30 years ago, The Golden Girls made its television debut

On Sept. 14, 1985, Rose Nyland, Blanche Devereaux, Dorothy Zbornak, and the one and only Sophia Petrillo made their debut on The Golden Girls, and 30 years later, the series is still going strong.

Even though The Golden Girls aired its finale in the 1990s, the show that cemented Betty White's status as an icon and gave the world a theme song that is contractually obligated to stay in your head for hours on end remains a hit, thanks to reruns. To celebrate the big 3-0, CBS News compiled facts that will come as a surprise to even the most dedicated of fans — for instance, the Queen Mother loved the show so much she invited the cast to the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium in 1988, and the pilot episode featured a wise-cracking gay chef named Coco, who was written out of the show after sassy Sophia (Estelle Getty) proved to be extremely popular with the audience. Discover more tidbits about the girls — including details about who got along on set and which actress had terrible stage fright — at CBS News. Catherine Garcia

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