What TV today could learn from "The Golden Girls" about disability

On this week's episode of "The Bubble People Podcast," we discuss two groundbreaking episodes of television, still ahead of our time.

Dear writers on “The Pitt”: please watch the first two episodes of season 5 of “The Golden Girls” so you can learn how to better portray illness.

In case you missed it, my new podcast, “Bubble People,” launched in January, featuring conversations with disabled people about how we are represented in Hollywood and by the media, among other disability topics. I’ve talked to disabled people in front of the camera, behind the camera, in journalism, and cultural critics.

In prepping for this podcast, I did tons of research and compiled lists of movies and TV shows that represent disability. The shortest list, by far, was chronic illness, one of the most common ways a person can become disabled. Hollywood doesn’t know how to represent chronic illness, so it doesn’t. (I have ideas why, as a screenwriter myself, which I’ll explore another time.)

We don’t get complete characters with lupus, MS, ME, diabetes, Crohn’s, endometriosis, mold illness, etc. At best, people with chronic illness show up on medical dramas, where they are likely to be told it’s in their heads.

Once upon a time, there were two episodes of “The Golden Girls” on “chronic fatigue syndrome” (more properly known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, or ME, or MECFS.) This was in 1989. MECFS is one of my illnesses and often the most debilitating. It’s known for having 1) the lowest quality of life of any disease (though I’m not a fan of those scales, they do serve a rhetorical point); and 2) maybe the least number of available treatments. That’s a high-impact two-fer. When people talk about Long Covid, they are often talking about MECFS. It’s a severely energy-limiting condition, feels like a never-ending infection, and can, in the most severe cases, result in patients spending all day and night in bed, unable to even watch TV or consume food.

Like most chronic illnesses, there is almost no representation of ME in the media. The group ME-pedia maintains a list of ME representation and it’s really short.

I’d heard about the “Golden Girls” episodes but hadn’t watched them until I planned to discuss it with Miles Griffis, editor of The Sick Times. I braced myself, assuming the worst, like I do with any disease representation. Watch our discussion here:

Phew, the “Golden Girls” episodes were so good! They could’ve been written today. They hit on nearly every major concern MECFS patients discuss today. They showed doctors gaslighting a patient. They even talked about the problematic name of the disease. And they were so funny. The B plot was a perfect foil for the A plot. Oh Blanche, you narcissist. Can I take a minute to say I miss sitcoms?

We need more comedy about chronic illness! It is so funny having a chronic illness! It’s the most ridiculous thing ever! Imagine doctors, among the most high status characters, being total buffoons! Imagine people never knowing what to say to you in normal conversation! Imagine constantly falling and being misunderstood and having to pretend you’re less sick than you are! It sucks! It’s hilarious!

Miles and I get into all of it in the episode above. My only negative note was that Dorothy’s life-changing illness was never discussed again. Apparently the creator of the show developed MECFS and drew from her experience. She had already been a successful TV writer and creator.

Sigh. I think about what it would take for people like us to get represented in Hollywood more. We would have to be hired. But in order to do those jobs, we would have to be accommodated. Well, I have no hope. Related, Miles and I did also talk about how he manages a full-time editing job with MECFS.

Finally, we discussed which Golden Girl each of us is. That felt important.

Anyway……. check it out, subscribe, say nice things in comments and reviews, etc.

Here’s the audio link to the episode if you prefer to listen rather than watch. Click there for a link to a transcript.