The Golden Palace
| The Golden Palace | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 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 |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions Touchstone Television |
| Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | September 18, 1992 – May 14, 1993 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Golden Girls |
| Followed by | The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments |
The Golden Palace is an American sitcom produced as a spin-off and continuation of The Golden Girls that aired on CBS from September 18, 1992 to May 14, 1993, with reruns airing until August 6, 1993. While not as popular as its predecessor, the series produced a total of 24 half-hour episodes spanning over one season. CBS cancelled the program in 1993.
The Golden Palace begins where The Golden Girls had ended, in the quartet's now-sold Miami house. With Dorothy Zbornak having married and left in the previous series finale, the three remaining roommates (Sophia Petrillo, Rose Nylund, and Blanche Devereaux) decide to invest in a Miami hotel that is up for sale. The hotel, however, is revealed to have been stripped of all of its personnel in an effort to appear more profitable, leaving only two employees: Roland Wilson, the hotel's manager, and Chuy Castillos, the hotel's chef. This requires the women to perform all the tasks of the hotel's staff.
The series focused on the interactions between guests at the hotel and the hotel's staff, as well as between the Golden Girls and the previous hotel staff. Guest stars were frequent, including recurring characters that had previously appeared on The Golden Girls, such as Debra Engle and Harold Gould as Rebecca Devereaux and Miles Webber, and other celebrities. Bea Arthur also reprised her Dorothy Zbornak role for a two-part storyline in which she visits the hotel to check up on her mother.
Following the cancellation of the series, Sophia returns to the Shady Pines retirement home, appearing as a cast member in the later seasons of Empty Nest. What became of Rose, Blanche and the hotel is left unresolved.
The Golden Palace aired on CBS, changing networks from NBC, which had aired The Golden Girls on Saturday nights for its entire run. Susan Harris, Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas all pitched their Golden Girls successor series to NBC in early 1992, as a way to continue the saga of Blanche, Rose and Sophia after Bea Arthur's departure from the role of Dorothy. NBC entertainment chief Warren Littlefield originally committed to airing The Golden Palace, with a 13-episode order for the 1992–93 season. However, CBS soon entered the picture and fueled a bidding war for the new series, offering a full season (24 episode) order. Witt, Thomas and Harris tried to get Littlefield to improve his NBC deal, but he refused to extend his episode order, citing that the declining ratings of The Golden Girls in its seventh season made it risky to give the spin-off a longer commitment. The producers thus went with CBS, who agreed to market The Golden Palace as a show with its own voice separate from that of its parent show.
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