About six months ago, NBC entertainment chief Brandon Tartikoff sat down to brainstorm with Warren Littlefield, his senior vice-president of programs. (Last year, Tartikoff said, "Cops. MTV." And the result was Miami Vice.) Tartikoff mentioned Night Court's Selma Diamond (who has since died). "We should do a show about some funny older ladies," Tartikoff said. "You mean like taking three Selma Diamonds and have 'em living together in Miami or someplace?" asked Littlefield. "Yeah, let's try it."

So they hired Susan Harris, queen of the tasteless sitcom - a writer for Maude and All in the Family, and the creator of Soap and Benson. "I found it a very fresh, compelling idea," says Harris, 44. "How many times have you seen a show where the leading ladies are over thirty-five?" She agreed to write at least four of the season's thirteen shows. "It's a very large segment of the population that we've ignored." Not anymore - The Golden Girls will air on Saturdays.

Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan play three middle-aged women sharing a house in Miami; Estelle Getty, who plays Bea's mother, pops in when her nursing home burns down. The actresses themselves are as quirky as the characters they portray, according to White. "Bea is the food maven-she hates it when we order from the deli. Rue is into health foods. And my idea of heaven is a hot dog or hamburger and French Fries. So there you have it - the gourmet, the health-food nut and the junk-food nut. That about says it all."

Why has TV suddenly discovered senior citizens? Is it because they're the ones at home watching TV on Saturday nights? While Harris declares that the show "will appeal to every age, in the way that On Golden Pond did," she does admit that "the country is getting older. When something starts to make business sense, it gets done."

"I think they're discovering that everything doesn't just evaporate over forty," chirps White. "Inside, we all still think of ourselves as young girls. We just forget about the war of attrition going on in the body." And just how old are the Golden Girls? "The numbers get very sketchy," says White. "Just say, old enough to know better, but young enough to still want to."