the palace

Today at work I was walking by my pal Regina's desk when I saw a familiar face on her computer screen via youtube. It was Blanche Devereaux.

Who is that, you ask? Why it's my second favorite character from The Golden Girls. Regina and I have shared quite the love for that show through the duration of our friendship (we've been friends since first grade, that's dedication, y'all) and so it wasn't really a surprise to me that she was watching her DVDs at work, it happens to both of us on occasion. But then I saw a not-so-familiar face, one of a much bigger name.

I saw Don Cheadle.

WTF, mate? Okay, now, to most passers by they would just assume he was one of The Golden Girls rather famous guest starts (passed guest stars include George Clooney, the guy from Law & Order and Mickey Rooney), but this was no guest star...and gasp, this wasn't The Golden Girls that she was watching. She was watching...The Palace.

The Golden Palace was a slight spin-off of The Golden Girls when it ended it's 7 season run in 1992 due to Bea Arthur's departure. It begins where The Golden Girls left off, Dorothy (Bea Arthur) married Blanche's Uncle Lucas (Leslie Nielsen, ANOTHER awesome guest star) and moved away, leaving Blanche, Rose and Dorothy's mother, Sophia, to buy a hotel in the greater Miami area. They meet the hotel owner Roland (Cheadle) and Chuy the cook (Cheech Marin...see even their guest stars go downhill here, sheesh) and if I remember right, Roland has a kid or something.

I will just interject this right here, without Bea Arthur there is no point in having a sitcom...most may disagree, but she was the show and she kicked ass. That's probably why The Palace only lasted once season.

I made my way into her deskspace which was still decorated with her birthday decorations from the days before. Yay for procrastination.

"Seriously, you're watching The Palace?" Eye roll, sigh, grunt.
"THE PALACE IS GREAT."
And I wander back to my cubicle that does not have birthday decorations.

Apparently no more needs to be said. She has her opinions and I have mine. I have watched the entire season of The Palace at least twice, possibly three times, and they are not good. Don Cheadle tries really hard, but I just don't buy him in his pre-Hotel Rwanda days. Maybe they should have asked the Law & Order guy to run the hotel instead?

*most of this info I got from wikipedia, it just looks like I know all about The Palace. I assure you, I don't.