‘The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore’ is a candid must-read
What happens when a self-described “gawky” Jewish boy’s dreams of becoming a famous actor suddenly hit a roadblock? He detours into a creative fast lane and becomes a prolific writer, producer, director and playwright, who eventually makes a dent on popular television shows such as “Roseanne,” “The Golden Girls” and “Gilmore Girls.”
All of it makes for an inviting pageturner in said “gawky Jewish boy” Stan Zimmerman’s memoir, “The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore.” Sure enough, Zimmerman, who recently produced Paul Rudnick’s play “The New Century” through The Bent via the Palm Springs Cultural Center, is candid about his experiences working alongside the likes of Rue McClanahan and Lauren Graham.
“I wanted the tone of the book to be as if you we’re sitting there having a nice glass of rosé and getting a little bit of the ‘girls,” Zimmerman says. “You know, giggling, laughing, and talking about all these wonderful women that helped shape me.”
All the “girls” informed Zimmerman, in fact, but the man lived a colorful life before arriving in the writers’ rooms of classic ’80s television shows and beyond.
Growing up in a Detroit suburb, Zimmerman was encouraged by his mother, grandmother and sister, all of whom supported his imagination and creativity. That strong female influence fueled his desires to hit it big acting, but he wound up floating on the winds of fate elsewhere. He’d eventually find a longtime creative partner in James Berg, with whom he formed one of Hollywood’s longest running comedy writing teams.
Accompanied by journal entries, “The Girls” details Zimmerman’s life, and relationships with Hollywood’s most iconic female entertainers, including Lily Tomlin, Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Alexis Bledel, all four Golden Girls, and others.
“I’m a believer that you learn every day,” says Zimmerman, who lives part-time in Palm Springs. “With ‘Golden Girls,’ Sophia and Estelle Getty was my girl, but Rue McClanahan taught us the most about creating stories for sitcoms. Very early on, she approached me and Jim, and of course we were very nervous that Rue McClanahan was talking to us, and she said, ‘Challenge my character [Blanche].’ And we thought about that.
“Blanche easily went to sex every time,” he adds, “but what situation could we put her in where she would not want to go to that?”
That’s how the duo came up with the Season 1, Episode 20 episode of “The Golden Girls” called “Adult Education,” which dealt with sexual harassment. The episode chronicled Blanche’s dilemma when an adult education teacher offers her a passing grade if she sleeps with him.
“We have taken that [advice] into every job we did after that,” Zimmerman notes. “That’s what led to us in ‘Roseanne,’ writing the [’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’] lesbian kiss episode because we thought, at the time, Roseanne was a very liberal character and what could we give her that would create this question in her mind and cause a ripple effect in her family and friends, and that was what if she was kissed in a lesbian bar.
“She thought she was so cool, yet it really triggered a lot of different people,” he adds. “And in ‘Gilmore Girls’, we met Amy Sherman Palladino, and we just saw the genius that she was in writing and storytelling. She would plant a seed in one episode, but it wouldn’t grow into a tree and a full storyline until many episodes past that one. I think that’s why that show has lasted so long and is still exciting younger audiences. The episodes and storylines are so organic.”
Zimmerman’s sharp and colorful writing feeds into the easy-to-read and thoroughly engaging tone of the book. Look for some depth later in the read, when Zimmerman speaks candidly about the grief of his mother’s passing.
You may not be able to put this book down. Big reveals happen, but lips remain sealed here. Readers will have to experience all that for themselves.
Of working with Roseanne Barr on her titular sitcom, for instance, he admits that sometimes it was “scary.”
“I kept saying, ‘I just want to hug her and make her feel safe and better, and everybody said, ‘Don’t get near her,’ Zimmerman explains. “We were told if she saw the whites of our eyes she might fire us — ‘find the tallest person on set and stand behind them.’ So, I found the biggest, tallest person.”
The lesbian kiss episode changed everything. “Suddenly we heard her shout, “Who the hell wrote this?’” Zimmerman muses. “Everybody parted. It was like the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ and we were forced to go walk up to her. And I was like the Scarecrow with my legs just shaking. But she loved the episode. She really appreciated what we did, and I have to thank Roseanne and Tom Arnold, her husband at the time, for fighting to get that episode on television because the network refused to film it and then refused to air it.”
Not all things were golden on the set of “The Golden Girls.” Zimmerman says he appreciated every moment on that show, which ran from 1985 to 1992. “It was great,” he says, “as difficult as it was, but you’ll have to read the book to find out why. I knew we were in a very lucky place at the beginning of Season 1 as it was just kind of taking over the country. We were so lucky to have those four actors [Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, Estelle Getty], the best of the best.”
Zimmerman enjoyed a long line of successes through the years. Recently, he and Berg wrote “Ladies of the 80’s Christmas,” which became a popular goto on Lifetime TV during the 2023 holiday season. The television movie starred TV icons Loni Anderson, Morgan
Fairchild, Linda Gray, Donna Mills, and Nicollette Sheridan.
His much-talked-about LOGO pilot script, “Silver Foxes”, a kind of gay men’s “Golden Girls,” found momentum early on with George Takei, the late Leslie Jordan, Bruce Vilanch, Todd Sherry, Cheri Oteri, Daniele Gaither, and Melissa Peterman behind it. After networks and streaming companies refused to greenlight it — allegedly due to network homophobia and ageism — Zimmerman and Berg turned it into a play, which premiered in Dallas in March 2023.
As for television today ... well, Zimmerman has a few thoughts.
“As much as television has changed, it doesn’t feel like we’re in another Golden Era of television,” he says. “There’s so much wonderful content out there, but I would love to see multi-cam sitcoms come back. I mean it wasn’t that long ago when ‘Big Bang Theory’ was on. It was one of the most popular TV shows.
“It feels like the networks have kind of given up on it,” he goes on. “There are many talented writers and performers that I think would do well in that medium. There are ways to keep it fresh, but a lot of executives don’t have that creativity or want to go to the most popular thing. But I’m still hoping for change.”
“The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore” is available on Amazon and local bookstores. Learn more at zimmermanstan.com.