NEWHART: The Bob Newhart Thread

[Daniel Avery]

Yes, that is the very definition of "class".

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

This video -- which is some years old -- gives me a fresh respect for actress Suzanne Pleshette, Newhart's leading lady on THE BOB NEWHART SHOW in the '70s.

Apparently she had been approached a few different times about doing the series finale of NEWHART, and she was well aware that that show would be written off as a dream. When the time finally came for that later show to end, she knew what the producers were calling her for.

What really stands out to me here is the respect Pleshette had for Mary Frann, Newhart's leading lady on NEWHART. When the wrap-up party was held, Pleshette excused herself so Frann could enjoy her limelight. That's an admiral character trait.

I love how Pleshette says "it wasn't my house" in explaining her decision to leave the party to the cast that had served NEWHART for eight years.​

Probably the best series finale I could remember. The show was great every season from start to finish.

 

[ChrisSumner]

I've never had a desire to watch his other series, but I did watch the first three seasons of The Bob Newhart Show and I think it is just brilliant. Such a funny show and Bob had amazing chemistry with Suzanne Pleshette. I need to go back and finish it.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I forgot to mention it earlier in the thread, but another thing I love about Newhart is the theme tune. I heard a snip of it as part of the local radio contest and I recognized the music immediately, though I had not heard it in ages.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

Both of his long running sitcoms were very good, but I give the edge to his effort for the 80s. Just a smart, quirky understand sitcom that has so much wonderful dry understated wit. It was a very classy show.

 

[WarriorsFan]

I remember watching Newhart reruns about 15-20 years ago and I thought it was pretty funny and held up well. Ratings-wise its first six seasons finished between 12th and 25th but it fell out of the Top 30 in its final two seasons. I would guess that in the 1980s Newhart was overshadowed by Cheers and Night Court.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Just some random thoughts.

Bob N was good friends with Don Rickles
Professor Proton was one of the best ever characters on "The Big Bang"
He appeared on "The Dean Martin Show" 24 times.
The movie "Elf" was silly, but BN's presence, even for a short time, was gold.

A talented man, one of the best ever!~

 

[Slugworth]

Leslie, their original maid, seemed rather bland despite her interesting back-story (she was a "runaway heiress" who decided to take a job as a maid in order to escape the pressures of her wealthy family).

I loved Leslie and wish they had kept her.

The problem was they didn't give her anything to do except be eye candy for Kirk. His constant desire for her when she's obviously not interested got old fast.

The character just needed to be retooled for the next season. Drop the Ms. Perfect routine. It's too sterile. There's nothing for anyone to work with.

I forgot which episode...it's where Dick and Joanna were arguing and Dick buys flowers. Kirk brings up how all you have to do is give a woman flowers and everything goes back to normal. Leslie gets mad at them and storms off into the kitchen.

It's a small scene but this is what they should've been doing with the character.


They also could've just turned her into what Stephanie would become.


Having said that, I liked Julia Duffy too.


I'm in the minority but I like the look of that first season.

I don't like the last couple seasons. It's too wacky and everyone in town except Dick are as dumb as fenceposts. Baby Steph owning the TV station is beyond stupid. Also hated the final episode.


Great theme/intro.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I loved Leslie and wish they had kept her.

The problem was they didn't give her anything to do except be eye candy for Kirk. His constant desire for her when she's obviously not interested got old fast.

The character just needed to be retooled for the next season. Drop the Ms. Perfect routine. It's too sterile. There's nothing for anyone to work with.

I forgot which episode...it's where Dick and Joanna were arguing and Dick buys flowers. Kirk brings up how all you have to do is give a woman flowers and everything goes back to normal. Leslie gets mad at them and storms off into the kitchen.

It's a small scene but this is what they should've been doing with the character.


They also could've just turned her into what Stephanie would become.


Having said that, I liked Julia Duffy too.


I'm in the minority but I like the look of that first season.

I don't like the last couple seasons. It's too wacky and everyone in town except Dick are as dumb as fenceposts. Baby Steph owning the TV station is beyond stupid. Also hated the final episode.


Great theme/intro.

I also liked Leslie.

Julia Duffy was great. I understand she was considered for Diane in Cheers

I am not sure why Kirk and Leslie were replaced. I thought both were good.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Soaplover]

Season 2 of Newhart was probably my favorite season of that show because it had the warm subtle comedy of season 1 mixed in with the more over the top comic bits of the later seasons.

-Stephanie was not as shallow.. and actually worked at the Inn.

- Kirk ended up with a sweet person that loved being a clown as her job. And the two of them along with Stephanie had great chemistry.

 

[aframe2]

I was a consistent fan of Newhart, but I don't recall ever watching an episode of the other two. BNS was such a popular program during its run that one cannot help but know what it was about, generally.

Newhart was comfortable and always "clean fun," with Bob Newhart's typical style of being surrounded by wacky characters and being "the straight man" reacting to their excesses. I recall they filmed the show in its first season or two, then switched to the more traditional videotape, giving the early seasons a very different feel. Though they had a few cast changes during the run, the changes actually improved the show rather than taking away from it. Leslie, their original maid, seemed rather bland despite her interesting back-story (she was a "runaway heiress" who decided to take a job as a maid in order to escape the pressures of her wealthy family). Replacing her with her snooty, pampered-princess cousin Stephanie was a stroke of genius, since Leslie had been so agreeable and perfect; Stephanie was the very definition of high-maintenance, generating irritation with Joanna.

Those amazing sweaters aside, Joanna seemed to be the only character who did not get to fall into ridiculous behavior. As Dick's sensible wife, she didn't do a lot of the wacky stuff all the other characters were allowed to do. Mary Frann was so good at the role, though, that I felt really sad when I found out she had passed away.

I liked everyone on the show for the most part, I love Bob and when he smiles...he knocks me down. I just love him, Mary Frann is just gorgeous and so underrated, Julia Duffy is very funny. The only one that didn't work and it could have if they had calmed his character and that was Kirk. However, putting in Peter Scolari was a better choice and meshed well with the rest of the cast.

 

[Soaplover]

Those amazing sweaters aside, Joanna seemed to be the only character who did not get to fall into ridiculous behavior. As Dick's sensible wife, she didn't do a lot of the wacky stuff all the other characters were allowed to do. Mary Frann was so good at the role, though, that I felt really sad when I found out she had passed away.

Looks wise, Mary Frann (Joanna) is perhaps the only female that the 80s look looks great even in the 2020s. Her hair, makeup, and sweaters just look perfect on her.

I think the show and Mary Frann had trouble finding the funny in Joanna, but there were a few episodes where the show and Mary Frann found the funny in Joanna's character. Joanna, as you said, was a sensible character that tried to look at the bright side of things and present herself as being perfect. Season 1 had an episode where Joanna had mishaps left and right to the point where she comes down in a sexy night gown for a night of romance only for the whole town to be downstairs.

The other thing was that she and Julia Duffy had good comic chemistry... and I know that both actresses had said they wanted to try a Lucy and Ethel type of routine for the show.. but neither could decide who was the Lucy and who was the Ethel.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Mary Frann was a better dramatic actress than a comedic one. Suzanne Pleshette could do both, which is why her Emily Hartley performance worked despite also being given throwaway material.

Frann couldn't do it. She gave a decent performance in MARY TYLER MOORE in 1971, but Frann was playing an antisemitic bitch -- so it was basically a dramatic performance. Yet in straight-up comedy, she was out of her league, and often looked like an amateur waiting to deliver her lines, surrounded by funny professionals.

So it wasn't just about the writing for her.

That said, as the NEWHART series wound on, the scripts became so broad -- especially as it pertained to Scolari and Duffy (good comic actors ordinarily) -- that it almost didn't matter anymore, the characters had become so overdrawn.

 

[Chris2]

The show’s creator, Barry Kemp, also thought Mary Frann was miscast - in another chapter of his Archive of American Television interview, he talks about it. I thought she did fine in kind of a thankless role.

Catchy Comedy recently got to the last two seasons of “Newhart” in its rerun rotation and they’re not great. The studio brought in producers from “Alice” to run it and it felt like they had watched too much “Green Acres”.

 

[Soaplover]

Barry Kemp wasn't a good show runner on the show since the show didn't start soaring and gelling until he was off the show.

He also admitted that the season 1 episode 4 episode was probably where he should have focused the Joanna character in terms of comedy so I also blame him for having a bias against the lead actress. He didn't seem to have much value for his female stars on his other show Coach either so perhaps he wasn't the most objective of individuals.

 

[ClassyCo]

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

The finale was possibly the best series finale ever.
I suppose in a way, the "Dallas" dream as an inspiration should be given some credibility
for how it has influenced similar shows.
"St Elsewhere" as a dream was less credible. It just made no sense in context, wheras "Newhart" was clever and
Suzanne Pleshette's appearance was a complete surprise.

The "Dallas" dream season could probably be defended insofar as it kept the series in production longer,
and would have been canceled sooner. Sadly, the later seasons were just not that good anyway.
There was a steady decline after season 8. After PD departed, even for a season, there was just no
rebounding, although season 10 was still fairly good

 

[Seaviewer]

The finale was possibly the best series finale ever.

The final scene was clever and unexpected. I wouldn't say that the episode as a whole deserves that accolade.

 

[Chris2]

100%. The ending was great. The rest of the episode was more of the same silliness we got in seasons 7 and 8 once Mark Egan and Mark Solomon took over as showrunners (the weakest period of the show).