I'm sorry if this is discussed before, but i didnt see it in my search. What was the Reason for Shorting the opening theme song? or is this something lifetime is doing?

Thanks,
Devon

moocow --

First of all, welcome to the site! Glad to have another fan on here.

As for the shortening of the theme song, it is due to the syndication of the show. Lifetime has notoriously cut out parts of the show since it began airing it in the late 1990s. It's something we've just had to come accustomed to. Ironically, there are still some episodes on Lifetime where they air the full theme song.

I'd encourage you to go to the Member's Introduction Suite and introduce yourself to everyone.

Again, welcome!!!

I've always liked the longer opening better.

For the longest time I thought it was like a season thing.
Like it was shorter at first then it got longer i dunno y i thought that though

thanks for your help. i had always thought it was a season thing to..... darn lifetime!

Hey, welcome aboard!

Let me explain this to you...

Lifetime acquired the official off-network rights to The Golden Girls in 1997. American syndication laws require an extra commercial break. Therefore, the networks have to make edits to the original show to allow for this. This explains why bits of dialogue, parts of scenes, or even entire scenes are missing! Lifetime does not make the second commercial break in the same spot for each episode. For most of them, they copied and pasted the original commercial transitions and used them for the second break. For The Golden Palace, they just chopped and moved on. For the most part, Lifetime would view the episodes first for timing. They would then do the "re-editing" for syndication. Depending on how much they edited out of the original film, they would then turn to the theme song. If they edited very little, they would use the shortened version. If they edited out a lot, they would use the longer minute version of the theme song. They normally do this for the hourlong specials that are cut up into two 30-minute episodes for syndication. If you get American TV, take a look at a Golden Girls episode on Lifetime, at least from the first three seasons. I guarantee you that you will be able to pick out most, if not all, of the network's edits.

Hope this helps!
Gary

But on the dvd's (season 1 until 6) show always the shorter version. Why is that?

I wonder that too.!

I've never seen the longer version until recently on youtube, and often wondered why they made the longer one. Here in Sweden when the Golden girls where aired, there was no syndication, and they used the short version opening, same as the DVD's. So I wonder where did the long version came form, and what was the purpose for having a longer wersion?

The longer version opening (1:00 and not 0:40) seems to be the original one! (according to http://www.tvseriesfinale.com/2006/12/the_...mi_ladies.html)

So why isn't that version released on DVD? Would be nice to have it. Why not ad it to the extras on the 7th season!

People seem to be getting confused here. There are actually three versions of the opening credits. The 40 second version is the one used originally for the series on NBC, on the DVDs and on LivingTV in the UK and RTL in Germany. When the show went into syndication in America, a further two versions were created: one of 60 seconds and one lasting only 20 seconds. These have only ever been shown in syndication within the USA. Therefore, the credits most people here are referring to as 'short' could be more appropriately called the 'medium' credits.

OK, let me get this straight. The 40-second version IS the original one and on the DVDs? So the 20-second one goes like:

Thank you for being a friend
Travel down the road and back again
Your heart is true,
You're a pal and a confidante
Thank you for being a friend!

and the 60-second one is:

Thank you for being a friend
Travel down the road and back again
Your heart is true,
You're a pal and a confidante
And if you threw a party
invited everyone you knew
you would see the biggest gift would be from me
and the card attached would say
Thank you for being a friend!
(MUSIC: dun-dun-dun)
And if you threw a party
invited everyone you knew
you would see the biggest gift would be from me
and the card attached would say
Thank you for being a friend!

Was I correct? The 40-second version was the original used on NBC? If so, then I am no longer confused!

Take a look at this intro from youtube: Opening intro season 5-7

It's supposed to be from season 5-7, but the pictures for Rose and Sophia is different from them we've got on the DVDs from season 5 & 6, how come? Have you seen this before? I Haven't for sure!

Yep, you've got it exactly right.

GamePat - that intro is a fake one. It was never used on the show.

Thanks Rob for letting me know. So the one I posted was sort of fan made?

Yeah, it must have been made by a fan using the DVDs or recordings from television. Glad to have helped.

I have never heard of one TV theme causing as much confusion as The Golden Girls seems to do.

I'm not sure if I've broke any rules re copyright, but I've put the Golden Girls theme tune on my mobile. When it rang the other day in the office everybody went crazy. Everybody was saying awww The Golden Girls tune . People were calling me so they could listen to it.

For some reason that tune always seems to cheer people up.

I'm currently working on this, I mean trying to find a way to put the tune on my cellphone. In a couple of days, I might be able to. But it's true, the tune always seems to cheer up people, even if they don't know it's TGG theme song!

One way of doing it if your phone can play MP3s is to get the theme as an MP3 and transfer it to your phone via Bluetooth if possible. That's the way I've done it in the past.

That's what I want to do next, Rob! I bought a bigger card for my cellphone, and it comes with a usb adapter, so I'll probably be able to do it without charge. But if it's not working that way, I'll try it with bluebooth. Thanks for the tip, though!

Yeah that's what I do too. It is so quick and easy to download, I sometimes wonder why people bother actually buying MP3 players seperately. Anyway, I too have the Golden Girls ringtone on my phone, as well as the Friends and Will & Grace theme tune. All 3 of them cheer me up whenever I feel down!

That's how I did it GabZ1985, with the old Bluetooth thing. I can't believe how good it sounds.