Newhart / YMMV - TV Tropes

Award Snub: Bob Newhart starred in two popular, long-lasting, critically acclaimed sitcoms, The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart. The ways in which the Emmys snubbed both shows, and Newhart himself, are simply staggering.
- Newhart was a more "fortunate" show in Emmy nominations than its predecessor, if by "fortunate" you mean "getting your hopes up as your show gets nominated for several major awards every year only to have those hopes dashed to pieces as your show fails to win a single award". Bob Newhart (for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy), Peter Scolari, and Tom Poston (the latter two for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy) were all nominated three times each and never won. Poor Julia Duffy was nominated (for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy) for all seven years she was a regular on the show and never won. The show itself was only ever nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first two seasons, when it hadn't started Growing the Beard yet and really didn't deserve the honor.
- What's more, the show received just three Golden Globe nominations during its run: one for Best Musical or Comedy Series and one each for Newhart and Duffy.
- Bob Newhart said that he, at least, intentionally kept himself out of consideration for many seasons.
Continuity Lock-Out: A minor example in "The Last Newhart": if you aren't familiar with The Bob Newhart Show or with the finale of St. Elsewhere, the now-famed Twist Ending is merely another example of All Just a Dream. If you know those, it's easier to understand why it's considered one of the best sitcom Grand Finales of all time.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Peter Scolari's Michael Harris was written as a one-shot character for a season 2 episode, but the producers liked him so much they brought him in as a regular for season 3.
- Same with Larry and the Darryls, who were one-shot characters for the second episode and brought back little by little, eventually replacing Kirk as the Loudons' next door business men.
Fanon Discontinuity: As beloved as the finale is in most circles, some fans feel that it undermines everything up to that point (and question how one dream could have had so much in it) and ignore it.
Fridge Horror: In the episode "A Midseason's Night Dream", Dick pinches himself, which wakes him from the in-episode dream he is currently experiencing, but not from the "main" dream revealed in the finale.
Growing the Beard: The first year is widely regarded as quite bad, recorded on videotape with an inferior supporting cast. It got better in the second season when Julia Duffy joined the cast and the cameras switched to film. It grew a full beard the third year when Peter Scolari joined the cast.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- In "Vintage Stephanie" the extremely shallow Michael's response to being asked if he'll love Stephanie when she's 80 is "How many people live to be 80, anyway?" Less funny after Peter Scolari's passing in 2021 at the age of 66.
- The famous ending of the show takes on a new meaning in light of Mary Frann feeling overshadowed by her predecessor Suzanne Pleshette. (See Trivia page for more details.)
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Jack Riley as a patient of Dr. Kaiser (Melanie Chartoff). Riley and Chartoff went on to voice Stu and Didi Pickles.
- The 1989 reference/review book Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows (by Harry Castleman and Walter Podrazik) comes really close to predicting the show's Twist Ending, by jokingly suggesting at the start of their Newhart review that Bob Hartley moved to Vermont, got a new job and changed his name to Dick Loudon.
- One episode involves George going to his 40 year High School reunion to try to reconnect with a classmate he had a crush on but never pursued. Later in life, Tom Poston would reconnect with actress Suzanne Pleshette and the two married in 2001, 42 years after they first met while performing on Broadway (and almost a quarter century after they both appeared on The Bob Newhart Show).
- Watching Jason Alexander play a guest at the inn who is an unusually generous tipper is hilarious for fans of Seinfeld, as two of George Costanza's defining character traits are his cheapness and selfishness.
It Was His Sled: The final episode and its big twist are the main things that Newhart is best remembered for, and The Reveal - which, it must be restated, was a complete surprise and a huge shock to audiences watching in 1990 - is often ranked very high on various "television's greatest moments" lists. The ending is also very frequently parodied on other, completely unrelated shows, sometimes with Bob Newhart's involvement (with Newhart and Pleshette reenacting the scene together on Saturday Night Live).
Just Here for Godzilla:
- Bob Newhart's star power/appeal was the main thing that kept the show afloat through its rough first two seasons, until it was fully able to grow the beard via Retool.
- The famous Twist Ending series finale is one of the only things most first-time viewers watch the series for today.
Memetic Mutation: The finale aired in 1990 and to this day, people will half-jokingly, half-seriously suggested that a show should end with the revelation that it's all been a dream of an actor's previous character. Breaking Bad, of all shows, shot a bonus, fake alternate ending where Hal wakes up next to his wife Lois and tells her he dreamed he was a drug kingpin.
More Popular Replacement: Replacing Leslie with Stephanie significantly improved the series, as did replacing Kirk with Michael.
Retroactive Recognition:
- Lisa Kudrow as the wife of one of the Darryls in the final episode.
- Mrs. Goddart would later become Mimi.
- Jason Alexander appears as a guest at the inn.
- Bill Maher makes an appearance as a guest who's romantically interested in Stephanie.
The Scrappy: Kirk DeVane. The writers tried in vain to rescue him before replacing him with Michael.

YMMV / Newhart

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