The Golden Girls was one of television’s funniest sitcoms, due in no small part to the chemistry of the four main actors. The success of the show was built not only on how the ladies loved each other like family but also on how they quarreled like family.
No two characters embodied this more than Dorothy and Blanche. In one episode, the two could be as close as sisters, confiding in and supporting each other through thick and thin. In the next episode, they’d be at each other’s throats, bickering and fighting like bitter rivals.
10 Closer Than Sisters: Bowling Competition
One of the first instances of Blanche and Dorothy exhibiting a special bond of solidarity with each other came in the form of a bowling tournament during the first season. Fed up with Rose’s machinations due to her weirdly intense and otherwise uncharacteristic competitiveness, Dorothy and Blanche decided to team up against Rose and Sophia.
Of course, there was a caveat to the competition, in that a wager between Sophia and Dorothy would either give Sophia airfare to Sicily or Dorothy antique earrings, but Blanche seemed unconcerned by Dorothy’s losing the game on purpose.
9 At Each Other’s Throats: The Jake Smollens Affair
Many times, Blanche’s attitudes towards men, dating, and relationships left her roommates a little cold. Aside from having qualms about the frequency and variety of her partners, her roommates often had choice words about her choice of suitors. Sometimes, they flat out disapproved of her boyfriends’ character or comportment, and in many instances, they disapproved of how she treated them.
The latter situation is what Blanche found herself in when she started dating Jake Smollens, a caterer. Jake was madly in love with Blanche, who turned her nose at him due to his blue-collar behavior. Dorothy was Blanche’s biggest critic regarding her treatment of Jake, citing his deep affection for her as evidence.
8 Closer Than Sisters: Helping Out Rose
Part of being a family is looking out for one another, and Dorothy and Blanche often did just that, teaming together to keep an eye out for Rose. Like two big sisters, they often had her best interests at heart and conspired to do things for her benefit behind her back.
Unfortunately, this often blew up in their faces, as when Rose found out that the love letters she received from someone she thought was a suitor were actually from Dorothy and Blanche. Another time, Dorothy and Blanche fudged the details on Rose’s application for St. Olaf’s Woman of the Year, which made Rose forfeit the prize when she found out she had won it through their lies.
7 At Each Other’s Throats: The Rusty Anchor
Anyone who has watched at least one episode of The Golden Girls knows that Blanche’s attractiveness and sex appeal form a huge part of her identity and sense of self-esteem. A serial dater, Blanche tended to frequent a bar called the Rusty Anchor in later seasons, picking up men who all seemed to adore her.
The focus of their attention seemed to change when Dorothy accompanied Blanche to the bar one evening. Winning the bar patrons over with song, Dorothy’s stealing of the spotlight started a bitter feud with Blanche for the love of the patrons.
6 Closer Than Sisters: Grab That Dough
Despite a multitude of differences in everything from background to attitudes towards relationships, Blanche and Dorothy considered themselves the best of friends. Perhaps the bond between them was solidified by having to sit through Rose’s inane St. Olaf stories or withstand Sophia’s emotionally crippling barbs and insults.
In any event, when the situation arose for Dorothy and Blanche to abandon Rose and Sophia as teammates on a game show, they capitalized on it. Citing Rose and Sophia as “dead weight,” a united Blanche and Dorothy underestimated their abilities and wound up on the losing end of the game.
5 At Each Other’s Throats: The Museum Incident
Dorothy’s job as a substitute teacher often left her scrambling for financial security, as the work was not steady, especially during the summer months. To help her out of a particularly rough patch, Blanche introduced Dorothy to the director of the museum that she worked at, who was looking for an administrative assistant.
Dorothy got the job and immediately excelled at it. As it turns out, she may have done it a little too well, as Blanche became resentful of not only her competence but her closeness to her boss. Blanche’s jealousy led to extreme friction in her and Dorothy’s relationship, which was a shame since the project she was working on was a party for Blanche.
4 Closer Than Sisters: Dorothy’s Relationship With A Married Man
When it comes to clandestine relationships with married men, most would consider Blanche to be the expert. However, Dorothy was actually the one to date and fall madly in love with a married man by the name of Glen O’Brien, a physical education teacher she met at work.
When her roommates found out, Rose and Sophia immediately expressed their disapproval of the relationship. The only person to support Dorothy and not pass judgment was Blanche, who understood that in life, happiness is often fleeting and that when one finds it, they need to grasp it as hard as they can no matter what form it takes.
3 At Each Other’s Throats: Blanche Dates Stan
By all accounts, Dorothy's ex-husband Stanley Zbornak was a cheap, philandering loser who the girls suffered the company of only due to extreme pity. When he showed up at their doorstep distraught and needing company after some business woes, Dorothy pawned him off on Blanche, as she had a date with a handsome naval officer.
To Dorothy's surprise, Stan and Blanche continued to date. Initially shrugging it off, Dorothy eventually began to get extremely jealous, as she wanted to preserve her time married to Stan solely for herself, privately. Fortunately, Blanche stopped seeing him before the relationship could escalate.
2 Closer Than Sisters: Big Daddy’s Funeral
The death of a parent is something nobody wants to experience, and Blanche was very close with her father, Big Daddy. Having denied his request for a visit to chair a ball on the weekend of his death, Blanche was also dealing with feelings of overwhelming guilt and denial.
Due to her falling out with the family, Blanche had no one to really lean upon for support in this trying time, except for her roommates. As their relationship was particularly close, Dorothy accompanied Blanche to Atlanta for the funeral, providing emotional support and stability at a very trying time.
1 At Each Other’s Throats: The Elliot Clayton Affair
Perhaps the worst argument between Blanche and Dorothy revolved around Dr. Elliot Clayton, Dorothy’s boyfriend at the time. Making a house call to examine Sophia, Blanche immediately turned on the charm but relented when she found out Dorothy asked him out first.
Dating for several weeks, things took a turn for the worse when while waiting for Dorothy in the living room, Elliot made a pass at Blanche. Distraught, when Blanche revealed this to Dorothy, she didn’t believe her, erupting in a huge fight which almost resulted in Dorothy moving out of the house.
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April 05, 2021 at 05:30AM
