The Golden Girls is still known today as one of the most progressive sitcoms ever made. The adventures of Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Rose (Betty White) and Sophia (Estelle Getty) -- four older women who live in a Miami home together -- took audiences by storm and provided representation to a group generally overlooked by television of the time. Before it was just "the Golden Girls," however, there was a Golden Boy who lived with the women.
The Golden Girls' pilot episode featured a fifth housemate. Coco was the original fourth main character -- with Sophia being a recurring character instead of a main role -- but over the course of the original pilot being made and NBC picking up the show, the situation changed. Coco's role diminished as the pilot was cut down, resulting in him only appearing in a few scenes with minimal dialogue.
Coco, in the original pilot, was the openly gay fifth housemate of the Golden Girls house. Charles Levin, who had played a gay character in the drama Hill Street Blues, was cast for the role and took part in promo shots with the rest of the main cast.
Executive producer Warren Littlefield stated in a New York Times interview that NBC "...propelled The Golden Girls because we knew there would be nothing like it on the air," referring to the cast consisting of older women -- an age group rarely represented properly on television at the time. He wanted to expand on this representation with a gay character in the main cast as well -- something Golden Girls creator and writer Susan Harris was happy to do.
Coco's role in the household was more than just "the fifth roommate." He served as the butler, or "houseboy," for the home, serving drinks and food throughout the pilot in nearly every scene he appeared in. Littlefield pitched that the women of the house wanted help cleaning and cooking after years of cleaning up after their own kids. Coco's relationship with his housemates was personal as well, evidenced by him actively taking part in Blanche's (failed) wedding during the pilot.
Coco also served as another source of wit and humor in the home. Rose says their only collateral is a "gay cook" when she and Dorothy talk about possibly moving out of the house. Coco's limited dialogue showed him to be a sharp-witted character like Dorothy, both making jokes at Rose's expense when she was talking about her deceased husband.
Unfortunately for Coco, his drinks and wit couldn't save him in the end. The original cut of the pilot was five minutes too long and Coco's material was the first to get the axe as his scenes had little to do with the overall plot of the episode. When the show was picked up by NBC, it decided to leave Coco behind for good.
The dynamic of the main cast, as well as the talent of breakout star Estelle Getty, led NBC to correctly conclude that the four women could carry the show on their own. Sophia was bumped from recurring character to series regular while Coco left to go serve drinks elsewhere.
In the end, The Golden Girls went on to feature guest LGBTQ+ characters, as well as tackle major topics like AIDS during the AIDS crisis. Although its main gay character didn't make it past the pilot, the show lives on as one of the earliest positive representations of LGBTQ+ people on TV.
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