NewHart Reunion

Was it all just a dream? Bob Newhart, the cast, and the writers of Newhart revisit the famous finale twist of the beloved comedy. 

- Lynette Rice

Though it aired for eight seasons on CBS, the ’80s sitcom Newhart, which was recently honored by the Paley Center, will forever be remembered for the side-splitting finale in which a discombobulated Bob Newhart woke up next to Suzanne Pleshette, his TV wife from his previous series, The Bob Newhart Show. Hulu is now streaming the first season of the comedy about a New York writer named Dick (Newhart) who runs an inn in rural Vermont with his wife, Joanna (the late Mary Frann). Newhart and his fellow actors and writers look back at the legendary final episode and give credit where it’s due. Their recollections are as remarkable as the characters who populated the quirky sitcom.

Newhart always said he wanted to go off a year too early, especially after seeing “too many shows that had overstayed their welcome.” So, in the spring of 1990, writers began crafting an episode about a Japanese tycoon who buys up the whole town to turn it into a golf resort. Other than Dick and Joanna, everyone took buyouts and moved away, including Michael (Peter Scolari) and his wife, Stephanie (Julia Duffy), as well as the hapless Larry (William Sanderson) and his seemingly mute brothers named Darryl (Tony Papenfuss and John Voldstad).

BOB BENDETSON (producer, 1988–90) We went broad. We had a Japanese man wanting to build a vertical golf course, which made no sense to anybody. Then we jumped five years. There was no other reason we wrote the finale that way than to make it easier to come up with jokes.