u/PortCharlesChuckles

Just learned that the "Great Herring War" scene wasn't actually ad-libbed!

Growing up I wanted to be a movie director, so I've always been a massive movie/TV nerd. But honestly, I also just love The Golden Girls because they are so genuinely hilarious and the ultimate comfort show to watch.

I was recently looking up trivia about The Golden Girls, as I have a habit of doing, and came across this one about "The Great Herring War" scene from the Season 1 finale (The Way We Met) and it's just so funny because it feels so incredibly raw and spontaneous. Rue is literally ducking her head to hide her face, and Bea’s voice completely cracks when she asks about shooting a herring out of a cannon. I am 45 now and forget how old I was when I first started watching the show, but I was 100% convinced for years that Betty was just reading her lines normally while Rue and Bea completely lost control and broke character for real.

Turns out that's a total myth.

When Betty White passed away, a ton of people on social media were saying the laughter was unplanned. But a comedy writer named Kevin Daly posted a reality check on Twitter, and the show's actual script supervisor, Isabel Omero, backed it up by sharing the physical script pages.

Literally every single bit of it was written on the page from day one. Blanche asking if herrings were hard to see on elephants (and cracking up)? Scripted. Dorothy’s voice cracking about the cannon while laughing? Scripted. Rose dropping the punchline about shooting it into a tree? 100% scripted.

Knowing all of this now makes me appreciate the scene way more. Since I wanted to be a director growing up, I completely misread the mechanics of what they were doing. I didn’t even realize until reading the comments here just how tightly managed the production was, or that they weren't allowed to ad-lib. The magic wasn't an accidental mistake—it was just phenomenal acting and directing. The script explicitly required Bea and Rue to laugh and build that comedic rhythm, and they sold the illusion of a chaotic kitchen breakdown so perfectly that they completely fooled me for years.

Did anyone else spend years thinking Rue and Bea were genuinely breaking character here? Or did everyone else already know this?

As someone who has watched The Golden Girls more times than I can count, this honestly changed the way I see Betty White forever.

I stumbled across a clip of Golden Girls writer Stan Zimmerman talking about what taping nights were really like behind the scenes, and it genuinely made me emotional.

He said that back then, the writers used to get frustrated with Betty because whenever Estelle Getty struggled with a line, Betty would immediately start joking with the audience and breaking character. Bea Arthur apparently hated it too because she was such a disciplined stage actor and believed everyone should stay fully in character during scenes.

At the time, people assumed Estelle just wasn’t learning her lines well enough. What they didn’t fully understand yet was that Estelle was already dealing with the very early stages of dementia.

Years later, Zimmerman realized he may have completely misread Betty’s behavior. Looking back, he believes Betty wasn’t trying to steal focus or mock Estelle at all. She was intentionally drawing the audience’s attention onto herself so Estelle had a few precious seconds to regroup, check her reminders, and find her place again without a silent audience staring at her.

Honestly, as a fan, that absolutely broke my heart.

And it also made me appreciate Betty in a completely different way. We already knew she was funny and quick and brilliant, but the idea that she may have been quietly protecting Estelle in real time while everyone misunderstood her just feels so deeply in character for who Betty seemed to be as a person. 💔

Also, one fun side note from Zimmerman: despite all the rumors over the years, the cast apparently rarely ad-libbed. The scripts were just THAT good.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m emotional because I’ve loved this show for so long, but hearing this story made me love these women even more.

I just rewatched this episode last night. Was left a bit confused by this one.

If Susan hadn't planned to kill Alexandra, but someone else as Jessica said, who had she planned to kill?

Was her motive really the money or the bullying? She said it was the bullying but it seems like it wasn't.

How did David get the money to pay back the loansharks and Jessica at the end of the episode?

I use my CPAP regularly, but have been unable to get relief. Even if I get sleep 7 or 8 hours a night, I still feel tired. I feel tired all day. I still need an afternoon nap. Even if my readings are good. My CPAP machine says I am having only a few APNEAs during the night. I am a mouth breather, so I switched to a full face mask.

I was previously using a nasal pillow. In the three years I've been on the therapy I've tried several different types of masks, but none seem to work. One irriated a mole and I had to have the mole removed and another irriated the bridge of my nose and gave me a red spot on the bridge of my nose.

I'm very frustrated and ready to give up. I can't seem to find a good mask after what seems like trying every type of mask on the market. Nasal pillow, full face, etc.

Help!

Hi everyone! I volunteer to photograph and take pictures for my local road runners club for various races. Every year they have a 10k road race. This year, today (I just got back) I specifically volunteered to photograph the start line of the race this year.

Runners bunched up, so it was hard to avoid getting some shots that were blurry. I really want to avoid this next year. Any advice on how to avoid blurry runners.

• Gear: Canon 6D Mark II + 24-105mm & 70-200mm lens
• Goal: Crisp runners, in-focus