Empty Nest

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Empty Nest
Created by	Susan Harris
Based upon	storyline spun off from The Golden Girls
Spinoffs/Followed by:	Nurses
Related shows	The Golden Girls The Golden Palace Nurses
Executive Producer(s)	Gil Junger Dennis Snee Steven Sullivan Ursula Ziegler
Starring	Richard Mulligan Kristy McNichol (1988–1992) Dinah Manoff David Leisure Park Overall Paul Provenza (1992–1993) Lisa Rieffel (1992–1993) Marsha Warfield (1993–1995) Estelle Getty (1993–1995)
Production company	Touchstone Television Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions
Distributed by	Disney-ABC Domestic Television
First aired	October 10, 1988
Last aired	April 29, 1995
Seasons	7
Number of episodes	170
TV Network/Country	NBC-TV / United States
Language	English
Series runtime	22–24 minutes

Empty Nest is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC-TV from 1988 to 1995. The series was created as a spin-off of The Golden Girls by creator and producer Susan Harris. For its first three seasons, Empty Nest was one of the year's top 10 most-watched programs. It was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions in association with Touchstone Television.

Development

Capitalizing on the popularity of her hit series The Golden Girls, creator Susan Harris decided to develop a companion piece set just down the street from the girls and centering around the empty nest syndrome, an idea never touched on before in the plot of a weekly series. An early version of the series initially appeared in the 1987 Golden Girls episode "Empty Nests", which was intended to act as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff, which was to begin during the fall 1987 TV season. In the episode, George and Renee Corliss (played by Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno), were introduced as the Golden Girls' neighbors, a middle-aged couple suffering from empty nest syndrome. Appearing alongside them was their college-bound teenage daughter Jenny (Jane Harnick), Renee's brother Chuck (Geoffrey Lewis), and the Corliss's annoying neighbor Oliver, played by David Leisure.

Rita Moreno later criticized the Empty Nest pilot, calling it a "very, very bad show." She explained that the script desperately needed rewrites from creator Susan Harris, but she was very sick the week of shooting so it was left to other writers to fix. According to Moreno, "every day they kept changing my character, to the extent that by the time we got to do it in front of an audience I couldn't remember Line 1 because the attitudes had changed so many times. That was the most embarrassing experience...we must have done, I would guess, about fifteen takes in front of an audience." Ultimately, the series did not go ahead as planned and the premise was later extensively revamped with a new cast before Empty Nest debuted in 1988. Harris ultimately assembled a cast and retooled her new series as a vehicle for Richard Mulligan – who had worked with Harris on her earlier series Soap – as a widowed pediatrician with three adult daughters. The set of the Corlisses' house was also used as the set of the Westons' house, and David Leisure's character largely remained the same, only changing occupations and being renamed Charley.

The series debuted as part of NBC’s Saturday night lineup in the fall of 1988. From its debut, Empty Nest was an instant hit and solidified itself as more than a mere spinoff, eventually even earning more viewers than the series from which it was spun-off. With a 9:30 PM timeslot following The Golden Girls, Empty Nest becomes an instant Top 10 hit, receiving strong reviews and a loyal audience. Never a soapbox sitcom, Nest establishes itself as a warm and entertaining show its freshman year, remaining lighthearted instead of overly issues-oriented.

After the cancellation of The Golden Palace, Estelle Getty reprised her Golden Girls character Sophia Petrillo during Empty Nest's final two seasons. In the show, it is explained that Sophia has moved back into the nearby Shady Pines retirement home.

Storyline

The cast of Empty Nest

The show's story revolves around Miami pediatrician Dr. Harry Weston, whose life is turned upside down when his wife, Libby, dies and two of his adult daughters move back into the family home. Early episodes establish that the Golden Girls characters are neighbors of the Westons. Original Golden Girls actors, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty all guest-star as their Golden Girls characters, and Mulligan appears occasionally on The Golden Girls.

Eldest daughter Carol is a neurotic, high-strung recent divorcée, while middle daughter Barbara is a tough undercover police officer. The two sisters frequently bicker and vie for the attention of their father, while their father occasionally expresses regret at never having had a son, and their arguments, often evolving into physical fights, are the focus of many scenes. In 1992, Kristy McNichol left the show and Lisa Rieffel joined the cast to play the third Weston daughter, Emily. Her character had previously not been shown onscreen but had been mentioned as being away at college. Rieffel left after one season, and for the show's final two seasons only Carol remained of the Weston children. Kristy McNichol returned for the series finale in 1995. The Westons' large dog Dreyfuss also prominently features as a member of the household

Another main character is the Westons' next-door neighbor Charley Dietz, a womanizing cruise ship employee who frequently barges into the house unannounced to borrow food or make sexist comments. Charley has a father-son relationship with Harry and a love-hate relationship with Carol.

Harry's job is another major focus for the show -- for the first five seasons he works at a hospital, where he is assisted by wisecracking Southern nurse Laverne Todd, played by Park Overall. Laverne and Harry are shown to be good friends, originating with their first on-screen meeting in a sandwich shop where they start an argument over who would get the last Samms Sammich. In Season 6, Harry retires, eventually going to work for a struggling inner-city medical clinic run by the tough-talking Dr. Maxine Douglas. Having been fired by Dr. Weston's replacement, Laverne comes to work there as well.

Completing the cast is Carol's boyfriend, Patrick, an artist who is almost as eccentric as she is. Patrick convinces the Westons to let him use their empty garage as his new painting studio and, when his relationship with Carol becomes serious, he eventually moves in altogether. Carol and Patrick's romantic bliss is short-lived, and they break up at the beginning of Season 6. However, this leads into another plotline where Carol finds out she is pregnant with Patrick's child, and ultimately chooses to raise the baby, Scotty, on her own.

Cast

Photo	Character	Actor	Overview	Seasons
TBA	Dr. Harry Weston	Richard Mulligan	TBA	Season 1 - Season 7
TBA	Carol Weston	Dinah Manoff	TBA	Season 1 - Season 7
TBA	Barbara Weston	Kristy McNichol	TBA	Season 1 - Season 4
TBA	Charley Dietz	David Leisure	TBA	Season 1 - Season 7
TBA	Laverne Todd	Park Overall	TBA	Season 1 - Season 7
TBA	Dreyfuss	Bear	TBA	Season 1 - Season 7
TBA	Dr. Maxine Douglas	Marsha Warfield	TBA	Season 6 - Season 7
TBA	Sophia Petrillo	Estelle Getty	TBA	Season 6 - Season 7
TBA	Patrick Arcola	Paul Provenza	TBA	Season 5 - Season 6
TBA	Emily Weston	Lisa Rieffel	TBA	Season 5

Guest Stars

• Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak
• Betty White as Rose Nylund
• Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux

Episodes

• See: List of Empty Nest episodes

Production notes

In 1991, Empty Nest spawned its own spinoff, Nurses, a sitcom about a group of nurses working in the same hospital as Dr. Weston. The three series (Empty Nest, The Golden Girls and Nurses) represented one of the few times in American television history that three shows from the same producer, all taking place in the same city and explicitly set up with the characters knowing each other from the very beginning, aired on the same network in one night. On at least two occasions, Harris wrote storylines which carried through all three series as fictional crossovers.

Richard Mulligan and Dinah Manoff had previously appeared as onscreen father-in-law and daughter-in-law characters in the show Soap, created by the same production team. Jay Johnson, who had appeared on Soap as Mulligan's son, also made a guest appearance.

Theme song

The show's theme song is "Life Goes On", written by John Bettis and George Tipton and performed by Billy Vera. For the first three seasons, the song is presented in a slower, more melancholy yet comical arrangement. The original opening titles sequence show Harry Weston taking Dreyfuss for a walk around town, with still images of the other regular cast members shown as they are credited.

When the third season began, a new opening sequence debuted, made up of footage from the series' episodes and showing each of the regular cast members. For the final four seasons the theme song is presented in a higher, more upbeat arrangement with female backup singers, and the same title sequence introduced in the third season.

Crossovers

The following is a list of Empty Nest episodes featuring characters from The Golden Girls or Nurses.

Season One

• Episode 4: "Fatal Attraction" - Blanche becomes romantically interested in Harry.
• Episode 10: "Libby's Gift" - Sophia comes over with a noise complaint about Harry's organ playing.
• Episode 14: "Strange Bedfellows" - Rose comes over to return flyers Carol put up in the neighborhood.
• Episode 17: "Dumped" - Dorothy's nephew Jim begins dating Barbara but then dumps her, which causes friction between Dorothy and Harry.

Season Two

• Episode 6: "Rambo of Neiman Marcus" - Rose must repair Harry's car after she hits it.

Season Four

• Episode 8: "Windy" - Sophia stops by to warn Harry about the impending hurricane. (Concurrent with "The Monkey Show".)
• Episode 20: "Dr. Weston and Mr. Hyde" - Rose stops by for some romantic advice.

Season Five

• Season 5 | Episode 20 "Love and Marriage" - Jack Trenton performs community service with Charley.

Season Six

• Sophia appeared in all 26 episodes of this season (Estelle Getty became a series regular).
• Season 6 | Episode 2 "Bye-Bye, Baby... Hello: Part 1" - Casey appears.
• Season 6 | Episode 4 "Mama Todd, the Sequel" - Casey appears.
• Season 6 | Episode 7 "Mother Dearest" - Casey appears.

Season Seven

• Sophia appeared in all 24 episodes of this season.

Gallery

Posters