The Golden Girls reveal no silver lining for TV’s forgotten shows
The promise of watching what you want, when you want it on streaming services offers no better library access than traditional cable TV.
Sure, I can watch any Golden Girls episode I want on Hulu, but it just serves as a constant reminder of the many lost shows that are lost to the TV Guide listings of history.
The Golden spin-offs
The Golden Girls, which ran for seven seasons from 1985-92 was so popular that it saw the launch of spin-off series Empty Nest in 1988. The Empty Nest characters (Dr Harry Weston and his adult daughters Carol and Barbara) were neighbors of the Golden Girls, with both shows broadcast on the same night on NBC. Characters would routinely cross-over into each others shows. This was complicated further when Empty Nest received its own spin-off series, Nurses, which was set in the same hospital that Dr Weston worked at. Following the cancellation of The Golden Girls sequel series The Golden Palace, the Sophia Petrillo character became a regular on the final two seasons of Empty Nest.
Now, all of that made perfect sense while the shows were airing on NBC throughout the late 80s and early 90s, but watching The Golden Girls in 2017 on Hulu where strange characters appear without reference is often baffling. But, knowing they were from these other series stirs a desire to watch the spin-off shows.
But how? Hulu’s deal has only delivered The Golden Girls to the platform. Heck, it doesn’t even have The Golden Palace, meaning the final episode of The Golden Girls ends on a seriously distressing note as Blanche, Rose, and Sophia all look visibly upset after saying goodbye to the departing Dorothy. A sad note on broadcast TV made brighter by the knowledge the girls would be back on The Golden Palace. On Hulu, it is just an emotionally devastating conclusion to the series.
You can find low-resolution episodes of Empty Nest and Nurses on YouTube, but most of the episodes are unwatchable due to the video quality.
The problem exists beyond sitcom Miami
It’s not like the problem only exists with Empty Nest and Nurses. There are a lot of great, long-running shows that still have some name recognition, but are simply lost. Some very occasionally repeated on TV, but mostly consigned to pirate sites, YouTube channels, and the lucky few that received DVD releases.
Long-running shows like ER, Lois & Clark, Night Court, Murphy Brown, Head of The Class, Roseanne, LA Law, Northern Exposure, Homicide: Life on The Street, Thirtysomething, Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, and Home Improvement — all staples of the schedule for years in the 80s and 90s….simply nowhere to be found.
The freaks and geeks
A handful of short-lived cult favourites have managed to find a new life on streaming services, like Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, and Twin Peaks. But while we may have Freaks and Geeks, the spiritual follow-up series Undeclared is nowhere to be found. Gilmore Girls fans might be curious about The Return of Jezebel James. And then there’s the thousands of forgotten series that may be of interest. I know I’m not the majority of people, but I’d love to rewatch episodes of Herman’s Head, Simon, Almost Perfect, Ned & Stacey, Townies, Byrds of Paradise, Love & War, Millennium, Now & Again, etc.
Piracy
We are often told by the industry of the ills of piracy, but for a lot of TV fans, the only way to see a lot of these shows that aren’t commercially viable is through dodgy streaming sites, lousy YouTube uploads, and torrents. It would be better for all involved if shows were available, but they simply aren’t for all sorts of reasons.
While there is an argument to be made to say that the rights owners should be the ones to distribute content that they own, but putting aside the IP issues involved with that, there is a genuine loss if the culture that shapes us isn’t available. While some may suggest that the world is hardly a lesser place if people don’t have ready access to Herman’s Head, I disagree. TV is highly reflective of the times we live in — the stories, attitudes, and dumb jokes from TV sitcoms often have a lot to say about the mood of the era and the audiences hopes & fears. There’s a surprising lot you can learn from watching an episode of Who’s The Boss.
Also, what of the shows that we don’t discuss broadly as classics simply because we don’t have the access to them to fully appreciate them? Citizen Kane, largely ignored at the time of release, only became considered a classic and maybe the best film ever made after it started being broadcast on TV and students began studying it in film studies courses at universities in the 60s.
What shows are we ignoring simply because we don’t have access to them?
Of course, comparing TV to a broad film canon is kind of ridiculous. TV isn’t really made to be watched repeatedly. Outside of a handful of shows, most TV episodes are only ever watched the once. TV does reflect the zeitgeist and once society moves on, the episodes actually lose a sense of their cultural relevance. This still doesn’t mean there isn’t value to being able to readily access these shows.
We live in an era of permanence. Through Spotify, we can access an incredibly broad selection of music stretching back decades. There are so many film streaming services that it’s increasingly difficult to find films without availability somewhere. Books and comics are also filling in the gaps in their digital libraries. But so many TV series remain illusive. No doubt this will change as streaming services evolve and try to establish value propositions. But, for the moment, we’re left wondering who that big dog Dreyfus belongs to when we wanders into the Golden Girls kitchen.
