The Bob Newhart Show: Season 6

Bob Newhart Show says Goodbye in Style

by Kristin Battestella

Bob Newhart's Doctor Robert Hartley, Susanne Pleshette as his wife Emily, Bob Daily as navigator neighbor Howard Borden, Peter Bonerz as orthodontist Jerry Robinson, and Marcia Wallace as receptionist Carol Kester return for The Bob Newhart Show's final twenty-two episode 1977-78 season full of change, goodbyes, and memories.

Everyone's already telling Bob to get with the times in the “Bob's Change of Life” premiere as The Hartleys move to the top floor of their apartment building. He's more interested in finishing his book, but has second thoughts about how that will impact his life before his parents moving from his childhood home puts things in perspective. The Bob Newhart Show opens its final season with a forward change that takes a sentimental look back while balancing the humor with the sight gags we know and love. Early in the year, some half hours tend to try hard with the laughter rather than let the beloved cast roll, but a call from the Peeper in “A Day in the Life” inviting The Hartleys to New Orleans raises the stakes. Bob doesn't like travel and Emily bets him he can't see to all his patients and the trip planning on such short notice. Onscreen time stamps chronicle the rushed day, and the pot boiler humor, calendar switches, airline mix ups, and drunk barbers provide wit before “You're Fired, Mr. Chips” and several bizarre applicants for Bob's new assistant position. Bob finally hires his old professor – who was recently forced to retire from teaching. He treats group therapy like lessons in the classroom, and Bob has too much respect to tell him different. Generational clashes and ageism accent the lecturing versus listening tactics, knowing when to put the patients before the textbook, and letting one past it down gently. Work problems put Bob and Emily's tenth anniversary off on the wrong foot in “Grand Delusion,” and young waitress Morgan Fairchild (Falcon Crest) leads The Hartleys to imagine what their lives would have been like without each other. Chauffeur Jerry and wealthy husband Howard don't do it for blinged out Emily when navigator neighbor Bob scandalously steals her heart – and race car driver and big game hunter on the cover of Time Bob falls for sexy hostess Emily when not helping patients the likes of Frank Sinatra or the President. Here near the end, The Bob Newhart Show uses a little fantasy time to solidify the series' core chemistry.

The Hartleys invite their lonely friends and depressed patients over in “Twas the Pie Before Christmas,” but their tree is a runt and another rate increase has Bob's patients in an uproar – especially when the printing company mixes up the fee notice with Bob's Christmas cards. Angry Mr. Carlin hires the titular pie in the face to get Dr. Hartley, with messy pastry mistakes and canceled party invitations sending The Bob Newhart Show off with some all out hysterics. Of course, in “Freudian Ship” Bob can't relax on a ten day cruise. He wants to take his files along despite the shark repellent gag gifts, bad champagne, and zany ship's activities which Emily always wins. Loony fellow passengers and a meek wife who isn't going to take it anymore thanks to Bob's advice almost ruin the winks and privacy– boilermakers and scavenger hunts notwithstanding – and it's delightful to see the same troubles in getting involved where one shouldn't even at sea. The ensemble also rises to the occasion for several episodes only featuring Newhart for call in bookends, making the best use of his telephone routine while everyone talks about how much they miss Bob. Despite technically doing so, nobody's 'phoning it in,' and reminiscing, goodbye undercurrents lead up to the series finale “Happy Trails to You.” Although The Bob Newhart Show has flirted with Bob going on professorship interviews in the past, this time we know it's permanent when Bob accepts a teaching post in Oregon. He regrets giving up his practice and can't break the news to his patients, saying that the group will do fine without him, but their therapy tears and Mr. Carlin's desperate posturing double the emotions. The crying is played for laughs over everything from canceling the newspaper to Howard's fainting upon hearing the news and one outlandish landlord. A year after The Mary Tyler Moore Show's quintessential finale, the self-aware pranks, sing a longs, and serious sentiments here go out on an over the top high note with onscreen toasts and an almost meta goodbye to us, too. They just don't end shows like they used to – Newhart being the exception, of course.

He's a fuddy duddy who never does anything crazy and doesn't like change – Bob Newhart's Robert Hartley must have everything the same, planned, and organized. Understandably he flips when the local pizza place changes the menu, but Bob takes a long look at himself in the changing times, and it's refreshing to have a lead character who is able to have self inspection and reflection even if he makes bad jokes when he's nervous and can't keep a straight face when a ventriloquist patient thinks his lookalike dummy is going to leave him. Of course, Bob can't get over his mom Martha Scott ditching the Hopalong Cassidy bedspread in his old bedroom, and he keeps a little bitty trophy from his brief high school basketball tenure. He's reluctant to send a cold steak back because he doesn't want to be left behind while everyone else is eating and calls himself to test his newfangled beeper, but Bob can admit it hurts a little when Mr. Carlin tells him he's short, talks in cliches, and has a beeper that doesn't beep. Though mostly absent in five episodes, Newhart's tried and true phone gags are put to good use as Hartley is said to be traveling on a book tour. The good doctor can't help helping people on vacation either, insisting everyone should be treated with kindness and understanding – which isn't always an easy thing to do thanks to the zany folk in his line of work. When he sees a clown who takes himself too seriously and doesn't want people to laugh at him, Bob can't help but laugh, too. However, he assures his patient that making people smile is actually a mighty fine, dignified job. Then again, when a new patient in “Shallow Throat” won't say anything to Bob, he's at his wits end until the patient finally does talk – and confesses to embezzling from his company. Certainly The Bob Newhart Show usually plays fast and loose with doctor and patient confidentiality with one and all often in on the psychological dilemmas. Here, however, Bob is torn by the serious crime revealed within his medical trust. It's unethical if he tells what's told in confidence and unethical if he doesn't contact police, and it's terribly amusing to see Bob dealing with his guilt while the criminal in question makes plans for Brazil and the police play guessing games with Bob's pathetic clues.

Stylish and always in vogue, Suzanne Pleshette's Emily Hartley adores their new apartment but writes a letter to complain about a faulty toaster! She gets take out if she's home late from school, but makes sure there is enough for Howard and puts Bob in his place a time or two. Emily finally gets some attention again in several of those episodes without Newhart this season, beginning with “A Girl in Her Twenties” when she meets their stuck in the past vaudeville neighbor Mildred Natwick (The Quiet Man). Emily debates if there is any harm in living alone with charming mementos while her family says it is time for a medical move. Even if a psychological evaluation is clearly in Bob's vein and the story wraps up easily, humor softens the dilemma alongside the nostalgia of being neighborly versus minding your own business. Emily's looking forward to fishing with Bob's dad Barnard Hughes in “Grizzly Emily,” but she has to put her foot down when told to cook and clean for the boys. Her younger successful woman clashes with the elderly, set in his ways attitudes, for Herb thinks women's lib works in the city but not in the wild – until a bear's outside the window, that is. An old college beau visits while Bob's away in “It Didn't Happen One Night,” but their friends don't think a newly divorced man and the married Emily can be just friends. She resents their suspicions, but when her guest does come on to Emily, she calls Bob. She loves his sensitivity, how he holds her, listens, and has cute ears that make her more in love with him everyday. The ensemble, however, still has a few dancing disguises and disastrous pranks to rescue her. Emily wears a Tracy Grammar School t-shirt and complains over cheer leading tryouts and her loosing softball team, yet we don't see her at work as a vice principal until the principal leaves her to blame after the school's terrible test scores in “Crisis in Education.” For this penultimate episode sans Bob, it's Emily on the phone battling parents concerned about their children's decline in reading, and rigid old teaching versus newfangled learning techniques lace the comedic moments with a layered debate still relevant today.

Peter Bonerz' Jerry Robinson wants patients to wear headphones so they won't hear the dentist drill and often appears in one scene just for a dental joke when not hitting up the ladies with 'What's your sign?' or flexing when no one's impressed. He doesn't want a collar on his hummingbird, but Carol says you can put a muzzle on this jackass. Jerry makes her type a nasty letter about his unpaid parking tickets before spending the night in jail and paying his fine in pennies. He's reluctant to take Howard to a game when he has an extra ticket but brings a giant little portable television when they're supposed to rough it at the cabin. Bob tells Jerry he comes on terribly strong and should change his approach in “A Jackie Story,” and Jerry's put in his place when fearing the great titular gal will dump him first. While a fun episode, it's another retread on his avoiding commitment – setting the character back when I almost wish they would have written Jerry off when he traveled the world so director Bonerz could move totally behind the screen. The late Bill Daily as Howard Borden helps The Hartleys move but has memories of their apartment they don't when Bob asks him about all their good times. He sleeps on their couch, gasps at the nerve of somebody else who comes for dinner with no notice, and puts his feet up when Bob's gone. If he's there, the knock at the door can't be him, for he never knocks anyway. He somehow passes a driving test despite thinking inkblots are French when he sees something risque in them, and Howard tries his hand at magic tricks – ending up locked in a trunk and the episode leaves him there. He doesn't want his son Howie to drop out of school and go on the road with a comedy act complete with corny punchlines, hand buzzers, and squirting flowers in “My Son the Comedian.” However, Howard's life isn't exactly grounded in reality either. He's only seen in uniform a few times and the character is so dumbed down it's tough to believe he's a navigator, but Jerry finally asks how he can possibly fly an airplane. Howard tells him he'll just have to take lessons like he did to know. She can handle seven phone calls despite wet nail polish, likes listening to the dirty prank calls, and practices holding her breath for scuba diving, but Marcia Wallace's Carol Kester Bondurant is also treated as a superb receptionist or incompetent as needed. So long as it is humorous or sassy, viewers aren't supposed to notice The Bob Newhart Show often only shows Carol in one or two scenes at her backwards desk – beating Jerry at arm wrestling while wearing some seriously bright eye shadow, big bell bottoms, and pinafore meets muumuu yellow dresses. Although she introduces herself with just her married name, Carol's travel agent husband Larry is only mentioned twice, and the late in the season “Carol Ankles for Indie-Prod” spends more time talking about Carol than featuring her. Bob says she deserves to win a Secretary of the Year contest, but she's leaving the office again to be Mr. Carlin's assistant. This is a nice episode – Carol quits by saying it hasn't been easy laughing at all Bob's bad jokes – and the goodbyes within the goodbye are touching. Of course, we've seen this plot so, so many times on The Bob Newhart Show, and fluffing Mr. Carlin's spare toupee is not what Carol has in mind when she wants to learn about real estate. For once, however, she sticks with it and gets her realty license.

Jack Riley as Eliot Carlin, John Fiedler as Mr. Peterson, and Florida Friebus as Mrs. Bakerman return often this season, and “Who Was That Masked Man?” has a reluctant Zorro Bob called from a costume party when Mr. Peterson's out on a ledge over his domineering wife. A comical battle of the sexes, Bob's straight man advice, and a giant mural of Mr. Carlin combine for one of the season's most on form episodes before Mr. Carlin's caught in a paternity claim for “Carlin's New Suit.” He uses Bob as his witness versus lawyer Ricardo Montalban (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) and single mother Loni Anderson (WKRP in Cincinnati), for the kid can't possibly be his. However, Mr. Carlin likes having someone to wear matching suits and impart his shrewd business ways. The visual gags, incidental quips, and humorously wrapped issues continue in “Emily Carlin, Emily Carlin” when Mr. Carlin asks Emily to be his impressive reunion date. Except, unlike Bob, she won't put up with his insults. Fortunately, Mr. Carlin can lie for two, and the 'Duchess of Carlin' need only curtsy. A kids radio show announcer with a stutter in “Easy for You to Say” asks Bob to help him prepare for a television opportunity, and although there are a few moments making fun of the condition, Bob assures everyone remains respectful. He helps his patient stand up, admit his problem, and inspire his youthful audience to do the same thanks to more touching statements amid the comedy. In “Group on a Hot Tin Roof,” Howard Hesseman's TV writer Mr. Plager tries his hand at theatre, and a local playhouse takes on his World War I re-imagining of the group itself. Mr. Carlin wants a percent of the profits while the rest feel violated over the breach of group confidentiality. This interesting debate on therapy in art and life as fiction provides plenty of meta – a sitcom about therapy doing a play about therapy in a serious setting that turns out to be funny. When Bob helps prisoners re-enter society in “Ex-Con Job,” unfortunately, the humor falls flat with Hispanic tropes and stereotypical African-American jive contributing to the already uncooperative attitudes. We've seen un-hip Bob nervous around criminals before, and this entry tries to do too much when the dilemma of a black man with a record trying to get a job is a topical situation The Bob Newhart Show usually does so well. Although “Son of Ex-Con Job” reminds everyone these are the same convicts when they're shocked Bob has a jailbird group, the stronger cell block hopes and dreams here actually don't need the first episode. Realistic therapy conversations reveal difficult family adjustments and doubts about going straight when crime is more successful. Only the fellow cons can understand each other – going into business together even when Bob says their reliance on each other won't make their barber shop boom and each needs their own goals to thrive.

While the funky theme remains, early in Season Six The Bob Newhart Show occasionally cuts the credits before going with longer titles featuring The Hartleys swanky new apartment complete with an obviously seventies fake city skyline, faux brick wallpaper, and heaps of orange. Rust couch, pumpkin chairs, some giant tangerine feather fern thing in the corner – it reminds me of the huge orange velvet couch my parents had when I was a child. There are paisley suits, wide lapels, men with sweaters tied over their shoulders, women wearing off the shoulder sundresses, and more plaid upon plaid to match the orange pants, gold lame, sequins, and curly perms. The Bob Newhart Show looks both so old and of its time yet changed so much from when the show began. We do however see Bob in his fedora one last time amid the Charlie's Angels references and Star Wars hype. Giant headphones, huge flashlights that barely shine any light, and rotary payphones begat ridiculous beepers, massive speakers, and pencil sharpeners. Never forget, these people had to lick their stamps! Fortunately, the The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Series Bonus Disc has several features including a drastically different Original Pilot before the 1991 Anniversary Special. Here the cast picks up right where they left off with fresh eighties oranges and faithfully recreated sets framing a memory lane clip show tying directly into that Newhart topper. It's actually a good little episode, and if that had been today, you know there would be a revival season! A Group Therapy forty-five minute 2013 round table follows with Newhart, Daily, Bonerz, Jack Riley, and director Michael Zinberg recalling the show's origins, Pleshette and Wallace's casting, comedic pacing and timely editing, and how Pleshette was worthy of a spin off series. The boys also mention the wardrobe man was colorblind, which God bless him, that explains a lot!

The Bob Newhart Show had already grown repetitive before this season, and the early part of this final year is somewhat aimless before the phone set ups, humorous gags, and wit in wild settings provide more memorable episodes. Characters we know and love take a final bow with sentimental laughs and comforting but no less sophisticated banter. Fortunately, we don't really have to say adieu and can rewind the witty nostalgia with The Bob Newhart Show Season Six.

The Bob Newhart Show: Season 5

The Bob Newhart Show Season Five Dips but Remains Charming

By Kristin Battestella

Dr. Robert Hartley (Bob Newhart), his wife Emily (Susan Pleshette), their neighbor Howard Borden (Bill Daily), orthodontist Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz), and receptionist Carol Kester (Marcia Wallace) are feeling a little deja vu with some stagnant retreads for this 1976-77 Fifth Season of The Bob Newhart Show. Fortunately, the series still has several landmark episodes, Peepers, and zany psychology.

It's a Bicentennial Fourth of July party costumes and all in “Caged Fury,” but Bob and Emily get locked in the storage closet when looking for the punch bowl. They reminisce over their wedding album and debate fooling around in the sleeping bags amid the exercise equipment both claim they don't need, and this majority two-hander puts the core of the series in focus. She's calm, he's convinced they're going to die – who's hungry, and who has to go to the bathroom? The Bob Newhart Show provides great laughs and honest relationship talk wrapped in arguing, bad jokes, and S.O.S 'Jingle Bells' played on the pipes. Bob, Jerry, and Howard also have the wrong supplies when taking several orphans into the wild for “Send This Boy to Camp.” Their inflatable boat is in an elevator, Bob doesn't need Emily's tips or 'gadgets' like a Swiss Army knife, and when he forgets to reserve a campground site, they end up roughing it in the building garage. The Bob Newhart Show is best when its main characters converge – too many episodes this season have A and B plots shoehorning in an ultimately irrelevant guest star. It's tough to tell which story is primary, creating misleading titles and too few scenes without full time for the hilarity. Multi part storylines are more interesting, with Mrs. Hartley Martha Scott separating from her husband mid season and going rogue by painting her kitchen 'off white' in “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” Bob's flummoxed at her offscreen cooking and cleaning, and can't get her to socialize at the church social – until she makes a new gentlemanly friend, that is. Bob thinks it is a good idea to invite both his parents for Christmas in “Making Up Is the Thing to Do,” but they are unfettered as the pie pieces get smaller and smaller. One by one the holiday crowd is knocking on The Hartleys' door, and the insults ultimately will out. Likewise, “The Ironwood Experience” sends shy Bob to a naked conference for a sex workshop lecture. Carol inserts 'yahoos' and 'whoopees' where he has left blanks in his write up, but Bob doesn't think 'such and such' is anything to snicker about when Jerry wants to come along and Howard jumps to the wrong conclusion. Bob's a fifties, Ike kind of guy, but can he relax enough on the seventies taboos to learn how nudists don't stick to leather chairs? Forgetful Bob also only has three days to do his taxes in “Taxation Without Celebration.” Unfortunately, tax day falls on their seventh anniversary, and Emily has a surprise planned – turning the bad perfume gifts, paperwork on the trip, and Bob's cranky deadline excuses into delightful banter. The Bob Newhart Show has had other trapped stories, however, the old written deposit, chit chat in the weaving rope line, and vintage banking comedy raise “Desperate Sessions.” When a bank robber holds him hostage, Bob thinks his army skills are enough to save the day – but he's too lightheaded without his lunch. Perpetual patient Mr. Carlin insists on having his session, too, bringing KFC for the stakeout in Jerry's office with a Crusty Dragnet detective looking for just the facts. Will Bob's patented phone skit save the day? “You're Having My Hartley” actually remains fitting as a would be series finale, matching the original not having kids pilot with this pregnancy dream episode. The men are getting mushy over the thought of babies, but Bob's overwhelmed with talk of moving to the suburbs. Drunken sing songs express the parental nervousness while waxing on baby names, and the social statements mix with the outlandish and a horse in the living room, literally.

Of course, glee club Bob is said to fear horses and prefer golf. He admits Howard is a nuisance, but likes that he has his own personality as he himself erstwhile stumbles over deadpan quips and witticisms. Bob tells his patients there's always a silver lining or quotes songs, but they already love him as the audience does. Many episodes aren't really about him per se, but there's a comfort in seeing whether Bob is going to stand up and fix a situation or complain about being caught in the middle. After all, he's said to have enough courage, but an even bigger grammar problem. In “The Great Rent Strike” Bob organizes the titular petition as heating, window, and drain troubles increase – refusing to back down against an unresponsive landlord until Mr. Carlin buys the building in a role reversal battle of wills between doctor and patient. Bob's too busy trying to record Emily snoring with his newfangled $420 Japanese three speed giant tape recorder with lifetime batteries and a huge corded mic in “A Crime Most Foul,” and the psychologist wants to record his group, too. Unfortunately, they fear their stories falling into the wrong hands – and everyone is suspect when the machine does go missing. On edge Bob points fingers and claims everyone doth protest too much, and the petty of the city also gets to him in “Halls of Hartley.” It's another leaving Chicago or changing jobs half hour, and The Bob Newhart Show can be tiring when every character makes repeated attempts to go away or make some kind of life change, but ultimately doesn't. Howard's opinion on The Hartleys' move, however, must be considered, and Bob's just as cranky about the isolated Iowa campus he visits for a bemusing, tongue tied interview. An observing student apparently has a crush on Bob in “The Heartbreak Kidd,” but she's hip and in some ways, more on the psychology ball than he is. Fortunately, Bob can admit he doesn't know it all – and misreads her signals before objecting to being praised as fatherly, mature, and aging gracefully. Likewise, Emily's sleek pants, tunic tops, and matching suits remain sophisticated alongside dresses and wraps from the First Season – go girl! Her changing hair also reflects her maturity, as the pixie of a free thinking teacher is now the longer bob of a serious school administrator. She's strong, confident, and recognizes when Bob feels left out because of all the times she's been left of out the male hi jinks. Emily tells her husband when he looks stupid in a bad tux and is ready to sleep naked when it is too hot even if uptight Bob won't. She stands by his principles yet also defends Carol when she wants more pay, becoming the series' go to support. At times, The Bob Newhart Show feels as if there should be an 'and Susan Pleshette as Emily Hartley' credit, for she is the one who laughs at all Bob's deadpans and serves him the best punchline. This season Emily seems most often stuck at home having Who's on First misunderstandings with Howard, but Bob compliments her brains and beauty, keeping their core of the series solid. Then again, Emily's matchmaking or meddling doesn't always pan out, either, as the working woman must also make time to sew for little Howie and take notes on Julia Child's chicken.

Series director Peter Bonerz is often only seen in the Rimpau Medical lobby for a jerky Jerry moment, even insulting patients to their face when not mocking the kids in his office or calling Carol a bimbo. He's upset when he isn't invited to a ball game or a Memorial Day party but refuses to host a Fourth of July shindig himself. Bob calls him an orthodontist with nothing to do who only comes around when he hears a checkbook open, and he's right. He also suspects Jerry embellishes his orphanage experience – where it turns out he was a complainer who wanted his steak medium rare. Jerry's down with a new digital watch but can't get into the locale yacht club in an off year where he makes $58,000 – that's over $230k in 2017 coin! – but he comes into real estate riches in “Jerry's Retirement.” This plot has been done before, and his coworkers momentarily admit they are sad to see his obnoxiousness go while Jerry calls their bemoaning sour grapes. Bob tries to set him set up with some savings, but Jerry is ready to blow it all at forty, lay back, and do nothing. It's odd that the Jerry-centric episodes are back to back, however this works as a two-parter when Jerry travels in search of his real parents in “Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson.” Although Raul Julia being his brother is forgotten for jokes on every girl Jerry's dated possibly being his sister, Emily's supports his quest while Bob thinks it will be a dead end disappointment. Of course, Jerry spends most of his money with ads in the paper and private detectives in this much needed humble in the days before easy DNA testing and Ancestory.com. Bob Daily's Howard Borden is also more naive and intrusive than ever, never doing anything but entering to ask what's for dinner and expecting Emily to water his plants even when he is home. He watches television in their apartment with the chain on the door, so it's nice to see The Hartleys walk in to his apartment unannounced for a change! Howard does try to break his habit of visiting only to eat – at one point, he literally almost takes a bite out of the sandwich in Bob's hand – so instead stops in to be sociable and brings an authentic Chinese dinner by calling for takeout. Good thing Howard's horseshoe phone has a long enough cord to go from his apartment, across the hall, and onto the Hartley's couch. In “Still Crazy After All These Years” Howard sees Bob's colleague for a new therapy technique to overcome his dependence, a change that probably should have happened sooner rather than letting his neighborly become so extreme. Fortunately, it is still humorous to see Howard not be himself and pretend to be like everyone else – even if he's back to his old self by the next episode, climbing into bed with Bob and Emily when there's no heat. Howard's just all thumbs when it comes to sewing, doorbells, and life, crying over a 'Dear Howard' letter when he inadvertently marries an island girl and putting a raincoat on his bass so he can take it to parties.

Now billed as Carol Kester Bondurant, Marcia Wallace's receptionist also spends most of this Fifth Year behind her odd circular desk for a scene or two of workplace retorts and exposition. She has to find alternate words when she types because the S key on her typewriter is broken, but she is down with digging the new lingo right on and knows how to bet wisely in the office sports pool. She quits again in “Et tu, Carol?”, which she seems to do every season rather than having any further growth now as a married lady. Today one woman could not do the booking for four doctors – much less their menial tasks and unreasonable demands – but Carol has to stand up for her work rights year after year as if her work environment is so terrible or the writers just don't know what else to do with her. Will Mackenzie as Carol's husband Larry appears in two episodes as dry dumb and dumber foil with Howard, organizing lame trips for one and all and having agency trouble in “The Mentor” before briefly appearing at Christmas when it's a little too late to do something with the character. Ironically, Shirley O'Hara as absent minded temp Debbie Flett has more personality, and I dare say we could have seen a lot more of her if anyone was willing to take Carol in a new direction away from the desk. Even Tom Poston's Peeper has some change to start the season in “Enter Mrs. Peeper.” Only Bob is enthused with the pie in the face and bucket over the door gags that go wrong for the eponymous gal, and he feels left out when everyone else enjoys The Peepers' mellow marriage. As much as we love Poston – future Mr. Pleshette so delightful on Newhart – the series perhaps uses this shtick one too many times. Although the singing moments are probably meant to be corny, the flat humor gets turned on the boys when The Peeper's hot college game tickets combine with mistaken hookers and a night in jail for “The Slammer.” They can't call their wives and must turn to the unreliable Howard before coming clean to the ladies – who take the boys in hot water as just another one of their lame pranks.

He's fearful of barley and snails, but Jack Riley's Mr. Carlin goes to a costume party as a 'revolutionary spy' before really being afraid that his secretary likes him in “Love Is the Blindest.” Bob encourages a night out, but Mr. Carlin insists his doctor and only friend double date before fibbing his entire biography – from inventing stuffed mushrooms to trying out for the Green Bay Packers and Bob being his insurance salesman. Though The Bob Newhart Show is once again redundant after Carlin's earlier dating fails, the funny line between what he sees as little white lies and what Bob calls 'science fiction' makes for some humorous platitudes. Things fare no better when Emily joins Bob's male group members for some positive female influence on their misogynistic attitudes in “Of Mice and Men.” The role reversals, arguments, and food metaphors make for some wild interplay as the session goes wrong, and the group is extra cranky in “Shrinking Violence,” taking out their frustrations on each other – knitting needles, revenge lists, auto repair disasters, and all for Oliver Clark as Mr. Herd, John Fiedler as Mr. Peterson, Renee Lippon as Michelle, and Florida Friebus as Mrs. Bakerman.. Bob tells everyone to place their anger where it is warranted, but no one succeeds in expressing themselves, with more fears in “Death Be My Destiny” as Mr. Herd tries to get in touch with his wild side. Of course, Bob ends up with nightmares, elevator mishaps, and an increasing fear of death as Mr. Herd has the time of his life breaking his leg while skiing. Although it seems like we see less of all the patients this season and there is an odd side plot about an old tuxedo, a little black book, and a glee club reunion that could have been its own song and dance episode, The Bob Newhart Show skillfully tackles another taboo in “Some of My Best Friends Are...”. When the group thinks they need 'fresh anguish' and invite fellow patient Howard Hessman as Mr. Plager to join them, he comes out. The men are all a little homophobic – even Bob – but the reactions both harsh and innocent are handled honestly as everyone wonders who might be a gay person and if it really matters because the world needs more gaiety anyway. This is a brilliant and progressive episode for the era that remains an interesting eye opener. Bob won't let his patient be an outcast alone, apologizing for the sissy comments and admitting that it is time for Dark Age attitudes to change. Huzzah, Dr. Hartley!

Frequent series director Michael Zinberg is back this season along with The Bob Newhart Show's regular writing teams doing several episodes each. The seventies steeped funk credits also remain – sometimes with longer titles or a shorter commute, depending on time or syndication episodes included in The Complete Series DVD set, where the sound is once again uneven for the Season Five discs. But hey, typewriter ribbon! The ties are terribly ugly, the scarves are hideous, and the plaid pants and plaid jackets worn together are two different plaids. There are pale blue leisure suits, too, and denim on denim. They don't think twice about the rotary wall mounted phones, but at least Jerry admits the round receptionist desk is 'funny.' The price of stamps also went up this season on The Bob Newhart Show – from ten cents to thirteen! Bob also says cashiers won't be replaced by computers because a computer can't say hello or have a nice day. Give it forty years, Bob! Studying this Fifth Season with a critical eye has a lot of writing on the wall with repeating plots, pulled back characters, and slapstick gags per episode placed over personality. However, The Bob Newhart Show still has a lot to love, and Season Five provides enough charm and sophistication for a marathon of lighthearted pastiche.

Top Ten: Family Shows!

Welcome to our new Top Tens series in celebration of I Think, Therefore I Review's Tenth Anniversary! These monthly lists will highlight special themes and topics from our extensive archive of reviews.

This time I Think, Therefore I Review presents in chronological order...

 

Our Top Ten Family Friendly Shows!

Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella (1965)

The Addams Family

The Bob Newhart Show

Jem and the Holograms

Quantum Leap

A Bear Named Winnie

Lord of the Rings

Dinotopia

Merlin

Please see our Kid Friendly and Fantasy tags for more or browse our Television page further analysis! 

 

I Think, Therefore I Review began as the blog home for previously published reviews and reprinted critiques by horror author Kristin Battestella. Naturally older articles linked here may be out of date and codes or formatting may be broken. Please excuse any errors and remember our Top Tens will generally only include films, shows, books, or music previously reviewed at I Think, Therefore I Review.

The Bob Newhart Show: Season 4

The Bob Newhart Show Peaks with Season Four

by Kristin Battestella

The 1975-76 twenty-four episode season of The Bob Newhart Show tosses new husbands, potential kids, and one zany Peeper at psychologist Robert Hartley, his schoolteacher wife Emily, their neighbor navigator Howard Borden, orthodontist Jerry Robinson, and receptionist Carol Kester. That's not to mention some wild patients and one drunken Thanksgiving...

Future Newhart costar and third Mr. Pleshette Tom Posner guest stars in the “The Longest Good-bye” season premiere when Bob's college roommate Cliff 'The Peeper' Murdock comes to Chicago – leading to a hokey, you had to be there trip down memory lane. The gags a minute provide our usual straight man psychologist the chance to have some fun, however The Peeper's colorful Vermont pranks and syrup on everything eating habits drive Emily crazy as his leeching stay grows to include their den, Bob's wardrobe, the car, and their credit cards. Fortunately, The Peeper finds a fellow spirit in Jerry for an impromptu sing a long and a fun start to the season complete with snakes in a can. Bob, meanwhile, gets dressed up in his 'bill paying ensemble' for “Change Is Gonna Do Me Good.” His fifteenth of the month ritual annoys Emily so they decide to switch his bills for her grocery shopping. Too bad Emily's checks bounce when she can't follow his payment categories – bodily maintenance, domicile, and communication for the phone and newspapers. Bob can't read her grocery list, either, but calculates the price per ounce at the store and alphabetizes the kitchen in descending order of spoilage. The battle of the sexes psychology spins continue in “Shrinks Across the Sea” as a visiting psychologist exchange has The Hartleys disagreeing on everything from dust to whether they should eat at an American restaurant or cook at home. The Bob Newhart Show has some unusually off handed French snides here, but their guest is fittingly snobby, claiming Paris is nothing to see and afraid Chicago wouldn't have toilet paper. Each psychologist can spot the opposite's stress but can't notice their own petty arguments. After all, Bob thinks their balcony is like Paris in Spring, but Emily says it is Chicago in winter. But hey, this is the seventies, there's no need for prudes to be so provincial. Yogi Bear is on at the same early bird time and everyone will miss it, but Bob intends to wax on the overall effectiveness of group therapy when a television host asks him to be on her talk show in “Who Is Mr. X?” Unfortunately, the barracuda host rips psychology as nothing more than a flimflam after Bob says there is no one cure and he cannot guarantee his work. He's back peddled into revealing that he's counseled an elected official, giving The Bob Newhart Show a humorous debate on how viable therapy may not be or whether it matters who has been treated or not. Bob sticks to his ethics while facing the social stigmas on mental health, but TV has no qualms when audience grabs are at stake. Everyone wants to know who the patient is, with even the newspaper proclaiming, 'Shrink refuses to Name Loony Legislator.' His progressive congressman patient, however, is willing to speak up unashamed after Bob helped him. Bravo!

The Bob Newhart Show peaks with the famous “Over the River and Through the Woods” episode. Emily braves flying to see her family in Seattle, leaving the boys alone for Thanksgiving football and one drunken tough time ordering their moo goo gai pan. Mr. Carlin wants $9.95 for the scotch he brought, Jerry's got a pigskin drinking game, Howard's depressed, and Bob didn't know it was going to be this bad this early in the day. After all, 'You know you're at a bad party when Elliot Carlin is the happiest person in the room.' The titular singing livens things, but four drunk men should not be in the kitchen – nor the turkey in the dishwasher. Bob is drunk but trying his best to remain the straight man on the phone while ordering $93 worth of Chinese food, and it is downright hysterical. Likewise “Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital” so our doctor overreacts at the open back of his paper gown and fears he won't make it home to see the Christmas tree. Mr. Carlin gives Bob back the small ugly sweater he gave him for Christmas last year – he expects to have his session post op, too – and Bob's worried, cranky behavior and lack of seasonal spirit spreads to one and all. With no cheery music nor festive decorations and a drab hospital night, this doesn't feel much like a holiday episode. However, it's amazing to see adults facing Christmas as just another crappy day in this non-traditional but realistic half hour. A basketball star with a similar attitude ordered to see Bob in “Duke of Dunk” is also unaware he's a hot dog – he may have sixty-three points in one game but the Sunspots have lost thirteen in a row. Good thing the entire team joins Bob for a 'Fear of Winning' group. In “Birth of a Salesman,” Bob tries to get a salesman patient to be more assertive and helps Emily contest an erroneous ticket, for he doesn't like the nation becoming a flock of sheep not standing up for what we believe. The judicial system needs wise judges to hear all the facts if it is to remain just, but Bob's advice backfires into lawsuits, who is parking in who's parking space, and finger pointing over who started it first semantics bullying another into relenting. The quality of The Bob Newhart Show dips somewhat this season, yet just when you think things feel stagnant late in the year, a still timely episode like this happens. Of course, no one but Bob is happy to see The Peeper and his sparklers in the season finale “Peeper Two.” He has more college glory stories to share, but his wife has left him for the milk man so he's going to stay with The Hartleys for an entire month. Fortunately, dribble glasses and gizzard gags break the serious moments with humorous wallowing. Bob takes The Peeper to the piano bar, refusing to let him sulk and putting him back on his feet – except all the girls in the bar want a married sugar daddy and keep hitting on Bob.

Bob 'The Mooner' Hartley Class of '52 had a brush haircut, a convertible in college, and in flagrante paperbacks under his mattress – but he isn't too proud of such youthful antics. Grown up, inflexible Bob chews his food exactly thirty-two times, always buys Emily the same perfume, and goes really bold by setting his electric blanket to four instead of three. Newhart still does phone skits, but Dr. Hartley questions how much he actually helps his patients in “What's It All About, Albert?” Everyone is successful and accomplished but him, putting Bob on the couch taking advice from others and seeking his college professor mentor. Unfortunately, Bob's not hip with the new go with how you feel hugging campus, W for Wonderful grades, and no need to whisper in the library philosophies. Are scream therapy, inkblots, and psychology really all a crock? The scatterbrained circumspection is able to laugh at the paid to do nothing appearances, allowing Bob to realize his dedication to his work is worthwhile – or at least more important than golf. He's willing to let his patients go to prove he isn't a fraud, but honestly, $35 an hour is a steal! Of course, “Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” has Bob up at 7 am for Mr. Carlin and home after his 'Fear of Darkness' group at 10 pm, letting his patients dictate his life until another suave psychologist offers him a partnership. Onscreen time stamps and quirky scene transitions a la The Sting accentuate the zany, but poor Bob ends up working twice as hard – and stuck with an old lady patient who reads poetry and insists on a ninety degree office temperature – while his partner's off on a yacht with pineapples and champagne!

It's been a few years on The Bob Newhart Show and Suzanne Pleshette's hair has grown out – a fuller, mini fro cut to match Emily's long, swinging seventies dresses. I'm not sure about the dresses with hoods, super wide collars, and Little House on the Prairie denim pinafores; but the big shirts, wide belts, flared pants, and black velvet remain far out. Those capes and ponchos are back in vogue, too! Emily says there are still things she doesn't like about Bob, such as his rigid unchanging ways, and they argue in bed about their less than perfect anniversary gifts. She pushes him to update his routine but is not a morning person and dislikes when Bob's stressful hours interfere with their dinner. Emily still stinks at matchmaking, too – relying on if a man sounds gorgeous on the phone and tales from an old best friend who drove a pink t-bird. She doesn't always get Bob's analogies and can't understand basketball, but Emily can bluff through a hockey article when hogging the newspaper. She gets jealous when Bob talks about former school sweethearts – especially the young thin blonde ones – and yells at Howard yet always sets three dinner places to include him. It's nice to have a full plot focusing on Emily when she is promoted over a more experienced male colleague in “A Matter of Vice-Principal.” She's happy to have the unexpected job but is more concerned about telling the teaching couple who were set on the position. Rather then tell her what to do, supportive Bob says she needn't feel guilty over their resentment, but she does think it is her fault, making for a fine mix of professional versus friendship, female authority over males, and crisscrossed couples. Not to mention Emily ends up stuck behind a desk making tough phone calls and disciplining students while piles of paperwork and lack of funds tie her hands. A classroom snake is on the loose and Tracy Grammar School is out of hot dog buns! Fortunately, Emily gets a spiffy parking spot with her name on it – and a $10 parking ticket.

Director Peter Bonerz' onscreen orthodontist Jerry Robinson prefers to be a free cruiser – a debonair swinger with a devil may care vanity hiding his fears of being thirty-seven and alone. He's still very selfish, placing money above people, and wants everyone to overpay in his complicated football pool scheme. Jerry's annoyed Carol's wedding may interfere with his tennis time and takes odds that the groom won't show. He's mostly seen in the office lobby this season ordering her to do something menial, expecting donuts in the morning or complaining about his $200 hard contact lenses – a pricey luxury in the mid seventies – because he doesn't want to wear glasses. While apparently good at his job and seen mentioning his work or coming and going with young patients, Jerry isn't seen doing much and he doesn't know how many teeth people have. Fortunately, he says the pride and accomplishments of his work are better than money, and he does seem to care about events at his former orphanage. Jerry spends Christmas arguing with Howard, too – The Bob Newhart Show seems to forget whether Bob's best friends are currently friends or enemies themselves depending on the situation. Jerry strikes out a lot, and he's not as smooth as he plays it up since he's really only serious about Gail Strickland as the world traveling Courtney. She returns this year in “My Boy Guillermo” wishing to adopt and marry Jerry. She's ready to settle down, but they have very different views on how to raise a child, where to live, even what to name a son and whether he would also become an orthodontist. Naturally paperwork intervenes and Jerry loses the family he didn't have, but seeing him be serious instead of jerky is always a nice moment. Of course, by the next episode he's whining for Bob to get him free tickets and uses some orphan abandonment tears just to make Carol get him a cup of coffee.

He's obsessed with ironing and not interested if life is discovered on Jupiter because he can't fly his plane there, yet Bill Daily's Howard Borden passes his co-pilot test. He eats a piece of celery in the store – finishing it is snacking not stealing – but tomatoes give him hives and cucumbers make him itch. He lays tiles in his kitchen but they won't stay because he didn't peel off the sticky back, and Howard can't spell 'pride' as in 'he pried himself from the cockpit' for a book about himself – and it's not an autobiography because that's about cars. Howard worries about being cremated or frozen and wants to leave The Hartleys the key to his apartment when he dies so they can take back all that's theirs. Outside of such humorous excuses, slapstick magic tricks, or intrusions next door, Howard has very little plots of his own in Year Four. When he comes over at 1:30 am asking for cereal, the milk, a bowl and spoon, and his mail even Bob asks why he is always there. Young Howie visits late in the season for “The Boy Next Door,” and Howard wants his son to live with him. Unfortunately, his airline job makes the child more of a community responsibility – circumventing how despite his love and sincerity, Howard has been made so dumb that he can't be responsible enough to raise a child on his own. He gets his son a coffee maker for his birthday and says he will have to plug in his stove for Thanksgiving in typical bachelor scenes with no mention of Ellen Hartley even though Howard asks her to marry him in “Here's Looking at You, Kid.” Though humorous, the hot out of the street corner station wagon wedding ring, Harvey Wallbangers, and a bumbling proposal don't make us forget how The Bob Newhart Show spent half of Season Three doing the exact same maybe, maybe not marriage. Pat Finley's Ellen is now a legit newspaper reporter and interviewing sportsmen in the locker room, yet she remains wedding shy with cold feet in every one of her appearances – even referring to all the other times they didn't want to get married right now, because they weren't ready, again. Not only does the show not know what to do with the character, but at this point, why would a smart journalist want to date silly Howard at all? We actually see Ellen writing a brutal piece about the medical center in “The Article,” and I don't know why she couldn't just be a strong independent reporter stopping by to recount her latest literary misadventures. Instead, this episode spends more time on her photographer and the quirky doctors with Ellen's article never even going to print. And how about Howard, who walks in, eats toast, and leaves for a flight without ever acknowledging his supposed fiancee – although eleven people pile into Jerry's office for her attention and Bob defends her right to print the truth even when his colleagues humorously threaten him. Whether the visiting tomorrow seven episodes ago mention was a production order mistake or a throwaway line, Howard is surprised to see his brother in “Warden Gordon Borden” and Gordon uses the same family golly gee to also woo Ellen. Like Howard, he's in love and ready to marry her in one episode, and it would be funny if we hadn't seen this merry go round already in every Howard and Ellen episode. I love Pat Finley, but I'm glad Ellen doesn't want either Borden brother and moves to Cleveland, never to be heard of on The Bob Newhart Show again.

But whoa that tie dye denim! Marcia Wallace's Carol Kester is the highest paid receptionist in the building but wants a realistic raise and gets tired of the office routine. She's able to talk frankly to the overweight group about her past, but draws the line at dating a nasty patient who takes her to the Venus Theater for Lady in the Barracks. However, her parents won't visit in “Carol's Wedding” because they say she cried wolf too often, and her overnight husband Larry Bondurant (Later Newhart director Will Mackenzie) is somewhat dull. The series couldn't keep almosting Carol to the altar, but all the courthouse wedding planning happens offscreen in favor of other busy gags. She asks Bob to give her away, but it seems like Carol settled for less than a winner just for the humor. Larry's a travel agent with a discount honeymoon to Japan, but he's late to the wedding because he filled out his ticket wrong and ended up in Cincinnati. This is a significant but fast moving episode, and Carol ends up complaining to Bob about Larry. Perhaps if they hadn't rushed into it, the couple wouldn't have so many issues made humorous? Carol's on vacation for two episodes and only appears briefly in others before doing her nails at her desk and refusing to file when previously she was funny yet efficient. Her marriage isn't addressed again until “Carol at 6:01,” six months later when she should be used to Larry's overly attentive behavior. Marrying her off was supposed to solve her old maid fears, but now her problem is that the husband she barely knew is smothering her with affection, complimenting her cooking, taking her picture, and preparing coffee for his 'Big Red.' If he were charismatic, she'd love the attention, but Larry is played as a dry, annoying dork. Carol still has career woman troubles, too in “Guaranteed Not to Shrink,” but this time his doting inspires her to go back to school to be a psychologist. She only wants to be one because Bob is, and when she realizes psychology isn't for her, Carol switches to teaching like Emily. Bloop.

Kristina Holland's (The Courtship of Eddie's Father) two episode receptionist Gail Bronson is actually just as fun while Carol is on vacation, breaking her leg by falling off her shoes but taking no guff from the doctors. She tells Jerry to get his own coffee, and Carol says in twenty years coffee making will be fully automated anyway! More guests include the debonair cape wearing French psychologist Rene Auberjonois (Deep Space Nine), Philip Allen (The Bad News Bears) as upscale psychologist Frank Wahlburn, and ruthless talk show host Jennifer Warren (Slap Shot). Mrs. Hartley Martha Scott visits in “Fathers and Sons and Mothers,” making her 'sonny' some lemonade when he asks for a drink. Emily calls her mom now but Mrs. Hartley insults her cooking and complains about a lack of grandchildren. Each of her visits has Bob disliking his mother's mothering, but its charming fun to see him squirm. Of course, Jack Riley's Elliot Carlin hates everybody, and Jerry bets he would have been the first of Bob's patients to die. Mr. Carlin says he was Bob's first patient and how Bob feels is irrelevant so long as he feels better. Mr. Carlin appears several episodes in a row, more than some of the regular cast, and has a few plots of his own, including “No Sale” when Mr. Carlin wants Bob to go in on a sweet real estate deal turning tenement buildings into townhouses. Bob's reluctant to go into business with a patient, especially for a seventies steep $5k a piece, and the building is an inner city slum with cast out elderly residents. Though a little heavy on the social commentary with some humor more flat than usual, this is an interesting ethical debate on several layers – forward cutthroat revitalization versus supporting the downtrodden needs – and we're still dealing with this kind of shady business, aren't we? Most of Bob's patients such as John Fiedler as Mr. Peterson, Florida Friebus as Mrs. Bakerman, Renee Lippin as Michelle, Lucien Scott as Mr. Vickers, Merie Earle as Mrs. Loomis, and Oliver Clark as Mr. Herd are seen individually instead of in group therapy, but the core group humorously goes from hating Mr. Gianelli to having awkward vigils after his zucchini related demise in “Death of a Fruitman.” Larry Gelman's Dr. Tupperman joins the 'Overweight Workshop' in “The Heavyweights,” and despite encouraging group openness, Bob uses every euphemism possible rather than say fat. It may not be a perfect episode, but it's interesting to see size debated on television when it wasn't as much of an issue compared to today's onscreen stick figures. The Bob Newhart Show uses humor to address negative personalities, people hiding behind their weight, and lingering appearance prejudices.

Frequent The Bob Newhart Show directors James Burrows and Michael Zinberg return alongside oft writing teams Gordon and Lynn Farr and Tom Prachett and Jay Tarses, however this season's onscreen and behind the scenes changes feel like a second half of the series changing the guard. A funk mix is added to the theme, and though I still like the original brassy 'Home to Emily' best, this update is indicative of the late sixties classy becoming down with the times seventies. The credits are also different, beginning with Bob and Emily at home before his commute and empty coffee cup at the office amid sliding orange screens. Some episodes have a shorter syndication sequence, yet others mistakenly preview a later opening sequence featuring their new apartment while another uses credits from the First Season. The sound is again uneven on the The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Series Season Four discs, but the season is easy to marathon alongside commentaries on several episodes, a behind the season featurette, and a gag reel made funnier by its innate retro style. Of course, there's bandannas, big scarves, loud red blazers, wide paisley ties, polka dots, plaid jackets, brown, yellow, stripes, and gingham check. My poor television screen can't handle it! The apartment is still the same from last season's redo, with Howard still using the old brown curtains and orange couches. Actually, I suspect his apartment set is really on the other side of The Hartley's kitchen, as outside of the Chicago establishing shots, precious few sets are used on The Bob Newhart Show – the apartments, the doctors offices, and the occasional restaurant or old green hospital rooms. We see The Hartleys' den, too – with its yellow and orange pullout sofa – and the Rimpau lobby has its own plot when its drab blue walls are painted bright orange. But wow, look at that old blue vacuum, and those manager specials at the grocery store are stamped with one of those giant old price clickers. The cheap champagne price goes up from 89 cents to $1.09 and four donuts cost $1.17! Pencils break and they make Halloween masks out of paper bags when not staring at the test pattern bars on the television. It takes a moment for the boob tube to warm up, too. Remember that? I feel so old now!

Although the quality this season dips somewhat with similar stories standing pat and an uneven character focus on the ensemble, I feel like there's a lot of déjà vu Frasier imitation of The Bob Newhart Show here, too. Ironically, the series also peaks midway through Year Four, becoming a midpoint change with new patients and more gags alongside the still timely statements and downright hysterical, memorable episodes. Despite some hiccups, The Bob Newhart Show Season Four remains nostalgic comfort for the whole family.