In honor of my entertaining interview with actress DINAH MANOFF (Episodes 53 & 54) who is best known for playing the role of 'Carol Weston' on the hit TV sitcom “Empty Nest” - from 1988 until 1995 - I put together this entertaining trivia list featuring some fun facts about the popular TV series for you to test your knowledge with. Enjoy!
During the second season of “The Golden Girls” the episode “Empty Nests” (season 2 episode 26) served as the backdoor pilot for what would eventually become the series “Empty Nest”. The only actor from the pilot to continue in the series was David Leisure, but his character's name changed from 'Oliver' to 'Charley Dietz'.
After the series retooling, Richard Mulligan got the lead role of 'Dr. Harry Weston', first and foremost, because of his longtime friendships with Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas and Susan Harris, whom they all worked together on "Soap", which was his first television exposure.
Though not an official adaptation or remake, the series was partly inspired by the British sitcom "Father, Dear Father", which was about a single father living with his two daughters and owning a large dog. However in the British series the father was a divorcee, not a widower, and the daughters were teenagers as opposed to grown women.
This show premiered on Saturday, October 8, 1988, on NBC, at 9:30 p.m. EDT/8:30 p.m. EDT, which aired, immediately following, "The Golden Girls" (their parent series), and would stay in that same timeslot, for 3 years, until it moved at 9:00 p.m. EDT/8:00 p.m., before "Nurses" (their spin-off series), for another 3 years, until the final season, the show moved, off- and on- at 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m.
Richard Mulligan and Dinah Manoff had previously appeared as onscreen father-in-law and daughter-in-law characters in ABC's “Soap”, also created by Susan Harris.
The show aired in a programming block with sister shows “The Golden Girls” and “Nurses”. All three shows were created by Susan Harris and took place in Miami, Florida. On several occasions the shows featured interwoven story lines (such as a hurricane), in which characters from all three shows would interact.
The hospital used in the establishing shots for Community Medical Center is actually Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California.
The show's theme song was "Life Goes On", written by John Bettis and George Tipton and performed by Billy Vera. Originally, the song was presented in a slower, more melancholy yet comical arrangement, then, at the beginning of the fourth season and until the show's ending, the theme song was presented in a higher, more upbeat arrangement with female backup singers and the title sequence introduced in the third season.
'Nurse Laverne Todd' has a southern accent, as does Park Overall, in real-life. She was born in Horse Creek, Tennessee.
Dinah Manoff and Kristy McNichol worked together as teens in the TV drama series “Family” in 1978 on an episode called "The Sleeping Gypsy".
Anticipating the possibility of Kristy McNicol or Dinah Manoff leaving the series, producers originally created Emily as an off screen character to have an established third sister to bring in as a replacement.
Although 'Emily Weston' was in her early twenties by the time she was introduced onscreen, Lisa Rieffel was just eighteen years old when she started playing the part.
In the 1st season only, David Leisure was supposed to be in only 13 episodes. Since his character proved to be so popular, he stayed on for almost the entire season, and had continued to be in almost every episode, every season, ever since.
Despite coming from a broken home, though he has a younger brother, 'Charley Dietz' (David Leisure) became a surrogate son to 'Dr. Harry Weston'.
Both 'Dr. Harry Weston' and 'Charley Dietz' are the only 2 characters to have not been married or have had any longterm relationships.
The Empty Nest episode “Talk, Talk, Talk” from Season 4 offers a small treat for fans of the film “Grease”. In the episode, Edd Byrnes plays a judge at the chili cook-off in which Barbara, Carol, and Charley compete. In “Grease”, Byrnes played 'Vince Fontaine', the television host and dance contest judge adored by 'Marty Maraschino' (played by Dinah Manoff).
Dr. Harry Weston’s office was a virtual training ground for future stars. Matthew Perry, Stephen Dorff, Allison Mack, Mayim Bialik, Michael Bower, R.J. Williams, Ariana Richards, Rider Strong and Andrew Keegan were all cast as patients of Harry’s.
According to Park Overall, she refused to say lines that she felt were easy jokes about Southerners and fought with the writers to make sure that Laverne was not a stereotype.
According to "Golden Girls" star Rue McClanahan, Park Overall would spend her breaks rollerskating in the parking lot of the production building.
Dinah Manoff’s mother, Oscar-winning actress and director Lee Grant, played Aunt Susan in “The Return of Aunt Susan” episode during season four.
This series served as a parent show of “Nurses”. That series focused on a team of nurses, who worked in the same hospital that Dr. Weston was employed.
The show features guest appearances from the TV show "Nurses": actor David Rasche (as the character Jack Trenton) and actress Loni Anderson (as the character Casey McAfee).
Laverne is good friends with the character Sandy Miller who stars on the spin-off show "Nurses". The role of Sandy is portrayed by actress Stephanie Hodge.
Bear the Dog's brother, Julio, sometimes doubled for him as 'Dreyfuss'. Julio was more energetic than Bear and would be used whenever 'Dreyfuss' had to perform actions. Julio was the one running around with Richard Mulligan in the opening credits of the earlier seasons.
Danny Thomas (the father of popular producer Tony Thomas) had guest starred on an episode, where he was Dr. Weston's mentor, in real-life, Danny would die only 4 days, after the airing of this episode.
For five seasons both 'Dr. Weston' and 'Nurse Laverne Todd' had both worked at Community Medical Center, for the last two seasons, they both worked at an inner city clinic, where they were joined by 'Dr. Maxine Douglas' (Marsha Warfield) , another veteran doctor, who told the two to try keep the place running.
Dinah Manoff directed seven episodes of Empty Nest throughout seasons 5-7: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?,” “Read All About It,” “Brotherly Shove,” “Just for Laughs,” “Feelings, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Feelings,” “Stand by Your Man,” and “My Pal Valy-Val.”
Estelle Getty was asked to join the cast, for the last 2 seasons, playing the character of 'Sophia Petrillo'. She joined the cast when her long run of both “The Golden Girls” and the short-lived “The Golden Palace” had ended. Getty was the only star to have played the same character, for over a decade on 3 shows, and 253 episodes.
Character actress Grace Zabriskie appeared in the first and last episodes of "Empty Nest", but as different characters. In the pilot, she played a woman who was dating Harry. In the finale, she played Laverne’e mother. She again played mother to Park Overall’s character in the 1999 film "Sparkler".
Kristy McNichol quit the series during the show's fifth season (only appearing in the first 5 episodes) after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She returned in the final episode of the show.
Five of the original cast members (Richard Mulligan, Dinah Manoff, David Leisure, Park Overall and Bear the Dog) stayed throughout the show's entire run, but only Mulligan would actually appear in all 170 episodes.
In 1989, Richard Mulligan won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The series received a number of other Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations over the years, especially for Mulligan and for Park Overall, who was nominated three times for a Golden Globe Award.
Trivia items from IMDB
To listen to my informative conversation with Empty Nest star DINAH MANOFF on my podcast - click on the links below. Enjoy!
Episode 53 - HERE
Episode 54 - HERE
