Ranking All 7 Seasons from Worst To Best

One of the outstanding sitcoms of the 1980s and 1990s, The Golden Girls is a pioneering work of TV comedy which remains as funny, heartwarming and relevant as it ever was, more than 40 years after it debuted on NBC. This story of four aging women sharing a single house in Miami has long since transcended its era.

The series is now a timeless classic that most sitcoms today would do well to emulate. The Golden Girls was light years ahead of its time when it came to confronting issues which were generally avoided on network television back in the eighties, from the fear of growing old and dying, to mixed-race relationships and the acceptance of LGBTQ+ characters.

Although the sitcom is pretty much perfect from start to finish, there are inevitably major differences between its seven seasons, which spanned a remarkable 180 episodes in total. While The Golden Girls was just finding its feet in season 1, it came into its own between seasons 2 and 5, before bowing out gracefully with its sixth and seventh seasons.

There are structural and tonal shifts during the course of the show, from the kitchen-table repartee that dominated season 1, to the set-piece gags and social issues of the middle seasons, and the emotional gravitas of its final two years. There can be no definitive season ranking for a series this consistent, but it’s worth a try all the same.

7

Season 6

1990–1991

Despite featuring some of The Golden Girls’ best visual comedy, including the hilarious farm animal scene in “Henny Penny – Straight, No Chaser”, the season will ultimately be remembered for one of the saddest sitcom episodes of all time. The death of Sophia Petrillo’s son and Dorothy Zbornak’s brother Phil from AIDS in “Ebbtide’s Revenge” is utterly heart-wrenching.

Sophia’s belated acceptance of her son’s sexuality, just before he slips away, is probably the show’s most poignant moment. It also epitomizes a shift in tone towards episodes which tend to balance comedy with tragedy, as is exemplified by Blanche Devereaux’s storyline in “Mrs. George Devereaux”, too.

It must be said that season 6 is far from the show’s funniest overall, and is particularly Sophia-heavy, to the detriment of Bea Arthur and Betty White’s characters Dorothy Zbornak and Rose Nyland, respectively. Still, it would comfortably challenge the best seasons of most other sitcoms.

6

Season 7

1991–1992

Season 7 gives The Golden Girls the perfect sitcom ending, as Dorothy finally finds the love she’s been looking for in Blanche’s Uncle Lucas, who’s played by guest star Leslie Nielsen in an inspired piece of casting. Dorothy’s decision to move out after marrying Lucas feels natural, final and well-earned by the series.

The fact that this superb finale masked a very real off-screen rift between Bea Arthur and Bette White takes nothing away from The Golden Girls’ historic run. Arthur and White were consummate professionals throughout their tenures on the show.

Nevertheless, season 7 is still somewhat off the pace from the sitcom’s best years of comedy. There are standout episodes, such as “Journey to the Center of Attention”, which sees Dorothy become a singer at a local drinking hole. But it feels as though The Golden Girls is winding down towards retirement.

5

Season 5

1989–1990

The culmination of The Golden Girls’ golden era, season 5 marks the transition towards the emotionally intense tone of the show’s last seasons. The season arguably features the most consistently bleak storylines of any in the series, including “Not Another Monday”, a shockingly dark but incredibly well-handled episode about assisted dying.

There are several other plot points which directly emphasize the mortality of the central characters, as well, from Rose’s potential AIDS diagnosis to Dorothy’s Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Blanche getting a pacemaker fitted. In spite of these dispiriting events, however, the tone of the season remains surprisingly jovial in general.

The season manages to make light of its dark themes with the sitcom’s signature sensitivity. What’s more, Dorothy is as fearsome as ever, Rose continues to grow as a person, Sophia has never been better-written, and Blanche has still got it, just about.

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4

Season 4

1988–1989

A prime example of the show’s great middle-period perfectly balancing comedy with social commentary, while giving each of its stars equal opportunity to shine, The Golden Girls season 4 is unquestionably a classic. The gags come thick and fast, and Sophia Petrillo steps up to become a key part of the comedy, alongside her slightly younger cohabitants.

As well as brilliantly innovative bottle and anthology episodes, the season features a groundbreaking LGBTQ+ storyline, primarily in the episode “Scared Straight”. Estelle Garry’s increased share of the show’s laughs actually brings out the best in Rue McClanahan in particular, and freshens up the formula of the earlier seasons successfully.

Meanwhile, the hilarious double-episode “Sophia’s Wedding” provides the best bits of Golden Girls trivia in the entire series. The Elvis impersonator hired for the titular wedding just happens to be a budding young actor and filmmaker by the name of Quentin Tarantino.

3

Season 1

1985–1986

The Golden Girls more than lived up to its impressive pilot episode over the course of seven seasons, but the show’s first season certainly sets the standard high. Right from the off, Bea Arthur’s sharp-tongued substitute teacher Dorothy Zborak is impossible not to love, with Bette White and Rue McClanahan playing off her quickfire jokes perfectly.

The season grounds its central characters and allows us to get to know them organically, although it barely hints at the mayhem to come from Sophia in later seasons. Instead, it gives us the bare essence of The Golden Girls is about, establishing the rhythms of the dialogue and the unorthodox camaraderie and conflict between its four protagonists.

At the same time, the bowling-themed comedy in the episode “The Competition”, and Rose’s forward-thinking love story in “A Little Romance”, are among the highlights of the whole series. Each gives us a glimpse of the two key ways in which the sitcom will develop over subsequent seasons.

2

Season 3

1987–1988

In terms of a sitcom about friendship, perhaps it doesn’t get any better than The Golden Girls season 3. The ingenious comedic capers and well-meaning schemes in which its three central characters play a role throughout this season are hard to beat.

For instance, the scene during “My Brother, My Father” in which Blanche and Rose find themselves dressed as nuns while trying to dupe Sophia’s brother about Dorothy’s Catholic credentials is an all-time great moment of TV comedy. This scene also exemplifies the extent to which the women have bonded, and level of comedic chemistry between the actors playing them.

On the other hand, there are moments of tension, tragedy, and social conscience, too. Sophia’s friendship with Alzheimer’s patient Alvin in the season premiere “Old Friends” is remarkably sensitive, while Dorothy’s struggle to come to terms with her son’s older, black fiancée in “Mixed Blessings” is as hard-hitting as the show gets.

1

Season 2

1986–1987

The best season of The Golden Girls is the first in which the sitcom fully finds its stride. The show’s comedy is at its most experimental and ambitious, its willingness to tackle social issues controversial in its day comes to the forefront of various episodes, and it features much of the show’s best writing.

Some of the best supporting Golden Girls characters are introduced in this season, including Dorothy’s son Michael and Blanche’s father “Big Daddy” Hollingsworth. What’s more, Burt Reynolds provides a scene-stealing cameo in the episode “Ladies of the Evening”, which might just be the sitcom’s greatest ever.

If it isn’t then maybe another season 2 episode like “It’s a Miserable Life” or “Isn’t It Romantic?” tops the lot. In any case, this season is The Golden Girls at its finest.