It’s Happening! The iconic 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls is all set to be re-imagined. However, this time with an all black cast! Actress Tracee Ellis Ross took to Instagram to announce that she will be joining her co-stars Regina King (Watchmen), Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage), and Sanaa Lathan (DC’s Harley Quinn) to recreate their rendition of the classic 80’s sitcom.
The black-ish star shared a short video of herself and her fellow actresses photo shopped over the original cast of the beloved comedy.
From what we can get off the image, it seems like Ross will be portraying Rose, King will play Dorothy, Woodard will be Sophia. While Lathan is set to embody Blanche. Their roles were originally played by Betty White, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan, respectively.
Is the Watch Party free?
The all-Black Golden Girls special kicks off the series, Zoom Where It Happens. Which is the latest initiative from the popular video conferencing service. The re imagined sitcom, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and hosted by Lena Waithe, will stream in conjunction with a virtual watch party on Tuesday, September 8 at 6 p.m. PT.
According to the event page, the watch party is free for all viewers. As long as they register to receive messages about how to make meaningful change before the upcoming presidential election this November.
The description for the Zoom event reads as following, “Join us for an evening that takes a look back to the sitcoms of yesteryear – Before you could pause your screens or binge watch. We bring to you our rendition of Golden Girls, re imagined with an all-black cast of your favorite actresses.”
Raising Awareness for an important cause
Of course, this special Zoom event wouldn’t possibly be happening if it wasn’t to raise awareness for an important cause. The episode i set to spotlight the nation’s largest racial justice and civil rights organization, Color of Change.
As of now, there has been no word on whether the show will recreate previous episodes of the sitcom or work with new material. However, all we know of till now, is that additional episodes are in the works, as hinted by the event page.
Several celebrities have also commented on the social media promo sharing their excitement and support. “This This This This This,” Kerry Washington replied to Ross’ post, while Janelle Monae left a string of heart-eye emojis. Halle Berry responded to King’s post, writing,”Yes please! ♥️”
The Iconic 80’s Sitcom
The Golden Girls first aired on NBC 35 years ago and had a successful 7 season run from 1985 to 1992. The sitcom follows Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) as they live out their glory days together in Miami. The ‘girls’ struggle with everything from relationships, to finances, to race and politics. But all their problems are dealt with their trademark dry wit and sarcastic banter. Which is the reason behind why the sitcom is loved by people around the world, making it one of the most re-watched comedies of all time. Golden Girls is still very much a relevant part of pop culture even today, so the newest version has a lot to live up to.
News of the spin-off comes months after the original series was criticized for a particular blackface reference in one of the show’s early episodes. Titled,”Mixed Blessings” from season 3. In June, earlier this year, Hulu removed its catalog of the 1988 episode. Which follows Dorothy’s son Michael introducing his fiancée Lorraine, who is Black, to the main characters. The controversial scene finds Rose (White) and Blanche (McClanahan) in matching brown mud masks when Lorraine’s family meets them. Rose references their appearance, saying, “This is mud on our faces, we’re not really Black.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.