Remember when Thanksgiving episodes were part of our regular television watching?
On November 24, 1986, Newhart gave us a Thanksgiving episode that still makes me laugh today.
Throughout the entire episode, Dick Loudon was looking forward to one thing: carving the Thanksgiving turkey!
He talked about it, anticipated it and even bought special carving knives for the occasion. You could tell this was going to be the highlight of his Thanksgiving.
But nobody told Larry, Darryl and Darryl!
The celebration began at the mansion of Stephanie’s wealthy parents before everyone eventually ended up at the Minuteman Café.
When Dick’s big moment finally arrived, instead of letting him carve the turkey, the brothers simply tore it apart with their bare hands!
After spending the entire episode looking forward to carving that bird, watching Bob Newhart’s reaction was priceless.
Here’s something I didn’t know. This was actually Newhart’s 98th episode, directed by J.D. Lobue, and it originally aired on CBS at 9 PM on Monday, November 24, 1986.
The episode was written by David Mirkin, who later became an executive producer of The Simpsons.
Larry was played by William Sanderson, while Tony Papenfuss and John Voldstad played his almost completely silent brothers. The two Darryls finally broke their silence in the show’s 1990 finale.
And remember that wonderful opening music? It was written by Henry Mancini, the composer of The Pink Panther theme.
Newhart ran from 1982 to 1990, ending with one of television’s greatest surprises when Suzanne Pleshette appeared beside Bob in bed, revealing the Vermont adventure had apparently been a dream.
But I’ll always remember Dick spending an entire Thanksgiving episode looking forward to carving that turkey, only to have Larry, Darryl and Darryl ruin his big moment in seconds!
Do you remember this Thanksgiving episode?
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