"Hi, Bob!" - Various characters to Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart)
The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
As producers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, David Davis and Lorenzo Music were responsible for writing several of that classic series' most memorable scripts, including "The Snow Must Go On," "The Boss Isn't Coming to Dinner," and "1040 or Fight." When CBS decided to produce another sophisticated sitcom in the MTM mold, it was natural that the network would approach the duo. The team didn't really have any ideas - they decided to pick a star and develop a show around that performer instead. They immediately thought of Bob Newhart, the stand-up comedian for whom they had written the role of an uptight IRS auditor in "1040 or Fight." The only problem was that Newhart had no interest in television. He had even turned down the role in "1040 or Fight," which eventually went to Paul Sand. This time, luck was on their side. Davis and Music wrote a pilot script about the personal and professional life of a Chicago psychologist. Newhart read the script and was immediately hooked. The Bob Newhart Show was born.
Newhart plays Bob Hartley, a forty-year-old psychologist (don't call him a shrink!), whose personal life is peppered with just as many crazy people as his professional life. His neighbor, airplane navigator Howard Borden (I Dream of Jeannie's Bill Daily), is so scattered that he can barely find his way across the hall to Bob's apartment, thus throwing into doubt his ability to guide a plane to such far-flung locales as Tokyo. Swinging bachelor Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) is an orthodontist whose office is down the hall from Bob's. He's also Bob's best friend, even though their personalities couldn't be more different - Bob is straight-laced and serious while Jerry is carefree and commitment phobic. Carol Kester (The Simpsons' Marcia Wallace) is the receptionist shared by Bob and Jerry. Although she appears to be strong and together, she is, at heart, insecure and unfulfilled. Providing some stability to Bob's life is his wife of three years, Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), a smart and sexy substitute teacher.
"Fly the Unfriendly Skies," the first episode aired, provides an excellent introduction to the series. Bob's therapy group suffers from a fear of flying, and his planned cure involves taking them on a brief flight to New York. In an attempt to mix business with pleasure, he invites Emily along, figuring that they can stay afterwards to enjoy the Big Apple's sites. There's only one problem - Emily has never shared the fact that she, too, is terrified of flying. The show's characters are fully defined right from the start. Howard, scheduled to speak to the group in order to inspire confidence in the airline industry, gets lost on his way to Bob's office, becomes frightened of speaking in front of such a large group, and inadvertently makes the group's problems even worse. Emily's irrational fear is somewhat uncharacteristic, but in an odd way it helps to reinforce her headstrong, confident personality. And through it all, Bob attempts to be the calm at the center of the storm, even during the show's signature absurdist moments (as when the patients have to pretend to be a kazoo band in order to qualify for the airline's group discount).
"Fly the Unfriendly Skies" is an incredibly well-formed premier episode, but it wasn't actually the first one to be filmed - "P-I-L-O-T" is actually the show's pilot episode. As filmed, "P-I-L-O-T" was radically different from what the series evolved into once CBS picked it up. Howard didn't exist, Emily wasn't as self-assured, and Bob ran their condo in his spare time. Rather than simply throwing out the entire episode, several scenes were re-filmed and the revamped "P-I-L-O-T" became the ninth episode to be broadcast. Even with the changes, this episode doesn't fit in with the season as a whole. The characters are too different from the ones we've come to know, and the episode lacks the series' zippy charm. It is interesting as an artifact, however - more so if someone could dig up the replaced footage and restore the pilot to its original form.
In some ways, "P-I-L-O-T" seems more like a standard sitcom than what the series would evolve into. One way in which the The Bob Newhart Show rises above most other sitcoms is in its treatment of Bob and Emily's relationship. That these characters are happily married and have a healthy sex life is obvious even in the opening credits - Pleshette is first seen in a shot that looks simultaneously sexy and goofy. Moments later, the opening credits end with a hearty kiss between Bob and Emily. Many of the episodes include one liners and gags that point out that the Hartleys have sex enthusiastically and often.
Perhaps the most charming depiction of their relationship occurs in "Don't Go to Bed Mad." The Hartleys feel that the key to their marriage is the fact that they have agreed never to go to bed mad - all disagreements must be solved before they can hit the sack. This rule is greatly challenged by their latest argument. Much to Emily's chagrin, Bob and Jerry have agreed to watch Monday Night Football together each week. Emily already loses Bob to football on Saturdays and Sundays, and with their busy schedules, Monday nights are among the few times they can spend together. Bob doesn't agree that this is a problem. He won't even acknowledge that this qualifies for their "don't go to bed mad" rule since he's not mad. After a well-placed pie in his lap, Bob is mad enough to invoke the rule. What follows is a hysterical sequence in which the couple spends the entire night trying to end their argument - a night filled with petty complaints, maniacal vacuuming, and late-late-late movies. Writers trying to discover how to construct simple yet effective sitcom scripts could do worse than studying this funny, insightful episode. We learn a lot about this couple's complex relationship, but never at the expense of laughs.
Bob's wacky patients are another important and memorable part of the series. Abrasive Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley), grandmotherly Lillian Bakerman (The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' Florida Friebus), and extremely insecure Emil Peterson (John Fiedler) are just a few of the patients who first appear during the series' initial season. All in the Family's Mel Stewart even pops up as an intensely angry man who blames all of his problems on racism. Usually the patients appear ever-so-briefly in the episodes to provide a dollop of goofy, ridiculous humor. Other times, however, they practically take center stage. In "His Busiest Season," Bob decides to relieve holiday depression by hosting a Christmas party at his home especially for his group. The result is more depressing than he might have hoped, but for viewers it is a comic goldmine.
The Bob Newhart Show would not have been nearly as successful without its talented cast. The cast expertly handles the show's character-based humor. Sure, the characters often get into strange situations, but the comedy springs from the characters themselves. Like Jack Benny, Newhart possesses the unusual ability to provoke laughter without even uttering a syllable. Pleshette takes the cool demeanor she displayed in films like The Birds and perfectly translates it to the sitcom form. Bonerz's Jerry is just smarmy enough to come across as a likeable cad rather than a womanizing jerk. Wallace is terrific whether she's tossing off a few one liners or standing front and center in episodes like "The Crash of 29 Years Old." Daily, however, is the real revelation. His character could have been a gloss on MTM's dimwitted Ted Baxter. Daily, however, makes Howard complexly stupid. One of the season's highlights is "Father Knows Worst," in which Howard becomes convinced that his son, who he only sees on weekends, doesn't like him. Daily convincingly shows us both Howard's doltish and caring sides. Who knew that I Dream of Jeannie's Captain Healey had such depth?
The twenty-four episodes that make up The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete First Season are divided onto three double-sided discs. The discs are housed in two slim plastic keepcases (the first keepcase holds two discs). The fronts of the cases are decorated with Warhol-esque tinted pictures of Bob, Emily, Carol, and the Chicago skyline. The backs of the cases include episode titles, airdates, and brief synopses of each episode. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve that features a grid of Warhol-esque tinted photos of Bob. The packaging is at once timeless and evocative of the '70s. Overall, it is simple yet pleasing.
The disc menus feature cartoonish drawings reminiscent of the show's sets. The menus won't blow fans away, but they do possess a sweet charm. Viewers can play all of a disc's episodes or select an individual one. The disc also includes scene selection menus.
