this is not okay

people. oh my god. seriously. first chester, and now blanche devereaux. brian moylan at gawker wrote some lovely things in his post on rue’s death, things i wish i could say half as nicely:

Now Betty White, who is enjoying a career resurgence late, is the only member of The Golden Girls cast still alive. Estelle Getty died in 2008 and Bea Arthur passed last year. These deaths seem harder than when most actors of celebrities pass away. Maybe it’s because the characters they played were close to the actresses’ personalities, that we feel like we were so close to them. Their infamous theme song wasn’t so much about the women’s relationship to each other, but thanking us for being their friends and sharing in their adventures.

For younger people who grew up watching the sitcom—or discovering it in syndication, where it still lives today—these were like our surrogate grandmothers. Funny ladies who were at turns gentile, kind, funny, and daffy. Ones that lived a full life of friendship, dating, multicolored caftans, and lots and lots of cheesecake. Yeah, it was a TV show, but thanks to the wonderful actresses who inhabited the roles, it always felt like the real thing.

i’ve already discussed my love of the golden girls. i was watching the show last night, actually, and thinking about how part of the reason i’m hesitant to get rid of my cable – even though it’s ridiculously expensive (ugh, seriously, how can television cost that much?) – is that i love knowing i can watch golden girls every night at 11 while i’m puttering around, getting my shit together for the next day. it’s a good way to end the day.

let me show you how i feel about this development:

okay, while i was looking for a good blanche clip i found this and now i’m trying to keep myself from crying at my desk:

we need to seriously ramp up the betty white comeback. she’s the only one we have left, and we need to treasure her while we can.