Deja View: Take "Two!"

In the vast television landscape, many sitcoms have come and gone. Some became cultural touchstones and have never gone off the air thanks to syndicated reruns. Some linger in the memory, though we don't see much out of them anymore. Some are completely forgotten if we ever even knew about them at all! I don't know how many of my readers will recall the 1982 show depicted at right, It Takes Two. Springing from the creator of hits like Soap and Benson, it was unfortunately fated to land closer to Fay, Loves Me, Loves Me Not and I'm a Big Girl Now, also by the same creator, Susan Harris. You'll surely recognize some of the show's familiar faces.

The concept of It Takes Two concerned the issues that sprang up between a middle-aged, married, Chicago couple with two successful careers who sometimes ran into conflicts as a result. That, and their colorful family life provided the story fodder.

Though he tends to be remembered for movie roles and dramatic television fare, Crenna was a TV comedy veteran, with scores of episodes of Our Miss Brooks and The Real McCoys under his belt. He portrayed a successful surgeon here.

Oscar-winner Patty Duke also had significant sitcom cred, having played two leading parts in The Patty Duke Show during the mid-'60s. As Crenna's wife, she played a district attorney.

This was a pretty big opportunity for character actress Billie Bird, who had portrayed scads of bit parts in movies and on TV since 1950. Here she played Duke's sassy, blunt mother, who lived with the couple.

As the family's daughter, Helen Hunt brought a childhood full of prolific acting work to the table. She would, of course, go on to win an Oscar of her own in addition to costarring in the successful sitcom Mad About You.

Then at the dawn of his career, Anthony Edwards had Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) in the can, along with a couple of other small parts, before playing the family's son. His character had moved out, but was still around frequently. He would proceed to costar on the monster hit medical drama ER, among other things.

Richard McKenzie, who played a colleague of Crenna's at the hospital, was a veteran of countless bit roles. This was his only regular series role, surely thanks to several appearances on Soap - as a doctor.

But the purpose of this post isn't really to delve into the intricacies of the show. Nor to expound on the gravity-defying hairdo that Duke adopted for the role, though that would be fun!

We're here to talk about Crenna and Duke's living quarters. Anything stand out about this kitchen to you? (Apart from its heavily-'80s decor.)

Does this help?

Yes, Crenna's and Duke's 1982 kitchen was redressed and used as the one for 1985's The Golden Girls! Actually, the rendition shown in these last two photos are following a makeover. In season one of TGG, the set had been left in a version closer to the one seen in ITT. It was only after that successful first season that the wallpaper and some of the other decor was upgraded and further feminized.  I have prepared some comparison photos. Apologies in advance for some of the shitty visuals from It Takes Two. The lesser-known show is not readily available in high quality.

Although it doesn't read that way, thanks to the poor video quality, the two shows featured the same kitchen wallpaper. A beige background with a paler, cream, diamond pattern on it.

The very same baker's rack in the niche.

The "Girls" had a wall calendar on their swinging kitchen door.

For the sake of everyone's health, I do hope that is not the same fruit leftover from two years or so before...! LOL

Earlier eps of ITT had a small butcher block in the middle of the room, which was replaced by the table with the fruit on it. As you can see, TGG got a new refrigerator, but those cabinets remained.

When Helen Hunt used the kitchen phone, it was on a side table against the wall. But in the second show, a wall-mounted phone was installed.

As I say, ITT was created by Susan Harris.

The characters lived in a Chicago high-rise.

Yet, hilariously, when Harris created TGG, it was set in suburban Miami, where the precise same kitchen could be found!

So while Crenna & Co. looked out the kitchen window to see other skyscrapers in their midst...

...the Girls had a view of their neighbors' similarly-built ranch-style, Florida homes!

Here is a photo of the kitchen set soon after its remodel for season two of The Golden Girls.

I've wondered to myself if that yellow cup behind Crenna is the same one used in the AIDS awareness episode of TGG in which Sophia puts an R on it for "Rose."

This angle shows the back doorway of ITT's kitchen, a shot rarely-seen in TGG.

In the pilot for TGG, you'll see that the back doorway area is cleared out with no cabinetry. (And note that Coco's frying pan in dead empty as he's stirring away......) 

There's that cup again, along with the familiar (and peculiar) stove-top placement.

Could the recycling have extended to this coffee cup?

Here's a shot of that wallpaper up close. But the kitchen isn't the only room of ITT's set to be recycled... Take a look at these comparison shots from the living rooms!

The condo living room is very much the same as the Miami house but with some tweaks. The door and general furniture placement is similar, but a fireplace has been moved.

The back hallway is still there. In ITT, it leads to most of the bedrooms. In TGG (apart from the pilot, when it led to Blanche's bedroom), it leads to the lanai.

The balcony area has been removed and in its place is a seldom-used seating area (and an even less-used fireplace.)

In ITT, there was a modern chair in front of the fireplace for Duke to look over legal briefs, etc... This area was kept open on TGG.

One bigger change was on the right side. Where Billie Bird once had a single bedroom, this now has been adjusted to make a longer hallway, leading to the Girls' rooms.

This shows how the bedroom door was closed off and an angled hallway created further left.

This shot allows a little peek into Bird's bedroom. Most of this area would later be the hallway on TGG.

Before Harris came up with the Golden character of Sophia, she had experimented with similar ideas before. There was Audra Lindley as Lee Grant's live-in mother on Fay and then Bird, who offered many zany remarks as the live-in mother of Duke here.

I know you wish I was done, but I'm not...! Take a look at this, too. They reused Crenna and Duke's bedroom, turning it into Blanche's boudoir! Looks like Duke really liked to moisturize at night...!

All of this was in the mid-1980s, before it was as fashionable as it is now to "go green" and recycle. They really made good use out of the existing sets from It Takes Two when preparing The Golden Girls. When watching ITT, you can see similarities in the way the shows are handled. The timing, the dialogue, the music, etc... One show clicked and the other didn't.

McKenzie even found himself recycled as a guest star on a 1990 episode of Girls as an ex-con set up on a blind date for Dorothy by a matchmaker her mother has hired.

During the pandemic and all its attendant stressors and annoyances, I've gravitated to everything simple and/or amusing in order to get my mind off of things. For some reason, this tickles me far more than it probably ordinarily would, but I can't quit cackling about it! It Takes Two's opening credits featured a theme song by Paul Williams, which he sung with Crystal Gayle. Called "Where Love Spends the Night," it played while all the usual clips from the show were flashed on-screen along with the actors' names. Trouble is, the song was a LULLABY! I can tell you from experience that from age 50 on, it's enough trouble to stay awake in front of the TV set. So a perkier song (like the rejuvenated "Thank You for Being a Friend?") would be more in order if one wants people to stay tuned. This poor song, which isn't bad on its own terms, limped along and every time one thought it was over, it kept on going! LOL It also contained a really fascinating descending verse end which makes me howl with laughter every time I hear it. Maybe it's just me. And to bring everything full circle, the oddball pairing of Williams and Gayle brought to mind for me the famed duo Sonny and Cher...

...which, of course, reminded me of this stellar Golden Girls moment! Till next time.

PRE-United: And then there's Stan...!

Among our very favorite TV sitcoms is the 1980s wonder The Golden Girls. (I'm hardly alone. The show has been in constant rotation on several channels for decades now, though I prefer watching the DVDs over the heavily-edited renditions that are currently shown. Sometimes entire scenes are cut out!) Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak had a hate-love relationship with her ex-husband Stan through the course of the series, with comedy veteran Herb Edelman making two-dozen appearances along the way. The couple, having split after "38 years of marriage," went through varying degrees of antagonism, affection, alienation and even a near trip back down the altar once more! The chemistry between Arthur and Edelman was palpable and Edelman's 6'5" stature went a long way in making them a visually compatible couple as well. (Likewise, this lent comic leverage when he was put in his place by the diminutive Estelle Getty as Dorothy's mother Sophia.)

Arthur was a Broadway vet who parlayed a thunderous guest appearance on All in the Family into a series all her own. Called Maude, she was a force of nature, espousing socio- political viewpoints at the polar opposite of Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker. And while Maude wasn't the runaway success that All in the Family was, it was a considerable hit and ran for six seasons. 

During the third season of Maude, Arthur was promoted to office manager at her real estate company. This was at a time (1974) of the women's movement for equality in the workplace, when it was common- place for females to be overlooked for promotions, not to mention comparable wages, raises, etc... Having accomplished the impossible in winning the spot, Arthur is distraught at the prospect of overseeing her male coworkers. Faint reassurance comes from her family as well as from best friend Vivian (who was played by Arthur's future Golden Girls costar Rue McClanahan.) 

Congratulations are in order, along with a new briefcase!

Arthur's employees, Tony, Woody and Bud, are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newly-crowned boss lady.

If the rear view of that balding pate seemed familiar, it should...

...It belongs to Mr. Herb Edelman, playing the sexist, uncooperative Woody. (By the way, check those candles...! Disney thought they had trouble with the artwork for the VHS of The Little Mermaid, 1989?? Ouch! Ha ha ha!!)

As one might expect, Arthur meets with a fair amount of resistance upon her arrival. The other guys are a little awkward, yet respectful.

Naturally, Edelman is a royal jerk to her.

Not exactly a shrinking violet, Arthur attempts to get through to Edelman, "man to man."

With one foot propped on a chair, she takes on the office bully.

Unfortunately, when he tells her to move her boobs out of the way so that he can get back to his desk, it kicks off a mini-meltdown which sends her careening out the door and back home.

Following a pep talk and some much-needed affection from her husband Walter (Bill Macy), she heads back to the office with cigars as a peace offering and an apparent handle on the situation.

Now firmly in charge of Edelman and the office, she's not going to let him get away with his shenanigans any longer.

In what would later be a motif on The Golden Girls, tough guy Edelman breaks down in tears. (One can almost here him wailing, "Dorothy...!" in this shot.

Having finally come to an understanding, things are about to work out fine when suddenly Arthur finds out that, despite her promotion, she's still being grossly underpaid simply because she is female. With that, she heads out the door for an extended lunch hour and into the arms of her husband, who's waiting at home in their master bedroom! Remarkably, in this one, sole, instance of working with one another as actors, Edelman and Arthur had already achieved the dynamics which would later lead to a far more involved pairing on The Golden Girls. Edelman scored big as the "schmuck" Stanley Zbornak and gave Arthur plenty to work with as the alternately wounded and acerbic Dorothy.

You can read a bit more about Miss Bea Arthur here. After Maude ended in 1978, she took some time away from the grueling work of a regular series until attempting Amanda's in 1983. That was finished after just 13 episodes, but in 1985 she accepted the role of Dorothy, which was to be her greatest television success, ending only when she decided to opt out in 1992 (with a two-part appearance on the ill-fated spin off The Golden Palace the season after that marking her final turn in the role.)

As for Edelman, he too had done some work on Broadway and then proceeded to multiple guest roles on television. He also popped up in movies such as Barefoot in the Park (1967), repeating his stage role as the telephone man, The Odd Couple (1968) and The Way We Were (1973) with a moderately successful sitcom, The Good Guys, along the way. It may surprise you to know that he had a 6-year marriage to prolific actress Louise Sorel from 1964-1970. Always busy, his role as Stan arguably stood out as his most notable amid many other parts. He essayed the role one final time on a 1993 episode of The Golden Palace. In 1996, he was taken from us far too early at only age 62 from emphysema, though his work can be seen continuously through reruns of the many shows and movies he worked on.   

Stanley Zbornak has his own place in the pop culture firmament along with the ever popular Golden Girls foursome.