TVSquad

The late Bea Arthur was, among other things, a comedic genius, feminist icon, and beloved American actress of stage and screen. But widely overlooked in the recent coverage of her passing is the fact that she was a active advocate for animal rights. She campaigned against the force-feeding of ducks in the foie gras trade, even accompanying the president of PETA to London, where she demanded that Harrod's discontinue their peddling pâté.

Lifetime is going to honor Estelle Getty, who died yesterday at the age of 84, with a marathon of Golden Girls episodes.

The 10 episode marathon will start at noon this Friday with the pilot episode (the Sophia character looked a lot different in the first few episodes, if I remember correctly). The episodes have been picked because they focus on Sophia.

Fans will get a chance to vote on which episode ends the marathon, the episode they think shows Getty and Sophia the best. MyLifetime.com has narrowed down it down to five episodes: "It's A Miserable Life," "Sisters," "Old Friends," "My Brother, My Father," and "Old Boyfriends." And if you don't know the plots by the episode titles (you'd have to be a Golden Girls fanatic for that), the site gives you a quick synopsis of each one.

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
She didn't care if the whole world looked
Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
She was a sister who really cooked

If you've never seen the groundbreaking 70s sitcom Maude, then you missed the theme song. It was cowritten by Dave Grusin! (It also has the line "Isadora was the first bra burner, ain't you glad she showed up? And when this country was falling apart, Betsy Ross got it all sewed up!" That's excellent.).

Yes, Maude is coming to DVD.