The Golden Palace

The Golden Palace
1992 productions
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Susan Harris
Starring	Betty White Rue McClanahan Estelle Getty Don Cheadle Cheech Marin Billy L. Sullivan
Theme music composer	Andrew Gold
Opening theme	"Thank You for Being a Friend"
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	24
Production
Running time	22–24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 18, 1992 (1992-09-18) – May 14, 1993 (1993-05-14)
Chronology
Preceded by	The Golden Girls

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.

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 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 CBS, 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.^[1]

Ratings

Season	Viewers	Rank
1) 1992-1993	6.75 Million	#57

Cast

• Betty White as Rose Nylund, a jack-of-all-trades in the hotel. This series sees Rose being of a notably stronger will than her previous incarnation (as Dorothy Zbornak noted in her guest appearance, "When did she become the strong one?").
• Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, 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 Getty as Sophia Petrillo, 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 Cheadle 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 Marin 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. Sullivan 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
1	"The Golden Palace"	Terry Hughes	Susan Harris	September 18, 1992
Pilot episode: Rose, Blanche and Sophia move out of their home and into The Golden Palace hotel where they meet the manager named Roland, his foster child Oliver, and the chef, named Chuy.
2	"Promotional Considerations"	Lex Passaris	Jim Vallely	September 25, 1992
Rose makes a deal with producers of a talk show to have guests on the show stay at the Golden Palace for free, in exchange for an ad acknowledging the hotel... until they find out that one of their newest guests is a killer. Guest-starring Bobcat Goldthwait.
3	"Miles, We Hardly Knew Ye"	Peter D. Beyt	Marc Cherry, Jamie Wooten	October 2, 1992
Blanche and Roland suspect that Rose's boyfriend Miles (Harold Gould) has been cheating on her.
4	"One Old Lady to Go"	Lex Passaris	Jim Vallely	October 9, 1992
Rose makes friends with an old woman (Anne Haney) at the hotel. Margaret Cho appears in an early television appearance.
5	"Ebbtide for the Defense"	Peter D. Beyt	Marc Sotkin	October 16, 1992
Just as Rose has overbooked the hotel with guests — the majority of whom are lawyers visiting the city for a convention — Blanche and Roland find that the hotel's insurance has been canceled.
6	"Can't Stand Losing You"	Peter D. Beyt	Mitchell Hurwitz	October 23, 1992
The girls compete to help Roland find a date, and Blanche brings in an old girlfriend (Kim Fields).
7	"Seems Like Old Times (Part 1)"	Lex Passaris	Marc Cherry, Jamie Wooten	October 30, 1992
Dorothy reunites with her old friends at the hotel, and is shocked at how hard her mother Sophia is working. Beatrice Arthur returns as Dorothy Zbornak-Hollingsworth for this two-parter.
8	"Seems Like Old Times (Part 2)"	Lex Passaris	Jim Vallely	November 6, 1992
Dorothy, Blanche and Rose search for Sophia, who has gone missing. Features the final appearance of Beatrice Arthur as Dorothy. Jack Black has a small role. This also marks the first and final appearance of Shady Pines, the nursing home frequently mentioned throughout The Golden Girls original series.
9	"Just a Gigolo"	Lex Passaris	Tony DeLia	November 13, 1992
Blanche is escorted to a dance by a gigolo named Nick (Barry Bostwick).
10	"Marriage on the Rocks, with a Twist"	Peter D. Beyt	Marc Cherry, Jamie Wooten	November 20, 1992
Roland's parents visit the hotel with the announcement that they're getting a divorce. Tim Conway and Harvey Korman guest-star as radio DJs.
11	"Camp Town Races Aren't Nearly as Much Fun as They Used to Be"	Lex Passaris	Marc Sotkin	December 4, 1992
Blanche and Roland have a disagreement over a Confederate flag hung on the front desk. Also Rose is against guests coming into the hotel to only have sex.
12	"It's Beginning to Look a Lot (Less) Like Christmas"	Peter D. Beyt	Jonathan Schmock	December 18, 1992
Chuy has a Christmas Carol-esque nightmare about Rose, Blanche, and Sophia.
13	"Rose and Fern"	Peter D. Beyt	Marc Sotkin	January 8, 1993
Rose's ex, Miles, keeps calling the hotel, leading Rose to believe he wants to get back together with her. Harold Gould makes his last appearance as Miles.
14	"Runaways"	Lex Passaris	Mitchell Hurwitz	January 15, 1993
Oliver's mother (Joely Fisher) has arrived to take her son home. However, Oliver and Sophia have run away in a stolen car.
15	"Heartbreak Hotel"	Lex Passaris	Julie Thacker	January 29, 1993
Blanche tries to win over the man who snubbed her in college, who ends up falling for Rose. Guest-starring Dick van Patten.
16	"Señor Stinky Learns Absolutely Nothing About Life"	Peter D. Beyt	Marc Sotkin	February 5, 1993
Roland, Rose, and Brad the pool man form a volleyball team, and constantly leave Chuy out.
17	"Say Goodbye, Rose"	Peter D. Beyt	Jim Vallely	February 12, 1993
Rose's new boyfriend, Bill (Eddie Albert), bears a striking resemblance to her late husband, Charlie. Meanwhile, the hotel holds a comedy competition. George Burns guest-stars. Bill Engvall plays Blanche's son Matthew.
18	"You've Lost That Livin' Feeling"	Peter D. Beyt	Marco Pennette	February 19, 1993
Rose invites a restaurant critic (Eric Christmas) to review the hotel restaurant's food. There, the critic drops dead, and the staff fear that Chuy — whom the critic once gave a bad review — may have poisoned him.
19	"A New Leash on Life"	Lex Passaris	Marco Pennette	April 2, 1993
Blanche's new love interest plans to put his racing greyhound to sleep if it doesn't win its next race. This does not sit well with Rose.
20	"Pro and Concierge"	Lex Passaris	Kevin Rooney	April 9, 1993
Blanche fires Roland after he is caught in a job interview with the rep of another hotel chain.
21	"Tad"	Peter D. Beyt	Marc Cherry, Jamie Wooten	April 16, 1993
Blanche's mentally disabled brother Tad (Ned Beatty) visits the hotel, and falls for Rose.
22	"One Angry Stan"	Lex Passaris	Michael Davidoff, Bill Rosenthal	April 30, 1993
Stanley Zbornak, Dorothy's ex-husband, fakes his own death. Last appearance by Herbert Edelman.
23	"Sex, Lies and Tortillas"	Lex Passaris	Michael Davidoff, Bill Rosenthal	May 7, 1993
Spring break at the Golden Palace: Roland discovers a college kid who has been sneaking friends into his room, Chuy tries to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, and Rose's granddaughter (Brooke Theiss) checks into the hotel with plans of sleeping with her boyfriend.
24	"The Chicken and the Egg"	Lex Passaris	Mitchell Hurwitz	May 14, 1993
Blanche calls upon her daughter Rebecca for an egg cell after agreeing to have her beau's children.

Syndication

Reruns aired on Lifetime 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.

Notes

1. ^ "The Golden Girls: Part 5, The Girls Keep Going". tvseriesfinale.com. http://tvseriesfinale.com/articles/the-golden-girls-part-5-the-girls-keep-going/. Retrieved 2009-01-15. 

External links

• The Golden Palace at the Internet Movie Database
• The Golden Palace at TV.com
• The Golden Palace at epguides.com