“Thank You for Being a Friend” was playing in a lot of households over the past month. The Wrap reports that The Golden Girls fans were mourning the death of Betty White, along with acknowledging what would have been her 100th birthday last month, by binge-watching the classic sitcom. The high viewership resulted in The Golden Girls hitting the top of the Nielsen charts 30 years after its series finale, a testament to the show’s enduring legacy.
The Golden Girls has cracked Nielsen’s Top 10 Streaming Acquired Programs list at No. 8, putting it just above Shameless and The Thundermans and landing behind Supernatural. About 41% of people who watched the program during the first week of 2022, following White’s death on New Year’s Eve, were aged 35-49. From Jan. 3 to Jan. 9, all 180 episodes of The Golden Girls were streamed for 384 million minutes on Hulu.
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Betty White was the last surviving actress of the four main cast members of The Golden Girls. Airing for seven seasons between 1985-1992, the show starred White, Estelle Getty, Bea Arthur, and Rue McClanahan as four women sharing a home in Miami during their golden years. All four lead stars received an Emmy Award for their performances with the sitcom also winning the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series twice.
January Was a Month-Long Celebration of Betty White’s Life
Betty White/Instagram
Betty White would have turned 100 years old on Jan. 17. A theatrical celebration of her life and career was set to be screened on that day, courtesy of Fathom Events, and White had even recorded her final interview for the documentary. Her passing on Dec. 31 resulted in some edits being made to the doc so it’d serve as a memorial rather than focusing on her birthday, still serving as a celebration of the comedy icon.
White has also been honored with various tributes and television specials in her honor. CMT and Hallmark also hosted marathons of The Golden Girls to further pay tribute to White. On her 100th birthday, Google displayed an animation featuring falling rose pedals and the phrase “Thank you for being a friend” for anyone who Googled White’s name on that day. It all just goes to show how much she is loved. White knew it as well, and expressed her gratitude for all of the fan support in her final video message posted to Instagram.
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A post shared by Betty White (@bettymwhite)
“She could never have imagined such an outpouring of love and would have be so grateful to everyone,” the Instagram caption adds. “When we recorded her special message to fans who attended the movie, we also recorded one that we had planned to put on social media on her birthday. She was using the occasion of her 100th birthday to celebrate YOU - her fans. She knew how lucky she was; she felt the love, and she never took it for granted.”
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A post shared by Betty White (@bettymwhite)
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The Golden Girls can be found streaming on Hulu, as can the one-season spinoff series The Golden Palace.
