Newhart: Season 2

NEWHART season two. Really! It’s still a mystery, but well worth the wait. Shout Factory gets winner of the century for this triumph. Not only is this disc at last here but everything about it is right. There is a “play all” function and where some of us like to have a looped sound sequence at the main menu to keep our players from turning off, some of us detest it (after nine hours, the suicide provoking theme to “Two and a Half Men” makes us want to jail Chuck Lorre) what they have here is a clip of one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written for television and we can listen to Henry Mancini a lot longer than a warmed over Monty Python bit that never leaves the I chord. But know that this loop is here. Each disc contains about 7 to 8 episodes and though they were digitized from old masters, the quality is fairly good. The makeup and sweaters are going to make some of us feel old, but the writing and performances are as fresh as ever and we wish more than anything that today’s sit coms were a fraction of what this was. But most of all there is the triumph that at last, this disc is here. We hope that the subsequent 6 seasons do not take as long as this one to come out.(The series ran from 1982-1990)Bob Newhart has had a spectacular career. Point of fact, he’s had four or five spectacular careers. In the 50’s he was one of the top Comedians in the country, holding his own beside Mort Saul, Shelley Berman, Jonathan Winters Phyllis Diller and Lenny Bruce. In the 1960’s came the first “Bob Newhart Show’ on CBS. He continued his motion picture career throughout, always in memorable character roles, even as recently as last season. In 1973 MTM launched the second “Bob Newhart Show” in which Bob and Emily lived in Chicago and his sitcom not only held in the top five but helped to define television history. Bob closed up his psychiatric practice while, as he put it, “We were at the top.” Four years later he was back as Dick Loudon with his wife, Joanna and this time the formula set them in a Vermont Inn. Everything here is pure brilliance and the last fifteen seconds of this series is, without question, one of the most brilliant finales in television history.“Newhart” traded between number one and three with “Cosby” and “Golden Girls” throughout the 80’s and helped define American Television. From that series came some American slang and coinage that remains viable today.“Hi. I’m Larry; this is my brother Daryl. This is my other brother Daryl.”I won’t go into his subsequent series, “Bob” in which he played a comic book artist; we’re going to stay in Vermont.“Newhart” is an outstanding sitcom and Bob Newhart had the formula down. He is the sane man, connected to reality and the real world and is surrounded by insane characters. He fully utilizes his trademark telephone bits that made him a star of the stand-up stage in the 50.s. The first season of “Newhart” is excellent- and the weakest of the entire series. The second season- for which we waited more than ten years (more on that later) The producers began to tighten things up with the hiring of a new maid, Stephanie (Julia Duffy), the spoiled socialite who ended her marriage to an octogenarian and settled on “cleaning toilets for these people” instead of returning to the mansion that is home in Newport, Rhode Island and being Daddy’s little billionaire girl. Stephanie is the cousin of Leslie Vanderkelen who was the maid at the Stratford Inn in season one, far too sane and far too much like Joanna to balance the series, Leslie has gone on to Oxford for the next part of her education. Some of the set issues from season one are resolved. The balcony above the front door actually LEADS to a hallway, though the hallway at the top of the stairs still sends people into an open area that must hang out over the driveway. The uncomfortable colonial furniture in season one is replaced with upholstered, tasteful furniture arranged into reasonable conversation areas for a lobby and perfect for playing various scenes.The townspeople, particularly the Wannamakers become more regular and we get a wonderful deeper glimpse into the inner workings of this fictional town- though the opening credits show footage of Middlebury, Vermont and the town is in closer approximation to Dartmouth University than Bennington, so we know we’re in Southeast Vermont. We join the village at their pot luck dinners where Joanna takes a stand for the suffrage movement and brings the women out of the kitchen to eat with the men. Joanna again becomes involved in the local community theatre only to discover that they do the same play every year: “My Fair Lady Without The Music.” (“It flies right by!” said Mr. Wannamaker.) Even though Mary Frann, as Joanna, brings intelligence and, for the 80’s women’s rights, her desire to do good and to do it well brings about as much insanity as Larry, Daryl and Daryl. Stephanie, after a fit for a broken date, runs out in a snow storm and we have a three bears episode where she meets Larry Daryl and Daryl. Tom Poston- one of the most gifted character actors in history, continues to bring depth and love to the character off George Utley. Steven Kampmann as Kirk from the Minuteman café is here- at least for a while- and is the same, funny, shallow, vane and selfish, but it is clear why he was not picked up and replaced with Peter Scolari, given the need to follow the solid formula of insanity to fit with the very impressive presence of Julia Duffy. We get to meet Scolari and we see Dick become the host of his own television talk show (a classic episode) and in fact as the season wears on Kirk does indeed grow weary. We are reminded of how, beneath her vanity and attitude during the decade that made blonde jokes acceptable (thankfully for only a decade) Julia Duffy’s portrayal of Stephanie has class and kindness. This is a brilliant sitcom; it is easily in the top ten off best of all time and everything about this much awaited disc set is perfect.And so one final note. We waited for this disc for over a decade. We wore out three copies of season one while trying to track down who would admit to owning the rights to MTM’s catalog (even Mary Tyler Moore claimed not to know) and as more years passed and more messages went up on the internet asking “Why? Where?” and “What the-“ we still don’t know. This is one of modern day’s biggest mysteries and the suits who know the answers aren’t talking. Either the wait between season one and two is the most brilliant marketing technique in history or the longest contract battles in history.

I've been waiting a long time to say this - welcome back to Vermont and the Stratford Inn. It's been six years since season 1 of Newhart was released, and I'd given up hope we'd ever see season two. But thanks to the good folks at Shout Factory, we finally got it.This was Bob Newhart's sitcom from the 80's. In it, he played Dick Loudon, a do it yourself book writer who, along with his wife Joanna (Mary Frann) moved to Vermont to open a bed and breakfast. However, life in a small town can get rather crazy. Carrying over from season one are George (Tom Poston), the handy man at the inn, and Kirk (Steven Kampmann), owner of the Minute Man cafe next door. He is a compulsive liar who considers Dick his best friend, a sentiment that isn't shared.There was a cast change this year. Gone is Leslie as the maid and in her place is her cousin Stephanie (Julia Duffy). Stephanie arrives after having left her new husband behind and being cut off by her family. She takes on the job of maid, something she is ill suited for. She's used to having maids, not being one. And yes, while by no means recurring, we do get to see more appearances by Larry (William Sanderson), his brother Darryl (Tony Papenfuss), and his other brother Darryl (John Voldstad).So what happens this season? Dick gets a chance to ghost write a tell all biography for a well known actress - there's just one catch, she only works with those she's slept with. Stephanie has to face her ex-husband when he comes looking for an explanation. Her old life comes walking back into the inn when her high school boyfriend and her high school rival show up - on their honeymoon. Kirk is worried that a new restaurant will put him out of business and leans on Dick for support. In another episode, Dick's hard work to meet a deadline is frustrated by a permanent border, a miniature golf course, and George demanding a pension plan. The entire town gets invited to the inn for Thanksgiving. And Joanna mistakes the interest of a college professor.The show was not super big on story arcs (this was the 80's after all), however, there is one that starts party way through the season. Kirk meets the woman he thinks might be the love of his life. However, he balks when he learns that Cindy (Rebecca York) is a clown. The entire arc with Cindy is not to be missed and are some of the best stories with Kirk from his two seasons on the show.This season also introduces Michael Harris when Peter Scolari appears in two episodes as the producer for the local TV station with dreams of ratings gold and a ticket to a bigger market. He would go on to become a regular on the show for the remaining six seasons. Both of the episodes revolving around the TV station are brilliantly funny and not to be missed.Overall, however, this season is still a step down from the greatness that would start with the next season. Don't get me wrong, there are laughs, and adding Stephanie this season certainly helps. However, she and Michael and Larry and the Darryls are the main characters people remember from the show. When the rest of that list comes on board full time (or half time in the case of the brothers), the show just gets so much stronger.Still, as I said, there are some good laughs, especially in the episodes I high lighted above. The writers do a good job of coming up with some fun situations and witty dialogue.The cast nails it and really delivers. Bob Newhart's sarcasm and snark is perfect here, and the rest of the cast inhabits their characters perfectly.Unfortunately, the set could be better. We get all 22 episodes on three discs in full frame and stereo sound, which is in keeping with how they were originally broadcast. There is nothing in the way of extras, but I'm just happy to have the set. I'll take it without the extras. My disappointment with the set is the picture quality. There is quite a bit of grain and dust on it in just about every episode. Surely, it seems like they could have found some way to clean it up more. The episodes are still very watchable, however, so don't let that stop you. Just be prepared for less than perfection.Frankly, I'll take season two however I can get it. Newhart is a great show, and it's nice to see some forward progress made on releasing this gem on DVD for the fans.

Liked it all

Love the show but the video quality is less than stellar. It is however far superior to the downright awful video quality found in the "Complete 1980s" box set which consumers should avoid at all costs. I already had season 1 and instead of buying each season separately I bought the entire series at what I figured was a great discount for around $65. The first episode was all it took to realize the video was far degraded from the season 1 I had and when I compared discs sure enough the disc for the box set had been substantially compressed. I figured the same might apply to season 2 so I ordered hoping the individual season copy would be far superior and indeed it is, it's still not excellent but a far cry from the garbage quality of the box set. The manufacturer is the same for both and they basically went cheap by going with single layer discs instead of dual-layer discs and compressed the heck out of the originals to fit the discs. Total data on the 3 discs from the individual Season 2 is 20 GB, total data on the 3 discs for Season 2 the box set is 13 GB. The result is a glaringly obvious reduction in quality and I recommend anyone interested in buying the entire series to buy each season separately instead of the box set as the box set is pure garbage. Pay the extra money, it's worth it.

Very good,!!

Living in the UK, I never got a chance to see the series when it was broadcasted.So it was a great treat to be able to get them now on DVD.I love the gentle humour and the Newhart touch.Would recommend.

A true classic comedy of its time. you can clearly see where future American sit-coms got their character ideas from, half the cast of Friends are here in this one programme, a bit of Joey in George a bit of Chandler in Kurt and Rachel in Stephanie.

Good old and witty comedy. No longer have those type comedies in 2021!

A very bizarre show that the characters just MAKE you love it. Bob is great as the inn-keeper, and there are many great laughs to be found in each episode.

Classic sitcom. Good clean fun. They don't make them like this anymore. Highly recommend.