The Bob Newhart Show: Big Brother Is Watching

The Bob Newhart Show: Big Brother Is Watching
CBS
September 14, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
A-

When I saw Charlotte Brown's name in the credits, I knew this would be very good, but it's in fact the most fantastic program I've watched in a long while.  That may sound over the top for what is just the basic five characters, plus Ellen, playing off each other, but there are some wonderfully funny and believably human moments.  (Bob's "Do you have all his albums?" had me on the floor!)  And a couple other characters have established enough personalities that we can imagine Bob's mother's end of the conversation, or Mr. Carlin's with Carol.  Also, there's some fun coming out of two new sets: the Hartleys' den and Carol's funky apartment, with chairs made out of hippos and swings.  (That Bob has to retreat to the beanbag chair says a lot about the '70s.)

The subject of living together had come up for Carol in the first season, but it was one of her short-term boyfriends.  With its being Howard, a character we've grown fond of for two years, and Bob's sister, the stakes are much higher.  (And, yes, we are two and a half years away from the platonic trio of Three's Company.)  I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the season.