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"It's like we say in St. Olaf, Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund's Day without the headless boy." This article is incomplete. You can help the Golden Girls Wiki by expanding it. |
Bringing Up Baby was the third episode of the third season of The Golden Girls, and the fifty-fourth episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan, it premiered on NBC-TV on October 3rd, 1987.
Summary[]
Rose's Uncle Hingeblotter dies and leaves Baby, his twenty-nine year-old prize-winning pig, to her. The other girls object until they learn about the cash they will receive if they take care of the animal until it dies.
Plot[]
As the episode opens, Dorothy answers the front door to discover Sophia returning home, uncertain of her location. Ecstatic to learn that she's home, Sophia reveals that she's lost her glasses, which were supposedly broken at the mall, and had a very hard time getting back to the house. When Dorothy asks her why she didn't call the house, Sophia reveals that all of her attempts to use a pay phone just resorted in purchasing condoms. Rose enters returns home with some odd news. Her uncle back in Minnesota has passed away, and in his will he left her custody of his baby. The girls are a bit perplexed as to how to address the situation. Dorothy admits that she always wished for another chance with a child, and soon everyone (with the exception of Sophia) has caught a severe case of hypothetical-baby fever. Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose take their enthusiasm to a different room, leaving the nearly blind Sophia to head to her bedroom; or, more accurately, to wander into traffic.
The next morning in the kitchen, Sophia wanders in and prepares to defecate on a chair right in the midst of her friends. The girls alert her that she is not actually in the bathroom and she exits, blaming her new semi-blindness for the blunder. Rose has been looking at old pictures, and Blanche has been worrying about the fact that the baby won’t have a male role model in its life. The gals tell her not to be concerned, especially Rose. At last, a man arrives at the door introducing himself as the deceased uncle’s legal representative, and he’s here with the baby. Only, as it turns out, “the baby” is actually Baby, a beautiful prized pig. The pig was apparently the pride and joy of Rose’s uncle, and her farm nostalgia starts firing on all cylinders. She is thrilled to have the pig with them, but the other girls are less than enthusiastic. That is, until the man at the door informs them that Baby comes with an incentive of $100,000 in pigbucks, providing the ladies can look after him until his dying day. As it turns out, the pig is currently twenty-nine years into a projected twenty-five year lifespan, and Rose is willing to split the money.
Baby wanders over to eat some of her food that was left at ground level, as Dorothy finally delivers a new pair of glasses with the wrong frames to her. Much to Dorothy’s dismay, Rose has been giving the pig free reign of the house. Dorothy is a bit more curious about when the pig will die. Blanche is fuming mad, as Baby tore up her nightgown and has shown a tendency to watch her shower. Rose decides to call her family to see if someone else can take Baby off her hands, but Dorothy recalls that this would cost them the attached $100,000. She and Blanche hastily change Rose’s mind to allow the pig to stay, and the two conspirators are forced to cut Sophia in on the deal along the way. Once again we see Sophia’s incredibly subtle manipulation of events in play, as seconds after she is promised a $25,000 share, a suddenly sickly Baby collapses off screen.
Rose reveals them that a veterinarian has come to see Baby, and the vet informs them all that the real issue is that Baby has a mental problem. Simply put, he’s homesick. Rose immediately plans to send Baby back to the farm but the gals jump in to convince her otherwise, complimenting her as a pig-keeper and overstating their own swine-related affection. Rose eventually gives in and even thanks the girls for being the best friends ever. This causes the girls to experience guilt, prompting another shopping spree to cheer them up a bit.
Dorothy comes clean, and when Blanche is convinced that Baby really is homesick and depressed, even her heart is melted. They both feel awful and beg Rose’s forgiveness. The trio has all unanimously decided to send Baby back home where he’ll be happy, forfeiting the money. Sophia, however, is not pleased about this turn of events, but once again was not consulted in the matter.
The gals are in the kitchen where Sophia finally has a new pair of glasses with the correct old lady frames. A letter arrives from Rose’s cousin, informing her that Baby was very happy to be back on the farm, and that this was a great time for him to spend his final hour. Baby has actually died, along with any hope the girls had of claiming the associated $100,000. The ladies then see that their Mercedes is being taken by the tow truck. Dorothy expresses her disappointment by saying that she is really depressed, she never even got to ride in it. To cheer themselves up a bit, we get one more mini-scene in which the gals manage to take a ride in the new car, even if this occurs while it is being pulled away by a tow truck.[1]
Tall Tales[]
To be added.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak
- Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux
- Betty White as Rose Nylund
- Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo
Guest Stars[]
- Parley Baer as Chester T. Rainey
- Tom McGreevey as Veterinarian
Notes[]
Cultural references[]
- The episode is a reference to the 1938 romantic comedy Bringing Up Baby. In the film, while trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
Goofs[]
- When Sophia mistakenly goes out the front door because she lost her glasses, there is almost immediately the sound of a car's screeching tires, and her shadow can still be seen through the doorway. The outside shots shows that the house is a good distance from the road.
- For all the references made to Sophia not being able to see without her glasses, it's pretty interesting that once she walks out the door and the car outside comes to a screeching halt to avoid hitting her, that she is able to see that it's a Buick.
- When Dorothy and Blanche are in Rose's room, its very obvious that Baby is just a stuffed toy pig. You can tell by the fluffy skin, the unnatural ear movement, and the covers would be moving up and down as its breathing. You can really tell its fake when Rose gets up off her bed.
- Rose doesn't know that Baby is a pig until he arrives at the house, and yet she has a photo album with multiple pictures of her family posing with Baby the prize-winning pig.
- While Blanche is begging Dorothy to keep the pig so they can have the $100,000, she says she'll give Dorothy one of her sons. She says she's had four kids, but she's never had a Mercedes. She then names three of her sons, Biff, Doug, and Skippy. But, Blanche has had six children. Her sons are Matthew, Biff, and Doug. She has two daughters, Rebecca and Janet. Perhaps she misspoke and meant she's had four sons, but has never had a Mercedes when she is offering to give Dorothy one of her sons if she can keep the Mercedes.
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References[]
- ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 3, Episode 3, "Bringing Up Baby". Fanaro, Barry and Nathan, Mort (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (October 3rd, 1987)