The Bob Newhart Show: I Want to Be Alone

The Bob Newhart Show: I Want to Be Alone
CBS
December 2, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B

Jerry Mayer's second BNS script further solidifies the characterization, particularly that of Emily and Howard.  Daily's delivery on "God, I hope that's Bob!" is just right, and you can see how proud Emily is of herself for not only hosting but speaking up at a teachers' meeting.  Mayer can even be credited with initiating the running joke that Mr. Carlin wears a toupee.  Newhart gets some good scenes, on his own and with others, but that's less surprising.

Patricia Smith makes her last appearance as Margaret, claiming to have only two kids.  (Maybe she doesn't count the baby as a kid who knows about the facts of life.)  Helen Page Camp, who was Myrna Hoover on the Pilot, is Mrs. Prince here.  Nora Marlowe has her first of three BNS roles, as Mrs. Brandell.  Bernie Kopell makes his only appearance on the show, as swinging bachelor Dr. Arnold.  Thirty-one-year-old Archie Hahn makes his screen debut, as the Bellman.

The Bob Newhart Show: Anything Happen While I Was Gone?

The Bob Newhart Show: Anything Happen While I Was Gone?
CBS
November 25, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B

This first of six BNS stories by Martin Cohan is the first to really feel like the characters are falling into place, particularly Emily, who is able to blend in as one of the boys when both Bob and Jerry skip Jerry's bachelor party.  While Bob and Emily were vacationing in Mexico (Emily bought flight insurance but she did go, so she's made progress with that fear), Jerry got involved in a whirlwind romance with Cynthia Fremont (27-year-old Elaine Giftos, who seems to have specialized in these poised but essentially unlikable roles, see Three's Company).  They're soon engaged but Bob thinks Cynthia is too controlling.  (Bob calls her a back-buster, presumably a euphemism.)  Carol doesn't like her either, which might lend support to Jerry/Carol shippers, except that we see that Cynthia is condescending to Carol, reason enough.  Howard/Carol shippers should note that when Carol jokes that she's cranky when she gets her eight hours of sleep, Howard is very intrigued and puts his arm behind her shoulders on the couch.

The Bob Newhart Show: P-I-L-O-T

The Bob Newhart Show: P-I-L-O-T
CBS
November 18, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B-

I decided not to do a separate entry for the original pilot, which was shot in Sept. of  '71, but instead talk about it here.  The show had potential but test audiences did not like the idea of Jerry being a psychologist, too, any more than they liked Donald Blue Sky as both Ann's boyfriend and manager.  So the scenes at "the office" were reshot, adding in Marcia Wallace's character of Carol and Jack Riley's of Mr. Carlin as well.  Still, the changes here are less dramatic than with That Girl, or particularly Gilligan's Island.

It's interesting that CBS decided to show the revised pilot a couple months into the first season, when the home audience had gotten used to Emily's hair, the apartment, and some other aspects being a certain way.  Bob's character is different in that he's both more amorous and more interested in having a baby than he is for the most part in the series.  As I recall, Bob Newhart didn't want the Hartleys to be parents, and it wouldn't come up very often again.  As far the amorousness, he's much more demonstrative (including in bed) than we usually see him.  Another notable difference is that Howard is absent, and instead we get a whole bunch of boring neighbors, besides Margaret I mean.  Oh, and we find out that Jerry was adopted when he was three weeks old, which will later be contradicted.

Louise Lasser plays the lady from the adoption agency, a few years before Mary Hartman.  Helen Page Camp, who plays Myrna Hoover, would later be Mrs. Prince.  William Redfield, who plays Margaret's husband Arthur, would have a more prominent role, as Gordon Borden.

The Bob Newhart Show: Goodnight Nancy

MTM Enterprises was very fond of Richard Schaal.

The Bob Newhart Show: Goodnight Nancy
CBS
October 21, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode, the first of two written by Susan Silver, offers an early glimpse of part of what made and still makes Bob and Emily such a great sitcom couple: they argue in a realistic way and then they make up believably.  There are also some funny moments with Bob and his ex-girlfriend Nancy, including how she always rejects him during the salad course.  Note that B & E have been married for three years at this point.  Bob dated Nancy "in college," but that must've included grad school as well, since they broke up when he was 25.

Jack Bernardi would play a Waiter on the show again.  James B. Sikking makes the most out of his role as Dick, the man Bob mistakes for Nancy's husband.  Nancy's husband, Chuck Brock, is played by Richard Schaal, who would return in a different role.

The Bob Newhart Show: Mom, I L-L-Love You

The Bob Newhart Show: Mom, I L-L-Love You
CBS
October 7, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only BNS episode written by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, who'd do some of the later Soap scripts.  Bob, as the title suggests has trouble telling his mother he loves her.  The problem is, his mother Eleanor (Martha Scott) comes across as very annoying in this episode, so the viewer can't really blame Bob.  Jerry/Carol shippers note how eager Carol sounds when she thinks Jerry is asking her out.

Marilyn Child makes her first of two appearances as Bob's patient Mrs. Walker.

The Bob Newhart Show: Tracy Grammar School, I'll Lick You Yet

The Bob Newhart Show: Tracy Grammar School, I'll Lick You Yet
CBS
September 23, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is better than the first episode, with the humor a bit sharper and the performers a little more comfortable in their roles.  I like how Emily teases Bob after strangers see them kiss, and it's nice to see how she is as a teacher (of third grade).  Note that Howard claims he's skipping his brother's wedding.  Either Gordon got married and quickly divorced, or Howard has another brother, or he's lying.  (But then in the pilot Jerry claimed his brother was afraid of New York.)  Also, Bob says he left grammar school in '43, making him probably born in '31.

King Moody, who plays the Fireman, would later be Ken Willett.  This is the only BNS episode that George Yanok wrote, but he'd do seven for Welcome Back, Kotter.

The Bob Newhart Show: Fly the Unfriendly Skies

The Bob Newhart Show: Fly the Unfriendly Skies
CBS
September 16, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Creators David Davis and Lorenzo Music co-wrote this pilot, which establishes the basic show for the next six years.  Not that there wouldn't be changes of course, if less dramatic ones than on the five years of The Brady Bunch, but the core settings and characters are here.  We even see three of Bob's regular patients at the Fear of Flying workshop:  Florida Friebus as Mrs. Lillian Bakerman, Noam Pitlik as Mr. Victor Gianelli, and of course Jack Riley as Elliot Carlin.  Since this is one of my favorite shows, it's tempting to give the first episode a higher grade, but things haven't jelled yet.  For one thing, Emily's toughness and humor have yet to emerge, to say nothing of the full daffiness of Howard.  Also, it's hard to forgive Bob for laughing at her when she cries.  But it's a good place to start.  And notice that this was still the era when you could smoke on planes.

Penny Marshall, still a few years away from sitcom fame of her own, plays the Stewardess.  Patricia Smith plays forgettable neighbor Margaret Hoover.  (I guess they figured Emily needed a sounding board friend, like Ann had on That Girl.)  To keep the tags simple, this show will be referred to as "BNS."