Trivia / Golden Palace

• Creator Backlash:
  • Rue McClanahan disliked the concept, and had trouble adjusting to Blanche as a businesswoman compared to her previous characterization. McClanahan wished the producers had simply kept the original show running and found a replacement roommate for Dorothy.
  • Betty White also had reservations about the new series, criticizing the dip in quality of the writing and saying the series was just trying to be "Golden Girls in the lobby without Bea [Arthur]." Harold Gould, who played Rose's on-screen boyfriend Miles Webber, also criticized the new series' writing, saying the "ping" went out of it.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The series hasn't been seen anywhere on (American) television since 2006. Walt Disney Home Entertainment also hasn't even considered releasing the series on DVD, despite a fair amount of interest. Averted in 2022, when it finally appeared on Hulu after Betty White's death.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The series' production staff really, really wanted Bea Arthur back as Dorothy full-time, and tried everything they could think of to entice her back — offering to cut down the number of episodes per season, offering to work around her schedule, and many other proposals. Had Arthur finally relented, they would've swept the Palace premise under the rug and reverted the series back to The Golden Girls.
  • The hotel chef was originally from eastern Europe, and was to have been played by British comedian Alexei Sayle. The character was retooled into Chuy Castillos sometime before the pilot was shot, and Cheech Marin was hired as Sayle's replacement.
  • NBC didn’t outright pass on the series initially, but only offered a 13 episode order. As CBS wanted a full 22 episode season, an offer NBC was unwilling to match, the producers opted for the latter network instead.
  • CBS initially renewed the series for a second season, but changed their minds and cancelled the series the night before the Fall 1993 schedule was announced.
  • During Don Cheadle's appearance on Conan in 2019, while Cheadle and Conan O'Brien were discussing The Golden Palace, Andy Richter revealed one of his first big auditions in Los Angeles was for the role of the "chef with an accent" (that was later retooled into Chuy Castillos).