"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 Monkey Show, Part 1 is the eighth episode of the seventh season of The Golden Girls and the one-hundred and sixty-second episode overall. Directed by Lex Passaris and written by Mitchell Hurwitz and Marc Sotkin, it premiered on NBC-TV on November 9th, 1991. It is the first part of the two-part The Monkey Show special.
As a hurricane threatens Miami, Stan's therapist advises him to transfer his feelings for Dorothy onto a traffic cone monkey. Dorothy's newly penniless sister, Gloria, visits and sleeps with Stan. Blanche and Rose hold a telethon to save a local historic lighthouse.
Plot[]
Sophia is preparing for a hurricane which is yet to be predicted, the rather ridiculous proof was that a woman at the center had a leg camp (despite her 200 pounds not being a reason) and tells Dorothy, Gloria is visiting but now she is broke after a bad investment. Dorothy reveals that Stan is using a toy monkey to express all his feelings for Dorothy, when Gloria comes in she is still her snobbish self and Dorothy delights in her bad luck. Blanche and Rose hold auditions for a Telethon for the saving of a lighthouse but Blanche wants to have male entertainers but Rose puts her foot down. At the therapy session with Stan, Dorothy is annoyed about the way Stan is treating the monkey like it's real, so the Doctor suggests for two years Stan and Dorothy don't have contact in order for the monkey therapy to work. Meanwhile Gloria has a breakdown and admits she is lonely so Dorothy decides to help her restore her confidence and they share their room Dorothy's relationship improves with her sister. The week passes and an Hurricane is predicted to pass through Miami but Dorothy feels like nothing can spoil her good luck, until she finds Stan and Gloria sleeping together.[1]
The episode derives its title from Dr. Halperin suggesting that Stan transfer his feelings for Dorothy to a surrogate, namely, a toy doll of a monkey kept in his office.
A monkey show is a form of entertainment featuring apes or monkeys, usually at a fair or circus.
Angelo mentions that he was trained to deal with emergencies in the Italian Army. Actor Bill Dana, who played Angelo, served as an infantryman and linguist in the United States Army during World War II.
Production[]
This is an hour-long episode split into two parts for syndication.
This episode was part of Hurricane Saturday, one-off programming block of a three-way, two-hour crossover event on NBC which involved three television sitcoms created by Susan Harris -- The Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Nurses -- crossing over with a hurricane. Local NBC Miami weatherman Bryan Norcross would play the weatherman for each series giving reports on the storm thus getting the characters through it. Incidentally, during the following summer of 1992, Norcross would come to greater national attention as the meteorologist who guided South Floridians through Hurricane Andrew. one of the worst natural disasters in American history.
Cultural references[]
When sitting at the kitchen table, Sophia likens her family to the Gabors, with herself as their mother, Gloria as Zsa Zsa and Phil as Eva with Dorothy being overlooked. There was actually a third Gabor sister, Magda, who also was overlooked.
↑The Golden Girls, Season 7, Episodes 8, “The Monkey Show, Part 1”. Hurwitz, Mitchell and Sotkin, Marc (writers) & Passaris, Lex (director) (November 9th, 1991)
