[3][4] An early version of the series initially appeared in the 1987 Golden Girls episode "Empty Nests" which was intended to act as a backdoor pilot for the spin-off, which was to begin during the fall 1987 TV season.

In the episode, George and Renee Corliss (played by Paul Dooley and Rita Moreno), were introduced as the Girls' neighbors, a middle-aged couple suffering from empty nest syndrome.

"[5] She explained that the script desperately needed rewrites from creator Susan Harris, but she was very sick the week of shooting so it was left to other writers to fix.

The show's story revolves around Miami pediatrician Dr. Harry Weston, whose life is turned upside down when his wife, Libby, dies and two of his adult daughters move back into the family home.

In 1992, Kristy McNichol, who played Barbara, left the show, and Lisa Rieffel joined the cast as the third Weston daughter, Emily.

Another main character is the Westons' neighbor and friend, Charley Dietz (David Leisure), a womanizing cruise ship employee who frequently enters the house uninvited and takes food or makes sexist comments.

In season six, Harry retires, eventually going to work for a struggling inner-city medical clinic run by the tough-talking Dr. Maxine Douglas.

The three series (Empty Nest, The Golden Girls and Nurses) represented one of the few times in American television history that three shows from the same producer, all taking place in the same city and explicitly set up with the characters knowing each other from the very beginning, aired on the same network in one night.

Richard Mulligan and Dinah Manoff (who depict father Harry and daughter Carol in Empty Nest) had previously appeared as onscreen father-in-law and daughter-in-law characters in the show Soap, created by the same production team.

The original opening titles sequence shows Harry Weston taking Dreyfuss for a walk around town, with still images of the other regular cast members shown as they are credited.

When the third season began, a new opening sequence debuted, made up of footage from the series' episodes and showing each of the regular cast members.