What I Learned From 'The Golden Girls'

Picture it: Michigan, September 14, 1985. A young Vietnamese girl watches television with her grandmother on a Saturday night. Like everyone in her refugee family, the girl loves TV, which often feels like learning about American life. That night, a new show called The Golden Girls airs on NBC. From the first notes of the theme song— thank you for being a friend —the girl is hooked. The characters of Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose are in their 50s and Sophia is 80, but the girl feels an immediate connection to them. Perhaps because her own closest relationship is with her grandmother, or because she’s used to identifying with characters who look nothing like her. The girl loves everything about these women—how they laugh and play, how they gather around food to figure out their lives. She