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Empty Nest Article - The Golden Girls @ Couch Potatoes
I stumbled across this article when searching for Empty Nest on Google.
Check it out!
Empty Nest
Writing by Dan Barrett on Tuesday, 19 of December , 2006 at 10:12 pm
Anything that can expand out the world of The Golden Girls is a good thing in my eyes.
And if my never-ending love of The Golden Girls and Bea Arthur makes me sound gay, then I dont wanna be straight.
Wait, no, I think that came out wrong.
I like the women-folk.
Dont get the wrong idea.
Empty Nest lasted for seven seasons, yet most people will be hard-pressed to even remember its existence.
What the bejeezus was it all about?
Empty Nest served as a spin-off from the popular NBC comedy The Golden Girls.
A second attempt at a spin-off from the show (an episode of The Golden Girls sought to introduce next door neighbour characters to be spun-off, but it seems that they tested poorly), Empty Nest focussed on the Golden Girls next door neighbour Dr Harry Weston and his two daughters who move back home with him.
Harry (played by Soap star Richard Mulligan) is certainly the focus of the series, with the show split between showing his home life with his daughters, as well as his work life at the Miami Community Hospital where he works as a pediatrician.
The supporting cast was comprised of his nurse Laverne (Park Overall), his two daughters Carol (Dinah Manoff) and Barbara (Kirsty McNichol), his next door neighbour Charlie (David Leisure), and his big dog Dreyfus.
In later seasons, Westons oft-mentioned, but usually unseen third daughter came to join the show as series star Kirsty McNichol left due to health reasons.
Also, Estelle Getty joined the show towards the end of its run, reprising her Golden Girls role of Sophia.
Surely something made it memorable?
The show featured one of the biggest TV dogs ever.
Did at least one episode stick out?
Not at all really.
The show was very much a by the numbers sitcom.
It had better than average writing and a great cast of sitcom actors (its difficult to pass up any sitcom headed by Richard Mulligan), but ultimately the show was akin to a seven-year memory haze.
Why the heck is it consigned to the depths of forgotten telly lore?
Its not that the show was bad.
It wasnt. It just wasnt great and managed to always live in the shadow of its parent series The Golden Girls.
That said, the show was popular enough to spin-off a show of its own, Nurses.
Nurses was another sitcom set in the same hospital that Dr Harry Weston worked at and lasted three seasons.
If anything, it served as a nice adjunct to The Golden Girls and will always be remembered as such.
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Hmm, that's interesting...
Quote: Did at least one episode stick out?
Not at all really.
The show was very much a by the numbers sitcom.
It had better than average writing and a great cast of sitcom actors (its difficult to pass up any sitcom headed by Richard Mulligan), but ultimately the show was akin to a seven-year memory haze.
Since I have seen all of 5 minutes of Empty Nest, can someone tell me if that is a fair/ridiculous assessment?
Quote: Surely something made it memorable?
The show featured one of the biggest TV dogs ever.
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Quote: Since I have seen all of 5 minutes of Empty Nest, can someone tell me if that is a fair/ridiculous assessment?
Having seen two Seasons of Empty Nest I'd call 'ridiculous assessment' on that.
The first season didn't set the world on fire for me other than the girls appearance, but in Season 2 this show was definitely going somewhere and I can't believe it hasn't had a DVD release yet.
As for Nurses, I can answer this in a sort of unbiased way because when I stumbled across Nurses on the Paramount Comedy Channel all those years ago I had absolutely no idea to begin with that it was a Susan Harris creation, let alone a GG/EN spin-off.
I loved the show then when I caught the opening titles and saw 'Created by Susan Harris' I thought "Oh, that's why it's so good".
But, it wasn't until a long while later that I discovered that it was a EN spin-off when I saw one of the girls making an appearance.
I embraced the show long before making the GG connection so for me this is a winner too.
It totally holds it's own.
Just can't believe neither have been released to DVD when you've got crap-that-was-cancelled-after-one-season making it
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I saw the episodes on YouTube, and I think the show was pretty good.
I wish I could see more episodes, though (especially Nurses).
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Quote: Since I have seen all of 5 minutes of Empty Nest, can someone tell me if that is a fair/ridiculous assessment?
Well, here's the thing: At it's peak the show was extremely popular...in fact it drew higher ratings than TGG during its 3rd and 4th seasons (TGG's 6th and 7th).
Yet even back then it was an "under the radar" show that everybody watched but didn't draw massive media attention like other shows, i.e.
Roseanne, Seinfeld, etc.
So I guess that's why articles such as that one claim that its a forgotten show that wasn't all that memorable to begin with, lol.
Garth Brooks made his acting debut on the series -- I'd say that should count as a memorable one!
If the show were more visible in reruns or on DVD, that would help the case that EN is more memorable than people think.
I know some of you only got to see the first 2 seasons -- that's a shame....seasons 3 and 4 are by far the show's strongest.
Matt
www.emptynestonline.net
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