Newhart (TV Series) Good-Bye & Good Riddance, Mr. Chips (1987) User Reviews

Could have been better.

[fentress · 6/10 · 15 February 2024]

I am something of a Newhart fan, and I'd call this a decent episode. It's better than some, but not one of the best.

I'll assume the reader is familiar with the premise already. So we have Dick's old teacher from his childhood now teaching an adult education class, and behaving toward these adults like the traditional severe and proper elementary school teacher, and talking to these adults as though they were children. It's not realistic and that's fine. As I think of Newhart, it's not meant to be a realistic comedy. It's an exaggerated and fanciful version of real life.

But what I find difficult to accept in this episode is Dick's behavior. He is still holding a grudge against the teacher, and he reverts to very childlike behavior to exact revenge. It's out of character for Dick. It weakens the very premise that Newhart is built on, i.e. That Dick is the sensible normal person in the middle of all these eccentric characters.

Besides that, Dick's behavior was simply too silly. I couldn't buy it even as purposely exaggerated humor.

There are some bright spots here and there. George's reaction to Dick's situation were quite funny. Also, as someone who has never been an admirer of Tom Cruise as an actor, I particularly liked the subplot of Michael's imitation of Tom Cruise! Michael and Stephanie are just the kind of people who might actually "appreciate" a Tom Cruise film festival of all things. Okay, I probably stepped on some toes with those comments.

Dick is reunited with his sixth grade teacher

[Jimmy_the_Gent4 · 19 May 2018]

Dick is taking a touch typing class and finds the instructor is Mr Brooney, his strict sixth grade teacher.

Hilarious episode and one of the top ten best of all time. The great character actor William Windom guest stars as Mr Brooney. The laughs are non stop once we get to the classroom. Brooney still acts the same and treats his adult students just like children. Dick tries to get the other students to revolt, funniest classmate is a teacher's pet type who sucks up to Brooney. There is also a very funny Michael/Stephanie subplot where Michael tries to act cocky like Tom Cruise. The final scene between Dick and Brooney is hysterical.

The Good Old Days

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 24 March 2023]

As a teacher for decades, I remember the ones from the past who were cruel and dismissive. In this episode, a former sixth grade teacher of Dick's, with whom he battled as a child, is now teaching a typing class. He is using the same methods on the adults that he used on the children. Making them put their heads on their desks when they spoke out or "misbehaved." This guy belittled Dick because some guy (who apparently was a troublemaker) ended up as an executive while he wrote books with run-on sentences. Had Dick been petty, he could have pointed out that this guy hasn't really amounted to much himself. When invited to the Loudons for dinner he proves to be even worse. I know it's a comedy, but I found his behavior not to be funny at all. He is a sad character with his only power to belittle people who trust him to be a teacher.

Absolutely NO Hunting and Pecking!

[thejcowboy22 · 5/10 · 1 June 2018]

In my adult years I entered a specialty food store in Forest Hills, New York. It was a small store with glass counters to one side. I was greeted by the owner who stood behind talking in Hebrew to another patron. When the costumer turned towards me I was positively abashed with horror . There she was my sixth grade Hebrew teacher standing face to face in the flesh. Inches apart. That was her, no doubt about it. All the bad memories came flooding in. The humiliation being ridiculed and emasculated by her vicious tongue. Tearing up my spelling book in front of the whole class because I made some doodles on the side of the page which infuriated her. There stood a bad memory right in front of me. A little more pudgy and gray but the face was the same and that unmistakable voice. The good new was that she didn't even react to me. She didn't recognize me. Twenty years passed since that awful experience and thank goodness nothing happened. In this episode of "Newhart" Dick Loudon's reunion with his sixth grade teacher went completely the opposite. Dick (Bob Newhart) owns an Inn called the Stratford and is a writer by trade. Dick wants to improve his typing skills so he takes an adult education class at the local high school . To his chagrin his old caustic grammar school teacher Lew Brooney (William Windom) is his appointed instructor. In this instance Mr Brooney's memory was instantaneous as the former teacher remembers Dick or as he contemptuously addresses him Richard Loudin from back in the day as a defiant pupal . Mr. Brooney's condescending remarks, insults towards Dick and his classmates was too much mental anguish to bare. Dick decides to have a class revolt with predictable results. The episode shows you that people and even educators don't change and further more no matter how old or established you are old teachers/parent will treat you as if your still a child. The question is will Dick get in the last word and have closure? Great dialogue between the domineering Brooney and the timid Loudin as writer Barry Kemp can provide. Getting back to the specialty store and that shocking encounter with my former teacher,the only words that came out of her mouth were, "Help that young gentleman." I left the store shaken and as I drove off. I felt cheated by a higher power. There were good people I've meet in my life. Old friends and past loves I would gladly like to run into but in this case why the irascible Teacher? There some lesson to be learned here ..