What makes owning the GG on DVD so great?

The winter weather is upon us, Jack Frost is outside trying to nip at my nose, and the Golden Girls are carelessly going on about their business on my TV while I do my work from inside. What better way to spend a cold day then listening to some old ladies complain about their day and talk about sex all the time? I can think of no other. Right now, outside my window, the weather has created this dark over cast haze with a constant drizzle going on all around. The conditions look terrible, the roads look wet, and the people look miserable.

I knew there wasn’t going to be anything good on TV so I knew the only way to make it better was to make it a Golden Girl’s day. So here’s what I like doing, maybe you have another way. I put on the first disk and just hit “Play All” and then I turn the volume down just enough so I can tune in on the good parts but not loud enough that I can’t concentrate on my work. I know for lunch a hot soup will do great, so I figured when the next episode starts, my lunch will be ready for a “new” episode to come on.

The Value Quality Sitcoms bring into our lives
It’s hard for some people to understand just how much we connect with sitcoms but for those that see the value, they know what I’m talking about. I have many shows on DVD, and some days I will make it a Seinfeld day, and other’s a Home Improvement day, and so on. There are few shows today that I would do the same thing for. Shows today don’t carry the same feel to them, some do but it’s a very low number now. The Golden Girls created this feeling that you were not only apart of that their crazy world but you could relate to them, even if you were just a kid. That is what quality writers are all about. They reach their audience on all levels.

What sets quality shows apart is that they help you to relate but also show you how to handle situations you, yourself, might be going through. In article I wrote on parenting practices, I discussed how sometimes parent’s who are having trouble talking with their teens about certain issues can use TV to help their children deal with what they are going through. Shows like Freaks and Geeks, Boy Meets World, and 7th Heaven created these amazing worlds that teach these lessons that sometimes can only be taught by showing. The Golden Girls did that all the time but with lessons that, only as you get older, do you really understand what they mean. When Sophia starts forgetting about her husband and takes that trip to Brooklyn to try and remember, I’m sure there are many people out there who can understand what that pain must feel like too lose something you don’t want to.

Moments like this
In moments like this there are only a few things a person needs to enjoy their time when it’s time to relax.

1. You need good cheesecake

2. A hot Drink

3. Comfy Couch, NO WICKER, Big Screen TV

Once you have all these, just let the Girls do their thing and enjoy the moments and if there is an episode that you think really fits the weather, you can always change discs and start up another episode.

All in a day’s work

Getting a peach can be down right demanding, especially when you have to catch the number 2 bus, make a transfer and then make it in time to get to the store so they have fresh peaches available for you to buy. You find that when you get there your friend was gypped out of the meat she bought so you step in to settle the matter with the manager of the grocery store only to find that he won’t listen to you. Not until you bring in the help of two outside old people organizations that don’t actually exist but sound mighty important off the tongue of an old lady. The manger caves and you get your wish. Your friend thanks and you move on to the next order of business.

The band at the boardwalk on the beach isn’t up to pair and your tired of keeping them on track so you decide to take a break and bet your blood pressure against your friends to find out who’s treating for lunch that day. It turns out that your other friends are the ones that need to cut back on meat and dairy products. There’s only so much time in the day and when is all said and done you head over to the hospital to deliver some flowers to an elderly lady who everyday wishes for someone to write to her. It’s important to show you care in someone’s life so by giving the gift to the old lady, her day changed with the idea that someone does care.

It’s hard to know exactly the how old people really spend their days. Some like to lay around the house doing simple joys like gardening, learning how to knit sweaters for their family members, attending art classes, or going out and enjoying the better things in life. Sophia knew life didn’t have to stop when you got old, it stopped when you thought of yourself as old. You have to keep moving, keep thinking, and never let yourself feel old. Sophia carries for everyone of that age that you can still act like a kid, say what ever you want too and no one will send you to your room, and if they do, thank god because now you don’t have to listen to those people anymore. Keeping active is the way to enjoy the later years. But if staying active is something you can’t physically do, then watching the Golden Girls helps you live that experience vicariously and for that, we thank Susan Harris for giving us four wonderful ladies.

Blanche: Well then everything was just a misunderstanding, and Norman really did dump me for a fat woman!

Sophia: No kidding, fatter than you?

A leap to January

November and December are filled with lots of seasonal planning, shopping, and festivities going on. I enjoy the holiday season just like any other happy individual but the one thing that does put a damper on things is the need for Christmas to keep pushing it’s boundaries every year. It’s bad enough Christmas ads show up in August now and with that we lose out on more things because of it. One of those being the Golden Girls. It’s true.

Every night you could count on the girls being on in the mornings and evenings. Now the only time you can catch them is on TVland sunday afternoons into the evenings. If you look at the rest of the schedule, there is nothing else listed, at least in my area. Hallmark has decided to fill it’s entire programming with Christmas movies. The mood pushes against what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about all through November, instead, the proliferation of Christmas movies doesn’t even give a chance for giving thanks to happen because the push for everyone to think about Christmas is already here.

I will say that I don’t think I’ve seen an episode since October until today when I saw them come on this afternoon. I paused some of my work to enjoy an episode and listen to the girls argue for awhile. It was great watching that show. The show still has that warm cozy blanket feeling though, or maybe the writing is just that damn good it makes you enjoy every moment, only a few shows can do that.

I can’t wait until they are on again in the evenings and mornings but that won’t be until January when everything settles down again. So that means the leap from now until January will be a long one but until then I just have to wait it out, and hope for TV land to show more of the GGs throughout the weeks. I always have my DVDs as a backup but I like it when the episodes come out on the TV, they are more random.

Getting to bed early though has been a plus.

For November and December I’m going to see if I can come up with some fun topics to cover.