The Bob Newhart Show: Life Is a Hamburger

The Bob Newhart Show: Life Is a Hamburger
CBS
November 16, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Jerry Mayer story, Carol gets engaged to her boyfriend Don Fezler (formerly Don Livingston, still played by Richard Schaal).  No one thinks Don is right for Carol, but Jerry nonetheless throws them an engagement party.  Carol lingers afterwards and they at the least kiss passionately.  I'd give this episode a B+ if we actually saw their conversation the next day, or hers with Don afterwards, but considering Jerry is almost in tears and Don is never seen again, I suppose neither talk goes well.

Bobby Eilbacher, who played a nameless kid in the After School Special "The Eighteen Emergency," here is Ricky Rasmussen and would later be David.

The Bob Newhart Show: By the Way...You're Fired

The Bob Newhart Show: By the Way...You're Fired
CBS
February 16, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

Carol is distracted at work by her new romance with Don Livingston (who'd change his last name to Fezler but still be played by Richard Schaal).  Jerry gets so annoyed, he fires her, twice.  Bob is as always caught in the middle.  Note that Howard seems to be aging backwards, as he's celebrating his 40th birthday.  And despite having fallen in love with Ellen, he shows up with his old girlfriend Mary Ellen (Jill Jaress).  Maybe this episode is set earlier.

Besides Dr. Newman and Dr. Tupperman, Dr. Ralph Tetzi (Gene Blakely) returns.  Dick Wilson plays the Man With Hat.

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.

That Girl: There Sure a Lot of Cards in St. Louis, Part II

Later that same decade....

That Girl: There Sure a Lot of Cards in St. Louis, Part II
ABC
November 6, 1970
Sitcom
DVD
B

Well, this isn't as good as Part I but it's still fun to see how Ann copes with Don's family and how he deals with them.  This time, we learn more about the play she's doing and even see rehearsals.  After meeting Stan "the Man" Musial, Ann decides that her future in-laws would be impressed if she took the opportunity to play the lead role.  Then she realizes what's really important, and that wins over Donald's difficult mother.

Frank Faylen and Mabel Albertson are of course back, but it's mostly a different cast than in Part I.  Penny Kunard, who plays the Hostess, had been Katie on Gidget.  Richard Schaal had been the Lost & Found Man earlier and is Bill here.  Thirty-seven-year-old Richard Libertini has a small, early role as John.  And if Shari Summers, who plays Jeannie, looks familiar, you may remember her as Edith Phern in Harold and Maude.

That Girl: Gone with the Breeze

I assume Ann isn't a flasher, but who knows?

That Girl: Gone with the Breeze
ABC
January 26, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B

Another nice "couple episode" by Tom and Helen August, here with Don wanting Ann to read his novel but her thinking she's lost the manuscript.  I could've done without Jerry's domestic violence joke, but otherwise this episode has aged much better than the preceding TG.

Audrey Christie is Ann's boss Miss Dailey and would return as Ella.  Mitzi Hoag plays Helen here and would be Patty later in the series.  This is the first of two TG appearances for Richard Schaal, here as the Lost & Found Man.  (He'd be more notable on The Bob Newhart Show and in Americathon.)