VIDEO FLASHBACK: Bernadette Peters Sings GOLDEN GIRLS Theme Six Years Before Show's Premiere

It was 30 years ago tonight that America was introduced to Blanche Devereaux, Rose Nylund, Dorothy Zbornak and her mother Sophia Petrillo; four older women in Miami who still had a lot of living to do. Susan Harris' THE GOLDEN GIRLS was a top-rated hit for NBC for seven seasons, hitting a demographic that had never been fully explored on network television.

At first glance this video of Bernadette Peters singing the show's opening theme, "Thank You For Being A Friend," may seem like a jazzed-up cover of the simpler performance by Cynthia Fee that preceded every episode, but it's actually from a 1979 concert, six years before the program's premiere.

Written and originally recorded by Andrew Gold, "Thank You For Being A Friend" was released in February 1978, reaching as high as 25 on the Billboard Charts. Moderately successful at first, the song was on its way to becoming a part of American pop culture seven years later.