Thank her for being a friend

I was away from the computer for most of the weekend, so by the time I was in a position to write anything about the death of Bea Arthur, it felt like the moment had passed. Fortunately, plenty of other TV pundit types provided their own thoughtful takes, including my friend Joe Adalian, who just started up his own blog at TVWeek. Joe offers up five lessons modern TV could learn from Arthur, and I give a particular amen to this one:

2. Broadcasters are making a big mistake not developing shows starring older people. Yes, "The Golden Girls" represented a hard-to-replicate chemistry of amazing actresses and sharp writers (including, of course, Marc Cherry). But the show's huge popularity when first on NBC, and its continued cult following today, indicate younger audiences judge shows by the content of their scripts, not the age of their actors.

With comedies still struggling on the networks, broadcasters need to start coming up with concepts that aren't on the air. Old folks on comedies don't exist in primetime, even, amazingly, on CBS. I'm with James Poniewozik over at Tuned In: Bring on the geezers!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Friends," as popular as it was, and as good as it could be at times, really wrecked the sitcom because it convinced every programmer that they had to fill their comedies with young and attractive people, regardless of whether they were funny.

UPDATE: I should also point you to Linda Holmes' piece at NPR about that brief period in the mid-late '80s when sitcoms were full of "broads" like Bea Arthur.