We start another week in the 2026 Countdown to Halloween, and we kick it off with a Halloween-centric episode of...Newhart?
Yep! Well, kind of.
In this, only the second episode in the history of the series, Dick and Joanna Loudon (Bob Newhart and Mary Frann) are disturbed to learn that the lovely Vermont inn they've recently purchased has the 300-year-old body of a woman buried in the inn's basement--a woman who was burned at the stake for being a witch.
This is a surprising plot for a sitcom as good-natured and mild as Newhart, but the episode retains the small-town charm the series is known for despite being about the body of a supposed witch, and therefore, this episode totally fits the vibe I've established with this blog all these years.
This episode aired on CBS on November 1st, 1982, the very same network and night that the M*A*S*H episode I posted last week aired, as well as the Halloween episode of Square Pegs I featured on the blog back in 2022. Watch them one after the other, and you get a partial recreation of CBS's lineup that night!
Enjoy below or directly on YouTube here!
Man, I love this episode. I remember watching it the night it premiered and talking about it at school the next day. It's also the first appearance of Larry, Darryl and Darryl. By the way, we didn't burn witches, we hung them (which I think is the punchline to a joke in that episode). I'll definitely be rewatching that episode this season. "Ick".
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom! On the surface it seems like an odd pick for a Halloween blog, but it works perfectly!
ReplyDeleteFor more Newhart spooky fun, check out "The Stratford Horror Picture Show", season 4, episode 15.
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