Summer Nose-talgia #28: Estelle Getty, A Real Golden Gal!

Today would have been actress Estelle Getty's 91st birthday; born in 1923, she left us just a few days over six years ago in 2008.  The passing of the beloved actress, so much loved for her portrayal of Bea Arthur's mother Sophia Petrillo in the long-running sitcom The Golden Girls, was a huge blow to her legions of fans, all of whom worshiped Sophia's acerbic, hilarious and often inappropriate remarks to Bea as her mostly well-grounded daughter Dorothy, Rue McClanahan as the randy Blanche and Betty White as the absurdly-grounded Rose.  Though this group functioned as a beautiful ensemble and everybody probably had their special favorite Golden Girl, there was nobody who didn't love it when Sophia chimed in.

The Golden Girls ran from 1985 - 1992 for 177 episodes; when Bea Arthur left at the end of the run Sophia, Blanche and Rose kept going another season together on The Golden Palace as the ladies opened a small hotel.  Audiences weren't yet ready to say goodbye to Sophia Petrillo, however, and Estelle Getty reprised the character on the sitcom Empty Nest where she appeared on over fifty episodes during its run from 1988 - 1995.

NYC-born Getty got her show biz start in the Catskills where she'd wait tables and try her hand at comedy on the resort stages.  She kept at it, juggling real life secretarial gigs and small theater roles until she landed the role of playwright Harvey Fierstein' s mother in the original stage version of Torch Song Trilogy.  Guests roles on TV and small roles in features -- including Cher's mother in Mask -- finally led to her big break when the 62-year old got the part of Sophia Petrillo, the 80-something year old mother of the Bea Arthur character.  Bea was in fact barely one year older than Getty at the time.

Nobody says it like Sophia Petrillo -- here are some choice Estelle Getty moments in the role of a lifetime:





































An early interview with the cast of The Golden Girls on The Merv Griffin Show:






In 1988 Estelle Getty won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series -- she was nominated each year from 1986 thru 1992 and this was her sole win:




She and Betty White were featured in a great Clueless parody on the 1996 MTV Movie Awards:



Estelle Getty passed away on July 22, 2008 -- three days before her 85th birthday -- from complications of Lewy body dementia.  Her death was met with genuine sadness; she had created one of the most memorable comedy characters in all of TV history and audiences were devastated.



YouTube is full of fan-made Estelle Getty video tributes, tangible proof of the lasting affection that her fans hold for her and her masterful portrayal of Sophia Petrillo.  Here are just a couple of them:








The Flaming Nose remembers with fondness and respect the talented and hilarious Estelle Getty.

2010: My Favorite TV Performances

I hope you've read Jane's post from yesterday on her Top Ten TV choices from this year. It's a terrific and well-reasoned list, and after such a wonderful look-back, I need to do something different. I agree with Jane on all her choices, But I can't just repeat the wonderful things she said about Louis C.K., for instance, or all the other accurate shout-outs she gave to our favorites. How about I offer my favorite performances from this past year? Firmly believing that TV is all about personalities, here's a selection of the actors and actresses I loved best -- my top seven. (Who needs a Top Ten when seven will do?)

Charlie Day as Charlie on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, on FX: All Hail crazy Charlie, King of the Rats! Though I don't think this was the series' best year, Charlie Day is a constant delight. He's not only hilarious -- a great physical comedian as well as a plucky actor with truly funny bones -- he's also able to convey an almost hapless melancholy that brings his performance into a special place. Charlie's some kind of a savant living life as a dope, he's the butt of everybody's jokes, he puts mittens on cats and keeps a dream journal, and you can't wait to see him appear in every episode. Whether it's his unique voice or his lithe form in his Greenman costume, Charlie always rules the Day! He's an absolute delight.


John Slattery as Roger Sterling on Mad Men, AMC: Though Slattery has been superb all through Mad Men's run, the blue note he often played this season really got to me. Roger's got everything -- money, prestige, a doting wife, all the liquor he can possibly imbibe -- except the things he wants most. Respect...he doesn't have that, just remember how the creepy tobacco heir Lee Garner (played so well by Darren Pettie) smooshed his ego flat when Roger asked for a little time to break the news about the loss of his account. Yikes, so cold, such a wake-up call, and not the only blow Roger would face this season. The wise and eternally sultry Joan sees his desperation and calls off her sometime fling with him, too, over that debacle. And even worse, his dictated memoirs get nothing but giggles from Don and Peggy when they surreptitiously listen to them. In terms of Slattery's comic chops, anytime we saw him working on his memoirs was pure gold, always funny, often bitter and ultimately more sad than anything else. Dyspeptic, often cruel, ultimately heartbroken, John Slattery showed us the rue this year, plus he stepped into the director's chair a couple of times. So talented! I'm even okay with his car commercials...

Randee Heller as Miss Ida Blankenship on Mad Men, AMC: Don Draper's idiosyncratic fill-in secretary was a special treat, at first a tad annoying but then a treasure. We learned, via Roger's memoirs, that she had been a sexual vixen back in the day, and she had lost none of her tartness as she served up wry and cheeky observations which usually left Don speechless. We figured that her sudden death in the 9th episode ("The Beautiful Girls") meant a dark shift for the last few episodes of the season, and we weren't wrong. We really missed Miss Blankenship after that, and kudos to Randee Heller for playing much older (and virtually in disguise) with such heart and humor.

Betty White as Elka Ostrovsky in Hot in Cleveland, on TV Land. Betty White had a golden Renaissance this year, not that she needed one. The TV comedy veteran has never had a dull or a non-working moment, but it was extra nice to see her co-starring on TV Land's successful new sitcom alongside the talented Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves and Valerie Bertinelli. Yeah, so her character is maybe a little cliched -- a man-hungry senior lady -- but nobody does it like Betty White. Her comedy timing is unsurpassed, as we also saw with her great guest hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live in May. She's always the funniest one on whatever stage she's on, and we love her.


Julia Stiles as Lumen Pierce in Dexter, on Showtime: I've been cool on Julia Stiles in the past, but she won me over as the disturbed gang rape victim turned avenger in Dexter's 5th season. Damaged almost beyond salvation yet brought back to life, through death, by Dexter (Michael C. Hall), Lumen turned out to be courageous, resourceful, necessarily savage but ultimately human again as she finally found her peace. I'll miss the down-to-earth sneakers that she always wore, the perfect choice of footwear for a woman teetering on the edge episode after episode.


Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson on Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock: The always perfect Freeman (The Office, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) was a wonderful sidekick to the icy idiosyncratic genius of a modern day Sherlock Holmes, played by an equally skilled Benedict Cumberbatch. There's something about Freeman's everyman looks and essential kindness that makes him so tremendously watchable. He was charming, bemused, intelligent and brave as Watson, a troubled Middle East war veteran medico who brought humanity and friendship to the prickly Holmes. Definitely check out this three-part presentation if you missed it. If you did see it, you know what I mean -- Martin Freeman was terrific.

Matt Smith as Doctor Who, on BBC America: It's not like the franchise needed or wanted a new Doctor; everybody loved the wonderful David Tennant as the 10th Doctor, but Tennant wanted to move on. Big shoes to fill, there; Tennant was nothing less than superb. But now we have the 11th actor to play Doctor Who, and the youngest one yet. Matt Smith is only 26 but has proved to be a terrific choice to carry on the whimsical, intelligent, wise and humane legacy of The Doctor. Smith's Who is exactly right, with a manic energy and humor befitting his age and the sensibility of these times we're in, plus a brilliant mien that clearly takes much from the actor himself. If you want to see an actor put his heart, mind and soul into a part, in a way that you simply don't see here on American TV, I urge you to watch Matt Smith as Doctor Who. He was my favorite new face of 2010, hands above anything else on the tube, anywhere.

Here's to many more sensational performances and break-out personalities in 2011!

Happy New Year from The Flaming Nose!

Great News for "Hot in Cleveland" -- Classic Comics Unite!

TV Land's terrific new sitcom Hot in Cleveland just announced another great get for the show: Comic Tim Conway will guest as a rival with Carl Reiner for Betty White's affections! Reiner has already been featured in several segments as Betty's new boyfriend, and he's adorable and very appealing in the role. Betty White is, of course, peerlessly funny!

Read a good account of the Tim Conway news here from Ohio.com, from the Akron Beacon Journal.

The addition of Tim Conway should kick the comedy up even another notch. Hot in Cleveland is already honestly laugh-out-loud funny, and not just for a certain boomer demo. The writing is crisp, the characterizations solid, and the acting spot on. The show is a real delight. We're also thrilled to read about the addition of Dave Foley to the ensemble -- this show really has an eye for perfect casting. Couldn't be better!

If you're not already watching Hot in Cleveland, give it a try. New episodes premiere Wednesdays at 10pm. The only mistake TV Land is making right now is that they're really stingy with episodes available online. Only the current week's episode? Not enough! If you want to get fans hooked, let us watch the episodes! (I will say that with a little sleuthing you can find them around the net, but wouldn't you rather watch them on TV Land? I would.)

TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" Sitcom Premieres Tonight!

The Flaming Nose is plenty excited about TV Land's new filmed-live-in-front-of-a-studio-audience sitcom Hot in Cleveland, premiering tonight (Wednesday, June 16th) at 10pm. Why this anticipation? Good provenance -- actor and sometime producer Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) is exec producing, writers with Frasier and Ellen experience are on aboard -- and a good cast of female comedy veterans, including Betty White, the very deserving darling of the moment. If you're at all an aficionado of television comedy, you should be heartened by the rest of the starring ladies, too: Valerie Bertinelli ('70s smash One Day at a Time), Jane Leeves (Frasier), and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me! and early cable sitcom Dream On).



Granted, the premise may be more silly than sublime -- a trio of slightly over-the-hill L.A. beauties are stranded in Cleveland, Ohio and find themselves enjoying the reception they get from the local lads -- but the time feels right for silly and I'm going with this one. Betty White is the acerbic-tongued housekeeper they meet up with; stand back and let the quips begin. I've got to give big support to this quartet of pros, all nicely matured, who look terrific and really know how to sling a comedy line.

The producers are proud of the fact that the show is filmed live, with no added canned laughter, and let's hope the writing is sharp enough to keep those audience members entertained as much as we hope we'll be. This is TV Land's first original sitcom, a big step after the net's long and successful history as part of Nick at Nite back in the mid-80s, and as its own entity ten years later. TV Land used to be just that -- a wonderful place for classic TV lovers -- but in an eternal and probably unwinnable quest to skew younger the channel spurned its roots and has turned lately to reality shows and defiantly post-boomer content. Perhaps Hot in Cleveland will both fulfill their advertiser dreams for original content and at the same time reach out to viewers who've felt abandoned by what used to be such a fun channel. Count me as one of the latter.

Hot in Cleveland premieres tonight Wednesday, June 16th at 10pm on TV Land. Visit their HiC website for behind-the-scene videos, and become a fan of the show on Facebook, too.

A Lotta Love for Betty White

After losing Rue McClanahan last week, The Flaming Nose firmly believes the continued vibrant presence of her The Golden Girls co-star Betty White is a gift that we should savor to its fullest extent.

The 88-year-old Betty is on a roll these days. In a great recent interview from Advertising Age, she tells how her Super Bowl spot kicked her career back into high gear, culminating in her recent ratings-grabbing and completely hilarious hosting of Saturday Night Live. Read the article here.

You might also like to check out this gallery of Betty White photos from NY Daily News.com; it's very entertaining and you'll be reminded what a glorious show biz trooper she is!

Here's a preview for her Super Bowl ad, but the best quality version of the commercial itself is on the Snickers site here.




And here's one of her great skits from SNL -- "CSI: Sarasota" (where I now live!).




(And may I ask why NBC claims to put "full shows" of SNL online, but they only run about 46:00 and leave out musical numbers and even more heinously many of the skits? That's ridiculous!).

All Hail Betty White!