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Did you know that the concept for the series finale of Newhart was dreamed up as a joke at a Christmas party in 1987 and that it was Suzanne Pleshette from The Bob Newhart Show that suggested that Dick wake up beside her in the bedroom they shared in that sitcom?
▬Contents of this video▬ 00:00 - Intro 00:25 - Life Is But A Dream 04:04 - The Finale Took Some Big Risks 05:31 - Newhart Was Worried That The Ending Would Leak 07:39 - Larry, Darryl, & Darryll Were Supposed To be One-Off Characters 09:08 - Outro
On the evening of May 21, 1990, Bob Newhart’s second sitcom, Newhart, came to an end. The series finale featured one of the most memorable and notorious endings in television history.
For a total of eight seasons, the veteran comedian portrayed Dick Loudon, an author from New York who left the hustle and bustle of the city to go run an inn in rural Vermont with his wife, Joanna.
While Bob’s first series, The Bob Newhart Show, featured an altogether different premise, the 80s series succeeded in drawing big laughs from the same source. Newhart had an incredible delivery and a knack for comedic timing.
The Bob Newhart Show featured Dr. Bob Hartley’s neurotic, urban patients as well as his meek neighbor. In Newhart, his character Dick was surrounded by a spoiled chambermaid, a dim-witted Mr. Fixit, a hopelessly annoying yuppie TV exec, and a trio of woodmen who only one of them, Larry, would ever speak for his brothers, who mind you were both named Daryl.
While Newhart was a commercial success, never ranking lower than number 25 in its first six seasons, Bob was disgruntled with CBS for frequently swapping out its time slot in order to promote other programs.
Reportedly, while attending a Christmas party in 1987, Newhart told his beloved wife, Ginnie, that he believed that the season of the series he was working on was going to be last before the network canceled it. Ginnie responded to that somewhat pessimistic assertion by suggesting that the finale episode should mock another CBS hit show, Dallas, where the 1985/86 season was explained as being just one big dream.
Ginnie added a plot twist to her version of the ‘it was all just a dream’ ending. She suggested that when Newhart woke up, he should be Bob Hartley from The Bob Newhart Show. On top of that, he should be lying in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette who would reprise her role as Hartley’s wife, Emily. Pleshette, who happened to be at that same Christmas party, adored the idea and when the show’s producers called her two years later to come out and do a cameo, she accepted the role before she was even offered it.
In the time between that Christmas party and the series actual finale, Newhart made peace with the Network, but when the time came to film its final episode, he already had the perfect ending idea ready to deploy.
In this video, we’ll discuss what Bob Newhart had to say about the twist ending of Newhart when he sat down with reporters to talk about 2020 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the finale.
Bob Newhart Finally Addresses the Newhart TV Series Finale
By: Facts Verse Title: Bob Newhart Finally Addresses the Newhart TV Series Finale Sourced From: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gULwZDIdIIc
