''Empty Nest'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that aired for seven seasons on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from October 8, 1988, to June 17, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty ...

'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred

Richard Mulligan Richard Mulligan (November 13, 1932 – September 26, 2000) was an American character actor. He was known for his roles in the sitcoms ''Soap'' (1977–1981) and '' Empty Nest'' (1988–1995). Mulligan was the winner of two Emmy Aw ...

as recently widowed

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

Dr. Harry Weston, whose two adult daughters return home to live with him. The series was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions in association with

Touchstone Television The second incarnation of Touchstone Television, formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios, was an American television production company and a subsidiary of the Disney Television Studios, a subsidiary of the Disney Media Networks business s ...

History

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 A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

for the spin-off, which was to begin during the fall 1987 TV season. In the episode, George and Renee Corliss (played by Paul Dooley and

Rita Moreno Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. With a career spanning eight decades she is known for her roles on stage and screen, and is one of the last remaining stars from t ...

), were introduced as the Girls' neighbors, a middle-aged couple suffering from empty nest syndrome. Their teenage daughter Jenny (Jane Harnick), who had left for college, and Renee's brother Chuck ( Geoffrey Lewis), also appeared. The Corlisses also had an annoying neighbor played by

David Leisure David Russell Leisure (born November 16, 1950) is an American actor. He played Charley Dietz in the sitcom '' Empty Nest'' from 1988 to 1995 and fictional automotive "pitch man" Joe Isuzu in a series of North American television commercials for ...

(although in this version his character was named Oliver). 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 15 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. The set of the Corlisses' house, however, was exactly the same as the one that later became the Weston residence.

Premise

The show's story revolves around

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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. Later estranged daughter Emily returns to the nest (Lisa Rieffel). Early episodes establish that the ''Golden Girls'' characters are neighbors of the Westons. Original ''Golden Girls'' actors, Bea Arthur,

Rue McClanahan Eddi-Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles on television sitcoms, including Maude (TV series)#Characters, Vivian Cavender Harmon on ''Maude (TV series), Maude'' (1972–78), ...

, Betty White and Estelle Getty all guest-star as their ''Golden Girls'' characters, and Mulligan appears occasionally on ''The Golden Girls''. In the show, eldest daughter Carol is a highly-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, whom they call "Daddy", while their father occasionally expresses regret at never having had a son. The Westons' large dog Dreyfuss also prominently features as a member of the household. In 1992, Kristy McNichol, who played Barbara, left the show, and Lisa Rieffel joined the cast as 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 eldest daughter Carol remained of the Weston children. Kristy McNichol returned for the series finale in 1995. Another main character is the Westons' neighbor and friend, Charley Dietz (

), a womanizing cruise ship employee who frequently enters the house uninvited and takes food or makes sexist comments. Charley has a father-son relationship with Harry and a love-hate relationship with Carol. Harry Weston'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, played throughout the series by Park Overall. Laverne and Harry are shown to be good friends. In season six, Harry retires, eventually going to work for a struggling inner-city medical clinic run by the tough-talking Dr. Maxine Douglas. Nurse Laverne, having been fired by Dr. Weston's replacement, comes to work there as well. Another character who appears 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 into the house. Carol and Patrick's romantic bliss is short-lived, and they break up at the beginning of season six. Carol then finds she is pregnant with Patrick's child, and chooses to raise the baby, Scotty, on her own. Estelle Getty reprised her ''Golden Girls'' character Sophia Petrillo during ''Empty Nest''s final two seasons (after the cancellation of '' The Golden Palace)''. In the show, it is explained that Sophia has moved back into the nearby Shady Pines retirement home.

Cast

as Dr. Harry Weston *

Dinah Manoff Dinah Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Carol Weston on '' Empty Nest,'' Elaine Lefkowitz on ''Soap'', Marty Maraschino in the film '' Gr ...

as Carol Weston * Kristy McNichol as Barbara Weston (1988–1992, 1995) *

as Charley Dietz * Park Overall as Laverne Todd * Paul Provenza as Patrick Arcola (1992–1993) * Lisa Rieffel as Emily Weston (1993) * Marsha Warfield as Dr. Maxine Douglas (1993–1995) * Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo (1993–1995) * Bear the Dog as Dreyfuss the St. Bernard- Golden Retriever mix

Notable guest stars

* Don Adams * Bea Arthur (reprising her ''Golden Girls'' role as Dorothy) * Diana Muldaur *

Loni Anderson Loni Anderson (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress. She played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Award nominations. Early life ...

Mayim Bialik Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, author, and former game show host. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom (American TV series), Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she play ...

* Eddie Bracken *

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* Patricia Crowley *

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* Morgan Fairchild *

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor ( , ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were socialites and actresses Eva Gabor and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the ...

Marla Gibbs Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. She is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on th ...

* Trevor Goddard * Bobcat Goldthwait *

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Harold Gould Harold Vernon Goldstein (December 10, 1923 – September 11, 2010), better known as Harold Gould, was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom ''Rhoda'' (1974–78) and Miles Webber on the sitcom ''The Golden ...

* Pat Harrington * Phil Hartman * Earl Holliman *

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Gordon Jump Alexander Gordon Jump (April 1, 1932 – September 22, 2003) was an American actor best known for playing Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the series ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982); he reprised the role in its spinoff '' The New WKRP in Cincin ...

* Carol Kane *

Joey Lawrence Joseph Lawrence Mignogna III (born April 20, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, podcaster, and game show host. He was a child actor in the early 1980s and portrayed Joey Russo in '' Blossom'' and Joe Longo ...

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* Wendie Malick * Barbara Mandrell *

(reprising her ''Golden Girls'' role as Blanche) * Edie McClurg *

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows (born Audrey Cotter; February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress who portrayed the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy ''The Honeymooners''. She was the younger sister of H ...

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Donnelly Rhodes Donnelly Rhodes Henry (December 4, 1937 – January 8, 2018) was a Canadian actor. He had many American television and film credits, probably best known to American audiences as the hapless escaped convict Dutch Leitner on the soap opera spoof ' ...

(also appeared on ''Soap'' as Dutch) *

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* Debra Jo Rupp *

Jennifer Salt Jennifer Salt (born September 4, 1944) is an American producer, screenwriter, and former actress known for playing Eunice Tate on ''Soap'' (1977–1981). Life and career Salt was born in Los Angeles, California, to screenwriter Waldo Salt and ...

(also appeared on ''Soap'' as Eunice) *

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* Renée Taylor *

Danny Thomas Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz, (born January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) known professionally as Danny Thomas, was an American comedian, actor, singer, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in ''The Danny Thomas Show''. In additio ...

* Betty White (reprising her ''Golden Girls'' role as Rose) * Grace Zabriskie * Adrian Zmed

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 crossover A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders (known as intercompany ...

and

(who depict father Harry and daughter Carol in ''Empty Nest'') had previously appeared as onscreen father-in-law and daughter-in-law characters in the show ''

Soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

'', 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 George Aliceson Tipton (January 23, 1932 – February 12, 2016) was an American composer, musical arranger, and conductor, who is well known for his work in television and for his collaborations with singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. Among ...

and performed by

Billy Vera Billy Vera (born William Patrick McCord; May 28, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, and music historian. He has been a singer and songwriter since the 1960s, his most successful record being " At This Moment", a US number 1 ...

. For the first three seasons, the song is presented in a slower, more melancholy yet comical arrangement. The original opening titles sequence shows 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 ''

'' or '' Nurses''.

Season One

Episode 4: "Fatal Attraction" – Blanche Devereaux from ''The Golden Girls'' Episode 10: "Libby's Gift" – Sophia Petrillo from ''The Golden Girls'' Episode 14: "Strange Bedfellows" – Rose Nylund from ''The Golden Girls'' Episode 17: "Dumped" –

Dorothy Zbornak Dorothy Zbornak is a Character (arts), character from the sitcom television series ''The Golden Girls'', portrayed by Bea Arthur. Sarcastic, introspective, compassionate, and fiercely protective of those she considers family, she is introduced as ...

from ''The Golden Girls''

Season Two

Episode 6: "Rambo of Neiman Marcus" – Rose Nylund from ''The Golden Girls''

Season Four

Episode 8: "Windy" – Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls Episode 20: "Dr. Weston and Mr. Hyde" – Rose Nylund from ''The Golden Girls''

Season Five

Episode 20: "Love and Marriage" – Jack Trenton from ''Nurses''

Season Six

Episode 2: "Bye-Bye, Baby... Hello: Part 1" – Casey MacAfee from ''Nurses'' Episode 7: "Mother Dearest" – Casey MacAfee from ''Nurses''

Syndication

The series was unsuccessful when it was first syndicated, running in local syndication from September 1993 to September 2000, shortly before the death of star

. During this time, ''Empty Nest'' aired on TBS from September 9 to December 6, 1996, and on WGN from September 9, 1996, to March 26, 1999, with both stations airing the series as part of the regular syndication run (both TBS and WGN were

superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...

s).''TV Guide''. – March 20–26, 1999. In the subsequent decade, the series did not air on American television.

Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

, which also licenses the rights to ''The Golden Girls'', picked up the rights to the show in early 2011 and aired it from February 26 to June 26 of that year, but eventually removed it altogether. Upon its launch on April 15, 2015, the new digital sub-channel Laff began airing the series and continued until March 30, 2018. In Canada, the series was rerun on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

during the 1990s. In Italy, the series aired on

Rai Uno Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

(or Rai 1) under the name ' (''Daddy's Dog'') during the 1990s. In the UK, the series was shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

during the 1990s.

Awards

In 1989, Richard Mulligan won both an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

and a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The series received a number of other Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations over the years, especially for Mulligan and for Park Overall, who was nominated three times for a Golden Globe Award.

References

External links

* * {{Golden Girls 1980s American multi-camera sitcoms 1988 American television series debuts 1990s American multi-camera sitcoms 1995 American television series endings American television spinoffs American English-language television shows Television series about families Television series about sisters Television series about widowhood Television shows set in Miami Television series by ABC Studios The Golden Girls NBC sitcoms