Nurses, "The One After the Earthquake"

(This post is part of the 10th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts)

I don't think most people would consider the Nurses episode "The One After the Earthquake" that remarkable. It is certainly not on the same level as, say, the Dick Van Dyke Show episode "It May Look Like a Walnut" or the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust." For that matter, I am guessing many people have never even heard of Nurses, a sitcom that ran on NBC from 1991 to 1994. Nonetheless, it remains one of my favourite television episodes, largely due to sentimental reasons. "The One After the Earthquake" was one of the earliest instances in which I took notice of actress Vanessa Marquez, who would later become my dearest friend. Of course, there are also other reasons the episode stands out for me.

Nurses was created by Susan Harris, who also created Soap, The Golden Girls, and Empty Nest. It debuted on NBC on September 14 1991. The show was centred on a group of nurses who worked at the fictional Community Memorial Hospital in Miami. Originally the main character was Nurse Sandy Miller (Stephanie Hodge), a somewhat sarcastic Texan.  Nurse Annie Roland (Arnetia Walker) was the head nurse in 3 West wing of Community Memorial Hospital, and tended to be level-headed. Nurse Julie Milbury (Mary Jo Keenan) was a young and naive, but eternally optimistic nurse. Nurse Gina Cuevas (Ada Maris) was a romantic and somewhat stereotypical Latina nurse. Nurse Greg Vincent (Jeff Altman) was the somewhat impertinent male nurse.  Dr. Hank Kaplan (Kip Gilman) was the resident physician on 3 West. Paco Ortiz (Carolos Lacamara) was a somewhat scheming orderly.

Nurses was a spinoff of Empty Nest, Community Memorial Hospital being the same hospital where the paediatrician office of Dr. Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan), the main character on Empty Nest, was located. Of course, Empty Nest was itself a spin-off of The Golden Girls. All three shows were set in Miami and in the same shared universe. It was then not unusual for characters from Empty Nest and The Golden Girls to show up on Nurses from time to time. In addition to members of the casts of Empty Nest and The Golden Girls, Nurses did feature guest appearances from various famous and soon to be famous performers, including Larry Linville, Adam Arkin, Fred Willard, June Lockhart, John O'Hurley,  Salma Hayek, John Ratzenberger, Jeri Ryan, and, of course, my dearest Vanessa Marquez, among others.

Nurses did not receive overly positive reviews upon its debut in 1991. Variety gave the show a negative review, commenting, "Call the medics for Nurses, new sitcom from Susan Harris that has all the zest and appeal of cold hospital food." Entertainment Weekly gave the show a somewhat more positive review, "As a sitcom, however, this new show is only moderately amusing." Other reviews characterized Nurses as mildly amusing as well, a show that was not necessarily good, but not necessarily bad either.

Nurses underwent several cast changes in its three seasons. Jeff Altman left the show after its first season. Stephanie Hodge left the show after its second season. The character of Jack Trenton (David Rasche) was added in its second season. Jack was a businessman who was convicted of insider trading and sentenced to do community service at the hospital, performing menial tasks there. He quickly became friends with Paco. Loni Anderson (then as now best known as Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati) joined the cast in its third season as Casey McAfee. the hospital's new administrator. By the third season, when "The One After the Earthquake" aired, the cast consisted of the aforementioned, Annie, Julie, Gina, Hank, Paco, Jack, and Casey.

As to "The One After the Earthquake," the episode's title is somewhat nonsensical. An earthquake does not take place in the episode, nor did an earthquake take place in the previous episode ("Silent Partner") or any other episode of Nurses. It seems possible that the title is a reference to the real-life Northridge earthquake that took place on January 17 1994 and affected the Greater Los Angeles Area. Here I must point out that I have never read that this was where the episode's title came from. Some might think that the title of "The One After the Earthquake" took inspiration from the titles of Friends episodes. Friends had a naming convention for episodes in which they were titled "The One...." This is certainly not the case, as Friends would not premiere until September 22 1994, a few months after Nurses had ended its run.

Like most Nurses episodes, "The One After the Earthquake" features multiple subplots. In the primary subplot, a high school student, Angelica (Vanessa Marquez), is tagging along with the nurses as she is looking to enter the profession. Angelica proves to be somewhat irritating to Gina, as Annie has told Angelica details of Gina's private life. In another subplot, Jeff is angry with Paco because Paco is spending an inordinate amount of time with a new orderly, Marty. In another subplot, a patient named Mr. Torrance (Steve Bridges) is having adenoid surgery in hope that he will no longer sound like Jack Nicholson, and grows increasing irritated as various medical staff want him to quote lines from Jack Nicholson's movies. Another patient, Mr. Parry, is a hypochondriac who believes his medical problems stem from living near a power plant. As a result, Hank, who also lives near a power plant, becomes convinced he is also having various medical problems. Julie has lost a patient, who keeps showing up in odd places. Despite this, the nurses are still unable to find him. To top all of this off, they must deal with Leo (Sid Melton), the local flasher.

Among the things that make "The One After the Earthquake" notable is that it features Sid Melton, who had a long career in film and television. He played Little Louie in The Lemon Drop Kid (1951). He had many roles on television. He had a recurring role as Harry the grocery delivery man on Bachelor Father. He was a regular on Make Room for Daddy, playing Charley Halper, the owner of the Copa Club. On Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. he had a recurring role as con artist Friendly Freddy. He was a semi-regular on Green Acres, playing incompetent carpenter  Alf Monroe. On The Golden Girls he appeared in flashbacks as Sophia's late husband and Dorothy's father Sal. He also appeared on Empty Nest in various roles. On Nurses he had previously appeared in different roles. He had earlier appeared as Leo in the Nurses episode "The Eagle Has Landed," the first episode of the third season.

"The One After the Earthquake" was also notable as the television debut of Steve Bridges, who played Mr. Torrance on the episode. Steve Bridges was a comedian and impressionist who was well known for his impressions of Jack Nicholson, Tom Brokaw, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barney Fife, Paul Harvey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and yet others. He made something of a career playing George W. Bush, appearing as President Bush in episodes of JAG, NCIS, and Whoopi. He even appeared alongside George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents Association dinner in 2006. Sadly, he died in 2012 from a severe allergic reaction.

Of course, for me "The One After the Earthquake" will always be memorable because among the guest stars is my dearest Vanessa Marquez. Angelica in "The One After the Earthquake" is the last juvenile role she would ever play. By that time Vanessa was 24 years old and, to be honest, in the episode she looks more like a college senior than she does a senior in high school. "The One After the Earthquake" would also mark her last guest appearance before beginning her stint in the semi-regular role of Nurse Wendy Goldman on ER. Curiously, her last work before "The One After the Earthquake" was also set in a hospital, the HBO TV movie State of Emergency (1994). I may be biased, but I think Vanessa did a great job in "The One After the Earthquake." Her timing and delivery are perfect, and she is convincing as a somewhat naive high student. Vanessa always did have a gift for comedy, which I suspect is why Wendy appeared in so many humorous subplots on ER.

As I said earlier, "The One After the Earthquake" hardly ranks among the greatest situation comedy episodes of all time. Even so, it is one of the better episodes of Nurses and it does have several funny moments. Steve Bridges is very funny as Mr. Torrance, who grows increasingly exasperated as people keep asking him to quote lines from Jack Nicholson movies. Loni Anderson is great as Casey, who always manages to turn the conversation back to herself. The subplot in which Hank becomes convinced he has various ailments due to living near a power plant is also funny, particularly given he is a doctor and should know better.  I would guess by today's standards the subplot involving Leo would be considered politically incorrect, but then it is only a very small part of the episode. Regardless, "The One After the Earthquake" may not rank up there with the I Love Lucy episode "Lucy Does a Commercial" or the Andy Griffith Show episode "Citizen's Arrest," but it is certainly amusing and not at all a bad way to pass a half hour.

Indeed, "The One After the Earthquake' is the only episode of Nurses I remember in detail, as well as the circumstances under which I saw it. It aired on April 16 1994, which was a pleasant spring day in mid-Missouri. I took advantage of the weather and rode my bicycle to a nearby town, where I spent much of the day shopping. I then returned home, ate dinner, and settled in for an evening of watching television.  I have no idea what I watched besides Empty Nest and Nurses. I do remember that I thought Vanessa was remarkably pretty and even then I thought she had a beautiful voice. If someone had told me back then that she would become my closest friend and a woman I adore, I probably wouldn't have believed them.

By the time "The One After the Earthquake" aired, Nurses was on its last legs. In its first season, Nurses received moderate ratings. Much of this was perhaps due to The Golden Girls, which anchored Saturday night on NBC in the 1991-1992 season. Unfortunately, The Golden Girls ended its run and ratings for both Empty Nest and Nurses toppled during the 1992-1993 season. In the 1993-1994 ratings declined further for Nurses, and the show was cancelled at the end of the season. Empty Nest would continue for another season after Nurses left the air. Unfortunately, Nurses would not perform well in syndication. It aired for a time on Lifetime in the Nineties, but it really hasn't been seen since. It has never been released on DVD and it is unavailable on streaming unless one counts some rather bad copies on YouTube and Daily Motion.

"The One After the Earthquake" is not a great sitcom episode. Television historians will not be writing treatises on it in years to come. But for me it remains one of my favourite episodes of a television show, in part because it guest stars my beloved Vanessa Marquez and in part because it has some very funny moments.