has also penned some real flops.

In his new book, “It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote,” Vilanch walks readers through some of the most ill-conceived projects he’s been attached to over the years — from 1978’s “The Star Wars Holiday Special” to the now infamous 1989 Oscars ceremony that opened with Rob Lowe and Snow White pirouetting to “Proud Mary.”

“‘It was a terrible idea, and I shouldn’t have gotten involved’ didn’t even occur to us at the time,” Vilanch told IndieWire on a Zoom call,...

This article contains spoilers for the SeveranceSeason 2 episode “Sweet Vitriol,” streaming on Apple TV+

In the latest episode of the Apple TV+ hit, Severance, viewers got a glimpse of how Patricia Arquette’s Harmony Cobel grew up and a little hint of why she acts the way she does. The eighth episode of the series’ second season, titled “Sweet Vitriol” saw Cobel return to her hometown of Salt’s Neck and was the first time fans have seen her on screen since the end of Episode 2.

In a recent interview with Variety, the Academy Award-and Emmy-winning Arquette talked about how the town of Salt’s Neck impacted things in Cobel’s life, even the way in which the character speaks. Notably, Cobel, fans have noticed a particular way in which she pronounces “Mark” in a very exaggerated way when referring to Mark (Adam Scott) in the series.

A Bit of...

Hulu has dropped the trailer for Mid-Century Modern, the much anticipated new comedy from Max Mutchnick and David Kohan that also marks Linda Lavin‘s final role before her death in December.

The multi-cam series that also hails from Ryan Murphy is set bow March 28 on the streamer. It follows three gay gentlemen of a certain age who, after an unexpected death, decide to spend their golden years living together in Palm Springs, where the wealthiest one lives with his mother. As a chosen family, they prove that no matter how hard things get, there’s always someone around to remind you it would be better if you got your neck done.

The show stars Lane as Bunny Schneiderman, Bomer as Jerry Frank, Graham as Arthur Broussard and Lavin as Sybil Schneiderman, Bunny’s mother. Guest stars include Pamela Adlon, Vanessa Bayer, Kimberly Coles, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Judd Hirsch, Richard Kind,...

There isn’t a more infamous moment in the galaxy far, far away than the release of The Star Wars Holiday Specialin 1978 on ABC, which was met with such historically awful reviews that it was never aired again, and has never been released by Lucasfilm in any official capacity. The two-hour television event featured brief appearances by Star Warscast members such as Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Anthony Daniels, but the story was mostly centered around how Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and his family prepared for the Wookiee holiday of “Life Day” on their home planet of Kashyyyk. Much of the special felt only tangentially related to the Star Wars universe, as it featured appearances by ‘70s stars like Art Carney, Jefferson Starship, Bea Arthur, and Harvey Corman. Although it has still been the subject of ridicule, the creation of The Star Wars Holiday Special is unpacked in the...

Before donning a robotic suit and becoming War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Don Cheadle played hotel manager Roland Wilson in the Golden Girls' spin-off series, The Golden Palace. Set in Miami, after Bea Arthur's character, Dorothy Zbornak, marriesLucas Hollingsworth and exits the franchise, the remaining Golden Girls - Blanche, Rose, and Sophia - purchase a local hotel, the Golden Palace, to get a fresh start and find a new purpose in life. To the girls' surprise, the hotel is falling apart and the business is rougher than they expected. Don Cheadle's exasperated Roland Wilson is at first skeptical the women are up for the challenge, but they quickly win him over with their can-do attitudes and plenty of cheesecake.

The Golden Palace is often maligned byfans as an unworthy successor to the iconic Golden Girls, but the series has a quirky charm, and it's enjoyable to see...

The sitcom The Golden Girls was a true gem, tackling unique themes centered around a group of older women and their daily struggles and adventures. During its seven-season run, the show received many awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series twice and securing three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. Even more impressively, each of the four stars received an Emmy Award, a feat accomplished by only four sitcoms in the award's history.

Many praised the excellent casting of Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, all experienced actors in the sitcom genre. The four sassy women had great chemistry, and each cast member represented a unique archetype. The Golden Girls, which premiered in 1985, was way ahead of its time, proving that age is truly just a number. In 2014, the Writers Guild of America placed the sitcom at number 69 on their...

If you're making a list of the most timeless sitcoms ever produced, "The Golden Girls" has to be at or near the top. Yes, it's so very 1980s with its Miami fashions and decor, but its themes and sense of humor have aged better than most hit series of its era. At any moment, you can hop on Hulu, click on a random episode, and know you'll laugh yourself silly while watching Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) get in some kind of jam and ultimately be reminded of the importance and power of friendship.

The writing on "The Golden Girls" was always sharp (it won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series twice), but the secret to its seven years of sustained success (it ranked in the Nielsen ratings top ten for all but its final season) was undoubtedly its cast.

Betty White was a star way before TV even knew it needed her. Back in the 1930s, when television was just a sci-fi dream, she was already making waves. By the time screens took over living rooms, the late actress was running the show.

Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Betty White from The Golden Girls | Credits: NBC

From early broadcasts that barely counted as TV to stealing scenes in Golden Girls, White never slowed down.

Betty White: A TV star before TV was even a thing Betty White from The Golden Girls | Credits: NBC

Betty White didn’t just break into television; she practically pre-dated it. Long before she became a household name with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, she was already making history on an experimental broadcast in 1939.

Fresh out of Beverly Hills High, White stepped in front of early TV cameras in downtown Los Angeles.

When Sam Malone showed up to visit on the original Frasier, fans got a thrill seeing old-favorite characters reunite for a one-off episode. But several sitcoms have done those types of cameos one better, casting familiar costars as entirely new characters to add a dose of barely earned nostalgia. Sometimes the ploy works and sometimes it doesn’t, as you’ll see in these five examples of classic sitcom costars who reunited on new shows.

1 Kevin James and Leah Remini

When James tried to reboot his sitcom career with Kevin Can Wait, he soon discovered he didn’t have much chemistry with his new TV wife Erinn Hayes. With little thought to public reaction, James and his producers decided “Why not have Hayes’ character die — off camera — before we start a Season Two?” That’s just what they did, enlisting James’ former TV wife, King of Queens’ Remini, to rekindle some comedy sparks.

Sally Struthers shares her experiences with co-star Betty White. Struthers reveals she was “fat-shamed” by the late star. Keep reading to find out what Betty White said to Sally.

Sally Struthers The Golden Girls Star

Sally Anne Struthers 77, was born on July 28, 1947. She was born in Portland, Oregon, and is an American actress and activist. She won two Emmy Awards for her role as Gloria Stivic in All in the Family. Sally also played Babette on Gilmore Girls, where she met Betty White for the first time. Betty was 99 years old when she passed away. She was born on January 17, 1922, and passed on December 31, 2021. White is from Oak Park, Illinois, and is an American actress and comedian. Betty was on Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992, she played the role of Rose Nylund. They also had another friend named Bea Arthur, Bea was 86 years old when she passed, born on May 13, 1922, in New York City.

The Golden Girls was one of the most popular shows of its time when it was first released and maintained consistently high ratings for the rest of its run. However, season 7 ended with the abrupt departure of Bea Arthur's main character, Dorothy Zbornak, resulting in the show getting a sudden (and surprisingly downtrodden) finale. With Bea gone, the show really couldn't continue in it current iteration. So, the solution was to try and create a new show that would focus on Blanche, Rose, and Sophia. The trio would purchase a hotel in an effort to make a profit. Unfortunately for the cast, the show would not make it longer than its first season.

A number of factors contributed to its cancelation shortly after the first season. From lower than-hoped-for ratings to the simple fact that the magic of the original trio was now gone without Bea Arthur around to...

America’s Senior Sweetheart wasn’t as nice as everyone thought, according to All in the Family and Man on the Inside star Sally Struthers. At least Struthers waited until Betty White passed away before she put the Golden Girls star on blast.

“I have to say, now that she’s gone, I want to talk about Betty White for just a moment,” Struthers said on the Let's Talk About That! podcast. “I know everybody loves her. They loved her so much they signed petitions to get her to guest-host Saturday Night Live. I know all that. I didn’t have such a great experience with her.”

What happened? Years ago, Struthers was invited to White’s home to discuss a pilot for a new game show. A group working on the show discussed what was working and what wasn’t when White asked her housekeeper to bring in a...

All in the Family's Sally Struthers is recalling a not-so-fond memory of beloved Golden Girl Betty White. During the January 13 episode of the Let's Talk About That! With Larry Saperstein and Jacob Bellotti podcast, Struthers recalled an incident where White "fat-shamed her." Noting that she knows precisely how beloved White was (as is), she shared what happened when the two were collaborating on the pilot for a game show.

"I have to say, now that she's gone, I wanna talk about Betty White for just a moment. And I know everybody loves her. They loved her so much. They signed petitions to get her to guest host 'Saturday Night Live.' I know all that. I didn't have such a great experience with her—very passive-aggressive woman.

She asked her housekeeper to bring in a plate of whatever to us while we were all sitting and talking about what...

Betty White and Bea Arthur were two of the biggest stars of The Golden Girls, a show loved by millions worldwide. On-screen, their chemistry was undeniable, creating some of the most iconic moments in TV history. But off-screen, their personalities couldn’t have been more different.

Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur, and Betty White in The Golden Girls | Credits: NBC Network

White’s sunny, upbeat energy sometimes clashed with Arthur’s more serious and reserved demeanor, leading to some real-life tension between the co-stars. Despite their differences, their professional partnership delivered a timeless comedy that fans still cherish today.

Why did Bea Arthur find Betty White’s positivity overwhelming in The Golden Girls?

Betty White was known as one of the most cheerful and lovable stars in Hollywood. Her charm and sharp sense of humor have won over countless fans and colleagues. However, not everyone was as captivated by her upbeat personality,...

For funny actors and aspiring stand-up comics, landing a long-running sitcom role is like winning the lottery. You get guaranteed work for years and, even in the streaming era, the chance for a lifetime of residual checks. But some sitcom stars insist on biting the humor hand that feeds them. Here are five actors from successful TV comedies who wish they had never landed their roles in the first place…

1 Chevy Chase, ‘Community’

Chase, who had been irrelevant for years before finding a new generation of fans on Community, got himself canned for using a racial slur on the set. Fine, no problem, Chase told Marc Maron on the Wtf podcast — he didn’t want to be there anyway. “I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately,” Chase explained. “I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good.

The Golden Girls is a beloved and celebrated sitcom that centers on the day-to-day life of four older women living together in Miami. The cast consists of sultry Southerner Blanche (Rue McClanahan), sweet but dim-witted Rose (Betty White), witty and sarcastic Dorothy (Bea Arthur), and her feisty Sicilian mother Sophia (Estelle Getty). The all-star ensemble brings the laughs in the most mundane and absurd situations.

Premiering in 1985, The Golden Girls ran for seven seasons and snagged six consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series. But even the most skilled writers have to reach to keep a series feeling fresh for a hundred and seventy-seven episodes. As a result, the ladies' antics are always hilarious but sometimes pretty illogical.

Blanche Nearly Bankrupts Rose's Hometown Season 6, Episode 3: "If at Last, You Do Succeed"

Blanche buys a box of Rose's old things and discovers a stack of war bonds printed in Rose's hometown of St.

In the iconic sitcom, Golden Girls, friends and housemates Dorothy, Sophia, Rose and Blanche had countless memorable visitors show up at their Miami residence. One character who plopped down on the retirees' peach sofa was able to rile Dorothy in a way no other character could -- Dorothy's little sister Gloria. Gloria married a wealthy man and lived on a beautiful estate in California, making recently divorced Dorothy feel like a failure. Gloria was an important part of Dorothy's character development as she learned how to rebuild her life after her painful divorce from ex-husband Stan Zbornak.

In addition to being an integral part of Dorothy's story, Gloria is also a part of one of the many mysteries of Golden Girls. Initially played by Doris Belack, known for playing Judge Margaret Barry on Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the actress did not return in...

When comedy writer Bruce Vilanch got the four-word pitch from his agent in 1978 — Star Wars Holiday Special — it seemed like a very bad idea. “But I ignored that,” he writes in his upcoming book, It Seemed Like A Bad Idea At the Time: The Worst TV Shows In History and Other Things I Wrote. “Actually, it was no worse than any other bad idea that was being floated around for a pre-Thanksgiving holiday show.”

The Star Wars Holiday Special, however, was a notoriously bad idea. Vilanch takes his fair share of the blame. After all, "it was 1978. There were a lot of chemical additives circulating.” But he also points to George Lucas as a reason the special turned out to be outrageously terrible. Lucas had written outlines for several Star Wars tales, most of which he’d planned to make into movies. A few stories were committed to other media,...

Television has long reflected society’s evolving expectations of women.

In its early days, the medium served up characters who embodied traditional ideals — devoted homemakers, charming sidekicks, or doting love interests.

But as cultural attitudes shifted, so did the women on our screens. Today’s female characters are unapologetically powerful, navigating morally gray worlds with grit and intelligence.

This is a screenshot from Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 3 to be used with the review. (Paramount Network)

The journey from perfect housewives to complex antiheroes didn’t happen overnight.

It’s a story of gradual transformation, with each TV era breaking boundaries and paving the way for the next generation of trailblazing women.

TV offered a reassuring vision of women’s roles in the post-wwii era.

Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 8 Is All Fun And Games Until Judge Milton Makes His First Move Against The Titular Characterby Joshua Pleming You’ve Seen Them Everywhere: TV...

Chicago – It’s last minute gift time! Let’s start with something perfect for a Star Wars fan. A long time ago (1978) in an America far far away, the one and only showing of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” took place on CBS-tv. The infamous show is chronicled in a new book “A Disturbance in the Force,” written by Steve Kozak.

The full title is “A Disturbance in the Force: How And Why the Stars Wars Holiday Special Happened” and Kozak takes a deep dive into the history and audacity of how this special came to be … which is of this date still not acknowledged as part of the canon by the Lucas/Disney confluence, even though it had most of the original cast participating and was the first story beyond “A New Hope.”

‘A Disturbance in the Force’ by Steve Kozak

Photo credit: Applause Books

On November 17th, 1978, CBS...

Three movies in, it’s not surprising that the Sonic the Hedgehog cinematic universe is starting to get more crowded.

The second installment, released in 2022, saw the arrival of the title character’s (Ben Schwartz) animal cohorts Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba). They’re now joined for the action-packed third entry by archnemesis Shadow, another, even more powerful hedgehog voiced by none other than Keanu Reeves. And Jim Carrey has not only abandoned his short-lived retirement to return as the mad scientist Dr. Ivo Robotnik, he does dual service as Ivo’s 110-year-old but very sprightly grandfather Gerald. Because when you snag Jim Carrey for the third in a series of video game movie adaptations, it’s a shame to waste him in only one role.

Not being an aficionado of Sega’s Sonic video games (okay, I’ve never played one), it’s hard to comment on how well the films,...

After the Paramount logo (the stars replaced by gold rings flying towards the iconic mountain) and the Sega ident, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 rather ironically segues to a large credit for Neal Moritz’s production company, ‘Original Film’. It’s not very often a production banner throws unintentional shade on the film that follows, but there is very little that is novel in Sonic 3’s subsequent 109 minutes. Director Jeff Fowler’s inoffensive, all-too-familiar third adventure for the Blue Blur is probably the pick of the bunch, but this is still the kind of low-hanging fruit — endless quipping, bland moralising, dance routines — meted out by every bog-standard animated kids’ flick since the turn of the century.

The big new element here is the introduction of vengeful villain Shadow The Hedgehog, voiced by Keanu Reeves, unsurprisingly channelling John Wick rather than Ted Logan. Teased in a sting at the end of Sonic 2,...

The Worst Christmas Specials Ever: A Bah Humbug Celebration of Holiday Flops!

While most of us are busy waxing nostalgic about the Charlie Brown Christmas Special or the timeless brilliance of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, let’s take a sharp detour down a frosty lane of shame. Because for every magical Christmas special, there’s a baffling, cringe-worthy disaster waiting to ruin our eggnog. These are the holiday specials so bad, so misjudged, they make a lump of coal look like a thoughtful gift.

So, hang your stockings, but don’t expect anything good inside. Let’s dive into the worst Christmas specials ever made.

1. The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

When it comes to bad Christmas specials, this is the undisputed champion of cringe. Aired only once (and for good reason), The Star Wars Holiday Special is an excruciating two-hour fever dream centered on Chewbacca’s family celebrating “Life Day.

Plenty of comedy stars have popped in for a cameo when their old sitcom costars get a new gig — think Cheers’ Ted Danson visiting the original Frasier or most of the Community cast stopping by Ken Jeong’s Dr. Ken. But some sitcom stars have such amazing chemistry that they need to keep a good thing going.

Here are five pairs of funny people who costarred together in multiple sitcoms…

1 Danny McBride and Walton Goggins

McBride and Goggins headlined Vice Principals as competing a-holes vying to rule the school via promotion to the top job. When McBride went on to create The Righteous Gemstones for HBO, he again enlisted Goggins as a failed child star who once headlined a gospel song-and-dance team. Goggins told Conan O’Brien that McBride “is the funniest person I have ever met in my life.” The two even teamed to desecrate the reputations of Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar.

To celebrate an artform that continues to be an inexhaustible source of joy after more than 70 years of media omnipresence, we've looked over the history of sitcoms and compiled a ranking of the 30 greatest of all time — with rankings based on a combination of sheer craftsmanship, influence and innovation, cultural iconicity, and, of course, density of laughs.

To make our lives easier, we followed a few ground rules: Straight, unambiguous sitcoms only; English-language only; live-action only. Otherwise, all is fair game here, from the format-defining to the format-breaking to everything in between.

Read more: The 113 Best Comedy Movies Ever

The Jeffersons

Originally a spin-off of "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" was developed by Norman Lear (one of the greatest TV producers of all time) and ran on CBS like its parent show, but didn't take long to become fully its own thing. In addition to being one of the funniest,...

There is perhaps no bigger calamity in the Star Wars franchise than the infamous 1978 airing of The Star Wars Holiday Special on ABC. Aimed at being a “variety show” that celebrated the Wookiee holiday of “Life Day,” The Star Wars Holiday Special featured original cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Peter Mayhew alongside a series of guest stars that included Jefferson Starship, Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and Harbey Korman. The special was met with such toxic responses that it was never aired again, and Lucasfilm has been unwilling to make it available (with the exception of an animated segment featuring Boba Fett that aired on Disney+). Although Lucasfilm couldn’t be blamed for wanting to skip the holiday season, a unique Star Wars holiday special was released only months after The Empire Strikes Back had become a record-breaking success.