As it happens, the 77th Emmy Awards line up with the 40th anniversary of the premiere of The Golden Girls, the hit sitcom that ran for seven seasons between 1985 and 1992. To mark the occasion, the Emmys enlisted Reba McEntire and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman to perform the show’s classic theme song, “Thank You For Being a Friend.”
The trio delivered their performance on a recreation of the show’s classic kitchen set, where Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Rose (Betty White), Dorothy (Beatrice Arthur), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) frequently discussed their lives and the problems they were confronting. Though there were a few pitchy hiccups at times, McEntire, Fairchild, and Schlapman still hit plenty of soaring three-part harmonies as they delivered the Andrew Gold-penned song. The trio even had Sarah Paulson grooving and singing along in her seat, while Colin Farrell was caught snapping his fingers and bopping his head.
‘The Golden Girls’ premiered 40 years ago today.
In a tribute at tonight’s #Emmys, Reba McEntire and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman covered Andrew Gold’s “Thank You For Being A Friend,” the show’s theme song. pic.twitter.com/8KUzeqqTtb
— Stereogum (@stereogum) September 15, 2025
In celebrating the show, McEntire called Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia, and Rose “iconic characters who we continue to love 40 years after they first graced our television screens.” Schlapman added, “To the characters and the legends who brought them to laugh, thank you for being our friends.”
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The Golden Girls was not only one of the biggest sitcoms of the late Eighties and early Nineties, but a regular Emmys favorite, earning 58 nominations and securing 11 wins over the course of its run. It won Outstanding Comedy Series two years in a row, in 1986 and 1987, while White, McClanahan, Arthur, and Getty all won acting prizes for their work on the show.
From Rolling Stone US
