7.7/10144 votes#1 - Pilot
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/8/1988
Harry is proposed to eighteen months after the death of his wife.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: Susan Harris
- 7.9/10121 votes
#2 - The Check Isn't In the Mail
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/22/1988
Carol gets all dolled up for a date with her contemptible ex-husband. Harry thinks Dreyfuss may be sick.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10122 votes
#3 - Barbara Gets Shot
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/29/1988
Harry tries to get Barbara to give up her police career after she is shot.
Director: N/A
Writer: Don Reo
- 7.7/10123 votes
#4 - Fatal Attraction
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 11/5/1988
Neighbor Blanche thinks she is in love with Harry and comes on strong when showing her affection. An old friend of the family dies after an illness. Carol decides to move in and take care of her father.
Director: N/A
Writer: Susan Harris
- 7.9/10116 votes
#5 - Father of the Bride
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/12/1988
Harry is ecstatic when Barbara accepts her surgeon boyfriend's marriage proposal, but she has second thoughts the night before the wedding.
Director: N/A
Writer: Susan Harris
- 8.2/10116 votes
#6 - Harry's Vacation
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/19/1988
Harry thinks he has become a burden on Carol and Barbara when they send him away on a vacation, despite his objections.
Director: N/A
Writer: Susan Beavers
- 8.0/10113 votes
#7 - Tinker to Evers to Tucson
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/26/1988
When husband Nick is traded to a Japanese baseball team, Laverne is forced to quit. A sick Charley camps out on Harry's couch.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/10114 votes
#8 - What's a Father to Do?
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 12/3/1988
Harry makes plans to accompany Carol to see her photographs displayed in an art gallery, and also to attend a ceremony honoring Barbara with a gold medal of valor. The problem is, both events are on the same day.
Director: N/A
Writer: Rod Parker
- 7.7/10114 votes
#9 - Harry's Friend
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 12/10/1988
Harry isn't too happy when Carol begins dating his old friend.
Director: N/A
Writer: Arnie Kogen
- 8.1/10112 votes
#10 - Libby's Gift
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/17/1988
An organ that Libby ordered before dying finally arrives at the house and Harry becomes determined to learn to play it in time for his and Libby's anniversary. Barbara and Carol worry that he is going too far. A patient asks Harry for birth control.
Director: N/A
Writer: Rob LaZebnik, David Sacks
- 8.1/10110 votes
#11 - The First Time, Again
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 1/7/1989
Harry is encouraged to spend a weekend alone with his girlfriend. Jeffrey Millstein's imagination runs wild after he sees a scary movie.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/10117 votes
#12 - Full Nest
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/1989
Financial trouble forces Barbara to move back in with Harry but it's not all fun and games. A lonely Carol soon decides to move in as well.
Director: N/A
Writer: Susan Beavers
- 7.8/10112 votes
#13 - Here's a Howdy-Do
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/28/1989
Harry doesn't understand why no one likes his new girlfriend, but soon realizes they were right. When the relationship ends, Carol, who actually liked the lady, questions her own instincts.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/10112 votes
#14 - Strange Bedfellows
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/1989
Carol falls in love with a South American freedom fighter and announces she's going away with him. Jeffrey Millstein falls in love with Laverne.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/10111 votes
#15 - Tears of a Clown
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 2/6/1989
Carol becomes public relations director of the hospital and causes a multi-million dollar lawsuit when she reveals the mental problems of local celebrity Poko the Clown at a press conference. Charley convinces Barbara to pose as his fiance to get a promotion.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10109 votes
#16 - Blame It on the Moon
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/11/1989
The Westons laugh when Charley says the full moon will bring love, but then realize he could be right. A rude doctor catches Harry's eye. Carol's finds romance when a man returns run-away Dreyfuss (who in turn finds love in the man's female dog). A stake-out leads Barbara into the arms of a high-school boyfriend.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10117 votes
#17 - Dumped
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/18/1989
Barbara falls in love with neighbor, Dorothy's nephew, but is surprisingly not phased when he dumps her. Dorothy and Harry have an argument when Dorothy blames Barbara for the breakup.
Director: N/A
Writer: Susan Beavers
- 8.0/10113 votes
#18 - The More Things Change...
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/25/1989
The hospital's new owner forces Harry to move his practice after 25 years in the same office. Meanwhile, Carol tries to amend the past after reading Emily's old diary and Charley tries out a new look.
Director: N/A
Writer: Rob LaZebnik, David Sacks
- 8.0/10108 votes
#19 - Man of the Year
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 3/4/1989
When Harry receives a Man of the Year award, his estranged father comes to town for the ceremony, but Harry gets upset when he learns that his father didn't think he could make it as a doctor. Carol overhears the conversation and thinks her grandfather is dying.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/10110 votes
#20 - Cyrano de Weston
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/18/1989
Harry gives Charley advice on how to impress a new girlfriend, who turns out to be the same lady Harry is seeing. When a relative dies and leaves Barbara and Emily money, Carol is anxious to see what she'll be getting but isn't too thrilled when it arrives.
Director: N/A
Writer: Arnie Kogen
- 8.1/10110 votes
#21 - My Sister, My Friend
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 3/25/1989
Harry promises to take Carol and Barbara with him to Paris if the two can go one month without fighting. Charley wins a greyhound in a card game.
Director: Steve Zuckerman
Writer: N/A
- 9.0/10131 votes
#22 - A Life in the Day
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 4/1/1989
Harry sees five patients: a week-old baby, a five-year-old whose father denies the boy's onset diabetes; a seven-year-old curious about sex; an eleven-year-old having the cast removed from his arm; a belligerent 14-year-old who uses drugs; and an 18-year-old picking up his medical records before going away to college. The end of the episode reveals that all of these have been the same patient at different ages.
Director: N/A
Writer: Rob LaZebnik, David Sacks
The Best Episodes of Empty Nest Season 1
Every episode of Empty Nest Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Empty Nest Season 1!
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...
Genres:FamilyComedy
Network:NBC
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Pilot" is the best rated episode of "Empty Nest" season 1. It scored 7.7/10 based on 144 votes. Directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Susan Harris, it aired on 10/8/1988. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "The Check Isn't In the Mail".