The BEST episodes of The Golden Palace
Every episode of The Golden Palace ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Golden Palace!
The Golden Palace begins where The Golden Girls had ended, in the quartet's now-sold Miami house. With Dorothy Zbornak having married and left in the previous series finale, the three remaining roommates (Sophia Petrillo, Rose Nylund, and Blanche Devereaux) decide to invest in a Miami hotel that is up for sale. The hotel, however, is revealed to have been stripped of all of its personnel in an effort to appear more profitable, leaving only two employees: Roland Wilson, the hotel's manager, and Chuy Castillos, the hotel's chef. This requires the women to perform all the tasks of the hotel's staff. The series focused on the interactions between guests at the hotel and the hotel's staff, as well as between the Golden Girls and the previous hotel staff. Guest stars were frequent, including recurring characters that had previously appeared on The Golden Girls, such as Debra Engle and Harold Gould as Rebecca Devereaux and Miles Webber, and other celebrities. Bea Arthur also reprised her Dorothy Zbornak role for a two-part storyline in which she visits the hotel to check up on her mother. Following the cancellation of the series, Sophia returns to the rebuilt Shady Pines retirement home (which had burned down in the previous series), appearing as a cast member in the later seasons of Empty Nest. What became of Rose, Blanche, and the hotel is left unresolved.
#1 - Camp Town Races Aren't Nearly as Much Fun as They Used to Be
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/4/1992
When The Daughters of the Traditional South are set to arrive at the hotel, Blanche hangs a Confederate flag on the front counter, though this doesn't bode well with Roland. Meanwhile, Rose is outraged when a married man whom she knows checks in with his mistress.
#2 - Seems Like Old Times (2)
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/6/1992
Sophia runs away to her old rest home. When the other girls try to get her, they find that it is no longer anywhere near as bad as she said it was.
#3 - Marriage on the Rocks with a Twist
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/20/1992
Roland's parents call to visit. He thinks they are flying over to tell him his dog died. It turns out they have decided to get a divorce. A comic duo is coming for a radio show live from The Golden Palace. Sophia advises the duo to use Rose for the show where they need a stupid person to make fun of. The prank goes too far and Rose thinks she killed one of the hosts. Roland's dad wants to move in with him until he finds a place. Blanche offers to help and gets Roland's parents to talk. Eventually Roland is the one convinced that the divorce is for the best. Sophia decides to tell Rose the truth because she is so upset. But the dead guy comes back dressed as a ghost and chases Rose who shoots him. Sophia, terrified, tells her it was a joke. But Rose reveals she was the practical joker all along. Sophia attempts one last time to turn the situation around.
#4 - Tad
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/16/1993
It is revealed that Blanche has another brother - a mentally handicapped man who has been living in an institution.
#5 - Miles, We Hardly Knew Ye
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1992
Rose suspects Miles has been unfaithful to her when his name is found in the hotel registry dating back several years.
#6 - One Old Lady to Go
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/9/1992
Rose adopts a delusional elderly woman who thinks she's her daughter; Sophia and Chuy decide to go into the Chinese takeout business.
#7 - You've Lost That Livin' Feeling
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/19/1993
A dead body, a news crew and a health inspector all descend upon the hotel during its weekend-long re-opening celebrations leaving the staff scrambling.
#8 - Say Goodbye, Rose
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/12/1993
Rose is enamored with a hotel guest who looks exactly like Charlie; Blanche is horrified to discover her visiting son Matthew wants to pursue a career as a comedian.
#9 - Promotional Considerations
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1992
Blanche and Roland clash over who is the boss of the hotel, meanwhile Rose unknowingly opens up the hotel to a serial killer.
#10 - Pro and Concierge
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/9/1993
Chuy's big mouth results in Roland losing his job after it's revealed he met with the owners of a rival hotel.
#11 - Rose and Fern
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1993
Miles contacts Rose again and wants them back together. Blanche advises Rose to date other people to get over him. Roland tells Blanche something is wrong in the books and he suspects someone may be stealing money from the hotel. Blanche swears she will not tell anyone while he investigates. A woman wants her wedding organized at the hotel and Rose wants it to be a cow-themed traditional wedding. Blanche suspects Sophia, then Chuy about the thefts. Rose decides to get back together with Miles until she finds out he is about to marry the very woman whose wedding she organized. Roland catches Blanche taking money from the cash drawer, not even realizing she is embezzling. Rose wants to attend the wedding so she can get on with her life.
#12 - Seems Like Old Times (1)
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/30/1992
Dorothy visits her ex-roommates at the Golden Palace, hoping to convince Sophia to come and live with her and her husband in Atlanta.
#13 - Heartbreak Hotel
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/29/1993
Rose organizes a romantic getaway night at the hotel with Dr. Ursula as a guest to give a lecture. Blanche is excited because Taylor Michaels is coming to town. She once lost this man to another woman but Rose is the one Taylor is interested in when he arrives. Sophia signs up Roland with her to the lecture because she feels she lost her sex appeal and Roland has a poor sex life. Blanche is jealous that Rose and Ernie are dating so she finds a way to get Rose occupied while she replaces her on a date with Taylor. Taylor offers the two girls to have diner together the next evening. Blanche cannot stand that Taylor wants Rose and not her. Rose shows her that she is more important to her that he is.
#14 - Ebbtide for the Defense
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/16/1992
Chuy meets an old friend with a grudge against him; the staff try to make it through the weekend incident free when they realize they don't have any insurance coverage.
#15 - Can't Stand Losing You
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/23/1992
Blanche and Rose are concerned that Roland overworks himself and decide to compete to find him a new girlfriend. Rose finds a beautiful young girl and Blanche tracks down Roland's southern ex-girlfriend Tricia. Only when Tricia is already on the plane to Miami does Blanche find out that Roland hates her. Sophia is jealous of Chuy because he was chosen over her to represent the hotel at a television show.
#16 - Just a Gigolo
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/13/1992
Nick De Carlo, a handsome patron says he cannot pay the bill and wants to work in the kitchen. The girls want to find something more appropriate for him to do and ask him about his trade. Nick says he is a gigolo. Shocked, the girls hire him anyway to wash the dishes. When Blanche's date dies, and Nick proposes to escort Blanche to her diner. They really hit it off on their date, and when he has paid off his debt, he thinks of changing jobs. Blanche offers him to stay at the hotel and take care of him. Roland takes Chuy to a seminar from the author of "Ready, Willing and Able" so he changes his personality. Chuy is supposed to walk on hot coal so he overcomes his fears. It turns out Chuy manages but Roland is afraid to do the same. Chuy talks him into it. Rick tells Blanche he does not want her to pay for everything. He wants to go back to Indiana and work in his brother's store to earn money. But he still asks for more money before he leaves. Rose finds out his hometown does not exist and threatens to tell Blanche. Nick gives up and leaves.
#17 - A New Leash on Life
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/2/1993
Blanche's relationship with a greyhound breeder becomes strained when Rose finds out what will happen if his dog doesn't win the next race. Meanwhile, Roland’s mother visits and gets close to Chuy.
#18 - It's Beginning to Look a Lot (Less) Like Christmas
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1992
Chuy does not like Christmas because of bad memories in his childhood. Roland accepts to be Santa at the children's hospital. Rose wants him to be a perfect Santa so she puts him through a training with Sophia. Unfortunately, a group of guests being medically treated for depression threaten to check out if anything reminds them of Christmas in the hotel. This makes Rose miserable and Chuy very happy. That night, Chuy dreams of Rose as the spirit of Christmas past. She takes him to his father's kitchen so he realizes his father wanted to teach him what Christmas was about when all he could feel was shame being dressed as a giant cake. Blanche appears then as the ghost "of Christmas presents" who shows him that his friends have to celebrate Christmas out in the cold so as not to upset the guests and wait for him to open their presents. Sophia is the ghost of Christmas yet to come. She shows him how his hatred of Christmas made him a hated man who took over the hotel and made his friends miserable. Chuy wakes up and yells Merry Christmas all over the hotel, convincing the guests Christmas is a great time.
#19 - Señor Stinky Learns Absolutely Nothing About Life
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/5/1993
The Golden Palace is being sued by the owner of another hotel : he says part of the girls' parking lot is on his property. Blanche challenges herself and tries to deal with this as a business woman instead of seducing the man so he drops his charge. Chuy is mad because Roland, who is the captain of the volleyball team, will not let him play but lets Rose on the team even though she is not better than he is. Blanche finally finds a solution to the problem without getting romantically involved with the hotel owner even though he flirts with her. Rose decides to be a cheerleader instead of playing but one of the player hurts himself so Roland asks Chuy to play. However they loose because of him and Roland gets upset which he later regrets. Once the business chapter is closed with the hotel owner, Blanche accepts a date.
#20 - One Angry Stan
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/30/1993
The girls learn that Dorothy's ex-husband Stan has died, but Sophia eventually finds out the truth when Stan shows up: he faked death and left the country to avoid paying back taxes.
#21 - Sex, Lies and Tortillas
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/7/1993
Spring Break finds a horde of college kids descending upon the hotel; Rose receives a visit from her granddaughter Charlene who is contemplating sex with her boyfriend.
#22 - Pilot
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1992
After their ex-roommate Dorothy moves away to Atlanta with her new husband, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia sell their house and decide to purchase a dilapidated hotel near the beach.
#23 - Runaways
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/15/1993
Sophia and Oliver joy ride in a guest's car and wind up in police custody. Meanwhile, Oliver's mother arrives to take custody of Oliver.
#24 - The Chicken and the Egg
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/14/1993
Blanche turns to her daughter Rebecca when her latest beau wants Blanche to bear his children.