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

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User reviews20

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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.

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.

1ashley_torres-14297

Awful

Worst way to end an entire season. The girls weren't even in half of the episode. Random characters with no background. Worst episode made. Skip this episode if you're binge watching.

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.

1booksultra

Agree with the first review: trite, artificial and laboured

I'm a big fan and I loved this series when I was in my 20s. Watching series 2 for the first time, but this last one really jarred. Characters completely introduced out of the blue. Paul Dooley makes a bit of a go of his character, but Rita Moreno was bland. Before I googled this episode I was wondering if it could be some forced attempt to introduce a new show on the back of the popularity of The Golden Girls - and I was right. I found it frustrating to watch, and a little cynical of the production company to try this kind of approach. Apparently the show was drastically reworked, with different main characters and it lasted 5-6 years. They must have done something pretty radical, as this episode dies on its feet.

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.