The BEST episodes of Empty Nest
Every episode of Empty Nest ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Empty Nest!
Widowed pediatrician Harry Weston is a miracle worker when it comes to dealing with his young patients, but he's more challenged by the other people surrounding him: daughters Barbara and Carol; his wisecracking office assistant, nurse LaVerne Todd; and obnoxious neighborhood mooch Charley Dietz. Thank goodness he always finds a friendly shoulder (and a warm, wet tongue) in Dreyfuss, his enormous dog.
#1 - Love and Marriage
Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/27/1993
Carol is upset when cousin Little Carol visits and announces her wedding plans. Charley is sentenced to community service at the hospital and gets some helpful tips from Jack Trenton.
#2 - The All-American Boy -- Not!
Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/20/1993
Harry befriends a young shoplifter while volunteering at a free clinic and brings him home. The boy, an uncontrolled diabetic, later runs away, taking the Westons furniture with him.
#3 - When the Rooster Dies
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/25/1993
Harry sells his pediatrics practice to another doctor, who ends up firing Laverne. When the hospital sends Harry to check out an inner-city clinic, he ends up teaming up with the owner, Dr. Maxine Douglas, to keep the place open. Laverne joins them as nurse. Meanwhile, Sophia Petrillo moves back into nearby Shady Pines retirement home and drops by the Weston house.
#4 - Bye-Bye, Baby...Hello (1)
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/2/1993
Carol throws Patrick out when she realizes that he'll never grow up, but later learns that she's pregnant. Laverne goes too far when trying to organize things at the clinic.
#5 - Bye-Bye, Baby...Hello (2)
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/9/1993
Carol can't decide how to tell Patrick about her pregnancy. Laverne refuses to tell Maxine a secret.
#6 - Mom's the Word
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/23/1993
Carol is afraid to tell a date that she is pregnant. Laverne and Maxine disagree when trying to plan a baby shower.
#7 - Mama Todd, the Sequel
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/16/1993
Laverne's mother-in-law visits, unaware that Nick and Laverne are divorced. Charley tries to persuade Carol to make him godfather of the baby.
#8 - Diary of a Mad Housewife
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/1993
Carol reads her mother's old diary and thinks she wasn't wanted. Maxine is annoyed by a mime and a hypochondriac at the clinic.
#9 - Read All About It
Season 6 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1993
When Maxine has a dental emergency, Harry steps in and gives an interview in her place, but the journalist makes the article sound as though Harry deserves all the credit for the clinic's success. Meanwhile, Charley falls for Dreyfuss' vet.
#10 - The Girl Who Cried Baby
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1993
Maxine and Harry compete to sell opera tickets. After a series of false alarms, Carol gives birth to son Scotty while at the opera.
#11 - Superbaby
Season 6 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/11/1993
When the baby starts ""singing Beethoven,"" Carol fears the hospital has given her the wrong child.
#12 - What's a Mother to Do?
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/15/1994
Carol joins a mother-daughter support group and ends up feeling that she is the worst mother in the world, especially after locking the baby in the car. Laverne thinks Maxine is dying when she mysteriously asks for time off after a check-up.
#13 - The Ballad of Shady Pines
Season 6 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/12/1994
Laverne fills in for a friend at Shady Pines, where Sophia's boyfriend hits on her. Sophia catches the two together and thinks Laverne is stealing her man.
#14 - Love a la Mode
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1994
Charley plans to marry a waitress from a pancake house. When she finds out they have the same birthday, Laverne thinks that explains why she and Maxine are so much alike, which Maxine thinks is ridiculous.
#15 - Under the Gun
Season 6 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/29/1994
Harry gets shot when a young boy brings a gun to the clinic. Carol has a date with a famous anthropologist, who opts instead to go party with Charley.
#16 - Brotherly Shove
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/5/1994
Charley ends up working at his brother's used car lot, but when he makes a big sale his brother takes all the credit. Maxine and Laverne become competitive when they start jogging to get in shape.
#17 - Hog Heaven
Season 6 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/5/1994
Laverne's old biker boyfriend returns and the two rekindle their romance, which annoys Harry, who doesn't think the guy is good enough for her. Carol makes a memory video for baby Scotty.
#18 - Charley's Millions
Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/8/1994
After receiving an inheritance, Charley assembles a group of people who have meant a lot to him over the years (which includes Harry, Carol, Sophia, and Don Adams from Get Smart) and takes them all on a trip to Mardi Gras. Laverne's hideous looking cat dies.
#19 - A Foreign Affair
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/16/1994
Maxine's boyfriend, an African cultural attache, proposes marriage. Sophia and Charley get Carol (who meanwhile has started to play the guitar again) hooked on the dog races.
#20 - The Devil and Dr. Weston
Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/9/1994
A wealthy philanthropist eyes Harry. Carol tries to help shy Doris (who once volunteered at the clinic but now sales roll-on moose door-to-door) come out of her shell.
#21 - Absence Makes the Nurse Grow Weirder
Season 6 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/21/1994
Harry fills in at his old practice and becomes smitten with the nurse. Laverne is upset because Harry forgets the anniversary of the day they started working together.
#22 - Half That Jazz
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/2/1994
Harry persuades his old jazz idol Sonny Baxter to come out of retirement and play at a benefit. Strange things start happening after Sophia vows revenge on Charley for dumping her niece.
#23 - Best Friends
Season 6 - Episode 25 - Aired 5/21/1994
Carol is upset when her childhood friend returns and starts dating Harry. A patient at the clinic turns out to be a member of the family which has feuded with Laverne's for years, which sparks a mini-war between the two.
#24 - Lordy, Lordy, Landlordy
Season 6 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/23/1994
When their good-for-nothing landlord refuses to repair the problems at the clinic, Laverne threatens a rent strike and ends up getting the gang evicted. Meanwhile, Sophia convinces Carol to spend some time away from baby Scotty but she can't seem to bring herself to let him out of her sight.
#25 - Let's Give Them Something to Talk About
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/1994
Rumors fly after Charley and Laverne begin spending a lot of time together, but the two swear they are just friends. Carol is excited about her new job at a local newspaper, until she finds out that she has been hired merely as a driver for the paper's teenage reporter.
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