Did Newhart Drop An Early Hint About The Show's Epic Final Episode Twist?

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https://www.looper.com/1173322/did-n...episode-twist/

Redditors speculate that the hint to the surprise ending happens three seasons before Newhart ended

Some Redditors believe that a clue about the bigger picture of "Newhart" may have been dropped in Season 5, Episode 22, "Harris Ankles PIV for Web Post." Dick Loudon is trying to console Michael Harris (Peter Scolari), who is upset about his favorite TV show's ending. Dick tells him that great TV shows always find a way to come back. Michael replies, "How about that show with the shrink who stuttered?" Dick responds to this nod to "The Bob Newhart Show" by telling Michael that Bob Hartley did not stutter but rather stammered.

In the subreddit r/BobNewhart, u/code_monkey_wrench wrote, "Both shows can't be aware of each other, can they?" To that, u/StardustBrother replied that they believe that Bob's real memories are intertwined with his dream. "In the dream world, it is Dr. Hartley's 'real world' that is seen as fake," they wrote. They also noted that this may have just been an inside joke for viewers and not a nod to the surprise ending as they believe that the show's conclusion was not planned out at that time.

Multiple people had the idea for the big finale years before Newhart's end

Season 5, Episode 22 aired in March of 1987. Season 6 was airing during the tail end of that year, and Bob Newhart told Yahoo! Entertainment that this was the same year that he was thinking about ending the show. It was a Christmas party conversation that he said sparked the idea for the big finale. "Ginny [Newhart's wife] knew I was unhappy with CBS. She told me, 'You know what the final show should be? You wake up in bed with Suzie [Pleshette] and you describe this dream you had about owning an inn in Vermont,'" he said. Newhart added that Pleshette was at the same party and she loved the idea.

But Bob and Ginny Newhart are not the only people with a claim to this idea. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, writer Dan O'Shannon said he came up with the idea after watching the series finale of "St. Elsewhere," which ended in 1988. "I went to the writer's room and told them. They said it was great. The executive producers called up Bob, who apparently loved it," he said. Newhart told Entertainment Weekly that he gave the idea to the writers, but O'Shannon doesn't recall that moment. However, the idea would be shelved due to the renewal of the popular TV show. In 1990, it would become reality and create a moment fondly remembered by many.

[PhoenixAcres]

Dick was also a big fan of The Bob Newhart Show, as evidenced in a season 1 episode where we hear the theme music coming from his TV. The guy who played Mr. Carlin on TBNS also appeared in Newhart once, with Dick remarking something along the lines of "He looks familiar..."

In all likelihood, these Easter eggs were probably just the writers having fun with Newhart's past show, though it is fun to believe the twist ending was all planned from the beginning.

I'm patiently waiting for Looper to write an article about this thread now.