NEWHART: SUMMA CUM LARRY (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedies about Dick and Joanna Loudon, who run a country inn in Vermont.
Larry and the two Darryls visit Dick to return his chainsaw. In private, Larry confesses to Dick that he intends to go back to school and earn his GED through a high school equivalency course. He asks Dick to make sure that the Darryls don’t know that he’s in school, as they disapprove of higher education. Dick agrees to tell them that Larry is busy working on a project for him. Later the Darryls come around looking for Larry and Dick tries to cover for him, claiming that Larry is out photographing UFOs for one of Dick’s books. They seem to accept this explanation and leave. Meanwhile, Joanna is upset that a Vermont tour guide lowered its rating of their inn and the next morning she writes a scathing letter to send to the editor. She soon becomes manic about every minor problem around the inn, real or imagined.
The Darryls return and question elements of Dick’s cover story about Larry, referring to a book on UFOs to support their claims. Finally Dick confesses that Larry is going to night school. Larry reveals to Dick that he quit school after being mocked for eating gum from the underside of his chair. He also quit after realizing that he couldn’t understand the lesson, but Dick offers to tutor him. Joanna has Stephanie perform various chores around the inn to improve its appearance, but Stephanie soon tires of this. Larry struggles to understand Dick’s various mnemonic aids, not helped by mockery from the Darryls. Larry eventually takes his test but fails with a score of zero. Dick decides to speak with Larry’s teacher, who refuses to give Larry a re-test. Dick manages to convince him otherwise and also convinces the teacher to administer the test orally, specifically in a style similar to the game show “Jeopardy.” Larry performs somewhat better but still earns a failing grade until Dick convinces the teacher to enact a “Final Jeopardy” question. However, this backfires when he fails to recall Dick’s mnemonics properly.
Joanna is visited by the reviewer who visited their inn for the tour guide, and he points out that her assertion is incorrect; she accidentally read the wrong section of the book, and discovers that the inn’s rating has not changed. Dick and Larry arrive and inform Joanna that Larry passed his exam. The Darryls arrive as well and congratulate Larry for his accomplishment. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: October 21, 1985 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:64877
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1982-1990
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dan Wilcox … Executive Producer
- Stephen C. Grossman … Coordinating Producer
- Barton Dean … Producer
- Douglas Wyman … Co-Producer
- Jay Kleckner … Associate Producer
- Peter Baldwin … Director
- Sheldon Bull … Developed by
- Barry Kemp … Created by
- Arnie Kogen … Writer
- Gary Jacobs … Writer
- Nelson Riddle … Music by
- Henry Mancini … Theme Music by
- Bob Newhart … Cast, Dick Loudon
- Mary Frann … Cast, Joanna Loudon
- Peter Scolari … Cast, Michael Harris
- Julia Duffy … Cast, Stephanie Vanderkellen
- Tom Poston … Cast, George Utley
- William Sanderson … Cast, Larry
- Tony Papenfuss … Cast, First Darryl
- John Voldstad … Cast, Second Darryl
- Sandy Helberg … Cast, Paul Steuben
- Richard Seff … Cast, Alan Woodall
- Jean Owens Hayworth … Cast, Stratford Inn Guest
- Joshua Grenrock … Cast, Stratford Inn Guest