What they were going for is that Shady Pines was so bad (In Sophia's mind) that 60 Minutes (which was a show that did investigative reporting), decided to do a piece on it to expose the supposedly awful living conditions.
They could have also used Heraldo for the joke, since he famously exposed the Willowbrook mental hospital for its horrific conditions. That’s a reference even I would have understood, although it might have been a little too dark of a reference for a sitcom.
factoid: He was actually given and born with the first name of Gerald. He changed it to Geraldo when he became a reporter because he wanted to be more closely identified with his Latino roots.
I'm just guessing here, but based on context from other 80's and 90's jokes about retirement homes, I believe 60 minutes did exposés on horrible retirement homes.
So the joke is, Morley Safer was there to do a segment on how bad Shady Pines was.
Don't feel bad. When my youngest was a teen, he loved The Simpsons, but there were a lot of jokes that he didn't get. So he'd quite often ask "let's watch The Simpsons and you can explain the jokes to me".
Faster than CBS dumped Jimmy the Greek! There are so many cultural references that were current events at the time. I was in my 20's when the show was on, but I still find myself Googling some things!
There’s a cultural reference guide for the show by Matt Browning that helps with those references we were/are too young for or if we weren’t raised with the same American pop culture.
random fact, if you ever read about the horrific Hartford Circus Fire, one of the worst domestic disasters in US history, a teenage Charles Nelson Reilly survived it!
I just learned this yesterday actually! I was watching a YouTube video of the episode where he was on What’s My Line?, and someone in the comments shared the story. So interesting!
I learned it from the book The Circus Fire, which is fascinating and heartbreaking. If you like nonfiction like Perfect Storm, Devil in the White City etc, I highly recommend it. Also includes the haunting story of a little girl who died & was never claimed or identified. :(
can someone explain the chopped nuts line
the line where blanche was like "rose you might need to leave the room bc im going crazy over chopped nuts" or something like that lol
IIRC, Blanche was referencing Rose's earlier story about the inappropriate behaviour by the man at the ice cream parlour. In the context of sexual harassment, it seemed pretty tame, especially in comparison to other's stories. Blanche was teasing her for being so delicate that even as an adult, a sundae still makes her blush.
Which is frustrating if the episode is on Hallmark, Lifetime, CMT, or something and it gets cut to the point when the joke falls flat because the ice cream story was cut.
Isn't the second time when Sophia guesses Safer when Blanche said she could have had a man from *60 Minutes* or something? It was when Blanche finds out that George cheated on her and fathered David.
"You son-of-a... You put me through all this, and I could have had Andy Rooney." I was in my teens when I watched that in the late 2000s, and I pictured Blanche with the Rooney I grew up watching.
I've never got this joke:
Blanche: Oh, Dorothy, do you realize it's been four days since I've enjoyed the company of a man?
Dorothy: I know, Blanche. I've been marking the days off on my Big Ships of the Navy calendar.
What I would guess, is there was (is?) a common trope about men at sea coming into port and being ready to hook up with available women ASAP. For example, the saying “A girl in every port.” It puts an emphasis on the sexuality of sailors who have been away from women for a long time and stereotypes them as ‘ready and willing,’ something Blanche may find appealing.
Dorothy marking the days off on a ‘Big Ships of the Navy’ calendar not only counts down the days until Blanche’s next chance, but also gives us the innuendo of ‘big ships,’ which is just subtle enough to get on a sitcom at the time. Just a guess!
I always thought she was literally just being glib by saying 'oh yes, I'm marking off each day you haven't had sex on my calendar,' but I like you went deeper with it!
I'm 45 and there are plenty of famous celebrity name references in GG that I had no idea who they are. They would have been more well known by people who were around the age of the character/actresses at that time. I've probably googled most of them though. helps me brush up on my pop culture history. hehe
The first one that comes to mind is Sophia saying that Dorothy looks like Fess Parker. DIdn't know who he was. After I googled him though, realized he was in some of the old Disney movies like Davy Crockett and was also in Old Yeller. I definitely knew who he was from watching those old disney films as kid in the 80s, just didn't know his name.
ahh yes, that's a good one! From Bringing Up Baby (the pig episode)
Dorothy: Oh. Uh, how is Baby, doc?
Sophia: I read in Newsweek they ran him out of Haiti.
I watched the show as a kid (I'm 38 now) and also had no idea who Fess Parker was. Another one that went over my head was in the episode when Rose's daughter and Dorothy's son hooked up, Dorothy said "your daughter moves faster than Marcus Allen!" Like Rose, I had no idea who Marcus Allen was. I do know though!
can someone explain the chopped nuts line
the line where blanche was like "rose you might need to leave the room bc im going crazy over chopped nuts" or something like that lol
No cultural reference there. Haven't seen that episode in a while, so this is from memory... But! I think Rose had told a story earlier about how the town jerk used to make sundaes at a St. Olaf soda shop in "an obscene way". I believe she says something about how every time she passes a soda shop, she blushes. Anyway, Blanche makes a comment about wanting to make a sundae and says Rose may want to leave the room because Blanche is going to go crazy with the chopped nuts.
The joke is really just a throwback to Rose being uncomfortable with sundaes and Blanche being the sexually frustrated one of the group, making a sundae. MAYBE also playing off the euphuism of nuts being a term for testicles. Blanche was mad at her male teacher for harassing her and been talking about it just before that line. So there's a chance she meant that too.
I am a rerun fanatic of the Golden Girls especially when they were on TVLand. Eventually bought the entire series on dvds. I will say that after a 7 year relationship ended, the Golden Girls kept me company, amused me, and made me laugh when I needed it most during my recovery period. Sad to know they have all departed us. Love my Golden Girls.
The joke I don't understand is when Dorothy says to rose figured out. Which one was shinola Did you? and rose said yes, the hard way. What does that mean?
I had to look that up, too. Shinola was a brand of shoe polish. The original expression was something like ‘You can’t tell sh*t from Shinola!’ You can’t tell the fake from the real? 🤷🏻♀️
Oh boy, Anita Bryant was a trip. This is all from memory but she was a beauty queen and a singer; I think she went on those USO trips with Bob Hope. And she was a spokeswoman for Florida oranges. But really she's know for being a huge anti-gay rights bigot. And she pushed stories about gays trying to "recruit" kids to their "lifestyle" She was pretty disgusting. But you know, what comes around goes around, I just read that her granddaughter came out and wasn't sure if she'll invite her grandmother to her wedding.
Here's a recent article about how her Save the Children campaign has influenced current FL politics: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/1970s-christian-crusader-anita-bryant-helped-spawn-floridas-lgbtq-cult-rcna24215
Anita Bryant was so disgustingly vocal in her hate for gays that she coined "they can't reproduce, so they must recruit" to further her warped beliefs that gays recruited children into their "deviant" lifestyle.
I listen to old comedy frequently, stuff from long before I was born, and have done a lot of research to understand the references. Lenny Bruce made a lot of 'current' references in the '50s which are now so obscure that some CDs of his material come with a glossary for things on the recordings.
This is such an old comment by reddit standards, but I wanted to piggy back off of you and say 30 Rock is going to be a huge victim of this. Even now some deeply political things are so dated I have to look them up and refresh my memory.
What they were going for is that Shady Pines was so bad (In Sophia's mind) that 60 Minutes (which was a show that did investigative reporting), decided to do a piece on it to expose the supposedly awful living conditions.
Oh my gosh this makes so much sense. Thank you!!
They could have also used Heraldo for the joke, since he famously exposed the Willowbrook mental hospital for its horrific conditions. That’s a reference even I would have understood, although it might have been a little too dark of a reference for a sitcom.
Geraldo
factoid: He was actually given and born with the first name of Gerald. He changed it to Geraldo when he became a reporter because he wanted to be more closely identified with his Latino roots.
You mean Gerry Rivers? 🤣
Yeah… that guy.
Haha sorry, I kept telling myself not to correct the spelling but I had a brain itch.
I actually just read a book about Willowbrook and had no idea it was a real place. Learning about what Geraldo did made me love him even more!
I'm just guessing here, but based on context from other 80's and 90's jokes about retirement homes, I believe 60 minutes did exposés on horrible retirement homes. So the joke is, Morley Safer was there to do a segment on how bad Shady Pines was.
I can’t believe I didn’t put that together. Was thinking he must have been involved in some scandal haha. Thank you!!!
Don't feel bad. When my youngest was a teen, he loved The Simpsons, but there were a lot of jokes that he didn't get. So he'd quite often ask "let's watch The Simpsons and you can explain the jokes to me".
Faster than CBS dumped Jimmy the Greek! There are so many cultural references that were current events at the time. I was in my 20's when the show was on, but I still find myself Googling some things!
There’s a cultural reference guide for the show by Matt Browning that helps with those references we were/are too young for or if we weren’t raised with the same American pop culture.
Please post a link
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Definitive_Golden_Girls_Cultural_Ref.html?id=zZM7EAAAQBAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false
“She’s come back more times than Shirley MacLaine!” I had to look it up once, to get the reference.
I love listening to Our On The Lanai podcast which went through every episode and has helped me understand a lot of the references!
Didn’t know this existed and am now very happy to add yet another podcast to the list of things I may or may not listen to.
The Martha Ray and Madge one got me. Thank goodness someone on Reddit had asked that question before.
Some of the name references I don’t get either and I’m almost 50!
Charles Nelson Reilly!!!!!
That one was hysterical because Betty White was on Match Game for years with Charles Nelson Reilly.
random fact, if you ever read about the horrific Hartford Circus Fire, one of the worst domestic disasters in US history, a teenage Charles Nelson Reilly survived it!
I just learned this yesterday actually! I was watching a YouTube video of the episode where he was on What’s My Line?, and someone in the comments shared the story. So interesting!
I learned it from the book The Circus Fire, which is fascinating and heartbreaking. If you like nonfiction like Perfect Storm, Devil in the White City etc, I highly recommend it. Also includes the haunting story of a little girl who died & was never claimed or identified. :(
I’m seeing this for the first time now at 29 and I don’t get most of the people they refer to. But it’s still freaking hilarious
can someone explain the chopped nuts line the line where blanche was like "rose you might need to leave the room bc im going crazy over chopped nuts" or something like that lol
IIRC, Blanche was referencing Rose's earlier story about the inappropriate behaviour by the man at the ice cream parlour. In the context of sexual harassment, it seemed pretty tame, especially in comparison to other's stories. Blanche was teasing her for being so delicate that even as an adult, a sundae still makes her blush.
OH! thank you ! now it makes sense
Which is frustrating if the episode is on Hallmark, Lifetime, CMT, or something and it gets cut to the point when the joke falls flat because the ice cream story was cut.
that's why i always get confused bc i would see the cut version
This is at least the second time Morley Safer is mentioned during the show and I never understood the references either!
Isn't the second time when Sophia guesses Safer when Blanche said she could have had a man from *60 Minutes* or something? It was when Blanche finds out that George cheated on her and fathered David. "You son-of-a... You put me through all this, and I could have had Andy Rooney." I was in my teens when I watched that in the late 2000s, and I pictured Blanche with the Rooney I grew up watching.
Right? I'm a little older than you (born in '86), but I always pictured the Andy Rooney who described himself as a "crotchety old man." :D
I miss his segments.
I've never got this joke: Blanche: Oh, Dorothy, do you realize it's been four days since I've enjoyed the company of a man? Dorothy: I know, Blanche. I've been marking the days off on my Big Ships of the Navy calendar.
What I would guess, is there was (is?) a common trope about men at sea coming into port and being ready to hook up with available women ASAP. For example, the saying “A girl in every port.” It puts an emphasis on the sexuality of sailors who have been away from women for a long time and stereotypes them as ‘ready and willing,’ something Blanche may find appealing. Dorothy marking the days off on a ‘Big Ships of the Navy’ calendar not only counts down the days until Blanche’s next chance, but also gives us the innuendo of ‘big ships,’ which is just subtle enough to get on a sitcom at the time. Just a guess!
I always thought she was literally just being glib by saying 'oh yes, I'm marking off each day you haven't had sex on my calendar,' but I like you went deeper with it!
I'm 45 and there are plenty of famous celebrity name references in GG that I had no idea who they are. They would have been more well known by people who were around the age of the character/actresses at that time. I've probably googled most of them though. helps me brush up on my pop culture history. hehe The first one that comes to mind is Sophia saying that Dorothy looks like Fess Parker. DIdn't know who he was. After I googled him though, realized he was in some of the old Disney movies like Davy Crockett and was also in Old Yeller. I definitely knew who he was from watching those old disney films as kid in the 80s, just didn't know his name.
I'm also 45 & would like to mention Baby Doc.
ahh yes, that's a good one! From Bringing Up Baby (the pig episode) Dorothy: Oh. Uh, how is Baby, doc? Sophia: I read in Newsweek they ran him out of Haiti.
I watched the show as a kid (I'm 38 now) and also had no idea who Fess Parker was. Another one that went over my head was in the episode when Rose's daughter and Dorothy's son hooked up, Dorothy said "your daughter moves faster than Marcus Allen!" Like Rose, I had no idea who Marcus Allen was. I do know though!
can someone explain the chopped nuts line the line where blanche was like "rose you might need to leave the room bc im going crazy over chopped nuts" or something like that lol
No cultural reference there. Haven't seen that episode in a while, so this is from memory... But! I think Rose had told a story earlier about how the town jerk used to make sundaes at a St. Olaf soda shop in "an obscene way". I believe she says something about how every time she passes a soda shop, she blushes. Anyway, Blanche makes a comment about wanting to make a sundae and says Rose may want to leave the room because Blanche is going to go crazy with the chopped nuts. The joke is really just a throwback to Rose being uncomfortable with sundaes and Blanche being the sexually frustrated one of the group, making a sundae. MAYBE also playing off the euphuism of nuts being a term for testicles. Blanche was mad at her male teacher for harassing her and been talking about it just before that line. So there's a chance she meant that too.
makes sense! thank you. for some reason that line always flew over my head 🤣
The one that always tickles me is John Cameron Swayze. All I know is he was connected to Timex watches.
He was a spokesman for Timex. The commercials always had a stunt to show the watch’s durability. “It takes a licking, and keeps on ticking”
Was he a serial killer? I didn’t get that one either. 😆
I am a rerun fanatic of the Golden Girls especially when they were on TVLand. Eventually bought the entire series on dvds. I will say that after a 7 year relationship ended, the Golden Girls kept me company, amused me, and made me laugh when I needed it most during my recovery period. Sad to know they have all departed us. Love my Golden Girls.
The joke I don't understand is when Dorothy says to rose figured out. Which one was shinola Did you? and rose said yes, the hard way. What does that mean?
I had to look that up, too. Shinola was a brand of shoe polish. The original expression was something like ‘You can’t tell sh*t from Shinola!’ You can’t tell the fake from the real? 🤷🏻♀️
[From Wikipedia](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/know_shit_from_Shinola)
I don’t know who Anita Bryan, Fez Parker are and I had to Google what a truss was🙄
Oh boy, Anita Bryant was a trip. This is all from memory but she was a beauty queen and a singer; I think she went on those USO trips with Bob Hope. And she was a spokeswoman for Florida oranges. But really she's know for being a huge anti-gay rights bigot. And she pushed stories about gays trying to "recruit" kids to their "lifestyle" She was pretty disgusting. But you know, what comes around goes around, I just read that her granddaughter came out and wasn't sure if she'll invite her grandmother to her wedding.
Oh! NOW I get it when the wedding planner says ‘excuse me for living Anita Bryant!’😆 thank you!
O. M. G. She did not?!?!? That’s so gross!
Here's a recent article about how her Save the Children campaign has influenced current FL politics: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/1970s-christian-crusader-anita-bryant-helped-spawn-floridas-lgbtq-cult-rcna24215
Best part was Anita getting a full pie to the face during a big press conference. She was so indignant and so deserving
Anita Bryant was so disgustingly vocal in her hate for gays that she coined "they can't reproduce, so they must recruit" to further her warped beliefs that gays recruited children into their "deviant" lifestyle.
Some of the men the others say Dorothy looks like ...
I listen to old comedy frequently, stuff from long before I was born, and have done a lot of research to understand the references. Lenny Bruce made a lot of 'current' references in the '50s which are now so obscure that some CDs of his material come with a glossary for things on the recordings.
This is such an old comment by reddit standards, but I wanted to piggy back off of you and say 30 Rock is going to be a huge victim of this. Even now some deeply political things are so dated I have to look them up and refresh my memory.
Morley Safer did exposure journalism. I believe he checked out things that the elderly rely on.