The Ten Best EMPTY NEST Episodes of Season One

https://jacksonupperco.com/2022/06/22/the-ten-best-empty-nest-episodes-of-season-one/

Empty Nest is one of the most average properties we’ve ever given space to on Sitcom Tuesdays, falling right in the middle of our highlighted efforts. It’s seldom outstanding, it’s seldom terrible, and while such muted highs and lows typically mean it’s a show that’s not conducive to coverage here, it’s been one of the most requested efforts by readers since I first discussed The Golden Girls back in 2016. And, indeed, Empty Nest’s affiliation with The Golden Girls — one of the best sitcoms of the 1980s, and an all-time classic — seems to be the guiding source of its interest now, both for viewers and for, frankly, my intentions on this blog. That is, in making the decision to feature Empty Nest, I’m not just fulfilling those many requests, I’m also allowing myself the chance to say more about a series that I both respect and enjoy — the show off from which Empty Nest spun, another sitcom created by Susan Harris and produced by Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. But that’s not going to be my focus; no, I only want to use The Golden Girls as a specific point of contrast in our examination of Empty Nest — which I also like (only far less). For although the two casts crossed over periodically — especially early on to help establish this new series, and then in 1991-’92, when Witt-Thomas-Harris’ Nurses was added to the lineup — and they all exist within the same basic Miami-set universe, the shows are markedly different, particularly in terms of episodic results. This is largely because there’s a major structural distinction between The Golden Girls and Empty Nest — though, interestingly, that isn’t present in the initial 1987 backdoor pilot, “Empty Nests,” which aired at the tail end of The Golden Girls’ second season, with Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno as the ladies’ neighbors, a couple whose nest is figuratively empty now that their kids are all gone. Many Golden Girls fans have come to regard this installment as that series’ worst half hour (for the core four are sidelined), but the network wasn’t enthused either, significantly retooling the idea before picking it up for the fall of 1988 — and with only one carryover from the intended cast: David Leisure as their obnoxious neighbor (initially called “Oliver”). For the official series, titled Empty Nest, the premise was tweaked and now centered around Harry Weston, a recent widower and pediatrician, played by one of Susan Harris’ old Soap pals, Richard Mulligan.