Empty Nest Online

Much of the season focuses on the relationship between Carol and her eccentric boyfriend Patrick Arcola, played by newcomer Paul Provenza. As Harry's shiftless sprinkler man, Patrick already isn't on the doctor's good side, and when word gets out of his relationship with Carol the trouble begins. It only worsens when, after his apartment building is condemned, Carol persuades a reluctant Harry to let Patrick move into the garage. After finding the two in bed together, Harry tries his best to keep the lovebirds apart.

Carol and Patrick develop a fun chemistry together as they sneak around behind her father's back. A struggling artist, Carol is fascinated by Patrick's offbeat insights, but doesn't always understand the meaning of his sculptures. Her jealousy often gets the best of her, such as when she becomes convinced that Patrick thinks her too fat after finding him sketching a gorgeous nude model and begins a quest to lose weight. Patrick, on the other hand, isn't always thrilled to follow along with Carol's whims. In one episode, she forces him to attend a Halloween party in a skin-tight neon green body suit as "Radium" alongside her Madame Curie.

Five episodes into the season, Kristy McNichol's bout with bipolar disorder forces her to leave the show. At first she is said to be on vacation, then undercover assignment. While still hopeful that Kristy will be able to return, producers begin casting the role of Emily, the oft-mentioned-but-never-seen youngest Weston daughter. Lisa Rieffel, 17 at the time, won the part of the adventurous twenty-three-year-old Emily and makes her debut midseason. Her independent nature and globetrotting lifestyle do not always sit well with Harry and Carol. Carol, while extremely jealous of Emily's perfect life, tries to instill in her kid sister a sense of maturity, coming off as a mother hen and driving Emily out of her mind. Meanwhile, whenever Harry attempts to discipline his daughter, he ends up caving in after her doe-eyed innocence gets the best of him.

Despite all the shakeups, Dinah Manoff (who also makes her directorial debut with the episode "Why Do Fools Fall in Love") manages to shine this season, turning in excellent performances. She has never seemed more comfortable playing Carol, who has become more outrageously neurotic than ever. She adamantly pickets a plastics company and tries her best to get arrested, but then changes her tune when Patrick tells her the toilets in jail have no stalls. Feeling guilty after sentencing a man to prison during jury duty, she tries to redeem herself and hires a manipulative convict to help with her catering business. When Dreyfuss starts giving her the silent treatment after Carol scolds him, she consults an animal psychologist but ends up driving the woman mad when she turns their meeting into her own therapy session.

Carol isn't the only one looking for love this year. After spending an evening with Barbara, Charley develops a massive crush on her at the start of the season. Newly divorced Laverne reenters the dating scene when Barbara fixes her up with a coroner's assistant. Inexperienced when it comes to dating, she convinces herself that she is in love with the man after their first night out. An old friend reenters Harry's life but the two realize their relationship is more platonic than passionate. Later, he is overwhelmed when Laverne fixes him up with her overbearing, loud-mouthed friend (played by country music legend Barbara Mandrell).

Holiday themed episodes are prominent this season. The aforementioned Halloween show finds Harry as Count Docula and Laverne as the Wicked Witch of the South trying to upstage one another while giving out candy at Laverne's apartment. Meanwhile, Carol and Patrick (still in the costumes mentioned above) get mugged by a band of street thugs. At Thanksgiving, the gang disagrees over the actual details of a disastrous dinner two years before in which the turkey caught fire, resulting in a holiday feast at Denny's. Finally, Ursula Dietz arrives to spend Mother's Day with Charley, who is shocked to find out that his parents have gotten a divorce.

In other memorable episodes, the Westons appear on Geraldo, which results in Harry breaking the host's nose; Emily goes undercover for the FBI to nab her jewel smuggling boyfriend; Harry and Charley end up broke and stranded during a trip to Las Vegas; and Carol drives herself and Harry to the verge of insanity when she becomes convinced that Patrick and Emily are having an affair.

Typical when a successful formula is tampered with, the show lost some of its audience and dropped out of the Top 25 this year. Kristy McNichol was sorely missed, especially the comic antics between her and Manoff. By spring, the next season was already looking shaky. Park Overall, who spent several episodes on crutches after badly breaking her leg, decided she wanted to leave the series, so her return for season six was up in the air, as was Kristy's, whose health was still keeping her from returning.