How many episodes of The Golden Girls are there? …and other key information

By Alex Wiggan

In 1985, the television sitcom, The Golden Girls made its debut. The humorous show focused on a quartet of women, all in the later stages of life, sharing a home in Miami, Florida.

Created by Susan Harris, The Golden Girls starred Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. Arthur took on the role of Dorothy Zbornak, White played Rose Nylund, McClanahan played Blanche Devereaux, and Getty played Dorothy’s mother, Sophia Petrillo.

Advertisements

Each episode of The Golden Girls focused on the lives of the four characters, touching upon relationships, family issues, and various situations and social topics they encountered. The friendship of the quartet was a key aspect of the series, with the characters showing genuine affection for each other across the course of the series.

Due to the popularity of the characters, as well as strong scripts, The Golden Girls was a huge hit with viewers and become one of the best-loved shows on US television throughout the 1980s. The series was also sold around the world, making The Golden Girls a global hit too!

Although the series ended decades ago, The Golden Girls has retained its popularity and regularly pops up in re-runs on television, as well as through streaming. With each passing year the show attracts a wealth of new fans, and remains one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time.

But if you’re completely new to The Golden Girls and you’re only just getting into the series, how many episodes of the show do you need to watch? And perhaps more importantly, what else do you need to know?

For all the details about The Golden Girls episodes, as well as some information about a few spin-off shows, keep reading!

Advertisements

How many episodes of The Golden Girls are there?

There are 180 episodes of The Golden Girls, split across seven seasons of television. Twenty-five episodes aired in seasons one and three, while twenty-six episodes aired in season two, four, five, six, and seven.

The first episode of The Golden Girls to air was The Engagement, which hit screens on September 14^th 1985. The final episodes were the two-part story, One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest, which aired on May 9^th 1992.

Want a full list of all The Golden Girls episodes to help with your next binge-watch? Of course you do – and that’s exactly what you’ll see below.

Advertisements

A list of episodes of The Golden Girls

Below is a list of all 180 episodes of The Golden Girls.

Season One

1) The Engagement
2) Guess Who’s Coming to the Wedding?
3) Rose the Prude
4) Transplant
5) The Triangle
6) On Golden Girls
7) The Competition
8) Break-In
9) Blanche and the Younger Man
10) The Heart Attack
11) Stan’s Return
12) The Custody Battle
13) A Little Romance
14) That Was No Lady
15) In a Bed of Rose’s
16) The Truth Will Out
17) Nice and Easy
18) The Operation
19) Second Motherhood
20) Adult Education
21) The Flu
22) Job Hunting
23) Blind Ambitions
24) Big Daddy
25) The Way We Met

Season Two

26) End of the Curse
27) Ladies of the Evening
28) Take Him, He’s Mine
29) It’s A Miserable Life
30) Isn’t It Romantic?
31) Big Daddy’s Little Lady
32) Family Affair
33) Vacation
34) Joust Between Friends
35) Love, Rose
36) Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas
37) The Sisters
38) The Stan Who Came to Dinner
39) The Actor
40) Before and After
41) And Then There Was One
42) Bedtime Story
43) Forgive Me, Father
44) Long Day’s Journey Into Marinara
45) Whose Face Is This, Anyway?
46) Dorothy’s Prized Pupil
47) Diamond in the Rough
48) Son-in-Law Dearest
49) To Catch a Neighbor
50) A Piece of Cake
51) Empty Nests

Season Three

52) Old Friends
53) One for the Money
54) Bringing Up Baby
55) The Housekeeper
56) Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself
57) Letter to Gorbachev
58) Strange Bedfellows
59) Brotherly Love
60) A Visit from Little Sven
61) The Audit
62) Three on a Couch
63) Charlie’s Buddy
64) Artist
65) Blanche’s Little Girl
66) Dorothy’s New Friend
67) Grab That Dough
68) My Brother, My Father
69) Golden Moments – Part One
70) Golden Moments – Part Two
71) And Ma Makes Three
72) Larceny and Old Lace
73) Rose’s Big Adventure
74) Mixed Blessings
75) Mister Terrific
76) Mother’s Day

Season Four

77) Yes, We Have No Havanas
78) The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo
79) The One That Got Away
80) Yokel Hero
81) Bang the Drum, Stanley
82) Sophia’s Wedding – Part One
83) Sophia’s Wedding – Part Two
84) Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket?
85) Scared Straight
86) Stan Takes A Wife
87) The Auction
88) Blind Date
89) The Impotence of Being Ernest
90) Love Me Tender
91) Valentine’s Day
92) Two Rode Together
93) You Gotta Have Hope
94) Fiddler on the Ropes
95) Till Death Do We Volley
96) High Anxiety
97) Little Sister
98) Sophia’s Choice
99) Rites of Spring
100) Foreign Exchange
101) We’re Outta Here – Part One
102) We’re Outta Here – Part Two

Season Five

103) Sick and Tired – Part One
104) Sick and Tired – Part Two
105) Accurate Conception
106) Rose Fights Back
107) Love Under the Big Top
108) Dancing in the Dark
109) Not Another Monday
110) That Old Feeling
111) Comedy of Errors
112) All That Jazz
113) Ebb Tide
114) Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas
115) Mary Has a Little Lamb
116) Great Expectations
117) Triple Play
118) Clinton Avenue Memoirs
119) Like the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-Tom
120) An Illegitimate Concern
121) 72 Hours
122) Twice in a Lifetime
123) Sisters and Other Strangers
124) Cheaters
125) The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present
126) All Bets Are Off
127) The President’s Coming! The President’s Coming – Part One
128) The President’s Coming! The President’s Coming – Part Two

Season Six

129) Blanche Delivers
130) Once, in St. Olaf
131) If at Last You Do Succeed
132) Snap Out of It
133) Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy!
134) Feelings
135) Zborn Again
136) How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?
137) Mrs. George Devereaux
138) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun… Before They Die
139) Stand By Your Man
140) Ebbtide’s Revenge
141) The Bloom Is Off the Rose
142) Sister of the Bride
143) Miles to Go
144) There Goes the Bride – Part One
145) There Goes the Bride – Part Two
146) Older and Wiser
147) Melodrama
148) Even Grandmas Get the Blues
149) Witness
150) What a Difference a Date Makes
151) Love for Sale
152) Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home – Part One
153) Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home – Part Two
154) Henny Penny – Straight, No Chaser

Season Seven

155) Hey, Look Me Over
156) The Case of the Libertine Belle
157) Beauty and the Beast
158) That’s for Me to Know
159) Where’s Charlie?
160) Mother Load
161) Dateline: Miami
162) The Monkey Show – Part One
163) The Monkey Show – Part Two
164) Ro$e Love$ Mile$
165) Room 7
166) From Here to the Pharmacy
167) The Pope’s Ring
168) Old Boyfriends
169) Goodbye, Mr. Gordon
170) The Commitments
171) Questions and Answers
172) Ebbtide VI: The Wrath of Stan
173) Journey to the Center of Attention
174) A Midwinter Night’s Dream – Part One
175) A Midwinter Night’s Dream – Part Two
176) Rose: Portrait of a Woman
177) Home Again, Rose – Part One
178) Home Again, Rose – Part Two
179) One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest – Part One
180) One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest – Part Two

Beyond The Golden Girls

In addition to 180 episodes of The Golden Girls, due to the incredible popularity of the series, the show inspired a collection of spin-off shows, including Empty Nest (1988 – 1995), Nurses (1991 – 1994), and The Golden Palace (1992 – 1993). Empty Nest focused on the girls’ neighbours, while Nurses was set around a hospital.

Both shows featured occasional appearances from The Golden Girls cast members, but neither were specifically about the girls themselves. However, The Golden Palace was a direct sequel to The Golden Girls, with the show repositioning the girls as owners of a hotel.

Betty White (Rose), Rue McClanahan (Blanche), and Estelle Getty (Sophia) all reprised their roles for The Golden Palace, with the story picking up where The Golden Girls left off. The only actress not to return full-time was Bea Arthur (Dorothy), who instead appeared in a guest role for the two-part story, Seems Like Old Times.

Although The Golden Palace started off with strong ratings, the show was not as successful as The Golden Girls and only ran for one season. The general consensus amongst fans was that the show didn’t seem to work so well without Arthur, leading to a fairly abrupt cancellation after just 24 episodes.

Here is a list of all the episodes of The Golden Palace:

1) The Golden Palace
2) Promotional Considerations
3) Miles, We Hardly Knew Ye
4) One Old Lady to Go
5) Ebbtide for the Defense
6) Can’t Stand Losing You
7) Seems Like Old Times – Part One
8) Seems Like Old Times – Part Two
9) Just a Gigolo
10) Marriage on the Rocks, with a Twist
11) Camp Town Races Aren’t Nearly as Much Fun as They Used to Be
12) It’s Beginning to Look a Lot (Less) Like Christmas
13) Rose and Fern
14) Runaways
15) Heartbreak Hotel
16) Señor Stinky Learns Absolutely Nothing About Life
17) Say Goodbye, Rose
18) You’ve Lost That Livin’ Feeling
19) The Chicken and the Egg
20) A New Leash on Life
21) Pros and Concierge
22) Tad
23) One Angry Stan
24) Sex, Lies and Tortillas

Although The Golden Girls story essentially ended with The Golden Palace, Estelle Getty continued in the role of Sophia for the show, Empty Nest. The actress joined the series as a cast member for the final two seasons of its run.

In the Empty Nest continuity, Sophia left the hotel setting of The Golden Palace to move into the Shady Pines retirement home. This was the same retirement home she had vacated prior to the events of the first episode of The Golden Girls.

Once Empty Nest concluded, that was the official end for The Golden Girls story.

Advertisements

The Golden Girls across the years

It’s worth noting that in addition to The Golden Girls and The Golden Palace, Bea Arthur appeared in episodes of Empty Nest; Betty White and Rue McClanahan appeared in episodes of Empty Nest and Nurses; and Estelle Getty appeared in episodes of Empty Nest, Nurses, and one episode of the sitcom, Blossom (Season One’s I Ain’t Got No Buddy).

Do you need to track down all of the guest spots across all of the shows? That’s entirely up to you, but most fans will tell you to simply watch all 180 episodes of The Golden Girls, then if you really want to extend the story, continue with The Golden Palace before bringing your journey to an end.

If you’re a fan of The Golden Girls (and who isn’t?), then you may wish to know that every episode of the show is currently available to buy on DVD.

The Golden Girls DVD collection is available in seven single-season boxsets, beginning with The Golden Girls: Season One Complete DVD Boxset.

All seven individual DVD boxsets of The Golden Girls are available from all good entertainment stockists, including Amazon US.

Advertisements

Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about The Golden Girls – I hope it has proved you with plenty of information. For further useful posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.

Read more: