Newhart (1982–1990)

Dick Loudon and his wife Joanna decide to leave life in New York City and buy a little inn in Vermont. Dick is a how-to book writer, who eventually becomes a local TV celebrity as host of "... See full summary »

Creator:

Barry Kemp

Stars:

Bob Newhart, Mary Frann, Tom Poston

Nominated for 6 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 34 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bob Newhart	...	Dick Loudon (184 episodes, 1982-1990)
Mary Frann	...	Joanna Loudon (184 episodes, 1982-1990)
Tom Poston	...	George Utley (184 episodes, 1982-1990)
Julia Duffy	...	Stephanie Vanderkellen (163 episodes, 1983-1990)
Peter Scolari	...	Michael Harris (142 episodes, 1984-1990)
William Sanderson	...	Larry (87 episodes, 1982-1990)
Tony Papenfuss	...	First Darryl (87 episodes, 1982-1990)
John Voldstad	...	Second Darryl (87 episodes, 1982-1990)

Storyline

Dick Loudon and his wife Joanna decide to leave life in New York City and buy a little inn in Vermont. Dick is a how-to book writer, who eventually becomes a local TV celebrity as host of "Vermont Today." George Utley is the handyman at the inn and Leslie Vanderkellen is the maid, with ambitions of being an Olympic Ski champion; she is later replaced by her cousin Stephanie, an heiress who hates her job. Her boyfriend is Dick's yuppie TV producer, Michael Harris. There are many other quirky characters in this fictional little town, including Dick's neighbors Larry, Darryl, and Darryl...three brothers who buy the Minuteman Cafe from Kirk Devane. Besides sharing a name, Darryl and Darryl never speak (until the final episode).

---

Plot Keywords:

vermont | handyman | actor name in title | sitcom | television | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bravo Dick

Filming Locations:

Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

MTM Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (184 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Larry was written for Tracey Walter. Walter auditioned but William Sanderson was cast instead.

---

Quotes

[Holding back tears]
Stephanie Vanderkellen: I discovered I like bowling.
[She starts crying]

---

Crazy Credits

After the credits The MTM kitten lip-syncs Bob Newhart's understated "Meow".

---

Connections

Featured in Little Nikita (1988)

User Reviews

Hilarious

That's how I describe "Newhart" in one word. I've always enjoyed Bob Newhart's dry humor and wit.

I liked almost all of the characters on the show. The only one I wished stayed for the entire run was Kirk Devane (Steven Kampmann). He was hilarious the way he lies and the one episode that sticks out with me was when he produced and stared in his own commercial with Dick's wife Joanna for his diner. He does the commercial like the old Ronco ads from the 70s ("How much would you pay for this hamburger? Well don't answer yet...."). Then he says Joanna paid this outrageous price and the look on her face was priceless.

The other episode that sticks out with me was when Dick goes to a Boston Celtics game and has courtside seats. He apparently gets kicked out of the seat I believe because it was someone else's seats and he had to stand outside in the aisle area. Then I believe it was Larry Bird goes hobbling out of the game to the Celtic's team clubhouse, which became the perfect set up for the parody of the "Mean" Joe Greene Coke commercial from 1980. That was a classic.

The final episode was the best and ultimate way to end the show. One of the biggest "curve balls" was thrown. This was one ending you could never see coming.

A bit of trivia: Larry and the 2 Darryls were originally planned by the writers to appear in about 2-4 episodes and were to be written off shortly thereafter. Since "Newhart" was taped in front of a studio audience, the audience would cheer, applaud and holler when the trio walked in the door, then the introduction would follow: "Hi, I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl". That would then follow with more cheers and applause or laughs. It was said, that the studio audience kept the trio from being written off the show.