Dorothy Zbornak

Dorothy is a divorced substitute teacher sharing a Miami house with her mother and two friends, having moved on from a marriage she describes with withering precision. Tall, dry, and impatient with nonsense, she anchors the household as the one who says what everyone else is thinking, usually with a sigh and a perfectly timed insult.

Bea Arthur's baritone delivery turns every put-down into a small masterpiece of comic timing, but the writing never lets Dorothy be just the sharp-tongued straight man. Underneath the sarcasm is real exasperated love for the people she's stuck with, and Arthur lets both truths sit in the same line without ever softening the wit.