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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."

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The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo is the second episode of the fourth season of The Golden Girls and the seventy-eighth episode overall. Directed by Terry Hughes and written by Terry Grossman and Kathy Speer, it premiered on NBC-TV on October 22nd, 1988.

Summary[]

Sophia plans to go to the market and buy a nectarine, which she does every day. The other girls worry that she is too old and frail to enjoy life. However, the tables are turned: Sophia has a full, active day of rallying fellow seniors to fight return policies at a supermarket, leading a charity band on the boardwalk, and volunteering at a hospital, while the other girls sit around the kitchen table talking about how to pass the time.

Plot[]

The girls plan to spend the day house cleaning, while Sophia tells them that she is going to buy a nectarine, Dorothy worries that Sophia isn't doing enough in her life and it turns out she is very wrong. At the Store, Sophia argues with a staff member over the ripeness of the nectarines but finds one, then her friend Claire is having a problem, she tried to return some lamb meat but because she had opened the package they can't return it but Sophia pretends to be a member of an group for protection for Seniors and they give Claire her money back and Sophia gets money off. After this, Sophia is working as a conductor for a band of older musicians, the rain has put the people off going out but Sophia gives the ladies a reason to play as best as they can and they do. Later that afternoon Sophia is working as a candy striper at the local hospital where despite her insults she does show kindness to one old lady asking if somebody has sent her flowers, realizing she hurt the woman's feelings allows her to take the flowers on the cart. Then her friend Sam appears, he is in hospital and Sophia gives him the nectarine, where it is revealed he has either HIV or AIDS but Sophia reminds him to eat healthier as he might make it. Sophia returns home while the girls haven't done anything but lies to them, Sophia tells them that she brought a nectarine nothing more.[1]

Tall Tales[]

Tales from the Old South[]

To be added.

Back in St. Olaf...[]

To be added.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

  • Frances Bay as Claire
  • Nick DeMauro as Clerk
  • David Selburg as Store Manager
  • Allen Bloomfield as Abe
  • Ellen Albertini Dow as Mrs. Leonard
  • Peggy Gilbert as Esther
  • Marian Wells as Wanda
  • The Dixie Belles as The Band
  • Kokko Burnaby as Sam
  • Darlene Kardon as Woman
  • Ruth Cohen as Woman in Grocery Store

Notes[]

  • The music playing on the television set before Rose turns it off is the theme music for Grab That Dough, the fictional game show the girls compete on in Season 3.
  • Alan Kalter can be seen as an extra watching the band perform. He went on to be the announcer on the Late Show with David Letterman for 20 years.

Production[]

  • Ellen Albertini Dow, who plays Mrs. Leonard, later plays Sophia's friend Lillian in "Sophia's Choice".[2]
  • Ruth Cohen, the woman in the tan raincoat and pink blouse shopping by bananas, is the same actress who sat next to Blanche in "The Actor" in Season 2 when Blanche revealed her "enhanced" bosom at auditions.[3]

Cultural references[]

  • When Sophia says the line 'I got a better case than Valerie Harper!' in the supermarket scene, she is referring to actress Valerie Harper winning a court battle against her former employers: Lorimar and NBC-TV. The case involved dispute over the 1986 TV series Valerie, in which Harper was fired in 1987. Lorimar and NBC-TV claimed Harper threw tantrums and was difficult to work with. Harper claimed they fired her without reason. The case would eventually last for over a year, with Harper coming out victorious in September 1988.

Goofs[]

  • In one scene, Dorothy mentions that her grandmother was ninety-four when Dorothy was six. Yet, two episodes ago, a flashback showed Dorothy as a grown woman wheeling her very alive grandmother around in a wheelchair. This means her grandmother would have had to be well into her hundreds at the time of her death.[4]
  • When Blanche starts to tell the story about the boy with the big ears, her cookie disappears between shots.
  • When Sophia argues with the store manager, she takes the lamb chop from Claire twice.

Site Navigation[]

V - E - H List of The Golden Girls episodes
Season 1 The EngagementGuess Who's Coming to the WeddingRose the PrudeTransplantThe TriangleOn Golden GirlsThe CompetitionBreak-InBlanche and the Younger ManThe Heart AttackThe Return of Dorothy's ExThe Custody BattleA Little RomanceThat Was No LadyIn a Bed of Rose'sThe Truth Will OutNice and EasyThe OperationSecond MotherhoodAdult EducationThe FluJob HuntingBlind AmbitionsBig DaddyThe Way We Met
Season 2 End of the CurseLadies of the EveningTake Him, He's MineIt's a Miserable LifeIsn't It RomanticBig Daddy's Little LadyFamily AffairVacationJoust Between FriendsLove, Rose'Twas The Nightmare Before ChristmasThe SistersThe Stan Who Came to DinnerThe ActorBefore and AfterAnd Then There Was OneBedtime StoryForgive Me, FatherLong Day's Journey into MarinaraWhose Face is This, Anyway?Dorothy's Prized PupilDiamond in the RoughSon-in-Law DearestTo Catch a NeighborA Piece of CakeEmpty Nests
Season 3 Old FriendsOne for the MoneyBringing Up BabyThe HousekeeperNothing to Fear But Fear ItselfLetter to GorbachevStrange BedfellowsBrotherly LoveA Visit from Little SvenThe AuditThree on a CouchCharlie's BuddyThe ArtistBlanche's Little GirlDorothy's New FriendGrab That DoughMy Brother, My FatherGolden Moments, Part 1Golden Moments, Part 2And Ma Makes ThreeLarceny and Old LaceRose's Big AdventureMixed BlessingsMister TerrificMother's Day
Season 4 Yes, We Have No HavanasThe Days and Nights of Sophia PetrilloThe One That Got AwayYokel HeroBang the Drum, StanleySophia's Wedding, Part 1Sophia's Wedding, Part 2Brother, Can You Spare That JacketScared StraightStan Takes a WifeThe AuctionBlind DateThe Impotence of Being ErnestLove Me TenderValentine's DayTwo Rode TogetherYou Gotta Have HopeFiddler On the RopesTill Death Do We VolleyHigh AnxietyLittle SisterSophia's ChoiceRites of SpringForeign ExchangeWe're Outta Here, Part 1We're Outta Here, Part 2
Season 5 Sick and Tired, Part 1Sick and Tired, Part 2The Accurate ConceptionRose Fights BackLove Under the Big TopDancing in the DarkNot Another MondayThat Old FeelingComedy of ErrorsAll That JazzEbb TideHave Yourself a Very Little ChristmasMary Has a Little LambTriple PlayClinton Avenue MemoirsLike the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-TomAn Illegitimate Concern72 HoursTwice In a LifetimeSisters and Other StrangersCheatersThe Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding PresentAll Bets Are OffThe President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 1The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 2
Season 6 Blanche DeliversOnce, In St. OlafIf At Last You Do SucceedSnap Out Of ItWham, Bam, Thank You MammyFeelingsZborn AgainHow Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?Mrs. George DevereauxGirls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They DieStand By Your ManEbbtide's RevengeThe Bloom Is Off the RoseSisters of the BrideMiles to GoThere Goes the Bride, Part 1There Goes the Bride, Part 2Older and WiserMelodramaEven Grandmas Get the BluesWitnessWhat a Difference a Date MakesLove for SaleNever Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 1Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 2Henny Penny — Straight, No Chaser
Season 7 Hey, Look Me OverThe Case of the Libertine BelleBeauty and the BeastThat's For Me to KnowWhere's Charlie?Mother LoadDateline: MiamiThe Monkey Show, Part 1The Monkey Show, Part 2Ro$e Love$ Mile$Room SevenFrom Here to the PharmacyThe Pope's RingOld BoyfriendsGoodbye, Mr. GordonThe CommitmentsQuestions and AnswersEbbtide VI: The Wrath of StanJourney to the Center of AttentionA Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 1A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 2Rose: Portrait of a WomanHome Again, Rose, Part 1Home Again, Rose, Part 2One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 1One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2

References[]

  1. The Golden Girls, Season 4, Episode 2, “The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo”. Speer, Kathy and Grossman, Terry (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (October 22nd, 1988)
  2. The Golden Girls, Season 4, Episode 22, “Sophia’s Choice”. Gamble, Tracy and Vaczy, Richard (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (April 15th, 1989)
  3. The Golden Girls, Season 2, Episode 14, “The Actor”. Fanaro, Barry and Nathan, Mort (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (January 17th, 1987)
  4. The Golden Girls, Season 3, Episode 25, "Mother's Day". Speer, Kathy and Grossman, Terry (writers) & Hughes, Terry (director) (May 7th, 1988)
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