I know that a lot of people don't like the first two seasons, and thought that the show was much better after Michael and Stephanie cam on (I agree with that), but I kinda liked Kirk. I thought that he and Dick (Bob Newhart) had pretty good chemistry.
shareYeah, I loved Kirk. I was sad to see him go. But Michael was excellent, too. And it was really impossible to beat the chemistry between Peter Scolari and Julia Duffy.
shareI just finished watching the episode where Stephanie was introduced (first season). And of course you can immediately see why they booted the first maid and went with Julia Duffy. She was just perfect. In the episode she confessed to a passionate crush on Kirk and wants to act on it. It was too funny when Bob Newhart thought she was talking about HIM.
shareI liked Kirk as well. One of the few disappointments I have about the final episode is that it didn't include an appearance from him (and Leslie, for that matter) as a nod to the show's beginnings.
I find it hard to complain about the final show of Newhart. People still talk about that show with the surprise "Dallas like" ending. It was pure genius.
shareAbsolutely, Kirk was one of my very favorite characters on the show.
He was just a classic and the exchanges between him and Dick or Joanna or George I just loved.
I appreciate the shows afterwards, but missed him terribly. His delivery was just topnotch. and ther was no Better foil for Bob as far as I'm concerened. I'm glad there are other people who missed him.
The commercial for his diner,{how much would you pay for this burger} or when he had that dinner party at the diner where every one picked what they wanted off the menu {with the choice of vegetable..... Peas......the choice being Do you wanted them or not} ... He really made me laugh.
dhs
Kirk is one of my favorite characters, along with Larry, Darryl, Darryl, Stephanie, and Leslie. I find it odd that he suddenly stopped appearing. It seems like most of the secodn season epsidoes focused on him, more so than George. I wonder if Peter Scolari was made a cast member before or after the crew knew that Kirk wouldn't return for the third season.
I have read Bob Newhart's autobiography, and I didn't see any mention of Kirk or Leslie. Sad. Unless I missed the part where he discusses them. I also saw a biography on Bob Newhart, and there weren't any clips with them. Stephen Kampman and Jennifer Holmes also didn't talk about Bob Newhart in that biography.
I loved Kirk, and laughed so much. I loved Michael and Stephanie too, but wished they could have kept Kirk on as well. One of my favorite episodes is when Leslie's old boyfriend shows up, and Kirk behaves like a maniac, no one could have better comedic timing.
shareI didn't like Kirk as much as Michael, but Kirk had his moments. A part that still makes me laugh is when Dick & Kirk are discussing something at a table in the inn and Dick gets uncomfortable and says, "I'm not sure we should be discussing this in front of the g-u-e-s-t-s." Kirk's comeback is priceless, "Good, Dick, we can spell and they can't."
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. - Plato
I disagree. Kirk sucked. He was annoying. He overacted, seemed like a brother-in-law of a producer or something.
if you're the salt of the earth, then the earth is a slug
Someone mentioned before they featured him a lot in the first two seasons, and I think that is why they got rid of him. They just ran out of ideas for him. I thought the timing of his exit was perfect, he ran his course. Once he got married, they was nothing left for him. Sort of the same thing happened with Mr. Ginelli on the first show, the character just ran its course. (I could only wonder if they wrote off Kirk the same way, I could only imagine how hillarous Dick would be. But once he got married, they couldn't do that, because it would have been so sad)
Off topic, did you know the actor that played him was a writer and producer on WKRP In Cincinatti?
I knew that Steven Kampman wrote for WKRP. It seems like he has more writing/ behind-the-scenes credits than acting credits. Oddly enough, I think that Kampman looks a lot like Frank Bonner, who played Herb Tarleck on WKRP, and both Herb and Kirk had similar personalities. And Frank Bonner also guest starred in an epsidoe of Newhart in the second season (I foget which episode it was, but I remember that he and Kirk didn't appear in the same frame (unless they had an interraction that was cut in syndication)... almost as shameful as Kirk and Michael not appearing in the same frame in either of Michael's second season appearances).
Watching the season 1 DVD, Krik was a much better character to own the Minuteman caffee than Larry, Darryl, and Darryl. He fit that role like a glove, with his crazy schemes, nutty promotions, and willing to do anything to make money.
After he left, you almost forget the Minuteman cafe even excisted. They could have blown up the cafe, and just have Larry, Darryl, and Darryl appear more often without explanation, and it would still be the same. Kirk was the Minuteman cafe, he is the first person that comes to mind when you mention the Minuteman cafe.
I agree that Kampmann played Kirk to perfection, particularly in how well he reacted off Newhart as well as the rest of the cast. But the character was limited. Kirk had no charm about him, which is no insult to Steven Kampmann, that's just the way Kirk was written. The storyline of his trying to get Leslie to like him just gets old after awhile as she obviously isn't attracted to him, and he gives her no reason to be so. As for Leslie, again, I have no problem with how Jennifer Holmes played Leslie, but the character wasn't written in an interesting way. She really wasn't that funny, and a bit, well, dull. I just don't think they knew what to do with her. Using the characters of Michael and Stephanie to poke fun at yuppy culture was just too priceless, and is one of the things the show is remembered for.
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Many of us feel that Kirk was such a great character. Many of us say that he was so genius. I wonder if Bob Newhart realised this and felt threatened, that maybe he was better than Bob, and chose to have him off out of fear of being upstaged. Eh, probably not. After all, I think it was Newhart who suggested bringing back Larry, Darryll and Darryll after only one appearance. And if Newhart thought he was better than Kirk should have at least been offered his own spin-off series.
Eh, I doubt it. This just isn't Newhart's style. Time and time again, he brings actors back who, in his estimation, were good. If this were his attitude, I don't think he would have achieved the success across two TV series and in his stand-up career as well. I can understand why people feel disappointed Kirk left after 2 seasons. He was such a fine comedian. What I think is a shame is that the writers couldn't do more with the character.
shareIt's funny that you mention the old BOB NEWHART SHOW...because IMO Kirk, with his "pathological liar" schtick, in many ways seems like a misplaced character from Dr. Hartley's therapy group on the earlier show.
Of course, since NEWHART itself turned out to be a bad dream of Dr. Hartley's anyway, I suppose it's possible that Kirk actually *was* part of his therapy group, and Bob just "cast" him in his nocturnal imaginings... ;-D
Amen.
shareI adore Kirk! I always thought he was adorable, I don't know why. I am so happy that they're putting Newhart on WGN because my favorite episodes have Kirk in them. His delivery and his obsession with Leslie is awesome,and of course his compulsive lying. The time I laughed the hardest was in 'The Boy Who Cried Goat' when he's taking his lie detector test and just keeps answering yes to everything and at the end the guy goes "According to this, he's in a coma."
Steven Kampmann is really good and I'm sad that he didn't act more. Someone mentioned that they were disappointed that he didn't make an appearance in the final episode-I totally agree! That would have been chaoticly hilarious to have every character come back. But Kirk and Dick did have awesome chemistry
It's been so long I forgot what they said to explain why Kirk was gone. I know he sold the cafe to Larry, Darryl and Darryl and I seem to remember it was because he got married and moved away. Who did he marry? Leslie?
Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans
He didn't marry Leslie. He married a girl who was a clown. Her name may have been Cindy, but I can't remember. I don't know why they left town.
sharei just saw these eps. Her name is Cindy Parker, a professional clow, she got a job in a big famous circus in Europe, he left to be with her, they had a big rowdy goodbye party at the inn while Dick and Joanna were away on vacation, and were shocked upon returning
shareOften it's all about chemistry. I loved Stephanie & Michael too
(enough that when the briefly reunited on Reba two years ago I
taped their scene together!) but right after Newhart ended Julia
Duffy joined the Designing Women cast playing a vain, spoiled
self-centered annoying rich woman. In other words, playing
Stephanie. And it was horrible! DW's writers were so outstanding
they won Emmys, but for some reason they couldn't write for
her.
<<right after Newhart ended Julia
Duffy joined the Designing Women cast playing a vain, spoiled
self-centered annoying rich woman. In other words, playing
Stephanie. And it was horrible! DW's writers were so outstanding
they won Emmys, but for some reason they couldn't write for
her.>>
I think that the problem was that, in an effort to make her DW character not just be Stephanie all over again they went to far in the other direction. Whereas Stephanie was self centered she still had a certain sweetness and innocence to her. Alison, on the other hand, lacked that sweetness and innocence and just came across as abrasive and unpleasant. What could have been, though...
Oh, Ok, thanks. I think the episode where he meets her is on WGN tonight.
Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans
Blast! I set my dvd to tape it, since I had to be out, but I got WKRP
instead. Last week Newhart was on at that time. I better double check
tv guide online.
If Randy Pearson of "That '70s Show" is the worst t.v. series replacement character in the entire history of American sit-coms (and, believe me, Randy truly is/was incredibly terrible on that show), then, I daresay, that Kirk Devane was THE worst original character ever on a long-running and successful American sit-com.
I mean, Kirk was smug, snotty, condescending, insulting and unbelievably niggardly on the show. Kirk even makes that late, lamented skinflint, the venerable Jack Benny, seem like the great philanthropist Bill Gates by comparison (And, didn't Kirk have the worst hair style, this side of either Art Garfunkel's or William Shatner's head of "hair"?)
Good riddance to the crass and cross Kirk. "Newhart" became MUCH better with Kirk's long-overdue departure and the arrivals of Stephanie and the always-alliteratively perfect Michael Harris.
I loved Kirk as well. Besides The Boy who cried Goat, he was hilarious in Ricky Nelson up your nose and several other episodes.
Dini
I didn't like him, he acted like an overgrown kid.
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