Prime time television had presented a non-stop parade of freaks, neurotics and weirdos over the past 50 years, but perhaps none as oddly sympathetic as the cast of The Bob Newhart Show. Psychologist Bob Hartley spent a good part of his day listening to the most whacked-out denizens of Chicago, and since we got to peek in on the sessions, we somehow ended up liking this misfit band of patients. We loved Bob too, of course, and more stable citizens like Emily and Carol, but face facts: without the loonies, Bob’s low-key comedy wouldn’t have been half as much fun.
1972’s The Bob Newhart Show was actually the second show of that title. The first had been a short-lived 1961 variety show, but this was a totally different animal. Produced by the same folks responsible for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and airing right after that program on CBS’ Saturday night schedule), the new Bob Newhart Show was another sitcom about a white-collar professional, this time a mumbly, somewhat passive psychologist. Bob Hartley was a good listener, and the people around him certainly had plenty to say.
Bob’s wife Emily was a third grade schoolteacher, and one of the few calm spots in Bob’s stormy life. Living in the same Chicago high-rise as the Hartleys was airplane navigator Howard Borden, a divorced man with one son and a knack for barging in on the Hartley home uninvited. Howard wasn’t an official patient of Bob’s, but as dependent as he was on Bob and Emily’s food and advice, he might as well have been.
At work, Bob shared office space with Dr. Jerry Robinson, an orthodontist and an incurable womanizer. The two also shared a receptionist, Carol Kester, a no-guff-taking single woman who often found herself on the wrong end of Emily’s blind date set-ups. And then there were the patients…
The most notorious of the lot was Elliot Carlin, a wealthy wreck of a man who managed to exude nearly every neurosis imaginable, snide and self-doubting at the same time. Among the other regulars in Bob’s office were kindly Mrs. Bakerman, henpecked hubby Mr. Peterson, timid Michelle Nardo, and mean fruit salesman Mr. Gianelli. Since Bob preferred to work in group therapy sessions (everything from all-woman to all-doctor to all-overweight), the regulars got plenty of time to work on each other’s problems, though nobody ever seemed to be cured.
But just because the patients themselves didn’t seem to change much (though, we should point out, Mr. Gianelli stopped being mean after he was crushed to death by a load of zucchini), that doesn’t mean nothing exciting ever happened in the Hartley world. Emily ended up with a surprise promotion to vice-principal, Howard nearly married Bob’s little sister Ellen, Carol did marry travel agent Larry Bondurant after a whirlwind 12-hour romance, and then there was the infamous ‘moo goo gai pan’ incident, in which a drunken Bob, Elliot, Jerry and Howard ended up ordering 12 quarts of the Chinese dish.
Through it all, Bob got by with a well-timed comment, an understated glance or a low-key smile. Bob Newhart’s comic style fit his character perfectly, and the rich supporting cast took care of the rest. The result was a sitcom classic, running for six years in prime time and staying fresh and funny for many more. Bob Newhart continued to score with further self-titled sitcoms, but the wide world of weirdos surrounding him on The Bob Newhart Show helped make this show one of the all-time greats.
production details
USA | CBS – MTM Enterprises | 142×25 minutes | Broadcast 16 September 1972 – 1 April 1978
Creator: Barry Kemp
Producer: David Davies
cast
Bob Newhart as Robert Hartley
Suzanne Pleshette as Emily Hartley
Bill Daily as Howard Borden
Marcia Wallace as Carol Kester Bondurant
Peter Bonerz as Dr. Jerry Robinson
Patricia Smith as Margaret Hoover (1972-73)
Larry Gelman as Dr. Bernie Tupperman (1972-76)
Ellen Hartley (1974-1976) as Pat Finley
Will Mackenzie as Larry Bondeurant (1975-77)
Jack Riley as Elliot Carlin
Florida Friebus as Mrs. Lillian Bakerman
Penny Marshall as Miss Larson (1972-73)
Renée Lippin as Michelle Nardo (1973-76)
John Fiedler as Mr. Emil Peterson
Noam Pitlik as Mr. Victor Gianelli (1972-73)
Lucien Scott as Mr. Vickers (1974-75)
Oliver Clark as Mr. Ed Herd (1976-77)
