The Worst Storyline In The Golden Girls Season 4
Even the most popular and venerated of programs have their weak spots. NBC's beloved sitcom "The Golden Girls" has many highlights packed into its long run, and has the honor of producing a final season without a single episode that dips below a 7.0 on IMDb. Yet, not every moment of the show was, well, golden.
Behold the infamous "Empty Nests," which often comes up when fans and critics rank the show's lowlights. "Empty Nests," which sits at a 3.6 on IMDb, was a backdoor pilot centered around a character played by Rita Moreno. The pilot flopped, with Moreno herself referring to it as a "disaster" (via FoundationINTERVIEWS). It was later retooled into "Empty Nest," the hit sitcom which featured guest appearances from members of "The Golden Girls" cast, and even folded the character of Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) into its regular roster after "The Golden Girls" concluded its run and a second spin-off, "The Golden Palace," was canceled.
While "Empty Nests" is infamous, it's hardly the only "Golden Girls" episode that has a reputation as being a clunker. There's also one multi-episode story arc from Season 4 of the series that gets mentioned as being among the show's worst installments. Do you know which storyline fans consider to be one of the show's lowest points?
We're Outta Here disappointed many fans of the show
Season 4's "We're Outta Here" is one of a whopping four hourlong clip shows the series produced. The two-part episode also has the distinction of taking up two spots on the list of the bottom 10 episodes of the entire series, per the IMDb ratings.
"We're Outta Here" combines an oft-repeated plotline — the girls may be forced to scatter permanently due to outside circumstances — with some insensitive stereotypes — Blanche (Rue McClanahan) is offered an untold, but apparently incredible, sum of money for the house by a Japanese businessman (Ralph Ahn) who has been in town buying up companies and buildings. As Blanche hems and haws over taking the offer, which would break up their household, the girls reminisce. Naturally, when push comes to shove, she tears up Mr. Yakamora 's check and the girls remain as roommates until Dorothy (Bea Arthur) eventually leaves the group for marriage and a move to Georgia in the show's series finale.
When polled, members of the "The Golden Girls" subreddit placed "We're Outta Here" in a tie with "Golden Moments" as the worst "Golden Girls" clip show. As a rare rotten egg attached to an acclaimed show, its fragrant reputation lingers.