"It's like we say in St. Olaf—Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund's Day without the headless boy."
On this week's episode, Tracie and Emily prove that you can go home again to beloved pop culture from the 1980s, as long as you're talking about The Golden Girls. The episodic adventures of Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia weren't written with the Guy sisters in mind (they were in elementary school when the show debuted in 1985), but they loved the snappy comedy, the relationships between the four women, and the comforting knowledge that every problem would find a solution within 22 minutes, plus commercials.
Emily also found comfort in Betty White's portrayal of the constantly underestimated Rose Nylund, whose sweet-but-dim persona allowed her to make some of the most biting commentary of any of the characters since no one expected it. As someone who was also consistently treated as "sweet" because of how she looked, White's example taught Emily how to use being underestimated to her advantage.
While much of the more risque comedy sailed right over their oblivious heads as children, Emily and Tracie learned a number of feminist and socially progressive lessons along with the delicious snark and silly St. Olaf stories since show runner Susan Harris intentionally set out to make a subversive show and the four lead actors were all committed to gay rights, anti-racism, and feminism in addition to being gifted comedians.
While not everything in The Golden Girls has aged as well as the four main characters, it is one of the rare 1980s pop culture phenomena that is both of its time and very much ahead of its time.
Thank you for being a listener. Throw on the headphones and listen again!
We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.
We both have super-serious personas in our "day jobs." No, really. Emily is a Finance writer who used to be a classroom teacher. Tracie writes and consults on social justice and mindfulness and works as a copywriter and project manager for non-profits. If you really need to see the bona fides, please visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com
For our work together, what you need to know is that Tracie is older (3 years), Emily is funnier (by at least 3 percent), and we're both hella smart, often over-literal, and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction and murder mysteries, good storytelling with liberal amounts of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find there.
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video version, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon.
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