Tonight's episode of "George & Leo" is the reunion episode to end all reunion episodes.
Series stars Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsch are reunited with no fewer than 19 of their former co-stars from four of their old series.The appropriately titled episode - "The Cameo Show" (tonight at 8 on Ch. 2) - puts Newhart's George and Hirsch's Leo in some strangely familiar company in the aftermath of a charity auction.
You get an idea of what you're in for in the opening moments when Bill Dailey - who played neighbor Howard Borden in "The Bob New-hart Show" - wanders into George's bookstore looking for a book about aviation.
(Howard, of course, was a commercial airline pilot.)
Tonight's episode is pretty funny, but it's also nothing short of amazing simply because of the logistics involved. It's hard to believe that any sitcom could work in 20 guest stars - let alone 20 with ties to other shows.
The problem is handled by use of a fund-raising auction (at which one of the auctioneers is Todd Sussman, who played Constable Shifflett on "Newhart"). Leo wins a van, which he promptly turns into his own sight-seeing taxi service - despite the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about Martha's Vineyard.
And among those he runs into are a couple of Hirsch's former "Taxi" (1978-83) co-stars - Marilu Henner (Elaine) and Jeff Conaway (Bobby).
Other passengers include Hirsch's former "Dear John" (1988-93) co-stars - Jane Carr (Louise), Harry Groener (Ralph), Billie Bird (Mrs. Philbert) and Tom Willette (Tom).
Some of it's a bit obvious, like when Conaway asks Leo, "Have you driven a cab before?" But there are some funny bits, as when Leo puts the moves on Henner and when Groener plays a member of an underground group trying to liberate Martha's Vineyard.
Meanwhile, George wins a therapy session, which he doesn't think he needs. But he's convinced to join in by the therapist, Dr. Michael Harris (Peter Scolari, who played Michael Harris on "New-hart"). And, of course, Newhart played a psychologist on the 1972-78 "Bob Newhart Show."
Turns out that Dr. Harris shares office space with a couple of "Bob Newhart Show" alumni - a dentist played Peter Bonerz and his receptionist/wife (yes, wife) played by Marcia Wallace.
And when George is introduced to the therapy group, who should it turn out to be but the old "Bob Newhart" group - Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin), Oliver Clark (Mr. Herd) and John Fiedler (Mr. Peterson).
(Pat Crawford Brown subs for Florida Freibus, who was Mrs. Baker-man.)
There's also some nice interplay between Scolari and Julia Duffy, whose characters closely mimic Michael and Stephanie on "Newhart."
Perhaps the oddest crossover comes when Tom Poston plays a cop who tickets Leo. Poston, of course, is a veteran of both "Bob Newhart" (as George) and "The Bob Newhart Show" (as the recurring character of the Peeper) - but his scenes are with Hirsch.
And there may perhaps be a surprise headed our way. The last scene from this episode was not on the tapes provided to critics - but we do know that William Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss and John Volstad (Larry, Darryl and Darryl) are scheduled to appear.
Of course, this episode didn't get guest stars from all of Newhart's and Hirsch's TV shows. They could have gotten somebody from the 1961-62 variety hour "The Bob Newhart Show" - Ken Berry was a semi-regular.
And how about Hirsch's 1976-77 police drama "Delvecchio?" (Charles Haid - who went on to co-star in "Hill Street Blues" - was his co-star.) Or "Detective in the House," which aired for a month in 1985. (Jack Elam was a regular in that one.)
Well, maybe 19 old co-stars is enough for a single half-hour episode.
The best news about "George & Leo" is that CBS has upped the order to a full season's worth of episode - 22. This is a promising series that deserves the time to develop.