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Flu Attack

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Betty White as Rose Nylund
 "It's like we say in St. Olaf, Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund's Day without the headless boy."

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Flu Attack is the twenty-first episode of the first season of The Golden Girls and the twenty-first episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by James Berg and Stan Zimmerman, it premiered on NBC-TV on March 1st, 1986.

Summary[]

Blanche, Dorothy and Rose all come down with the flu and infuriate each other. When they each suspect that one of them has won a major award for their charity work, their competitiveness causes them all to attend despite their illness.

Plot[]

Rose comes down with the flu that soon affects the others, except Sophia. A doctor comes and diagnoses them with the flu and tells them to wait a week. The girls soon become irritable towards each other to the point they stop speaking to each other. Sophia unaffected goes forward with plans to attend the banquet. Two days later, the girls decide to make up after throwing insults at each other. Sophia comes in saying that she called to cancel the other girls' reservations and mentions she read between the lines and believes that one of them has won the award. The girls instantly start feuding and vow to attend and win the award. Still visibly sick, the girls attend the banquet with dates. Sophia shows up with a younger man named Raoul. The winner is announced as Sophia because she had raised money. She gives a moving speech that gets to the girls' hearts and they make up.[1]

Tall Tales[]

Tales from the Old South[]

Blanche mentions that her mother would rub eucalyptus oil on her necks and tie a sock around it when she got sick. It allegedly cleared her sinuses up "just like that".

Back in St. Olaf...[]

Rose mentions that her mother would sing to her and bake her gingerbread men when she was sick.

Later, Rose begins to tell a story about her cousin Dennis, who got his sideburns caught in the hay baler when he was sixteen. She is interrupted and doesn't get to finish.

Picture It...[]

Sophia mentions that in Sicily, people went to the Widow Caravelli whenever they had health problems. Caravelli was best known for a green salve that she used to treat ear infections, which she once gave to Salvador, the village idiot. Due to his ear infection, Salvador misheard her instructions and put the salve on his linguini instead of in his ears. The salve ended up tasting great, and Salvador decided to market it. While it wasn't very popular at first, the salve moved like hotcakes when Salvador began calling it pesto sauce.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest List[]

  • Sharon Spelman as Dr. Richmond
  • William Cort as Dave
  • Ray Reinhardt as Harold
  • Marcelo Tubert as Raoul
  • Tony Carreiro as Tommy Cochrane
  • Dom Irrera as The Waiter
  • Silvana Gallardo as The Emcee

Notes[]

  • The episode is also listed as "The Flu" in some cases, such as on Hulu.

Production[]

  • Dom Irrera reappears in "The Way We Met" as the produce clerk.[2]
  • Tony Carreiro previously appeared in "A Little Romance"[3] as a waiter and would later appear in Season 5 as a doctor.

Cultural references[]

  • When the three are first shown sick on the couch, Blanche is covering her eyes, Dorothy her ears, and Rose her mouth, a visual expression of "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".
  • Blanche and Dorothy fight over whether to watch Another World or something else. Another World was a soap opera on NBC at the time, the same network that originally owned The Golden Girls.
  • The emcee at the charity banquet mentions Don Johnson of Miami Vice fame was supposed to appear at the banquet.

Site Navigation[]

V - E - H
List of The Golden Girls episodes

Season 1 The Engagement • Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding • Rose the Prude • Transplant • The Triangle • On Golden Girls • The Competition • Break-In • Blanche and the Younger Man • The Heart Attack • The Return of Dorothy's Ex • The Custody Battle • A Little Romance • That Was No Lady • In a Bed of Rose's • The Truth Will Out • Nice and Easy • The Operation • Second Motherhood • Adult Education • The Flu • Job Hunting • Blind Ambitions • Big Daddy • The Way We Met
Season 2 End of the Curse • Ladies of the Evening • Take Him, He's Mine • It's a Miserable Life • Isn't It Romantic • Big Daddy's Little Lady • Family Affair • Vacation • Joust Between Friends • Love, Rose • 'Twas The Nightmare Before Christmas • The Sisters • The Stan Who Came to Dinner • The Actor • Before and After • And Then There Was One • Bedtime Story • Forgive Me, Father • Long Day's Journey into Marinara • Whose Face is This, Anyway? • Dorothy's Prized Pupil • Diamond in the Rough • Son-in-Law Dearest • To Catch a Neighbor • A Piece of Cake • Empty Nests
Season 3 Old Friends • One for the Money • Bringing Up Baby • The Housekeeper • Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself • Letter to Gorbachev • Strange Bedfellows • Brotherly Love • A Visit from Little Sven • The Audit • Three on a Couch • Charlie's Buddy • The Artist • Blanche's Little Girl • Dorothy's New Friend • Grab That Dough • My Brother, My Father • Golden Moments, Part 1 • Golden Moments, Part 2 • And Ma Makes Three • Larceny and Old Lace • Rose's Big Adventure • Mixed Blessings • Mister Terrific • Mother's Day
Season 4 Yes, We Have No Havanas • The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo • The One That Got Away • Yokel Hero • Bang the Drum, Stanley • Sophia's Wedding, Part 1 • Sophia's Wedding, Part 2 • Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket • Scared Straight • Stan Takes a Wife • The Auction • Blind Date • The Impotence of Being Ernest • Love Me Tender • Valentine's Day • Two Rode Together • You Gotta Have Hope • Fiddler On the Ropes • Till Death Do We Volley • High Anxiety • Little Sister • Sophia's Choice • Rites of Spring • Foreign Exchange • We're Outta Here, Part 1 • We're Outta Here, Part 2
Season 5 Sick and Tired, Part 1 • Sick and Tired, Part 2 • The Accurate Conception • Rose Fights Back • Love Under the Big Top • Dancing in the Dark • Not Another Monday • That Old Feeling • Comedy of Errors • All That Jazz • Ebb Tide • Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas • Mary Has a Little Lamb • Triple Play • Clinton Avenue Memoirs • Like the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-Tom • An Illegitimate Concern • 72 Hours • Twice In a Lifetime • Sisters and Other Strangers • Cheaters • The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present • All Bets Are Off • The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 1 • The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 2
Season 6 Blanche Delivers • Once, In St. Olaf • If At Last You Do Succeed • Snap Out Of It • Wham, Bam, Thank You Mammy • Feelings • Zborn Again • How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia? • Mrs. George Devereaux • Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They Die • Stand By Your Man • Ebbtide's Revenge • The Bloom Is Off the Rose • Sisters of the Bride • Miles to Go • There Goes the Bride, Part 1 •There Goes the Bride, Part 2 • Older and Wiser • Melodrama • Even Grandmas Get the Blues • Witness • What a Difference a Date Makes • Love for Sale • Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 1 • Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 2 • Henny Penny — Straight, No Chaser
Season 7 Hey, Look Me Over • The Case of the Libertine Belle • Beauty and the Beast • That's For Me to Know • Where's Charlie? • Mother Load • Dateline: Miami • The Monkey Show, Part 1 • The Monkey Show, Part 2 • Ro$e Love$ Mile$ • Room Seven • From Here to the Pharmacy • The Pope's Ring • Old Boyfriends • Goodbye, Mr. Gordon • The Commitments • Questions and Answers • Ebbtide VI: The Wrath of Stan • Journey to the Center of Attention • A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 1 • A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 2 • Rose: Portrait of a Woman • Home Again, Rose, Part 1 • Home Again, Rose, Part 2 • One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 1 •One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2

References[]

  1. ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 1, Episode 21, “Flu Attack”. Berg, James and Zimmerman, Stan (writers) & (March 1, 1986)
  2. ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 1, Episode 25, "The Way We Met". Speer, Kathy and Grossman, Terry (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (May 10th, 1986)
  3. ↑ The Golden Girls, Season 1, Episode 13, “A Little Romance”. Fanaro, Barry and Nathan, Mort (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (December 14th, 1885)
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