drystyx Bob Newhart was one of the few stand up comics whose method has rarely been imitated.He began his career by being more of an actor, in essence, as part of a conversation, but the conversation would always take place on a telephone.The brilliance here is that his "straight man" could respond so matter-of-factly, and without outrage to the unheard voice on the other end of the phone, and the comedy was in realizing what the other person was saying.Most of his comedy on his famous "Button Down" album involved phone calls, such a with Abe Lincoln and Abner Doubleday.Here, he played off real people most of the time, but kept his usual straight routine. This meant that when he finally went home to his beautiful straight woman wife, the comedy would be from his explanations of his day, and from the intrusion of the lovable neighbor played by Bill Daily, who played the charismatic friend of astronaut Tony Nelson on another show.The comedy would flow very evenly, and then erupt with some hilarity usually based on something that happened earlier.His group therapy provided some great laughter, and foretold the success of later TV comedy "Dear John". In one show, his band of patients who met in group therapy found themselves characters in a play, written by a fellow member. At first, they hated the play, then after a production, they loved it.This was a very funny show, and very timeless.

Brian W. Fairbanks Not cutting edge like "All in the Family," and lacking the social relevance of Mary Tyler Moore's single woman who was gonna make it after all in a man's world, "The Bob Newhart Show," which shared the CBS Saturday night lineup with those shows in the 70s, nonetheless had the strongest legs. While Archie Bunker fumbled once daughter Gloria and "Meathead" moved out, leaving him without a regular nemesis, "The Bob Newhart Show" delivered first rate comedy as dependably in its last season as it did in its first.Newhart was a more mature Seinfeld in that most of the madness was provided by the supporting cast, and a terrific one it was too: Suzanne Pleshette, sassy and sexy as Bob's earthy wife, Emily; Peter Bonerz as the dentist and sarcastic ladies man, Jerry Robinson; and Bill Daley as perpetually befuddled pilot Howard Borden. Then there was Marcia Wallace as snippy receptionist Carole, the wonderful John Fiedler as mousy Mr. Peterson, and Jack Riley as the truly deranged Mr. Carlin. All had their moments of brilliance, but it was Newhart, with his low-key genius, who held the show together and made it work. A comedy classic.

lbliss314 One of those rare shows where everything came together--cast, characters, writers, stories.Bill Daily kept me in stitches. One episode he bought a stand-up bass--the Hartleys were going nuts from his practicing, which consisted entirely of Howard strumming the same string over and over. Best line: Bob: I feel like I'm living inside a heart. Best joke of all--Howard was a navigator. Thank heavens he wasn't a pilot.Or the night when Jerry and Bob and Howard drove to a cheap motel in Illinois to watch a Bears game that was blacked out in Chicago. Probably the best drunk scenes ever.And the bedroom dialogues with Emily and Bob. Particularly the night Bob was eating cereal, and Emily noticed that he chewed each mouthful exactly 47 times. (I forget the exact number.) What an actress--she made you believe that Bob was a hunk. As I recall, when the show began, Suzanne Pleshette was known mainly for cheapo movies of the week and insipid Disney comedies. Hats off to the genius who thought of casting her.Gotta love it.

charvana I loved this show as a kid (I was 10 in 1975)... it was a show that actually made sense to me (yeah, yeah, I watched all the other 70's shows too...). It was adult without being sexy (I hated that in TV shows... nothing's grosser than Marion & Howard getting "frisky")-- the characters were wry, the situations were plausibly ridiculous (?!?!?), and the writing was intelligent. I knew, even then, that there was a difference between intelligent humor and (gawd help us) pratfall humor (think: Jack Ritter), and what I preferred. I also dug that I "got" it, and that Bob was a nebbishy kind of guy, who stumbled along through life, really making it on his wits (certainly wasn't his good looks). Gave a geeky girl a certain hope for her future.