Picture it – America, early 1990’s.  Whether you were an adult, child, or a stimulated cell swimming around inside Blanche Devereaux – every American is familiar with the hit TV show, The Golden Girls.  The sit-com blockbuster has been off the air since 1992 and not counting the one season spin-off the followed, has been airing in reruns ever since.  But, finally – all new episodes came back on the air!

It’s the story of four widowed women, sharing a house in Miami, Florida.  Each week, viewers got to join in for their troubles, their stories, or their hilarious schemes.  Everybody knew actresses Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Estelle Getty.  The show went off the air at the height of its popularity, when lead actress Arthur decided it was time to move on.  It reappeared the following season on CBS, as The Golden Palace, with the three remaining cast members managing a beachfront hotel.  While still funny, the spin-off was never as popular in the ratings and only lasted a single season.

The show has been seen non-stop in reruns, since it left network television.  Not just in the United States – but around the world!

You may remember I listed their theme song as one of my top 100 favorites during my summer count down.  It was in doing my research for those blogs, I discovered the show had returned to the air – with new episodes!!!!  In fact, versions have aired in 7 different countries with the latest and greatest airing in the Netherlands starting in 2012.

So, what makes their version so great?

I actually found a couple of episodes have been posted to YouTube and thought they were worth a look.  What makes the Netherlands version stand out, is the fact they use the same exact music, intro and out cues, and even scripts as our version.  Many of their stories have been recycled from American plots, just changed to fit their audience.  They also have many original stories of their own!

Now, I have no idea what they are saying, but take I thought it would be great to take a look at an episode.  Check out the cast and see if you can tell which character is Dorothy, Sophia, Rose, and Blanche.  The similarities are pretty easy to spot!

http://youtu.be/gw8QdzlrfGo

One nice thing about their version – no commercial breaks!  I also like the design of the end credits, kind of a credit squeeze like we do here, but with the theme music, and you get to see a little bit more of the final scene continue. That will never happen here… we need room for more promos!

In addition to the Netherlands, original versions of The Golden Girls have aired:

• Greece – Chrysa Koritsia – 2008

• Philippines – 50 Carats, O Di Ba?–  early 90’s

• Russia – Bolshie Devochki – 2006 (32 episodes)

• Spain – Juntas pero no revueltas – 1996 (1 season) and Las chicas de oro -2010 (26 episodes)

• Turkey – Alt?n K?zlar – 2009

• United Kingdom – The Brighton Belles – 1993 (10 episodes)

THE 411

Title: The Golden Girls

What: sitcom that aired on NBC 1985-1992

# episodes: 173 – cut to 180 for syndication

Status: airing in reruns in US and globally – Netherlands version aired in 2012-2013

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS

It may not be manly to admit, but I think this show is freaking hilarious.  The jokes were quite adult for what was considered too risqué for TV at the time.  Some of them, I can honestly say I missed when the show first aired. (I was also too young!)  It’s not one that I will sit back and watch every single episode… but, it’s still good and it does stop me from flipping through channels from time to time.  I love seeing classic American TV shows being redone with care overseas.  From my understanding, they aired reruns of our version and then decided to proceed with their own, which is why they used our theme music.

It’s great seeing foreign versions of our programming, but I wish it was available on a  broader base than it is in our country.  If stations are looking for cheap programming, why not overdub or subtitle one of these foreign shows and air it late night or early afternoon?  Maybe, at least, for a programming stunt…?  Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have done that with ratings success.  There’s a whole catalog of popular shows that fans would love to see another take on.

At least for now, that’s what YouTube is for, I guess!