The Bob Newhart Show

I loved this show as a kid (I was 10 in 1975)... it was a show that actually made sense to me (yeah, yeah, I watched all the other 70's shows too...). It was adult without being sexy (I hated that in TV shows... nothing's grosser than Marion & Howard getting "frisky")-- the characters were wry, the situations were plausibly ridiculous (?!?!?), and the writing was intelligent. I knew, even then, that there was a difference between intelligent humor and (gawd help us) pratfall humor (think: Jack Ritter), and what I preferred. I also dug that I "got" it, and that Bob was a nebbishy kind of guy, who stumbled along through life, really making it on his wits (certainly wasn't his good looks). Gave a geeky girl a certain hope for her future.

"The Bob Newhart Show" is possibly the most brilliant of the "adult sitcoms" of the early 1970's. Along with "The Odd Couple" and "Mary Tyler Moore", this show exhibits a subtle, mature humor that has all but disappeared from television today. Great actors make this show with a simple "situation" -- adults working, talking, eating, and going to bed -- hilarious and reflective. Bob Newhart's unique comedic style finds a perfect outlet in "The Bob Newhart Show." For the uninitiated, it might be compared to "Seinfeld" in that it is a "show about nothing" that derives humor from the interactions between people and not "jokes."

The Bob Newhart Show has been my favorite comedy ever since it first aired in the 1970's. I have probably seen every episode at least 3 times and this show never fails to make me laugh. More than that, it is comfort television at its best! I always feel better after watching "Bob". When I was in high school I suffered from generalized anxiety disorder and the only time I was able to stop worrying was each weeknight at 9:00PM during reruns of "The Bob Newhart Show". This show so throughly brought me into the wacky world of Bob and Emily Hartley that for those 30 minutes I was able to forget my worries. Even now, I still find "The Bob Newhart Show" to be an excellent cure for the blues or a bad day. I'm still waiting for this best of comedies to be brought out on DVD season by season!!

Okay, the Bob Newhart Show wasn't for everybody. I never got a chance to watch it on television. Now on DVD, I am discovering it for the first time. The writing is smart and the acting is smarter than ever with Bob Newhart in the title role as a Chicago psychologist, Susan Pleshette as his wife and third grade school teacher. They are great couple on screen. Surprisingly, they don't have children in the show which is a big plus because the show works better without them. Marcia Wallace is wonderful as his secretary. The show is smart, funny, savvy, relevant, and most of all timeless. It's a classic sitcom that might be overlooked because it's not dirty or stupid like most sitcoms are today. The Bob Newhart Show and others of that era are classic and timeless and relevant to today's life. Too bad, shows like that aren't being developed for television today. It's our loss, isn't it?

Bob Newhart and MTM put together a winning formula when they debuted the Bob Newhart Show in the Fall of 72. This was Deadpan comedy on the part of Newhart at it's best. Psychologist, Dr. Bob Hartley, deals with the day to day problems of his zany and quite real patient's. Jack Riley's, Elliot Carlin being one of the most notable of the group, with his bizarre problems and abrasive attitude towards other group members, especially the wishy-washy Mr. Peterson.

Bob's life outside his group was a bit less zany but just as interesting and funny. His relationship between his wife Emily, played by the sultry Susan Pleshette, was a very real relationship. Newhart and Pleshette complimented each other quite well.

I think everyone loved his wise cracking secretary, Carol, and the bumbling antics of his neighbor, Howard Borden.