Empty Nest Online

Some of the season's most memorable episodes revolve around Harry. Richard Mulligan turns in another Emmy-nominated performance in the episode "On the Interpretation of Dreams" in which the girls sit up with their insomniac father trying to figure out the meaning of his bizarre recurring dream involving a tiger, a kimono, and Ed McMahon. Harry is asked to write a childrens book and enlists Carol's help but soon finds that it is Barbara who has the better ideas. While trying his best to dodge an overbearing journalist, Harry fears the worst when unable to diagnose a young patient's bizarre illness. His stressful workload finally gets the best of him and he suffers an angina attack late in the season, landing himself in the hospital.

Carol gets a job at a university library, where she butts heads with an obnoxious professor, and becomes an unlikely hero after nabbing a thief at a department store. She continues to strike out with love this season, having a brief affair with her teenage tutor student and dating a blind man - focusing on his disability and ignoring his obnoxious personality.

Fed up with injustice, Barbara quits the police force and at Harry's urging takes a job as a real estate agent, soon figuring out that law enforcement is her true calling. She later goes undercover at a high school and becomes the target of a teen's crush.

Laverne's marriage continues to be a source of storylines for the character. She moves in with the Westons after a fight with Nick and brings her sense of order and control into the house, which drives the gang up the wall. In another instance, she hears a rumor that Nick is cheating, which prompts her to tell him she and Harry are sleeping together.

Charley continues to find inventive ways of womanizing, including auditioning to be a TV weatherman to impress a news anchor; hitting on the forewoman during jury duty; and wooing Harry's sheltered niece.

We are introduced (and reintroduced) to some recurring characters this season, including Laverne's dim-witted husband Nick, Carol's boss Miss Bingham, and patients Jeffrey Millstein and Laurie Kincaid. Highlights of the season include episodes in which an old patient asks Harry to father her child; Laverne's friend Lurlene visits and accuses her of being citified; Charley asks to be buried with the Westons; and Harry helps Laverne's husband buy a bar. Having established itself as a successful series and not only a Golden Girls spinoff, Nest relies less on crossovers from their popular neighbors and more on sharp writing and character development this season, with only one appearance by one of the Girls when Rose hits Harry's car.