THE GOLDEN GIRLS (1985 - 1992)

 

Created by: Susan Harris
Starring: Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, Estelle Getty, Charles Levin, Frank Aletter, Meshach Taylor, F. William Parker, Herb Edelman, Lisa Jane Persky, Dennis Drake, Harold Gould, Sheree North, Peter Hansen, Billy Jacoby, Scott Jacoby, Ralph Manza, Christian Clemenson, Robert Rothwell, Jeanette Nolan, Charles Hill, Ronald Hunter, Simone Griffeth, Doris Belack, Brent Collins, Billy Barty, Tony Carreiro, Jeane Dixon, Alex Rocco, Richard Roat, Priscilla Morrill, Christine Belford, Bridgette Andersen, Hallie Todd, Robert Picardo, Anne Haney, Kevin McCarthy, Alan Blumenfeld, Jerry Hardin, James Staley, Sharon Spelman, William Cort, Ray Reinhardt, Marcelo Tubert, Dom Irrera, Silvana Gallardo, Polly Holliday, Murray Hamilton, Gordon Jump, Peggy Pope, Edan Gross, Philip Sterling, Vince Cannon, Burt Reynolds, Peter Jason, Rhonda Aldrich, Ron Michaelson, Lana Schwab, Tom La Grua, Nan Martin, Thom Sharp, Lois Nettleton, David Wayne, Sondra Currie, Keye Luke, Tom Villard, Stephen Lee, Brett Porter, Stuart Pankin, Reid Shelton, Paul Dooley, Colin Drake, Terry Kiser, Craig Richard Nelson, Teddy Wilson, Buddy Daniels, Sam Anderson, Nancy Walker, Rod Sabbe, Odil Sabbe, Steve Kramer, Lloyd Bochner, Janet Carroll, Frank Birney, Deborah May, Rosanna Hamilton, Nat Bernstein, Christopher Burton, Ray Combs, Ariana Richards, Randy Bennett, John McMartin, Barney McGeary, Joe Alfasa, Joseph Whipp, Mario Lopez, John Braden, Donnelly Rhodes, Howard Witt, Deena Freeman, Jonathan Perpich, Joseph Campanella, George Clooney, Barbara Tarbuck, Lynnie Greene, Sid Melton, Jeffrey Weber, Rita Moreno, David Leisure, Geoffrey Lewis, Jane Harnick, Joe Seneca, Jenny Lewis, Roy Stuart, Conrad Janis, Parley Baer, Paula Kelly, Meg Wyllie, Paul Ross, Allan Rich, Edwin Newman, John Schuck, McLean Stevenson, Casey Sander, Chuck Walling, Yvette Heyden, Tony Perez, Richard Penn, Terry Wills, John C. Moskoff, Milo O'Shea, Tony Jay, Monte Landis, Shawn Schepps, Joe Regalbuto, Scott Menville, Bonnie Bartlett, Jim McKrell, Lucy Lee Flippin, Bill Dana, James Karen, Steven M. Porter, Marte Boyle Slout, Frank Smith, Mickey Rooney, George Coe, Vito Scotti, Don Woodard, Rosalind Cash, Virginia Capers, Lynn Hamilton, Montrose Hagins, Hartley Silver, Bob Dishy, Lonny Price, Jody Price, John Wheeler, Jim Hudson, Raf Mauro, Ron Kapra, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Alice Ghostley, Helen Kleeb, Wesley Mann, Terrence Evans, Richard Mulligan, Quentin Tarantino, John Fiedler, Freddie Jackson, Bob Hope, Anne Francis, Michael McGuire, Keone Young, Bibi Besch, Chick Vennera, Dick Van Dyke, George Grizzard, Julie McCullough, Jerry Orbach, Kyle Hefner, David Correia, Flo Di Re, Jandi Swanson, Mark Moses, Peggy Walton-Walker, Eddie Bracken, Barbara Babcock, Harry Shearer, Timothy Stack, Don Ameche, Ruby Dee, Martin Mull, Christopher Daniel Barnes, George Wyner, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sonny Bono, Lyle Waggoner, Mitchell Ryan, Monte Markham, Alan King, Alan Rachins, Hal Linden, Debbie Reynolds, Todd Susman, Tony Plana, Claudette Sutherland, Zach Grenier, Nicholas Kepros, Leland Orser, Gloria Cromwell, Tim Haldeman, Margery Nelson, Edie McClurg, Alisan Porter, Barbara Alyn Woods, Mindy Ann Martin, Robert Gould, Richard Stahl, Tim Thomerson, Peter Graves, Steve Landesberg, Pat Harrington Jr, Fred Willard, Lenny Wolpe, Jesse Dabson, Richard Tanner, Margaret Reed, May Quigley, Stan Roth, Nick Ullett, Dena Dietrich, Dinah Manoff, Ed Call, Jonathan Schmock, Matthew Saks, Don Siegel, Bryan Norcross, Richard Reicheg, John P. Connolly, Harvey Vernon, Joe Mays, Phil Leeds, David Pressman, Roy Brocksmith, Gibby Brand, Don Stark, Bruce Kirby, Ed Call, Sergia Simone, Steven Gilborn, Fred McCarren, Eugene Greytack, Ken Berry, Betty Garrett, Louis Guss, James T. Callahan, Jack Bannon, Phil Proctor, Jana Arnold, Kent Zbornak, Ken Howard, Biff Yeager, Alex Trebek, Johnny Gilbert, Merv Griffin, Inga Swenson, Derek McGrath, Bill Erwin, Camila Ashland, Raymond Forchion, Lane Davies, Jackie Swanson, Art Metrano, David Doty, Cynthia Lea Clark, Jane Dulo, Ann Nelson, Don Mirault, Warren Munson, Kevin Brief, Gregory White, Kristy McNichol, Hank Brandt, Marius Weyers, Neal Lerner, Doug Ballard, Tony Segreto, Angelo Tiffe, Gloria Dorson, Glen Vernon, Dylan Lawrence, Robert Yacko, Carol Spillman, Jessica Lundy, Lou Wagner, Rudolph Willrich, Paul Solomon, Mario Roccuzzo, Kevin Cooney, David Cromwell, Robin Faye Bookland, Linden Chiles, Audree Chapman, Lee Garlington, Paul Collins, Earl Boen, Jack Gifford, Leslie Nielsen

180 episodes
(TV-PG - adult language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:
Four previously married women live together in Miami, sharing their various experiences together and enjoying themselves despite hard times.

season 1 -
Widows Blanche Hollingsworth – an art museum administrator, Rose Nylund – a grief counselor, and divorcee Dorothy Zbornak – a substitute teacher, share a house in Miami with gay housekeeper Coco. Blanche gets engaged to Harry, the man she has been dating, surprising Dorothy and raising Rose's suspicions. The ceremony is however called off at the last minute after Harry is caught by the police for bigamy. Dorothy's mother, widow Sophia Petrillo, a native of Sicily, comes to live in the house when the nursing home where she has been living burned down in a fire. Dorothy's daughter, Kate, visits and announces she is marrying her boyfriend, Dennis, a podiatrist. Dorothy insists to hold the wedding in Miami instead of the Bahamas, but Kate agrees only on the condition that her father, Dorothy's ex-husband Stan, a novelty salesman who cheated on Dorothy after 38 years of marriage, also comes. Still devastated by the divorce, Dorothy either avoids or takes offense at Stan on every encounter. After the reception, she ultimately vents out and bids him the last goodbye, although she admits she cannot completely get rid of him. Blanche invites Rose to go out with her date's brother. Rose meets Arnie, the first man she is romantically interested in since her husband died, and is torn about what to do when he invites her on a cruise. At the advice of the girls, she goes with him and ends up sleeping with him despite initial hesitations. Meanwhile, Dorothy and Sophia have a gin rummy marathon, with Dorothy unsuccessfully attempting to end her 30-year losing streak. Blanche's sister, Virginia, with whom she has a feud, comes to visit. She reveals that she is dying from renal failure, and a kidney transplant is her best hope for survival. After initially rejecting her, Blanche agrees to bury the hatchet and ultimately decides to give her one of her kidneys. In the end however, Virginia finds another donor, as Blanche is not qualified. Dorothy dates Dr. Clayton, an attractive doctor who originally comes for Sophia's checkup. He unsuccessfully makes a pass at Blanche, yet when she tells Dorothy the truth at Rose's advice, Dorothy accuses her of being jealous and refuses to talk to her. The next morning, as Dr. Clayton invites Dorothy to play golf, Rose confronts him to tell the truth by deliberately seducing him as Dorothy overhears. Blanche's grandson David visits while his parents try to repair their marriage on a second honeymoon and upsets the entire household with his obnoxious, rebellious attitude. An old love interest of Sophia's, Augustine Bagatelli, visits from Sicily and the two enjoy each other's company to the point where he invites her back to Italy to visit her old friends, but Dorothy refuses to let her go. The girls all participate in a bowling tournament where Rose's competitiveness annoys the other girls and Dorothy and Sophia make a deal: if Sophia's team wins, she can go to Italy and if Dorothy's wins, she gets a piece of her mother's jewelry. The girls return home after a Madonna concert and find their home has been burglarized. Rose is traumatized by the experience and eventually buys a gun to defend herself. However, after accidentally kneeing a parking attendant she mistook for a mugger, Rose discovers she can take care of herself without the use of weapons. Blanche obsesses over her "stolen" jewels, which turn out to have just been misplaced. Rose's mother, Alma, visits and friction results when Rose coddles her too much. Blanche goes on an exercise frenzy when a young man in her Jazzercise class asks her out and is embarrassed when it turns out he is interested in her in a different way than she thinks. After a successful dinner party, Sophia, convinced she is having a heart attack, tries to put her affairs in order. The girls become very worried when the paramedics cannot get to them because of a major rainstorm. Dorothy and Stan spend the night together, after he tells her that Chrissy, the young woman he left Dorothy for, left him. Dorothy sees it as an isolated incident, but Stan thinks of it as the two of them starting their relationship over. Dorothy becomes frustrated with Sophia's meddling in her love life, so when Dorothy's wealthy sister, Gloria visits and asks Sophia to move in with her, Sophia agrees. Blanche is furious with Rose when Rose wins the part of Lady Macbeth in a local production of Macbeth and Blanche is cast as a witch. Rose dates a psychiatrist at the grief counseling center, but is reluctant to introduce him to the other girls. When Blanche invites him over for dinner against Rose's wishes, they find out he is a dwarf. When he tells Rose he has something important to ask her, she thinks he is planning to propose to her and is conflicted about whether to accept. Blanche, in need of the money for a new car, loans Rose her old car, promising to sell it to her if she likes it. Once Rose buys it, it begins breaking down and is eventually stolen. Dorothy falls head-over-heels in love with a gym teacher at the school where she is teaching and is devastated when he reveals he is married. Rose's date dies while they are having sex, and since her late husband, Charlie, also died during sex, she vows never to sleep with another man again. The man turns out to have been married, upsetting Rose further, but is reassured when the autopsy reveals he was actually terminally ill, despite not knowing it. It's an even greater relief for Rose when she discovers the man was in an open marriage and his wife therefore condoned his philandering. Rose's daughter, Kirsten, visits with her granddaughter to review estate papers and is furious with her mother when she finds Rose's late husband wasn't as much of a financial success as Rose led her to believe. Blanche's niece, Lucy, visits and reveals herself to be even more promiscuous than Blanche. A mouse in the kitchen scares Dorothy, but she eventually gets over her fear and the mouse leaves after Dorothy asks it politely, thrilling Rose at her ability to communicate with animals. Dorothy aggravates an old foot injury (Morton's neuroma) while practicing a tap dancing routine with Rose and Blanche and refuses to get an operation that will heal the problem because of a fear of hospitals. Eventually, a breast cancer patient helps her realize how foolish she has been. Blanche's accepts a marriage proposal from her wealthy businessman boyfriend, but is conflicted when she learns he has two young children who come second to his work. Dorothy and Rose renovate the bathroom, despite Sophia's insistence that they hire a plumber for help, which they end up doing in the end. Dorothy is determined to get tickets to an upcoming Frank Sinatra concert, but keeps getting thwarted. Blanche takes a psychology course to get a promotion at the museum where she works. When she fails the midterm exam, she asks the professor for help and he offers to give her an A if she will sleep with him. Blanche, Dorothy and Rose all come down with the flu and infuriate each other. When they each suspect that one of them has won a major award for their charity work, their competitiveness causes them all to attend despite their illness. The counseling center where Rose works closes and the girls become frustrated when people call the house at all hours for Rose's help. When they confront Rose about finding a new job, she says she has been a victim of age discrimination. Blanche gets a date with one of Rose's clients, but is dismayed to find out he only likes fat women. Dorothy goes out with an old flame who turns out to be gay. Rose's blind sister Lily comes to visit from Chicago and begs Rose to move in with her and take care of her. The girls hold a garage sale to raise money for a new television, but find they cannot part with what they are selling. Blanche's father, Big Daddy Hollingsworth, visits and shocks Blanche when he says he has sold their house to start a career as a country music singer. Dorothy feuds with the girls' next-door neighbor over storm damage. After watching the movie, Psycho, the girls reminisce about how they came to live together. Rose met Blanche in the supermarket as she put up an advertisement about her rooms for rent. Initially turned off by Rose's tame personality, she ultimately gave in after seeing Rose giving away a stray cat she had kept to a little boy who happened to lost his pet cat the week before. Responding to the ad, Dorothy visited the house with Sophia, with the former agreeing to move in. The day after Dorothy's move, they had a dispute at the supermarket, but reconciled at the dining table with the help of Rose's St. Olaf story.

season 2 -
Blanche is depressed when she thinks she is pregnant, but is devastated when she finds out she is beginning menopause. Rose and Dorothy try their hands at mink-breeding with no success. Blanche wins three tickets to a premiere of Burt Reynolds's new movie and passes to the after-party, leaving Sophia angry about being left out. The girls decide to make a weekend out of attending the premiere and get arrested when their hotel is raided for prostitution. Sophia then gets revenge by claiming the tickets and passes and going to the premiere alone, leaving the others in jail. However, the story has a happy ending when Burt stops by the house to take Sophia up on a dinner offer and the roommates get to meet him after all. Blanche takes Dorothy's ex-husband Stan out as a favor to Dorothy, but when Blanche says they hit it off, Dorothy becomes jealous. Rose and Sophia team up to sell sandwiches and end up threatened by the mob. The girls work on saving a 200-year-old oak tree in their neighborhood and become frustrated when the grouchy neighbor on whose property the tree is located does not object to it being removed and actually encourages it. At a local council meeting, Rose reaches her limit and yells at the woman, who then dies of a heart attack, leaving Rose feeling guilty. Dorothy's lesbian friend Jean visits and develops feelings for Rose. Blanche is thrilled when her father, Big Daddy, announces he is getting married, but quickly changes her attitude when she finds out how young the bride-to-be is. Dorothy and Rose enter a song-writing contest and creative differences almost come between them. When Rose's daughter, Bridget, and Dorothy's musician son, Michael, both visit and sleep together, it prompts a vicious fight between their mothers. Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche vacation in the Caribbean, but find the accommodations seriously not to their liking. Back in Miami, Sophia woos the girls' Japanese gardener. Dorothy takes a job working with Blanche at the museum and things go well until Dorothy starts keeping secrets from Blanche. With Rose feeling lonely, she takes Blanche's advice and places an ad in the local newspaper's personals column. When she gets no response and feels even more depressed, Blanche sends her a response under the name Isaac Q. Newton. Their deception works until Rose invites Isaac to be her date at a formal banquet, and Issac turns out to be a real person who contradicts the imaginary one in every way. Blanche and Dorothy are forced to confess when Rose starts accusing Issac of lying. Meanwhile, Sophia is stalked by an elderly gentleman and ends up going to the banquet with him, only to discover his actions are because he mistakenly believes she's rich. A series of mishaps almost ruins the girls' Christmas. They plan to fly home to visit their families, but are taken hostage at Rose's office by a lonely man dressed as Santa Claus. Sophia defuses the situation, but the girls miss their flights, and have to spend Christmas in a roadside diner. Dorothy arranges for Sophia's sister, Angela, to fly from Sicily to Miami, as a surprise gift for Sophia's birthday, not realizing that Sophia and Angela have been feuding for decades, over what turns out to be a big misunderstanding. After a major heart surgery, Stan temporarily moves in with the ladies, and quickly overstays his welcome. When a handsome actor comes to Miami to star in a play at the local community theater, he dates Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy simultaneously, leading each of them to believe he will marry them. After suffering an esophageal spasm, Rose decides to "live for the day", upsetting the other girls and eventually moving out. The girls volunteer to babysit the children of participants in a local marathon, in which Sophia participates, and become concerned when a baby girl's parents don't come to pick her up after the race. It turns out the girl's mother went into labor and Sophia forgot to give the girls the message. Trying to decide on sleeping arrangements for visiting relatives, the ladies reminisce about places where they have previously slept, from a train station to Sophia's bed. Dorothy has her eye on a handsome teacher colleague at the school where she has been working, but doesn't realize he is a priest. He further confuses her when he tells her he is thinking of "leaving the church." When Sophia's sister Angela moves to Miami, Sophia quickly begins to think she wants to take everything she has, including her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Rose, who has been babysitting a friend's piano-playing chicken, is horrified when it appears that Angela has killed the chicken and fried it up for dinner. After attending her college sorority reunion and seeing that her sorority sisters have had plastic surgery and seeing how old she looks in a video Rose made for community college class, Blanche decides to have an aggressive amount of plastic surgery herself. Dorothy tutors a young Hispanic boy and enters an essay of his in a local contest where it not only wins first prize, but results in the discovery that he is in the country illegally. Dorothy feels at fault and convinces Mario to fight to stay in America. Mario shows up after the hearing to tell Dorothy he is being deported, but will be able to undergo the procedures to legally return, much to Dorothy's relief. Meanwhile, Rose decides that she must become Blanche's personal servant for a week to atone for losing a pair of Blanche's earrings, which it turns out Blanche herself lost. Blanche dates a handsome caterer and shocks the other girls when she refuses to commit to a serious relationship with him. Dorothy's daughter Kate visits (as well as Stan) and reveals that she has left her husband, Dennis, after he cheated on her. Dorothy is even more furious when Kate reconciles with him. Meanwhile, Blanche and Rose watch an "I Love Lucy" marathon on television. The girls allow two undercover cops to use their house as a base for spying on their new neighbors, who are suspected of being jewel thieves. Dorothy develops a crush on the senior detective and Sophia takes advantage of this. In the middle of the night, the neighbors' house is raided as they try to sell the diamonds and they are arrested, but the junior cop is shot in the process, discouraging Dorothy's notions of a relationship. The ladies recall other birthday celebrations while preparing a surprise birthday party for a friend. Dorothy recalls Rose taking her to a children's restaurant, Rose recalls her first birthday following her husband's death, Sophia recalls her 50th birthday in 1955, when she fought with her husband as he pointed out an error on her birth certificate that made her think she was 48, forcing Dorothy to defuse the situation, and Blanche recalls her first birthday after the girls started living together, when she used to hate celebrating her birthday until the others throw her a surprise party with all the men from her address book. It turns out the party in the present is for Blanche as well, and the women celebrate by joining a conga line made up of the men from Blanche's past party. The girls' neighbor Renee feels lonely because her doctor husband, George, works constantly and their children have moved out.

season 3 -
At a beach, Sophia meets an elderly widower named Alvin. The two become friends and enjoy spending time together on a bench at the beach. However, as the friendship deepens, the old fellow's behavior becomes erratic, and she learns he has Alzheimer's disease. At home, Blanche accidentally gives away Rose's cherished teddy bear to a little girl named Daisy, who is a Sunshine Cadet. When Blanche tries to get the bear back for Rose, the girl holds the teddy for ransom. The ladies recall their attempts to earn extra money, including starting a catering business. When Rose's uncle dies, she learns that she will be inheriting a baby that she must raise. A man, on behalf of Rose’s uncle, brings the baby to the ladies' house. They are surprised to learn that Baby is actually the name of an elderly male pig that used to roam on the uncle's farm. Blanche and Dorothy initially decline to let the pig live in their house and to take care of it, until they learn that they will earn $100,000 upon Baby's death, which they can then split among themselves. Baby becomes ill, and Rose eventually learns from a veterinarian that Baby is homesick for the farm. Dorothy and Blanche persuade Rose to keep Baby with them, stating that the plane ride back home could kill him. Dorothy begins feeling guilty about keeping Baby away from the farm, and Blanche eventually realizes that the pig really is homesick. Baby is sent home, and Rose later receives a letter informing her of Baby's death on the farm shortly after arriving. Meanwhile, Sophia drops her eyeglasses at the mall and they break, leaving her to stumble around blind and almost get hit by a car. While Sophia is away on vacation, the ladies hire a housekeeper, Marguerite, who charms them but is lousy at keeping the house clean. When they fire her, she storms out, telling the ladies they have made a big mistake. At first, the ladies think nothing of it until they all receive terrible luck and become convinced that Marguerite has placed a voodoo curse on them. They rehire Marguerite and behave very nicely towards her, giving her champagne, flowers, and a tiara. Sophia returns home and Dorothy explains to her why Marguerite is receiving such special treatment. Sophia questions Marguerite about the alleged curse, despite Dorothy's pleas not to do so. Marguerite denies placing a curse on the ladies, and although she appreciates being rehired, she declines the offer. When Rose's great-aunt dies, she must fly to the Bahamas to deliver the eulogy — and speaking in public is her greatest fear. She persuades Blanche and Dorothy to come along, where they end up facing their own fears onboard the plane. Dorothy has a fear of flying, while Blanche faces a nightmare that seems to be coming true: being on an airplane full of bald men that ultimately crashes. After encountering a storm, the plane is forced to turn around, unlike in Blanche's dream. Dorothy and Blanche convince Rose to deliver the eulogy to the plane occupants. At home, Sophia enters a cook-off for the Daughters of Sicily, Italy. Mikhail Gorbachev's U.S. representatives report that their leader was touched by Rose's letter pleading for nuclear disarmament and that he is eager to meet Rose — who, they all assume, must be a little girl, given her letter's naivete. As Blanche and Dorothy ponder how to break the news to Rose, Sophia tries to devise the perfect act for a talent show. Gil Kessler, a political candidate for whom the ladies are campaigning, tries to beef up his image by publicly claiming to have had an affair with Blanche. Blanche protests her innocence, but Rose and Dorothy do not believe her and end up not speaking to her. During a press conference, Gil finally comes clean, while also informing the public that he used to be a woman, which Sophia claims she always knew. At home, Dorothy and Rose apologize to Blanche and the women reconcile. Stan's younger brother Ted, an attractive doctor, comes to town, and after dating Blanche, he ends up sleeping with Dorothy. Stan becomes convinced that Ted is going to ask Dorothy to marry him and tries to talk him out of it. However, it turns out that Ted has met a much younger woman and considers Dorothy a one-night stand. Dorothy gets revenge by informing everyone that Ted is in fact impotent. Meanwhile, Rose is dealing with a severe run of insomnia, which it turns out is caused by drinking caffeine-loaded tea. Rose's young, clueless cousin Sven arrives from Sweden on his way to St. Olaf, Minnesota, USA to meet his bride-to-be. Blanche uses him to make her cheating boyfriend jealous, causing Sven to fall in love with her. Meanwhile, Sophia is taking driving lessons from Dorothy in order to renew her license, but after one trip, Dorothy refuses to get into a car with her again. At Rose's insistence, Blanche tries to defuse Sven's crush on her, but on meeting his bride, the young and beautiful Olga, he quickly ditches Blanche. Dorothy and Stan are audited by the IRS, and they may be in deep trouble due to Stan's extravagant spending. Meanwhile, Rose takes a Spanish class at night school to qualify for a promotion at work, and Blanche tags along because she figures that it will be a good way to meet smart men. Stan and Dorothy are told they have to pay up $2,500 each, which makes Dorothy furious. She cannot raise the money, so sells her diamond ring. Stan sells his Corvette and buys back the ring for her and they settle their bill, with Dorothy seeing a different (and better) side of Stan she never knew before. Constant bickering leads the ladies to seek professional counseling from a psychiatrist. A visitor announces he is an army buddy of Charlie, Rose's late husband. The two hit it off, to the point that Rose considers moving away with him, but Dorothy is suspicious. Suave, sexy artist Lazlo chooses Blanche as his nude model for a sculpture. When Blanche sneaks a peek at Lazlo's sketches, she is indignant: the pictures resemble Rose. Dorothy soon reveals that Lazlo asked her to pose, too, and the three bicker over which of them will be immortalized in stone. Blanche wants to defend her daughter, whose boyfriend speaks to her abusively, but she is afraid that if she does, her daughter will resent her interference and they will again be estranged. Meanwhile, Sophia, now working at a fast-food restaurant, organizes a strike against her tyrannical boss: a pre-teen boy. Dorothy enjoys the intellectual stimulation of her friendship with new pal Barbara Thorndyke, a novelist, but Barbara's superior air and snobby ways rub Blanche and Rose the wrong way. The girls visit Hollywood, California, to be on the game show Grab that Dough. They are forced to travel cross-country the day before the show, and from there, everything goes wrong: the airline loses their luggage; their hotel has no vacant rooms and they are forced to sleep in the lobby; their purses are stolen; and when they finally get to the television station for the taping, Dorothy and Blanche end up pitting themselves against Rose and Sophia. While Rose and Blanche rehearse for their roles in "The Sound of Music", Sophia has a request for Dorothy: pretend to still be married to Stan for Angelo, her priest brother, who will be visiting. Sophia intends to move to New Jersey to live with her eccentric son, Phil, after his wife leaves him. This prompts the girls to recall the years that they have spent together. In the end, though, Phil's wife returns and they reconcile, so Sophia stays with the girls. With all her friends either dying or moving away, Sophia becomes the "third wheel" in Dorothy's latest relationship, and acts as a chaperone on their dates. Sophia's latest boyfriend, Rocco, claims to have been a mobster, so when the girls discover a bag of Rocco's with thousands of dollars in it, they assume he robbed a bank. Meanwhile, Dorothy and Blanche sneak a peak at Rose's diary, and discover what appear to be insulting things Rose has written about them. Rose's newly-retired beau plans a cruise around the world — with Rose as his first mate. Meanwhile, the girls deal with remodeling the garage into a guest room. Dorothy's son Michael plans to wed his older, African-American bandmate, Lorraine; they are 23 and 44, respectively. Dorothy complains of the age difference; Lorraine's mother and aunts also disapprove, but mainly because Michael is white. The families agree to try to stop the wedding, only to learn the couple have eloped; upon the revelation that Lorraine is pregnant, the mothers agree they must pretend to be happy. Rose and Blanche try to beautify themselves for a romantic cruise with twin brothers. Rose starts dating television superhero "Mr. Terrific." He gets Dorothy a job on his show, but Dorothy's recommendations to the producer get Mr. Terrific fired. This causes Rose to become upset at Dorothy, who feels terrible for putting herself first. She tries to get Mr. Terrific back on the show, but ends up as his replacement. Meanwhile, Blanche orders a new bed, and despite receiving the wrong one, she likes it so much she doesn't say anything, causing her to fear the police are coming after her. Waiting for their children to call, the girls reminisce about previous Mother's Days: Dorothy remembers asking Stan's mother for money; Sophia remembers an incident involving her mother; Rose reminisces about a motherly lady she once met at a bus station, whose biological daughter died many years earlier; and Blanche remembers the last Mother's Day she spent with her mother.

season 4 -
Blanche dates a senior citizen named Fidel Santiago, but gets a surprise when he starts seeing Sophia as well, and the two women soon bitterly fight—only to get a surprise when Fidel unexpectedly dies. Dorothy teaches a history class for General Equivalency Diploma candidates, who include Rose. Sophia plans to go to the market and buy a nectarine, which she does every day. The other girls worry that she is too old and frail to enjoy life. However, the tables are turned: Sophia has a full, active day of rallying fellow seniors to fight return policies at a supermarket, leading a charity band on the boardwalk, and volunteering at a hospital, while the other girls sit around the kitchen table talking about how to pass the time. Blanche is expecting a visit from a high-school friend who, she claims, is the only man that ever rejected her. She becomes determined to seduce him to "perfect" her record—even when it turns out that he has grown fat and bald. However, it turns out Blanche's sister Virginia posed as her and slept with the man first, which was a less than memorable night. Meanwhile, Rose claims to have seen a UFO and gets the Air Force involved. Rose is nominated to be St. Olaf, Minnesota's "Woman of the Year," but feels that her list of accomplishments is too bland to merit the prize. Blanche and Dorothy secretly change the list to make Rose sound more impressive, which wins her the award—and sends all four Girls on a lengthy trip to St. Olaf itself. Stan, hard-pressed for money, asks Dorothy and Sophia to a baseball game to butter up his ex-wife and get a loan. When Sophia is hit on the head by a fly ball at the game, Stan hatches a scheme to sue the ballpark, while Blanche and Rose prepare to be in a local musical production of Cats. Sophia's dearest friend, Esther Weinstock, has died, and Sophia must confront her friend’s widower, Max, whom she has always blamed for causing the pizza-knish stand owned by Max and Sophia’s husband, Salvadore, to go out of business by betting a day's profits on a horse race. But at the repast, the truth comes out: Salvadore was the one who gambled the money away, and Max lied to save his marriage. This leads to Sophia to see Max in a new, romantic light, and the two eventually marry, much to Dorothy's frustration. Meanwhile, Rose and Blanche start an unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Club. A stressed-out Dorothy starts smoking cigarettes again, 15 years after quitting. Sophia and Max return from their honeymoon, and they try to resurrect Max and Salvador's old pizza-and-knish stand at the beach which unfortunately burns down due to an electrical fault. Realizing that they're not as destined to be together as they were with their previous spouses, Sophia and Max have their marriage annulled, leading to Dorothy successfully quitting smoking again. Sophia accidentally donates Blanche's jacket to a thrift shop, with a winning lottery ticket worth $10,000 in the pocket. The jacket is purchased for Michael Jackson, who donates it to a charity auction after wearing it during a performance; a congressman buys it and donates it to a homeless shelter. Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia spend the night at the shelter, where each has a meaningful conversation with someone who sleeps there by necessity. Rose connects with former hotel porter Ben Wheaton, a fellow Minnesotan who found himself without marketable skills in middle age. Blanche feels maternal towards Kenny, a young alcoholic who holds a doctorate. Sophia and Dorothy learn that Sophia's friend Ida Perkins, formerly of Shady Pines, became unable to pay her bills after outliving her entire family. Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy search among the diverse homeless population; Blanche finds the ticket, and the women donate the money to the shelter. When Blanche's newly divorced brother, Clayton, comes to town, he confides to Rose that he is gay; scared to tell Blanche the truth, though, he pretends to have bedded Rose. With Blanche furious at her roommate, Clayton is eventually forced to reveal the truth, sending Blanche into a tailspin of confusion and anger. Stan breaks the news that he is engaged to be married for the third time. At first, Dorothy is thrilled at the prospect of getting him out of her life—but after Stan stays by her side when Sophia is hospitalized with a virus, old feelings start stirring. Rose and Blanche team up to keep Dorothy from interrupting the wedding, but a chance encounter with Stan's new bride Katherine eventually convinces Dorothy to do the right thing. The girls face a badly-leaking roof, but cannot afford to replace it. To get their minds off their troubles, they head to a gallery opening at Blanche's museum, where the obnoxious and rude Jasper DeKimmel is being feted. When hospital-volunteer Sophia reveals that DeKimmel is dying of a rare blood disease, Blanche hatches a scheme to purchase one of his paintings on the cheap and then sell it for a big profit after he passes away. After being dumped by her boyfriend, Blanche befriends a man at a bar and makes a date with him, not realizing that he is blind; Dorothy and Rose try their hands at coaching a children's football team. Rose hits it off with new beau Ernest, but the two hit a snag when their relationship never quite gets physical. Meanwhile, Sophia fears a vendetta when she receives a black feather in the mail. Sophia objects to Dorothy's "completely physical" relationship with a nondescript new lover, Eddie. Blanche and Rose become pals to two motherless girls, who also happen to be juvenile delinquents. The ladies remember the unique ways they have celebrated Valentine's Day in the past. Dorothy hopes to spend "quality time" with Sophia, while Sophia just wants to ride Space Mountain at Walt Disney World. Rose and Blanche collaborate to write a children's book. Dorothy is in charge of a talent show and things are not going her way: she cannot find any talent for the show and her emcee has just canceled. She only groans when Rose insists she can get Bob Hope to appear. Sophia invests the roommates' money in a prizefighter, but are surprised when they discover he also an aspiring violinist. Dorothy is visited by high school friend Trudy, whose friendship with her is based on competition and practical jokes. The competition gets out of hand when Trudy collapses and apparently dies during a game of tennis and Dorothy must break the news to their assembled classmates. Fortunately, it turns out to be another prank. After Sophia accidentally knocks a bottle of Rose's pills down the sink, the girls learn that Rose is addicted. She battles withdrawal. Meanwhile, Dorothy and Sophia are hired to be in a pizza commercial. Rose catches her visiting sister Holly with Blanche's boyfriend and tries to tell Blanche and Dorothy, who have been charmed by Holly and refuse to believe Rose. Meanwhile, Dorothy trusts Sophia to watch a dog. Sophia's friend Lillian moves from Shady Pines to Sunny Pastures, a terrible facility. Sophia brings Lillian to stay at the house, where the women quickly realize Lillian requires full-time care they are unable to provide. Dorothy and Sophia try to force Sunny Pastures to provide better care, only to find that there is no malfeasance they can address; the facility operates at a loss with insufficient government funding, and the overworked administrator is genuinely open to ideas, though Sophia and Dorothy have none. Rose identifies a better place for Lillian to stay, but the monthly cost exceeds Lillian's benefits by $150. Blanche had been planning to use a work bonus for breast augmentation but decides to use it to pay for two years of Lillian's care. The women, realizing this solves only one person's problems, vow to stay together as they age. Sophia obsesses over regaining a lost pound, while the other women decide to lose weight before a friend's pool party. They recall previous self-improvement attempts: Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy joined a gym, where enthusiastic trainer Yvonne convinced Blanche and Dorothy to buy expensive workout accessories and then injured herself leading an aerobics class; Sophia convinced the other women to visit hair stylist Eduardo, an attractive man who passionately described wildly different concepts for each woman's makeover but then styled their hair identically to Sophia's; and the women rejected Stanley's invitation to join a guru's encounter group and ended up arguing over Dorothy identifying Sophia as her best friend. Sophia accepts her lower weight after Dorothy determines Sophia's height has shrunk. After learning the party is a day later than expected, the women devour Sophia's decadent cake. Sophia's old friends come to Miami, Florida, United States from Sicily, Italy for a visit and have shocking news for Dorothy: they believe she is theirs, switched at birth with the daughter they raised. Meanwhile, Blanche and Rose take "dirty dancing" lessons; uncharacteristically, Blanche is not any good at it, while Rose is a quick study. Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose return home from a play to discover Sophia in the midst of selling the house. A "For Sale" sign was accidentally placed on the front lawn, but Blanche considers going through with the sale after learning the amount that she has been offered.

season 5 -
After five months of worsening fatigue and pain, Dorothy believes she is seriously ill. Two doctors tell her there's nothing wrong with her, as does a specialist whom Sophia then rebukes. Traveling with Rose, Dorothy sees New York City, New York neurologist Dr. Budd, who tells her she's just aging and any other problem is in her head, despite two psychiatrists' assessments that she's mentally healthy. Dorothy breaks down, believing that she is crazy, but Rose reassures her that she is sick. Sophia fears losing Dorothy to an unknown disease. Blanche decides to become a novelist, but immediately suffers writer's block. Harry refers Dorothy to Dr. Chang, who diagnoses her with chronic fatigue syndrome. Although there is no cure, Dorothy is relieved to put a name to her condition. She treats Sophia, Blanche, and Rose to dinner and sees Dr. Budd in the restaurant with his wife Helen. She confronts him, and Helen insists he hear Dorothy out. Dorothy laments his lost humanity and hopes he'll have a better doctor than himself when he needs one someday. Blanche stays awake for three days and deliriously writes a manuscript, but is rejected by publishers. She believes there will be nothing special about her if she fails to achieve fame, but Rose explains that her Minnesota upbringing taught her that friends and family are special. Blanche's visiting daughter Becky intends to become a single mother through artificial insemination. Blanche objects; her friends share unusual details about their children's conceptions, but Blanche still considers it unnatural. A visit to a local sperm bank with her roommates and Becky also fails to convince Blanche, but Dorothy finally persuades Blanche to accept that Becky is an adult who must make her own decisions; Blanche apologizes and will be part of her daughter's and grandchild's lives--although the older women all agree the idea of the procedure is off-putting. Dorothy succeeds in getting a reluctant Sophia to have a checkup. When the company that Rose's husband worked for cuts off his pension, Rose must find a better-paying job. When she goes to a TV station to complain to their investigative reporter, Enrique Mas, of the age discrimination that she is facing, she finds that he needs an assistant — and gets the job. Meanwhile, Sophia goes wild buying things in quantity at a warehouse store. Dorothy is in a serious relationship with a lawyer and believes that he is on the verge of proposing. However, his announcement is that he is leaving law to become a circus clown. Meanwhile, Rose and Blanche put together a protest to save dolphins from tuna fishermen. Rose becomes romantically interested in her ballroom dancing partner Miles, a college professor, but begins to doubt that the relationship can work when she meets his intelligent friends. Sophia's friend wants to commit suicide and she wants Sophia there to hold her hand; Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy become singing nursemaids to a sick baby that they are taking care of for the weekend. Blanche is visited by her brother-in-law Jamie and is taken aback by his resemblance to her late husband George; Sophia secretly has been driving. Dorothy finds a list of things that she wanted to accomplish before a certain age and realizes that she has not accomplished many of them, so she signs up to do stand-up comedy at a nightclub. Meanwhile, Blanche finds herself battling the Internal Revenue Service when they discover her failure to report her rental income, and Rose tries to figure out why an employee dislikes her. Dorothy's son, Michael, shows up on her doorstep with news that he has separated from his wife and needs a place to stay; Dorothy quickly gets tired of his freeloading and dumps him on Stan, who also tires of him. Meanwhile, Rose is under much stress at work, but she is reluctant to ask her boss to cut back her duties. When Blanche goes back to her childhood home for Big Daddy's funeral, she argues with her sister, Virginia, and decides not to attend. Meanwhile, Sophia tries to raise cash for a TV and rents out the girls' rooms in their absence. The ladies volunteer at a soup kitchen on Christmas and are shocked when Stan shows up, broke and needing a meal. The girls take in a 16-year-old pregnant girl who has been thrown out of her home; Blanche's prison pen pal, Merrill, has just been released and is looking for her. Rose joins a positive-thinking group and tries to get a pessimistic Dorothy to join. Meanwhile, Blanche is scared to get physical with her latest boyfriend, especially after he has a heart attack. Blanche tries to lure men by placing an ad for a Mercedes she does not intend to sell. Meanwhile, Rose has to deal with meeting Miles's daughter; Dorothy discovers Sophia is hoarding Social Security money she's receiving, thanks to a computer error, in excess of her entitlement. Sophia decides to try to regain some of the memories she has lost by taking a trip to Brooklyn to see their old apartment. Meanwhile, Blanche works for Rose. Blanche has a pacemaker implanted, and is afterward so scared of intimacy that she decides to give up sex. Blanche is stunned when a young man named David comes to the house and claims to be the illegitimate son of her late husband George; Dorothy and Sophia enter a mother-daughter pageant at Shady Pines. Rose is afraid that a blood transfusion that she had six years ago may have contained HIV-infected blood, and has to wait three days for her test results; Sophia reacts poorly to the possibility of having an HIV-positive roommate. Meanwhile, Dorothy struggles to put together a charity function to save the local wetlands. Rose must decide between her boyfriend, Miles, and an old boyfriend who wants her to go to Europe with him. Meanwhile, fed up with Dorothy's rules, Sophia decides to move out. Blanche and her sister, Charmaine, reconcile after a life-long rivalry, until Blanche reads her sister's recently published romance novel and realizes that the heroine is based on her. Dorothy becomes fed up with Stan's visiting cousin Magda from Czechoslovakia, who does nothing but extol the virtues of Communism. Glen, the married man Dorothy dated, re-enters her life with news that he is now divorced and would like to reconcile with her; Blanche and Sophia become the victims of a con game at the mall. The girls attend the wedding of Dorothy's goddaughter, who is marrying the grandson of a man who was once engaged to Sophia. Sophia thinks that the wedding reception is the perfect spot for revenge. Rose, however, is dreading the ceremony, due to her tendency to become sexually aroused at weddings. Dorothy asks to grab one of Blanche's former dates for her ceremony accompaniment, but gets mad at Blanche for her advances to him. Dorothy's gambling problem re-surfaces after a visit to the racetrack; Rose takes up painting; and Blanche is insulted when a co-worker rejects her advances. The girls learn that President George H. W. Bush is coming to Miami, Florida and their house is a possible candidate for his stop along the way to a retirement home. The girls reminisce as a Secret Service agent informally interrogates them.

season 6 -
Blanche's very pregnant daughter Rebecca visits and wants to stay in Miami for the birth at a birthing center. Blanche angers her when she disagrees about the birthing center, but also does not want her giving birth in a hospital because she is embarrassed about the fact that her daughter was artificially inseminated. Meanwhile, Rose decides to fulfill a childhood dream of becoming a figure skater. Rose meets her biological father while volunteering at the hospital while Sophia undergoes hernia surgery and is lost in the hospital during her recovery. Stan finally strikes it rich with a new novelty called the "Zborny" (a baked potato opener), and asks Dorothy's support to woo some investors, but Dorothy won't trust him. Dorothy agrees to help Sophia volunteer for Meals on Wheels and comes across an aging hippie named Jimmy who hasn't left his apartment in over 20 years. Blanche's birthday approaches and Rose goes on a quest to discover her real birthday. Blanche gets an unexpected visit from her childhood nanny, who reveals that she and Blanche's father were lovers. Sophia angers Dorothy when she finds her a date using a matchmaker. Dorothy receives threats when she fails the star football player at the high school where she is substitute teaching. Rose suspects her dentist fondled her while under anesthesia. Stan is wooing Dorothy, and her old feelings for him may be resurfacing; Rose has to deal with an annoying co-worker and asks for Sophia's assistance. After the death of a friend who was a nun, Sophia is accepted by the convent as a novice; Blanche gets into an accident in Rose's car. Strange goings-on: Blanche has a secret admirer and, when she meets him, she is shocked to see that it is her dead husband, George; Dorothy is being wooed by two celebrities, Sonny Bono and Lyle Waggoner. Sophia and Rose take advice from Blanche that lands each of them in hot water: due to a drought in St. Olaf, Minnesota, Rose swears to be celibate and Blanche advises her not to tell Miles, while Sophia follows Blanche's tips to lure a man into bed. Blanche meets a man at the library and, only after they make a date, she realizes that he is in a wheelchair; Rose wants a puppy, despite Blanche's and Dorothy's opposition. Dorothy must give the eulogy at the funeral of her brother, Phil, who was a cross dresser. The long-running feud between Sophia and Phil's widow culminates in Sophia's revelation of her true feelings about her son and his lifestyle. Rose wants more adventure in her relationship with Miles, so she signs them up for sky-diving lessons; Blanche uncharacteristically dates an abusive man. Blanche's gay brother, Clayton, visits Miami, Florida to announce his commitment ceremony; Rose expects to win a Volunteer of the Year award. After hearing of a mobster's death, Miles reveals that he is in the Witness Relocation Program in Chicago, Illinois, and that his real name is Nicholas Carbone. When he learns that the mobster faked his death, Miles must leave Miami, Florida and go into hiding. Meanwhile, Blanche must find a way to pay for the expensive dress that she bought, having hit a snag in her plan to return the dress after wearing it. Dorothy has been sneaking around so that Sophia will not know that she is dating Stan; Rose goes out to dinner with a friend of Miles, whose ex-wife begins stalking Rose. Totally against Dorothy and Stan's impending nuptials, Sophia vows not to let the ceremony come off; Blanche interviews Truby, a potential roommate. Wanting someone to keep an eye on Sophia during the day, Dorothy gets Sophia a job at a local retirement home under false pretenses. Meanwhile, Blanche and Rose are excited about being hired as models for a Penny Saver, but it does not turn out the way they expected. Blanche wants to intensify her relationship with her infamous one-night stand man, Mel Bushman; Rose tries her hand at TV reporting. While Blanche is babysitting her infant granddaughter Aurora, a man named Jason mistakes Blanche for Aurora's mother, and Blanche does nothing to set him straight. Meanwhile, Sophia gets ready for the Festival of the Dancing Virgins, a celebration of mothers and daughters. Rose has a new man, Karl, in her life, but Miles returns unexpectedly, still undercover in the Witness Protection Program; Sophia loses her glasses; and Blanche discovers that she had a Jewish great-grandmother, a Yankee from Buffalo. John Neretti, Dorothy's high school crush who stood up her for her senior prom, contacts her and they make a date; Blanche goes on a diet to keep to her tradition of annually fitting into her (red) wedding dress. The girls prepare for the Children's Hospital Bachelorette Auction; Stan's uncle dies, leaving him his apartment building, and making Dorothy a landlady. Meanwhile, Sophia's brother, Angelo, comes to Miami, Florida, broke and with no place to live. The deathbed confession of an ex-resident of Shady Pines is bad news for Sophia: the old lady confessed that she and Sophia started the 1985 Shady Pines fire. With the possibility of Sophia's going to jail hanging over their heads, the girls relive happier times via flashbacks. The ladies star in Dorothy's school play when the flu bug quarantines her students. Rose is Henny Penny, the chicken that believes "the sky is falling"; Blanche is Goosey Loosey; and Dorothy is Turkey Lurkey. Meanwhile, Blanche is mortified when an ex-boyfriend plants a fake obituary in the paper claiming she died at age 68; and Sophia continues a decades-old chess-by-mail rivalry with her old nemesis from Sicily.

season 7 -
An old photograph appears to show Rose's late husband, Charlie, in bed with Blanche. Dorothy worries that Sophia is suffering from hearing loss, but, when they go for a test, it turns out Dorothy is the one who needs a hearing aid. The girls participate in a murder-mystery weekend where Dorothy excels as a keen amateur sleuth, but, after she solves the murder, there is a real stabbing, and Blanche is the prime suspect. Blanche signs her granddaughter up for the Little Miss Miami Pageant, but becomes so focused on winning, it makes her miserable. With Sophia wheelchair-bound, Dorothy hires a nurse to take care of her and not only does her bossiness anger Rose and Blanche, but when she and Sophia bond, it makes Dorothy jealous. While researching her family's history, Dorothy discovers a photo of Sophia as a young bride with a groom identified as "Guido," who is not Dorothy's father. When Blanche plans to have a hot tub installed, a city inspector informs her that continuing to have more than two renters would require her to make home improvements she cannot afford, meaning one of the girls must move out. When Miles gives Rose a friendship ring, Sophia convinces Rose that her late husband Charlie does not approve of her relationship, resulting in Rose hurting Miles. Blanche helps her amateur baseball player boyfriend improve his play, but the plan backfires when he is recruited by a team in Japan and becomes a cross dresser. Blanche's dating a local newscaster is threatened by his over-protective mother and Rose's efforts at uncovering embarrassing secrets about him for an upcoming surprise birthday party. Dorothy attends a counseling session with Stan. The girls reminisce about previous dates at home while Dorothy is out late with a prominent doctor. As a hurricane threatens Miami, Dorothy's newly penniless sister, Gloria, visits and sleeps with Stan. Dorothy becomes furious when she finds out later that Sophia pushed Gloria and Stan together. When she confronts Sophia, they have a fight and Sophia angrily walks out into the hurricane. Blanche and Rose hold a telethon to save a local historic lighthouse. Rose, tired of Miles' penny-pinching ways, decides to take Blanche's advice and goes out with her and some big spenders. While Dorothy is away, she leaves Blanche in charge of an especially rebellious Sophia. Blanche panics when she finds that Sophia has traveled to Sicily to square things with Guido, the man she stood up at the altar decades earlier. Sophia has an out-of-body experience where she sees her late husband, Salvadore, who gives her a message for Dorothy, but Dorothy refuses to accept Sophia's experience. Meanwhile, the girls travel to Atlanta, Georgia when Blanche learns that her grandmother's plantation is scheduled to be demolished. The trip takes a turn when a distraught Blanche handcuffs herself to the radiator in the house. Blanche is surprised when a soldier returning from the Persian Gulf visits, seeking to rekindle their relationship. Initially, she is charmed at the romantic prospect of dating a soldier and then is let down when she discovers he has a boring job as a pharmacist. When Sophia has her will prepared, Dorothy is incensed when she finds out Sophia has hoarded $35,000 from her while Dorothy scrimped to support her and cuts her off financially. Sophia attends Pope John Paul II's Papal mass in Miami, hoping to get a blessing for her hospitalized friend Agnes and steals the pope's piscatory ring, upsetting Dorothy. For Rose's birthday, Blanche hires a private detective to spy on Miles, whom she suspects might have an affair as a result of a midlife crisis. Sophia develops feelings for Marvin, a man she met through a personal ad, but is annoyed that his sister, Sarah, always accompanies them. When Marvin and Sarah finally admit they are married, Sarah is dying, and they are looking for a replacement for her, she is torn is about what to do. A man claiming to be an old flame of Rose's visits, but she cannot remember him. Dorothy is excited when her 11th-grade English teacher, on whom she had a crush, relocates to Miami, asks her for help writing a book review and romances her. Sophia worries that he is taking advantage of Dorothy's interest, but Dorothy ignores her warnings. Rose is promoted to associate producer at the television station and upsets Rose and Dorothy when she brings them on a morning talk show, ostensibly to talk about being female roommates, but in reality the show is about lesbians. When Dorothy wins tickets to "Beatlemania", she gets Blanche to take her place on a blind date. Blanche falls for the man, but is heartbroken when he is reluctant to be physical with. Dorothy dates Don, Beatlemania's George Harrison impersonator, eventually convincing him to leave the show and perform his own material, with disastrous consequences. Dorothy is excited when Jeopardy! comes to Miami to audition contestants and overdoes it in preparing for her own audition. The girls give Rose a rescue dog named Jake to raise her spirits and she takes him with her when she volunteers at the local hospital, eventually making an impression on an elderly couple. Dorothy's uncle Angelo complains of a bug infestation at the building where he lives, which is owned by Dorothy and Stan. Needing a good news story for sweeps week, Rose produces a piece on the apartment, resulting in Stan's and Dorothy's arrest as slum lords. Sophia aggravates Dorothy and Blanche when each takes her shoe shopping. Blanche takes a lonely Dorothy down to the Rusty Anchor, Blanche's favorite hangout, and gets more than she bargained for when Dorothy's singing is a hit with all the guys. Sophia is inspired by all the beautiful comments made at a friend's wake and enlists Rose to help her organize one while she is still alive, with disastrous consequences for Sophia's friends. Blanche throws a men-only Moonlight Madness party to celebrate a full moon on Leap Day, and is devastated when Dorothy gets all the attention. She is further upset when she does meet a man, but he steals her valuable necklace. Rose proposes to Miles after winning a free honeymoon to Paris, France, but Miles worries they are rushing things, especially after he and Dorothy share a passionate unplanned kiss. Sophia works to undo a curse put on Dorothy by helping a holy man, kissing a fool, and revealing a loved-one's betrayal. Rose is humiliated when she takes Blanche's advice and gives Miles a naughty picture of herself. Dorothy reconnects with a former student, who offers her an initially exciting new job. Blanche convinces the girls to crash a local high school reunion, where Rose suffers a heart attack. As Rose undergoes triple bypass surgery, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia grapple with the possibility of losing her. Meanwhile, Rose's daughter, Kirsten, arrives and expresses her disapproval of her mother's living arrangements. When Blanche's Uncle Lucas visits, Blanche sets him up on a date with Dorothy and when they discover that neither is interested in the other, contrary to what Blanche led them to believe, they decide to get revenge by convincing Blanche they have fallen in love and plan to marry. Eventually, they fall in love for real, Lucas proposes, and Dorothy accepts, resulting in her moving out of the house permanently. Rose struggles with whether to stay in the house or to move in with her daughter and Stan makes one last gesture to show his love for Dorothy.