Plus, it's not like Betty Buckley willingly left the show. Sally Field was wonderful as Nora, she got her Emmy and even when the show was awful she was always able to show what a great actress she is. I honestly think Buckley is a terrible actress with a fantastic voice, I'd have hated her as Nora.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"