Nurses, a quasi-spin off of The Golden Girls & Empty Nest, was a mixed bag in the sitcom world. Created by Susan Harris (Who also created both Girls and Nest, among other shows) Nurses focused on a small staff of Nurses, with varying personalities, who worked on a particular floor in a large Miami hospital. Along with Girls & Nest, it was part of the "Miami Trilogy". All three shows shared characters and minor plot threads. Nurses was the last show to enter into the trilogy and was easily the most unsuccessful.
Nurses was definitely a mixed bag. Although most episodes would either fall into the decent or so-so category some were truly awful. The fairly good acting was unfortunately dragged down by mediocre writing and poor direction. The characters were pretty stock. From strong willed head nurse Annie Roland (Played by Arnetia Walker) to the ditsy and neurotic Julie Milbury (Mary Jo Keenan). The character of Julie was probably the shows funniest. She always reminded me of a younger crazier Rose (Of Golden Girls fame). It's also interesting to note that one of the characters, Nurse Sandy Miller (Stephanie Hodge) was actually the best friend to the character of Laverne (Park Overall) from Empty Nest.
Not surprisingly the various characters on Nurses are uncannily similar to many of the characters from both The Golden Girls and Empty Nest. This points to one of the major problems with the show. Since much of the shows creative team also worked on both The Golden Girls and Empty Nest it seemed the idea well was running a bit dry for all involved. Many of Nurses themes, characters, and plots all felt like they had been recycled from the other shows. In a last ditch effort the shows creators got Loni Anderson to portray Casey, the hospitals new "big boss". Although it created quite a bit of publicity (At the time she was in the national spotlight amidst a break-up with Burt Reynolds) it failed to jump-start the ratings. Although not completely out of the question I personally feel like DVD release for the show is unlikely. Considering it's relatively short run and lack of mainstream popularity I wouldn't hold your breath.
