The jokes written for The Golden Girls were enough to give network censors nightmares. In fact, Rue McClanahan, who played Blanche, said they often cut or toned down material before it ever made it to air.

The series’ outspoken, outrageous and often "saucy" plots had viewers laughing, but network executives didn't find it too funny.

At the end of the day, The Golden Girls asked viewers to believe there was nothing more natural than a group of older women sitting around, sharing stories, comparing notes and talking about their ex-husbands — proving that life doesn’t slow down, it just gets better seasoned.

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McClanahan called it "simply being honest" in a 1986 interview with The StarPhoenix.

"We’re not being naughty, harmful or hurtful, talking about things that are considered taboo," McClanahan said. "But saucy—that’s a different matter. I think it’s healthy to discuss these things, personal things, sexual things."

Not only did the actresses have a great time tackling the subject matter, but the show’s influence also began to shift conversations in society... both among women and even among the censors themselves. 

"It’s as I and my friends do in real life," McClanahan said. "Only today a lady told me her mother watches the show and now talks to her friends about certain things she didn’t feel free to talk about before. The only thing unusual here is that we’re doing it on television!"

While McClanahan was helping women find their voice through the series, she was also finding her own — though she was no stranger to TV censorship battles. She previously starred in Maude, a Norman Lear series known for pushing boundaries.

Lear himself was a TV censor’s worst nightmare. Don't believe us? Just look at Archie Bunker from All in the Family.

"Censorship has lightened up a lot since Bea and I did Maude eight years ago," McClanahan said. "I remember Norman Lear used to have to fight down to the wire for approval. And I mean over things children say, for heaven’s sake!"

While the pressure of censorship was sometimes difficult to navigate, the women found clever ways to work around their frustrations—sometimes turning restrictions into running jokes of their own.

"I’ve just won $5 from Bea over a line she was sure wouldn’t get past program practices," McClanahan said. "I caught on early what program practices considers beyond the pale—and what they consider racy but funny."