What makes it different from others?

Absolutely Brilliant!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

One of three television sitcoms starring Bob Newhart, "Newhart" is an ensemble comedy that features a strange set of supporting characters arrayed around Bob's droll, laconic character, Dick Loudon. Bob is always the observer, commenting on the strange reality of his world.Dick and his wife run a Vermont inn. Frequent visitors are Tom Poston, who plays a similarly droll handyman; brothers Larry, Darryl and Darryl, who appear to be halfwits, but offer surprisingly erudite comments; and lovebirds Peter Scolari and Julia Duffy--privileged preppies with expensive tastes and elevated senses of self-worth who live off the largesse of her wealthy parents.The writing is suited to Bob's style. And the show's lyrical theme, by Henry Mancini, fits perfectly.

I love this show and the cast of zany characters, with one exception! In this situation comedy, there was nothing funny about the character Kirk Devane! In real life, someone that obnoxious would most likely get beat up on a daily basis! His character was eventually replaced by that of Michael Harris, who also served as an antagonist to Dick Loudon, but did so with humor.

This is one of the all time greatest comedy series on U.S. television. I would put it right up there against the world's greatest comedy series (Fawlty Towers, Arrested Development, Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, Community) in terms of laughs per minute ratio.The always hilarious Bob Newhart plays the owner of an inn in Vermont (along with his lovely wife) and he is the straight man in this, always trying to keep up with the craziness around him and making hilarious, straight-faced comments about it. His bumbling, stumbling delivery is so funny and only Bob Newhart could pull this character off believably.The cast around them includes a rich girl who doesn't really want to be their maid, her uptight, materialistic beau, their hilarious handyman George, and of course their insane backwoods neighbours "Larry, Darryl and Darryl".I would love to get this on DVD!

Final episodes often gets lots of hype and rarely live up to it. The finale of MASH was awesome, but the finale for Seinfeld, for example, was a big disappointment. The same problem exists for sitcom's past their prime that have lost characters along the way. The finale is usually not memorable and very anti-climactic (i.e., Happy Days ran for a dozen years, and was number one for several of those years, but does anyone remember the finale?). Then, luckily, there's the finale of Newhart, to which all other sitcom finale's should be measured! The final scene revealing the entire series to be a dream of Bob Hartley's is brilliant. A great series during it's entire run, it ended on such a memorable, wonderful final scene. As for dramas, I would put the series finale of St. Elsewhere up there with the best, but that's for another posting...