by
Kristin Battestella
Some
of my favorite episodes of The
Bob Newhart Show can
be found in this 1973-74 sophomore year – which avoids any second
season jinx with a continually sound, upscale, and impressive wit.
Bob
Newhart's Doctor Robert Hartley is immediately thrust into the
limelight for the Season Two premiere “The Last TV Show” when Bob
and his therapy group neuroses and all are invited to appear on a
talk show called 'Psychology in Action.' While the group is willing
to take their insecurities to the airwaves, reluctant Bob doesn't
want the publicity or stage fright to jeopardize the group's privacy
and trust. Naturally, no one is watching because Gunsmoke
is
on, all their names are mistaken, their jokes fall flat, and the
group decides they don't want to talk much after all. We know the
situation will be awkward, but The
Bob Newhart Show makes
everything deliciously
so and delivers some hilarious discomfort when Bob's wife Emily buys
a four hundred year old antique bible – plus the solid oak stand –
for $350 at a church auction in “Somebody Down Here Likes Me.”
You can't take that kind of sale back, and Bob tiptoes all around the
sophisticated banter when his advice causes a reverend to leave their
church. Although this quitting minister plot also appears two years
later on The Mary Tyler
Moore Show and
with the recently late John McMartin again on The
Golden Girls, the
guilt versus financial generosity leads to shrewd winks on religion
and humorous self versus soul puns and sight gags. Divorce, women
going back to school or joining the workforce, and modern liberation
are tackled in “Have You Met Miss Dietz?” alongside competing
singles, rival affections, and casual dating. The
Bob Newhart Show ensemble
tugs and pulls with lighthearted jealousy over the swinging lifestyle
– not to mention the tension comes to a head at a painting party
with Chinese food and Bob left covered in wet paint. In perhaps my
favorite episode of The Bob
Newhart Show, Bob's IQ
results aren't what he hopes when Emily's number is higher than his
in “Mister Emily Hartley.” Astute observations, deadpan zingers,
marital resentment, and humbling role reversals accent excellent
debates on whether such tests means anything, who's inferior, or who
is talking down to whom. After all, a perfect marriage is supposed to
be when the man has the higher IQ or when the couple's numbers are
equal – but never when the wife's is higher!
The
Hartleys try to have a paired down holiday for “I'm Dreaming of a
Slight Christmas,” however Bob ends up stuck at the office with a
rowdy party, fearful patients, and power outages. Rather than being
an obligatory seasonal episode, fun retro holiday style tops off the
witty traumas and exhausting results. On The
Bob Newhart Show, there's
time for individual
spotlights giving the ensemble their moments among the group
storylines and crisscrosses thrusting everyone together. Though
perhaps tame today, subtle commentary on a man and woman alone in the
same room, unmarried couples living together, and more progressive
topics remain well balanced each half hour. Where recent sitcoms or
dramedies shortchange stories with squeezed A, B, C plotting, “The
Jobless Corps” combines breakfast fads, talking to plants,
recession fears, and the energy crisis in one scene packed with
deadpans and humorous dilemmas. What should Bob charge for his 'Out
of Work Workshop' anyway? These are tight times pinching pennies sans
paychecks with women having to dress fancy for job interviews,
65-year-old men pushed out of business, door to door salesmen jokes,
and self-aware television writer cracks. Next door neighbor and
navigator Howard Borden finds himself in Bob's workshop after an
airline strike, leading to rare moments between just Howard and
orthodontist Jerry Robinson. While there are common prison jokes in
“Clink Shrink,” The Bob
Newhart Show addresses
crime and re-entering the workforce when a parolee has Bob
questioning his distrusting expectations. Bob does his best to get
over his standoffish judgments but wonders if progress can truly be
made once he suspects an expensive
VCR gift may be lifted. Late in the season Bob has to re-assess his
own budget and finances in “Mind Your Own Business.” Compared to
today's medical conglomerates, it's interesting to look back at a
lone entity doctor not rolling in the dough but caught between a
mid-century savings mentality and the subsequent yuppie spending.
Instead of stock sitcom tropes with very special episodes ripped from
the headlines, the characters on The
Bob Newhart Show have relate-able issues still
felt today – and the pride among men over budgeting down to the
quarter remains timeless comedy.
He's
a Korean War veteran with hidden dancing talents, and the 'almost
gifted' Dr. Hartley uses his telephone punchlines in nearly every
episode of The Bob Newhart
Show. This
is a man of science, a
doctor of the mind, yet Bob's conflicted when his advice trumps a
patient's spirituality and grateful his wife Emily really understands
him and his predictable routine. For his annual physical and upcoming
birthday in “Fit, Fat and Forty-One,” Bob's counting calories,
avoiding temptations, and fearing a surprise party as great psychical
gags reflect his hunger stress and guru fads. Of course, it's all
overboard for a whopping eight pounds, and wow, put on a record on
for that wild aerobics class! Our eponymous straight man is likewise
unenthusiastic over a planned trip to Mexico and Emily's peak
conception timing in “Backlash.” Fun physical shtick and
psychosomatic possibilities add to the marital banter as Bob's back
goes out – not to mention some melodramatic soap operas and one
aggravated Emily. A snowbound Emily's funk also interferes with Bob's
very specific habits in “I'm Okay, You're Okay, So What's Wrong?”
He wants her to face her flying fears, but scheduling conflicts lead
to a great dialogue based zest and a wonderful argumentative
interplay. Bob objects to seeing a marriage counselor and his
reluctance over some role reversal therapy leads to delightful
turnabout zingers. Unfortunately, Bob can't call his laid back,
popular in-laws by their first names when Emily parents Junior and
Aggie Harrison (John Randolph, Ann Rutherford) visit from Seattle in
“My Wife Belongs To Daddy.” He likes their sense of humor, yet
even after over four years of marriage, Bob can't be outgoing and
doesn't change who he is to impress his father-in-law. It's
okay for Bob to be the
quiet leading man, Emily works because she wants to so, and kids will
come when they are ready – and this refreshingly honest give and
take anchors The Bob Newhart
Show.
Naturally,
home and work colliding isn't as fun as The Hartleys thought it would
be when Emily fills in for the vacationing Carol in the aptly named
“Emily In For Carol.” Suzanne Pleshette's third grade
schoolteacher certainly likes her long dresses, in particular a
repeated long gray skirt, but that seventies style goes well with her
lightweight one glass of wine and crying over Casablanca
personality.
“The Modernization of Emily,” however, has Emily feeling old when
a former student is all grown up and Bob gets her a 32-speed
blenderizer for their fifth anniversary. Despite fine winter get ups,
scarves, and berets still fashionable today, Emily drastically
updates her look with a groovy, funky image in a delightfully
progressive episode about being true to oneself. The always
disastrous matchmaker asks Bob if
he wants her to be a good wife and lie or to just tell the truth, but
Emily usually gets her way in their otherwise perfect marriage –
save for Monday Night Football, that is. She rides horses and loves
the daddy's girl outdoors, yet Emily enjoys being at home with Bob
more than anything. Most of their conversations take place in the
bedroom or around that shocking double bed, adding intimacy and
honesty to the relationship without resorting to today's in your face
steamy. When Emily battles influential parents and her principal by
refusing to skip a student in the “A Matter of Principal” finale,
Bob supports her even if it means losing her job. The little woman is
supposed to bow down to her husband's authority and her principal's
decision, but Emily stands up for her ethics and educational
responsibilities against patriarchal pressure that doesn't consider
her informed opinion – right on!
Not
only does Peter Bonerz direct two episodes this season and later go
on to helm more episodes of The
Bob Newhart Show than
any other director, but his selfish
orthodontist Jerry Robinson is always ready with a boys night scheme
or a bulky portable television to watch the football game. He likes
his bow ties and hates his problematic giant display tooth, however
its the unwilling Bob who ends up in hot water when Jerry drives the
two to Peoria to see a blacked out Bears versus Packers game in
“Motel.” Jerry lies his way into picking up some hookers at the
bar and gets upset when Emily won't help him cover dating two girls
at once, yet Bob often ends up in his chair when he needs things put
in perspective. Jerry brings Bob up to the times, but his adoption
history and lingering resentment come to a fist through the door head
in “Oh, Brother” when his suave brother and competitive dental
protege Raul Julia (The
Addams Family) moves into
the building and steals Jerry's patients. Some sitcoms tend to leave
characters pigeon-holed in their place rather than breach a real
world change, however “Confessions of an Orthodontist” addresses
the awkwardness of professionalism versus friendship, romantic
interference, infatuation, and the evolving nature of inner circle
relationships – after all, Jerry thinks he is in love with Emily
and goes to another psychologist instead of Bob. Yowzah! Of course,
its Bill Daily as navigator neighbor Howard Borden who cooks and
helps Emily around the house – or ends up substituting vodka and
beef bullion for chicken and left with 'chicken shot.' Although he
only appears in one or two scenes per episode to start the season,
Howard brings The Hartleys leftovers from the plane and keeps a whiff
of religion to save him from an air pocket at 30,000 feet. He's a
golf klutz, loses a girl to Jerry, and turns 40 just as his ex-wife
remarries a pilot in “Blues For Mr. Borden.” Howard is made more
pathetic and bumbling – he's laid off briefly and replaced by a
1974 navigation computer, too – but its a humorous pity with water
bed jokes for good measure. Pat Finley (The
Rockford Files) as Bob's
engaged sister Ellen and their mom Martha Scott visit in “A Love
Story,” and Ellen abandons her five year romance when she meets the
awkwardly smooth Howard. While Howard being protective of his sister
last season seems forgotten and Ellen feels brought in just for some
overprotective conflict for the childless Harlteys, more of Bob
caught in the middle amid the charming relationship moves are to come
in Season Three.
This
season, Marcia Wallace's colorful receptionist Carol Kester dresses
slightly more mature in some repeat but nonetheless swinging
fashions. We know such goofy little moments are coming, but Carol
always has a quip or some secretary humor and knows how to get a
complicated coffee order correct. She moves fast where gentleman are
concerned, vacations in Rome, and has a hidden tattoo removed. “Old
Man Rivers” has her dating an older man, but surprisingly modern
ageism discussions and peer pressures interfere with the
relationship. Another romance hinders Carol's work and leads to a
rift with Jerry in “By the Way... You're Fired,” but Larry Gelman
as urologist Bernie Tupperman and the rest of the doctors in the
building find they can't handle her duties and miss her basic office
skills. Although retreading slightly from when Carol went out with
Howard in Season One of The
Bob Newhart Show, “T.S.
Elliot” sees her trying to keep things casual with Jack Riley's
clingy, lift wearing, dry
cleaning his toupee Mr.
Carlin. Fellow therapy patients John Fielder as timid
Mr. Peterson, Renee Lippon as neurotic Michelle, Florida Friebus as
aloof Mrs. Bakerman, and Noam Pitlik's grumpy Mr. Gianelli appear
early and often while Lucien Scott later joins as cranky Mr. Vickers
alongside WKRP in
Cincinnati's Howard
Hesseman as out of work television writer Craig Plager. In a
wonderfully contemporary clash during “Mutiny On the Hartley,”
the group even strikes out its own after a hesitant Bob raises his
rates. Other guest stars include a young Teri
Garr (Young Frankenstein)
in two episodes, Shirley O'Hara as the absent minded temp secretary
Debbie, Seinfeld's Uncle
Leo Len Lesser, and Fonzie himself Henry Winkler. Future Who's
the Boss alumni
Katherine Helmond and Rhoda Gemignani go through a lot of tissues,
too, and although often
referred to, we only see
Mariette Hartley (The
Incredible Hulk) as
divorced downstairs neighbor Marilyn once.
The
always catchy and classy “Home to Emily” theme from Year One
continues here, although several episodes have a shorter opening
sequence or are missing the telephone greeting and full route home. I
do also love the jazzed up end music but both miss the giant old
television cameras, big headsets, wires, and phone cords everywhere
yet am glad such hefty hassles have passed. The remote control
clicker is huge, too, but say hey, record players, short hand, and
telegrams! That reception area sure is blue, but at least The
Hartleys have updated from carpet to hardwood floors. Some of the
ladies' make up is dated, too, and those patterns – plaid pants,
velvet jackets, print shirts, diagonal ties, orange polka dots.
Enough! When not blinded by the inevitable seventies flair, little
things are noticeably different on The Bob Newhart Show as
well. Items are
rearranged from episode to episode, there's no key for the office
bathroom and then no wait the bathroom's locked, even Office Number
715 becomes 751. Of course, such fun to spot quibbles are probably
thanks to these twenty-four half hour episodes airing out of
production order. The volume on The Bob Newhart Show: The
Complete Series is again uneven
with loud music and low voices varying from scene to scene.
Fortunately, there are several commentaries amid the Season Two discs
and a short making of feature with Bob Newhart and show
co-creator David Davis discussing the series' The Mary Tyler Moore
Show roots and hitting its
sophomore stride with a unique brand of understated, straight
humor. But really, I still can't get over that giant coffee machine,
however, I'd like to schedule a half hour plumber for $63! $3.99 lb
for filet mignon? Take me to that grocery store. And Chinese takeout
for $8.95? Yes please! Yet somehow, our eggs still hover around 89
cents, go figure.
Marathoning
The Bob Newhart Show moves fast once you settle in for a
weekend of progressive smarts and period pastiche. Fine writing and
ensemble conversations remain interesting sitcom commentary or timely
humor material without being in your face on the topical issues. For
family friendly comedy and classic wit, The Bob Newhart Show
Season Two provides comforting,
nostalgic laughter and then some.
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