Empty Nests

Episode aired May 16, 1987
TV-PG
30m

IMDb RATING

3.7/10

YOUR RATING

Comedy Drama

Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno guest star as neighbors of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia contending with family and friends in this initial spin-off pilot of "Empty Nest."Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno guest star as neighbors of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia contending with family and friends in this initial spin-off pilot of "Empty Nest."Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno guest star as neighbors of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia contending with family and friends in this initial spin-off pilot of "Empty Nest."

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

3.7/10

YOUR RATING

20User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos3

User reviews20

3.71K

Featured reviews

3Aroura64

Empty plot

I have to agree with all the reviews about this episode. The main characters are barely featured, the plot revolves around entirely new characters who we have never seen before. I disagree with one point though, Rita Moreno was rather sweet. It was interesting to see her, in something other than musicals.

5notforyou-27114

I seriously thought this was not the Golden Girls.

I admit that I was only half watching the series. The DVD was playing in the background while I worked from home. I heard the girls voices and thought it was just another episode. Then I stopped hearing them. At the end when they didn't come back, I was so confused. I ended up rewatching it just to figure out what was going on.

While as a TV episode from the 1980s it wasn't terrible and I did recognize the creepy neighbor character and actor, the rest was completely foreign to me. I kept thinking, what was the point of this episode. Once I read that it was a spinoff for another series, it made sense. But, why would this be the final episode of the season?

The Golden Girls is a great show, but this episode is just weird.

2ericcoomer

A Terrible Backdoor Pilot

Sometimes backdoor pilots work, like Facts of Life coming from Diff'rent Strokes. Other times, Rita Moreno shows up out of nowhere and we're just supposed to suspend disbelief that Golden Girls' producers figured we wouldn't care after two full seasons that the ladies have neighbors they'd never had before.

I can't believe NBC allowed this to be the finale to an otherwise wonderful season of this classic series! Rita Moreno even said this episode/pilot was a "very, very bad show."

I'm still trying to figure out how this backdoor pilot morphed into Empty Nest, the beloved Golden Girls spin-off that lasted seven seasons! The only things that carried over from this episode were the house (why bother paying for a new set?) and David Leisure (who would end up playing a different smarmy, but slightly more likable character).

Thank God this show didn't make it because the actual Empty Nest was a great show.

3Sleepin_Dragon

It's almost impossible to find some love for this one.

Renee and George, the neighbours of The Girls are having a few issues, he's too busy to spend time with her, and she's bored.

On the plus side, it was nice to see the girls outside of their usual environment, it's not often we see them outside of their home, it was nice to see them with friends.

Sadly, that's about the only positive I could find for this one, what a shame that series two, which has been excellent for the most part, ends with a turkey like this.

It feels like one of those hideous, forgotten sitcoms from The States in the 80's, everything The Golden Girls is not. It's not funny, it's tacky, the characters make no sense, we're not introduced to them, they just appeared, it was impossible to relate to them.

The whole thing really did need to be totally rewritten or scrapped, apart from one or two fun lines, it was a total flop.

Rita Moreno was quite lovely, a shame she wasn't better served.

3/10.

4CubsandCulture

A failed pilot but the only real clunker in season 2

The production company eventually got a Empty Nest to work as an enjoyable sit-com on its own but much like the gay house keeper from the pilot of the Golden Girls the concepts embedded in this misfire were wisely dropped. It is unfortunate that this backdoor pilot didn't work because it is such a lousy way to end season 2.

Season 2 has a bit of growing pains for the show. It's not as fresh or inventive as season 1 but the season has more than enough classic episodes that hold up even in 2022.

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Rita Moreno called this episode a disaster. She said that Susan Harris was ill and couldn't do rewrites, and that the episode needed to be fixed. She also felt that the "Golden Girls" were tense during taping, since they also hated working on the episode.

Goofs
When Dorothy snaps at Oliver, she mentions him "throwing up in the pool" at a New Year's Party at Blanche's. There is no pool on the girls' property, which is Blanche's house and where they've always lived; it is never seen or mentioned outside of this episode.

Quotes
[the girls' friend and neighbour Renee is worried that her doctor husband spends too long at work and doesn't have much time for her]
Blanche Devereaux: Talk to your husband.
Renee Corliss: Blanche, at the hospital they call him St. George! I'm married to a saint and I'm gonna tell him to work less, I'm lonely?
Sophia Petrillo: Don't you think St. Francis of Assisi's wife had a similar problem? Don't you think she said, "Frank, enough donkeys"?
Renee Corliss: So what do I do? Ask George to cut back on his practice because I don't want to eat alone?
Rose Nylund: Oh no, don't do that. I couldn't possibly go to another doctor.
Renee Corliss: See?
Rose Nylund: George is the only man to ever see me naked.
Blanche Devereaux: Get outta here.
Rose Nylund: Well, except for Charlie, of course.
Blanche Devereaux: Get outta here.
Rose Nylund: And the vet.
Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak: The vet?
Rose Nylund: Our prize hen Henrietta had some kind of a chicken disease. I don't exactly know what it was.
Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak: Chickenpox.
Rose Nylund: No, I don't think so. Anyway, I had an earache, so he saw us both at the same time.
Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak: For that you got naked?
Rose Nylund: I thought that was strange, too.