Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette. CBS/Photofest ©CBS
Overview
One assumed that the Bob Newhart persona honed onstage and spotlighted in Grammy-winning comedy albums in the early 1960s was not a fit for sitcom stardom. He was like your next-door neighbor. He was too soft-spoken. His comedic specialty was phone conversations, which didn’t easily translate to the small screen. He hemmed and hawed and stammered. Heck, sitcoms were only thirty minutes, and some of that time was needed for commercials.
Show creators David Davis and Lorenzo Music had a solution. They cast Newhart as psychologist Robert Hartley. Those with whom he worked professionally would make such outrageous claims that his stunned, yet thoughtful, reactions would be fitting and funny. Bingo. Newhart proved to be an ideal lead. His trademark delivery not only helped maintain The Bob Newhart Show as one of the most highly rated sitcoms on television, it also kept the show in good standing in the powerhouse Saturday night lineup on CBS—arguably the finest ever assembled. And it landed Newhart a highly successful series simply known as Newhart shortly thereafter.
Not only was Hartley surrounded by eccentric patients and colleagues at work, he and elementary school teacher wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), living comfortably in their plush high-rise Chicago apartment, were forced to deal with scatterbrained neighbor Howard Borden (Bill Daily). The fact that Borden remained in a perpetually confused state was made funnier (and a bit frightening) by the fact that he toiled as an airline pilot. Daily’s sense of timing was far better than that of Borden, who made a habit of barging in on the Hartleys at the most inopportune times.
Bob arrived at work each day to a lack of respect. Receptionist Carol Kester Bondurant (Marcia Wallace) and orthodontist Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) seemed more interested in goofing off than working and often made Bob the butt of their jokes. They hung around the receptionist desk and watercooler discussing the vagaries of their work or personal lives. Such scenes and dialogue fit perfectly on a show that embraced low-key verbal humor over physical comedy.
The same held true when Bob conversed with patients. The irony that their psychologist failed to cure them of their phobias and neuroses was secondary to the humor emanating from the banter between them and Hartley. The funniest of the bunch was the paranoid, self-deprecating Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley), who shot down every piece of advice tossed his way, and who managed to chip away at the emotional rock that was Bob Hartley.
Group therapy also proved a disaster as Elliot sought to massage his own ego by insulting the others, including meek, unconfident Emil Peterson (John Fiedler) and sweet senior Mrs. Bakerman (Florida Friebus), who whiled away her time knitting and didn’t seem to have any psychological problems. The dysfunctional therapy group bares itself for all of Chicago to see on one episode, as its members convince Bob, whom they fear is ashamed of them, to conduct a session on live television. Hilarity ensues when they all clam up. The only one to express his feelings is Emil, who warned Bob before the show that his high-pitched voice tends to rise even higher when he gets nervous. With the cameras rolling, his voice gets so high as he speaks about having finally worked up enough courage to stand up to his wife that he is stricken with laryngitis. Fortunately for one and all, few in Chicago are watching, as the show is going head-to-head against the Bears on Monday Night Football.
Millions of Americans were, however, watching The Bob Newhart Show, which launched its lead character into television stardom. Newhart has remained one of the most embraced actors on television.
The Funniest Moment in TV History?
Millions of viewers were in for a shock and one long laugh as the final scene of Newhart played out. The show, which cast Bob Newhart as Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon, ran on CBS from 1982 to 1990. In the last episode, viewers see only darkness as the scene begins. The Newhart character then turns on the light, rolls over in his bed, and exclaims, “Honey, you won’t believe the dream I just had.” The opposite light is illuminated to reveal Suzanne Pleshette as the live studio audience erupts in laughter and applause. The Newhart character explains that he had dreamed he was an innkeeper in “this crazy little town in Vermont.”
Did You Know?
Series cocreator Lorenzo Music and wife Henrietta composed the theme song to The Bob Newhart Show, entitled “Home to My Emily.”
They Said It
Emily: [after Bob returned home to rearranged furniture] You hate it, right?
Bob: I won’t say I hate it; it’s just alien to anything I’ve ever liked before.
Major Awards
Emmy Award Nominations (4)
1977 (2): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Lead Actress in Comedy Series (Suzanne Pleshette)
1978 (2): Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Suzanne Pleshette); Outstanding Film Editing in a Comedy Series (M. Pam Blumenthal for “A Jackie Story”)
Golden Globe Nominations (2)
1975 (1): Best TV Actor, Musical/Comedy (Bob Newhart)
1976 (1): Best TV Actor, Musical/Comedy (Bob Newhart)
Further Reading
Newhart, Bob. I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny. New York: Hyperion, 2007.
Sorenson, Jeff. Bob Newhart. New York: St. Martin’s, 1988.