The Bob Newhart Show

The Bob Newhart Show
Category: Sitcom

Created By: David Davis and Lorenzo Music

Stars: Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, Bill Daily, Peter Bonerz, Marcia Wallace, Jack Riley, Florida Friebus, John Fiedler

Number of Seasons: 6

Number of Episodes: 142

Original Channel: CBS

Original Run: September 16, 1972 to April 1, 1978

The Bob Newhart Show is the name of two different television series, both starring comedian Bob Newhart. The better-known is a situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired on CBS from September 16, 1972 to April 1, 1978. Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers. (The other Bob Newhart Show was an NBC variety show which aired during the 1961–1962 season.)

The Bob Newhart Show Premise

The popular CBS series starred Newhart as Robert Hartley, a Chicago psychologist. The show divided most of its action between the character's home life and work, with Suzanne Pleshette as Hartley's supportive (though occasionally sarcastic) wife Emily, and Bill Daily as their friendly, but inept neighbor, airline navigator Howard Borden. At the medical complex where Hartley had his psychology practice, Marcia Wallace played his joke-loving receptionist, Carol Kester-Bondurant, and Peter Bonerz appeared as Jerry Robinson, an orthodontist who shared the office suite. Two of Hartley's more memorable regular patients were the exceptionally mean-spirited Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley) and the milquetoast ex-Marine Emil Peterson (John Fiedler). (Carlin was ranked 49th in TV Guide's List of the 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time.[citation needed]) Most of the situations involved Newhart's character playing straight man to his wife, colleagues, friends and patients.









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Ratings

The show ranked in the Top 20 for its first three seasons (it followed the popular Mary Tyler Moore Show), but schedule changes eventually pushed it to #53 by its final season (1977-78).

Honors

The show was nominated for an Emmy as "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 1977. Newhart was nominated for Golden Globes as "Best TV Actor - Musical/Comedy" in 1975 and 1976. TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time listed it as #44 on its list[1]. In 2007, Time magazine placed the show on its unranked list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".[2]

In 2004, TV Land commemorated the show with a statue of Newhart at Navy Pier. The statue was originally placed in front of 430 Michigan Avenue, Dr. Hartley's building, but was moved. Post-show appearances

Newhart and Pleshette reprised their roles from the show for the surreal finale of Newhart in 1990, in which it was revealed that the entire later Newhart series had been just Bob Hartley's dream.

The entire cast assembled for the one-hour clip show The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary in 1991. On the show, one of the things they did was analyze Bob's dream. During the discussion, the Hartleys' neighbor, Howard Borden (Bill Daily), recalled, "I had a dream like that once. I dreamed I was an astronaut in Florida for five years", as scenes from I Dream of Jeannie featuring Daily were shown.

The "Hartleys" were also hosts for a segment of the CBS Television Fiftieth Anniversary broadcast.

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The other series
Newhart was the star of a comedy variety show with the same name. It ran from 1961 to 1962 on NBC, and won an Emmy and a Peabody Award. Neither should be confused with two other series in which he starred, Newhart or Bob.

DVD Releases

The first four seasons of the show have been released on Region 1 DVD by 20th Century Fox. DVD Name/ Ep #/ Release Date

The Complete 1st Season/24/April 12, 2005

The Complete 2nd Season/24/October 4, 2005

The Complete 3rd Season/24/April 11, 2006

The Complete 4th Season/24/September 5, 2006