Thank you for being a friend. After the passing of television legend Betty White, CMT announced that an all-day marathon of The Golden Girls will be held in her honor. It’s scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, January 3rd, and last until 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The network is dubbing this as The Golden Girls All-Day Marathon with a focus on Rose Nylund’s most memorable episodes.
“We are deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Betty White," a CMT spokesperson said. “She was an icon who blazed many trails – our hearts go out to her friends and legions of fans around the world during this difficult time.”
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The Golden Girls was created by Susan Harris and aired for seven seasons between 1985-1992. It follows four ladies sharing a Miami home as they navigate life and love during their golden years. Along with Betty White as Rose Nylund, the ensemble cast featured Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Rue McClanahan as Blanche Deveraux, and Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo. All four leads had very unique personalities and were all funny in their own special way, which is why all four actresses won Emmy Awards for their roles on the show.
“I can’t believe I’m the only one left because I [was] the oldest!” White has said of being the show’s longest surviving cast member, per OK Magazine. Thinking back to the start of the series, she added, “We showed up for the readthrough [and] it was like batting a tennis ball over the net. It was so exciting to be with four people with that chemistry — I’ll never forget that first read. It was like we had been working together forever! I still get goosebumps thinking about it.”
“You can’t work that closely together and not become a family,” also said. “I hear these horror stories about series where they don’t speak off camera. How do you do comedy if you’re not speaking to each other?”
If you have Hulu, you can also stream The Golden Girls whenever you want to keep the party going. Recently, it was also announced by the streamer that the Golden Girls spinoff series The Golden Palace will also start streaming on Jan. 10. The show only lasted for a single season and features White returning as Rose Nylund alongside Getty’s Sophia and McClanahan’s Blanche. The cast also included Cheech Marin and Don Cheadle.
A documentary dubbed Betty White: 100 Years Young — A Birthday Celebration will also be coming to theaters on Jan. 17, the day White would have turned 100. After her passing, the film’s producers announced that the theatrical celebration is still moving forward. The doc includes a look at some of White’s greatest moments from her career along with stories from White herself and many of her famous friends.
“Our hearts mourn today with the passing of Betty White,” producers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein announced. “During the many years we worked with her, we developed a great love and admiration for Betty as a person, and as an accomplished entertainer. We are thankful for the many decades of delight she brought to everyone. Betty always said she was the ‘luckiest broad on two feet’ to have had a career as long as she did. And honestly, we were the lucky ones to have had her for so long.”
