Did anyone watch/does anyone have the 20th anniversary show that ran in the 90s? If so, what were all the characters supposed to be doing by then? In other words, where were Carol, Jerry, Howard, Mr Carlin, etc, and what were they supposed to have been doing while Bob was either in Oregon being a professor or in Vermont being an innkeeper?

I never saw it so I was curious as to how it all played out in the reunion.

Thanks.

Donna

It was just the actors (out of character) hosting the show, and showing clips.

So there was no story involved? Sounds like the Happy Days reunion they had last year. Actually, I like those better (when one loves to write fan fiction, there's no storyline to interfere with!)

THANKS!

Donna

Sammy, your memory is faulty. The anniversary show was set up as an episode of TBNS 20 years in the future as Bob prepared to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his practice. It took place entirely in the medical building set and over the course of the hour Emily, Carol, Jerry, Howard and Mr Carlin dropped by. Much of the episode was taken up with flashbacks as the characters talked about the memorable things that had happened over the previous years. All of the actors were entirely in character. The only time anyone was out of character was the introduction, when Bob Newhart explained the premise of the special and also admitted that it was actually the 19th anniversary of the show's debut but there was pressure to come up with a 20th anniversary show. ( He explained that because the pilot had been shot in the year before the show debuted, they felt they could get away with calling it the 20th anniversary show. )
The show took place on the morning after Bob woke up from his strange dream about Vermont, and began with the replay of the last two minutes of the Newhart finale.

There was no indication that anything had changed for any of the characters since the finale, except it conveniently ignored the fact that Bob had closed his practice in the final episode. For me , it was great to see everyone back as their original characters.