Shark Bytes

I think it jumped in the 1st season when Kirk & Leslie were caught in the back room at the Minuteman Cafe and Kirk performed an A2M on Leslie...shameful, really.

Well Christmas gift season is just about over and no 2nd Season. I'm now tempted to buy the pirated copies on the web, since I bet we won't see the other seasons on DVD.

This show was brilliant and a perfect fit for the 1980s. It was optimistic, clean, and well written on most days. The producers quickly ditched the 70s characters and humor of Kirk and clown girl and caught the same wave shared by Family Ties, Cosby, and Golden Girls. Unfortunately by the late 1980s, the show was not able to come up with one more big change. The very best sitcoms have only a 10-year life span at best if they hang around a bit too long (See Cheers, Happy Days, MASH, etc). Newhart lasted probably 2 years too long. The baby Steph storylines and the attempt to make Joanna 3-dimensional did not work at all.

Here's hoping that the other seasons come out on professional and licensed DVDs.

This show is brilliant. Gave me some of my favorite laughs as a child. The ending couldn't have been more genius.

I'll agree it did a reverse jump after the first season. The bouncy haired Minuteman owner & his forgettable girlfriend (was she a clown or did I drink too much at happy hour?) sucked.

Otherwise it was one of the funniest shows I've seen. HeeHee gives 2 thumbs up.

quote:

"Why does everybody call the ending genius? It's all a dream,please. That's not genius it's a cop out by a lazy writing staff who ran out of ideas and couldn't come up with an actual resolution to the show."

Nov 16, 2007 12:43 AM

Vinnie Tire Iron

The ending of NEWHART is legendary because it poked fun at other TV shows that use the "dream" device to insert a previous character or wipe out a previous storyline that wasn't too good. The dream device is used mostly in soap opera's, which DALLAS was a soap opera that aired in prime-time. When Bobby returned to DALLAS, after the character having been killed, instead of the actor taking on a different role which would seem weird because everyone knows Patrick Duffy's face as Bobby Ewing. Anyway, because it was impossible for Duffy to return in a new role, the writers dreamed up the story of Pam dreaming Bobby had died. However, because of this, everything ELSE that viewers had seen in other stories that season had to be wiped out because they in essence were all part of Pam's dream.

Soooo, fast forward to 1990...NEWHART's 8th and final season. The last episode was clever and a classic because of it's send-up of DALLAS, which nobody was expecting. I do know that there were a few articles that revealed some things about the last show but nobody knew exactly how it would end...with Emily waking Bob up and he explaining to Emily about this "strange dream" he had...then the look on his face when telling her about the three woodsmen "but...only one of them could talk". The killer line was delivered by Emily. NEWHART's last episode was filled with Japanese culture...the Japanese bought out the town and turned it into a golf course and the Stratford Inn had become the country club, I guess? Well, this Japanese decor proved even more funny when Emily, hearing Bob's recollection of his strange dream, tells him: "that settles it, Bob. No more Japanese food before bed.".

For those who say the finale was a cop-out just aren't really looking at why the last episode was written the way it was. Each aspect of the last episode was working up to it's classic pay-off with Bob and Emily in their bed in Chicago. It wasn't a lame, cop-out unimaginative script by lazy writers as some have reduced the last episode. NEWHART was must-see TV in our house. This show never, ever jumped the shark. Stephanie and Michael were perfect stereotypes of the 1980's yuppie couple. Michael's schtick was his alliteration. Jim and Chester were eccentrics. We shouldn't forget George...the handyman...nothing about this show suggested it wasn't top notch.

The level of low-key humor surrounding the show and Bob Newhart himself in my opinion usually did the show in at Emmy time...I think Bob is in the category of being nominated so many times but never winning. I don't know Emmy stats but I will guess and say NEWHART was nominated a total of 22 times for Emmy awards during it's 8 year run and didn't win any...the same for Newhart's previous show in the 1970's. He nor his shows were ever at the center of controversy. I like the way the NEWHART writers sometimes would incorporate Newhart's phone conversation image into his shows...Dick Loudon on the phone conversing, usually, with an irate person staying at the Inn.

I got season 1 on dvd
i got say even though i have not every of show i have seen all of season 1
it's a pretty funny show
this show never jumped
oh course newhart made more than the bob newhart show
newhart made 182 episodes &
the bob newhart show made 168 episodes
and newhart did last 2 season more than the bob newhart show

This can't be true. Did Newhart REALLY last two seasons longer than The Bob Newhart Show?

Newhart could've been funny and fresh for maybe three seasons, but it wore out its welcome and stayed on for another, like, million years. How many times can you laugh at "Hi. I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl...and this is my other brother Darryl." This got as bad as Happy Days with its endless reiterations of "Sit on it!" and "Aaaaaaaayyyyyyy!"

It just seems manifestly unfair that the consistently funny, classic Bob Newhart Show lasted six years and the bland, mediocre, and repetitive Newhart lasted eight.

I always thought this show was great!! I don't think that it ever jumped the shark!! The way that Bob Newhart could play off so well on the others in the cast was cool! and yes, I DID also enjoy Larry, Darryl & Darryl! and the way everybody (in the audience) clapped whenever they entered the room! and the series finale was cool too!

Does anyone remember WHY the dream sequence happened on Newhart? It was due to the "Dallas" episode where Bobby Ewing had been killed but Pam woke up and he was in the shower - thus she "dreamed" the entire thing - and the entire previous season. Even though I NEVER watched Dallas, I knew that was the parody and it was HILARIOUS back then..

Actually,this show did a "reverse jump".The first season was dull and forgettable.The producers must have known this and retooled it accordingly.The boring,unfunny guy that owned the Minuteman Cafe sold it to Larry and the Darryls,and Julia Duffy and Peter Scolari were introduced,completing an ensemble with decent chemistry.I thought it remained watchable from this point,all the way to the finale,which was NOT a "it-was-all-a-dream" copout,but a clever parody of same...

The ending was tipped off a week ahead of time publicly, so many of us knew it was coming. That ruined it. It got to the point after years of larry, Daryl and Daryl being introduced that I would change the channel when they arrived, I couldnt take that crap anymore. It was funny 5 or 6 times. By the 80th time is was freaking obnoxious!

One of the best comedies of its time, never jumped the shark. From the moment the musical opening with credits began,showing a car driving through the gorgeous countryside of Vermont, I was ready to unwind and laugh for thirty minutes. Had one of the best series finales ever,and this from a show that had to dump two major charactors from its weaker first season.The dream ending was great. Everyone knew the show was taped before a studio audience in California and most of the actors had never even been to Vermont but it was always about the idea--the fantasy of it alL.I posted this comment on JTS long ago but it still applies today.Newhart may have suceeded because we want that dream life of having fun people around us daily,running our own business that we love and living in a place as unspoiled as Vermont.

The finale was BRILLIANT!

I absolutely love Newhart! My favorite show was one of the later ones, where Larry, Darryl, and Darryl were dressed in tuxedos,each playing a grand piano on a revolving circle. I am glad they finally came out with season one and look forward to viewing all the other seasons!
P.S. You gotta have a dry sense of humor to appreciate the show.

Newhart came close to jumping the last couple of seasons but stepped firmly back from the edge with its now famous final episode.

As the show became more and more focused on Stephanie & Michael the plots became very thin. They were two characters that were enjoyable in small doses but could become very irritating when episode after episode was based on them.

Unlike some here I felt the first few seasons were the best and I'm certainly in the minority by saying that I enjoyed the characters of Kirk & Leslie. I agree that these characters would probably have run out of story lines within three seasons but the same could be said for the Stephanie/Michael pairing.

I never got tired of LD&D or the various community zannies wandering in and out of episodes. They were the wedges that kept opening the cracks in Dick Loudon's stable little world.

I've always been a Bob Newhart fan, I'm disappointed that they didn't release all seasons of his first sitcom but I'm already eagerly looking forward to the release of Season Two of Newhart.
Guest

I think the show started to jump when Dick Loudon went from being a long-suffering sitcom lead character to a doormat. He was never right, always massively inconvenienced, and never once able to work his will on anything or anyone--by this I mean employees, not Joanna, though she could have been a touch more supportive.

All that said, I think they addressed this in part with the nature of the finale, when Dick in essence destroys all his tormentors just by waking up.

Note that, as the dream was ending, Dick's world compacted, with all the crazies now living with him.

On the worst day of their marriage, Emily would always be a better wife than Joanna.