The Bob Newhart Show: Who's Been Sleeping on My Couch?

The Bob Newhart Show: Who's Been Sleeping on My Couch?
CBS
March 10, 1973
Sitcom
DVD
B+

This Jerry Mayer episode is very funny and it's also a big one for Jerry (Robinson)/Carol shippers, although arguably their relationship is left hazy.  (At least with Howard, Carol flew off with him.)  The stuff with Jerry moving in with Bob and Carol, temporarily they hope, is also good, as is the way that Jerry and Howard play off each other when the latter drops by.  And there's a bisexual joke, when Carol tells Jerry that she does in fact know what it's like to be left for a 22-year-old guy.  Note that Michelle mentions her body issues, which came up on the previous episode, and we find out she has a sister.  Herbie Faye, who was on That Girl a couple times, has a nice little cameo as the night watchman Mr. Atlee.

The first season of BNS averages to a high B-.  The characters will continue to develop, which will make the show even funnier and smarter, but it's a fine start.  There are some extraneous characters, like Margaret, who are dropped, but this series doesn't have nearly the problem with that which M*A*S*H does, which I'll talk about in its season-closer.