i be go to go out on a limb here and make a bold statement . without newhart and seinfeld doesn not happen . now and i be not say the show be identical by any mean and but they share a lot more than you would think at first glance . certainly seinfeld have the urban setting of new york city and but if you can imagine it happen at a vermont bed and breakfast and with a slightly old fellow in the title role and you can see how the parallel do exist represent a world weary and humorous guy at the center of a bunch of wacky character that entangle themselves in his life . which show be i talk about . exactly . now and newhart have a lot more go for it than seinfeld do when they start . audience know bob from his grammy win comedy album and guest appearance on every variety show of the day and his two sitcom represent the first be a standard gentle comedy from the early sixty and the more famous and beloved one from the 1970s fill with wink innuendo and and be pretty racy by television standard and even though dr. robert hartley and his beautiful wife emily be marry . it seem like a look into a real relationship and with the ups the down and the charm and and it be genuinely laughable and lovable . newhart be different and and it be suppose to be . even so and many unfairly compare the actress who play mr. newhart wive on these two program represent mary frann joanna to suzanne pleshette emily and throughout the run . really and the character be never mean to be compare in that way . it be a different era and for television and for the nation and and even for the star . on newhart and joanna role be a a pillar of strength for innkeeper dick to hang onto when everything be go crazy and while emily and dr. bob take turn skewer each other and their friend and situation with devilish 70 glee . when newhart begin and it be shoot on videotape and have more of a soap opera light look to it . the visuals be odd in relation to the rest of the series . also and the character that first season be more pedestrian and the alternate heartwarming or difficult story line flip flop between borderline 1950s trite or 1980s mean . but when they switch to film and they add the talented peter scolari and julia duffy and thing take off . some of the witty dialogue and funny moment in a sitcom of . just about any era . brilliant writing and and well played performance and even with the stock character larry and darryl and darryl . let get to the famed final episode and which be arguably the great last episode of any television show ever create . but the question be and why be it so great . you need to know a couple of fact . there be two other program of the era that utilize a similar plot twist device around the time of newhart end represent nbc medical drama and st. elsewhere ( from the same production company a newhart mtm ) and cbs own nighttime soap and dallas and which have an important storyline involve patrick duffy character and bobby ewing . without go into specific detail about any of what these other show plot be about ( in case you haven not see those program ) and i can say that if the st. elsewhere and dallas plot point be not play out the way they have and newhart end and though still funny and wouldn not have have the incredible explosive impact it have . it be a joke with an exponential punch line represent youre not just laugh about the concept and you be laugh about the context of the concept in history . in other word and you be laugh not only at the moment within the show and but it be a big fat joke on all of television and itself . really and this be one brilliant and brilliant last laugh . it be so breathtakingly unexpected and yet perfectly fit and it almost impossible to think that it wasn not somehow plan from the first episode . that only make it that much funny . perhaps best of all and they do it before anyone conceive the notion of a program sentimentally pay tribute to itself and or have celebrity commentary and and they manage to stick to their thirty minute format and not expand the program to milk it . genius .