The Chicago resident started a podcast called "So Good We Named It" with his friend Kay Thomas. The two sat next to each other at work and quickly discovered their mutual affection for the 1980s television series.
"I think 'The Golden Girls' really did help the younger generation see older women in a different light, that they are just as good as anyone else and they could do just as many things as any other younger person," said Thomas. The show ran for seven seasons with the final episode airing in May 1992. It starred Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty and Betty White, the last remaining cast member who died at age 99 in December. Blackman said part of his motivation for the podcast was to attract other fans of color. "People often think that Black people don't watch 'The Golden Girls' because there's no Black people in the main cast," said Blackman, "But there's a lot of us out there, and I wanted to find the other people that are Black and like 'The Golden Girls,' and I wanted other people to see that we do exist." The NBC sitcom follows the adventures and misadventures of four older women, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia, all rooming together in suburban Miami. The show always had a following in the LGBTQ+ community. "The Golden Gays" are a drag troupe who got together in 2017 and have performed at venues across the U.S. Christopher Eklund who plays "the Blanche" in the group said the series was ahead of its time. "They were addressing HIV, abortion, different issues that were really socially important for the time that nobody wanted to deal with, that these four older women are out there making a TV show about," said Eklund. The series included LGBTQ+ characters such as Blanche's brother, Clayton, but the group says the actors were also supportive in their personal lives. "Bea Arthur notoriously said when Judy Garland passed away she took over as far as being the next gay rights icon," said Jason Bea Schmidt who plays "the Dorothy." Gerry Mastrolia plays "the Rose" and recalls watching it with his Italian grandmother who "didn't speak a lick of English." He said the show was "trailblazing" for portraying four older women at a time when ageism was prominent in Hollywood. "Hollywood did not cast women past a certain age because they were too old," said Mastrolia. "So the fact that these women had such avid, thrilling lives at their age, it was monumental." The series lives on through streaming services such as Hulu and cable channels such as TV Land, allowing new audiences to enjoy the series.
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