Matt Browning
Matt Browning

New book examines ‘The Golden Girls’ pop culture references

Author to sign “The Definitive Golden Girls Cultural Reference Guide” at ARGO BOOKS April 2 

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – If you’ve ever watched an episode of “The Golden Girls” and scratched your head at one of the many dated pop culture jokes from the 1980s, a new book from West Virginia author Matt Browning provides the answers. Browning will sign copies of The Definitive Golden Girls Cultural Reference Guide at ARGO BOOKS in Buckhannon on Saturday, April 2, at 1 p.m.

Meticulously researched episode by episode, The Definitive Golden Girls Cultural Reference Guide is an eye-opening, illuminating encyclopedia of “the who, the how, and the ha!” of thousands of topical jokes from the show’s 180 episodes. From Joe Isuzu to Socrates, Alan Alda to Shinola, Martha Raye to Madge, and Ishtar to Tattletales, at long last fans of The Golden Girls will finally be saying, “Oh, now I get it!”

“I’ve been watching The Golden Girls since it was released, and in many ways it is timeless, but there are so many references to then-current people, places and events that really anchor it in its 1980s-1990s era,” Browning said. “This book is meant to serve as a guide so viewers can follow along and come to understand those dated jokes as they were meant to be understood.”

The book is structured episode by episode, featuring snippets of dialogue to provide context to the reference, followed by an explanation. An alphabetical index is also included. The book was released last fall from Lyons Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. It retails for $24.95.

Browning is a lifelong Golden Girls fan and creator of EmptyNestTV.com, devoted to The Golden Girls spinoff series, Empty Nest. Based in Charleston, West Virginia, he is represented by Stephen Fraser of the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. This spring, Browning will be a featured panelist and exhibitor at Golden-Con, the first-ever Golden Girls fan convention, in Chicago, where he will be interviewing Empty Nest star and Tony award-winning actress-turned-novelist Dinah Manoff. The Definitive Golden Girls Cultural Reference Guide is his third book. Learn more at MattBrowningBooks.com.

ARGO BOOKS is located at 6 N. Spring Street in Buckhannon.

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