The Bob Newhart Show

1972 - 1978

Follows the daily life of psychologist, Dr. Bob Hartley, including his schoolteacher wife, Emily, their co-dependant neighbor, Howard, Bob's snarky secretary, Carol, and his swinging bachelor friend, Jerry.

Stars: Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, Bill Daily, Marcia Wallace, Peter Bonerz, Jack Riley, Florida Friebus, John Fiedler, Tom Poston
Created by: David Davis, Lorenzo Music
Tags: workplace

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Episode Tropes

Season 1

Fear of Flying: Episode 1, "Fly the Unfriendly Skies" (1972). When Bob invites Emily to join his therapy group for people who are afraid to fly on their trip to New York, she reveals that she's also afraid to fly, and she refuses to come along.
Rorschach Test: Episode 2, "Tracy Grammar School, I'll Lick You Yet" (1972). Bob gives a talk for career day at Emily's school, and he brings a rorschach test as a visual aid. When the kids ask what he think it looks like, he says it looks like "two ducks kissing," but after class, he admits to Emily that he couldn't say what it really looked like because there were children present.
Adopt-me-not: Episode 9, "P-I-L-O-T" (1972). Bob and Emily have been unable to have a child, so they decide to adopt. They get approved by the adoption agency, but when they find out how long it will be before a child is available, they change their minds.
Sixteen Candles: Episode 17, "The Man with the Golden Wrist" (1973). Everyone at the office is pretending they don't know it's Bob's birthday, but Emily has been secretly planning a surprise party for him, and they're all in on it.
Unwanted Surprise Party: Episode 17, "The Man with the Golden Wrist" (1973). Bob hates birthday parties, and he hates surprise birthday parties even more, so goes to great pains to keep people from finding out it's his birthday. Despite knowing this, Emily has been planning a surprise party for him for two weeks.
Not with My Sister You Don't: Episode 19, "Not with My Sister You Don't" (1973). Howard's younger sister comes to visit, and Howard still treats her like a child even though she's 22 years old. Jerry takes her out on the town, and when they come back after 1am, Howard has to learn some tough lessons.
Maid to Order: Episode 21, "Emily, I'm Home - Emily?" (1973). Emily is offered a full time administrative position at her school, so she hires a maid to help out around the house since she'll be working more often. Unfortunately, the maid doesn't speak any English, and Bob doesn't speak any Spanish.
Home Sweet Office: Episode 24, "Who's Been Sleeping on My Couch?" (1973). Bob discovers that Jerry has been sleeping on the couch in his office because his girlfriend broke up with him, and his apartment reminds him of her.
Fish and Visitors Stink in Three Days: Episode 24, "Who's Been Sleeping on My Couch?" (1973). Jerry stays with Bob and Emily while he deals with the loss of his girlfriend, but his presence quickly becomes a nuisance.

Season 2

Milwaukee: Episode 2, "Motel" (1973). Bob and Jerry stay at a hotel in Peoria so they can watch a game that's blacked out in Chicago, and Jerry picks up two women at the bar, one of whom has the hots for Bob.
Going Your Way: Episode 4, "Somebody Down Here Likes Me" (1973). After seeing Bob for therapy, a reverend announces that he's leaving the ministry.
Worlds are Colliding: Episode 5, "Emily in for Carol" (1973). Emily fills in as receptionist at Bob's office while Carol's on vacation, and she and Bob are both unhappy working together. Just as Emily's about to quit, Bob fires her.
Painting Party: Episode 6, "Have You Met Miss Dietz?" (1977). Emily's friend Marilyn moves into the building and starts dating Howard and Jerry at the same time, and tensions rise when she invites both of them to her apartment for a painting party. Bob stops by just for the Chinese food, but he ends up with a suit covered in paint.
IQ Controversy: Episode 8, "Mr. Emily Hartley" (1973). Emily is training to proctor IQ tests, and she practices on Bob. When she tells Bob her IQ is higher than his, he feels insecure and acts like a bratty child.
Role Reversal: Episode 10, "I'm Okay, You're Okay, So What's Wrong?" (1973). Emily is depressed, and its taking a toll on her and Bob's marriage, so they see a marriage counselor, who has them try a role reversal where they pretend to be each other when Bob comes home from work.
Fatty: Episode 11, "Fit, Fat and Forty One" (1973). Bob's doctor gives him a hard time about being eight pounds overweight, and he puts him on an unnecessarily restrictive diet.
Mi Casa Es Su Casa: Episode 13, "My Wife Belongs to Daddy" (1973). Emily's parents come to visit, and Emily insists they stay with her and Bob and sleep in their bed, but her parents had already checked into a hotel.
Pathetic Christmas Tree: Episode 15, "I'm Dreaming of a Slight Christmas" (1973). Bob shops for a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, and all he can find is a tiny, scrawny tree for $12 (~$86 in today's money).
Teen Queen: Episode 17, "The Modernization of Emily" (1974). When Emily runs into an old student of hers who recently graduated from high school, her self esteem takes a hit, and Bob's anniversary gift of a "Blenderizer" is the last straw. She disappears for a day and comes back with hair extensions and a new, hip wardrobe made up of sequins and faded denim.
We Were Robbed: Episode 19, "Clink Shrink" (1974). Howard's apartment is robbed, and Bob's new ex-con patient thinks he knows who did it.
Sham Wedding: Episode 21, "A Love Story" (1974). Bob's sister Ellen is about to get married to a much older man because they're "comfortable together" and as long as she's planning to have children she "might as well be married."

Season 3

The Bad Seed: Episode 5, "Sorry, Wrong Mother" (1974). Howard introduces Ellen to his son, Howie, and Howie treats her like a pariah while simultaneously clinging to Emily like she's his mother. Eventually, he confesses to Bob that he wants his dad to marry Emily instead of Ellen.
Worthless Worker: Episode 7, "Dr. Ryan's Express" (1974). While Carol's out of town, Jerry hires a temp named Debbie who's so absentminded she can't even complete the simplest of tasks, but Jerry refuses to fire her and insists Bob do it. Bob is fed up with people always expecting him to deliver bad news, so he too avoids firing Debbie.
Happy Loving Couples: Episode 8, "Brutally Yours, Bob Hartley" (1974). Bob and Emily make friends with Ed and Janet, a couple who are both teachers at the school where Emily works, but they find their new friends a bit too needy, and when Bob gets fed up and tells them what he thinks, Ed and Janet let loose on him and Emily.
When Keepin' It Real Goes Wrong: Episode 8, "Brutally Yours, Bob Hartley" (1974). Bob and Emily's new couple friends are overly fawning and clingy, and the usually polite Bob is on an honesty kick, so he decides to lay it on the line and tell them they're coming on too strong and that he and Emily don't like them, which leads to a big blow-up.
Election: Episode 17, "Think Smartly--Vote Hartley" (1975). When Emily and the other teachers at her school get fed up with the regularly-absent school board chairman, they nominate Bob to run against him.
Wallpaper Mishap: Episode 18, "The Way We Weren't" (1975). Jerry decides to save some money by wallpapering his own office, and he makes a mess of it and Bob.
Between Friends: Episode 19, "A Pound of Flesh" (1975). Jerry bugs Bob to lend him the money to buy a motorcycle, but Bob refuses, so Jerry asks Howard, promising him they can share the motorcycle. Of course, it doesn't work out that way.

Season 4

The Old Snakes in a Can Gag: Episode 1, "The Longest Goodbye" (1975). Bob's old college buddy, the Peeper, comes to visit and leaves Bob with a can of what he says is maple candy from Vermont, but it turns out to be snakes in a can. Peeper comes back and says he gave Bob the wrong can, then hands him another one, which also contains snakes. When Peeper gives Bob a third can, Bob doesn't open it. That night, he gives it to Emily, who opens it to find maple candy.
Job Swap: Episode 4, "Change is Gonna Do Me Good" (1975). When Emily gets fed up with Bob's overly-complicated bill-paying process, they decide to switch jobs: Emily pays the bills and Bob does the grocery shopping.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Episode 8, "What's It All About, Albert?" (1975). Bob feels that his patients aren't making any progress, so he visits his old college professor and mentor Dr. Albert for advice, but Dr. Albert is no longer the wise, intellectual psychology expert Bob remembers. He now grades his students' papers with W for "wonderful," encourages them to do whatever they feel like doing, tells Bob that psychology is all "a crock," and claims the only thing worthwhile in life is golf.
Mi Casa Es Su Casa: Episode 12, "Mothers and Sons and Father" (1975). Bob's mother's house is being painted, and apparently this means she can't stay there. She tells Emily she's going to a hotel, but Emily keeps refuses to let her and insists she stay with her and Bob.
Painful Promotion: Episode 14, "A Matter of Vice-Principal" (1975). Emily gets promoted to vice principal, and the job is overwhelming. Her predecessor let things get weeks behind, the school has hardly any budget, and her two teacher friends, Ed and Janet Hoffman, resent her because they thought Ed was getting the job.
Tonsillectomy: Episode 15, "Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital" (1975). Bob is depressed because he has to have his tonsils taken out on Christmas Eve.
Over-the-hill Candy Striper: Episode 15, "Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital" (1975). While Bob is in the hospital for his tonsillectomy, he's attended to by a patient of his, Mrs. Loomis, an elderly candy striper.
Little Black Book: Episode 19, "My Boy Guillermo" (1976). Jerry feels lonely because he hasn't had a serious relationship since he left his ex, Courtney, in Tahiti, so he takes out his little black book and calls one of the women in it to ask her for a date.
The Magician: Episode 19, "My Boy Guillermo" (1976). When Howard gets a free magic kit, Bob becomes obsessed with it and forces Emily and Howard to watch his juvenile magic tricks.
Ah, the Dribble Glass: Episode 24, "Peeper Two" (1976). Bob's old college buddy, the Peeper, is back with a sad story about how his wife of 22 years left him for the milkman, but he's not too depressed to play one of his old pranks. He pours Bob a drink in a dribble glass.

Season 5

Sad Singing Telegram: Episode 1, "Enter Mrs. Peeper" (1976). The Peeper is coming to visit again, and he sent a singing telegram COD ($12) to announce his trip.
The Old Bucket of Water on the Door Gag: Episode 1, "Enter Mrs. Peeper" (1976). Emily and Corrine want to get their husbands back for all their pranks, so they attempt the bucket of water on the door gag, but the bucket refuses to fall no matter how many times someone opens the door.
The Old Pie in the Face Gag: Episode 1, "Enter Mrs. Peeper" (1976). Bob plans to nail the Peeper with a pie when he comes to the door, but he misses and hits the Peeper's wife instead. Unbeknownst to Bob, the Peeper brought a pie with him, and he gets Bob back.
Trapped: Episode 2, "Caged Fury" (1976). While looking for supplies for their Independence Day party, Bob and Emily accidentally lock themselves in their storage room.
Door Buster: Episode 2, "Caged Fury" (1976). After Bob and Emily lock themselves in their storage room, Emily insists that Bob try to knock down the door with his shoulder. Bob runs at the door and slams into it.
Little Black Book: Episode 3, "Some of My Best Friends Are..." (1976). When Bob digs his old tuxedo out of the storage room, Emily finds his little black book from college in the pocket and leafs through it. She finds the names of women with stars and exclamation points next to their names and questions Bob about what they mean.
Man-child Metamorphosis: Episode 4, "Still Crazy After All These Years" (1976). Howard is so dependent on Bob and Emily that he's afraid to be alone while they're on vacation, so Bob refers him to Dr. Podbillion, a colleague who specializes in co-dependency. When the Hartleys return, they find that Howard's whole personality has changed, and he's acting a lot like the snooty Dr. Podbillion.
Psycho: Episode 5, "The Great Landlord from Hell" (1976). Mr. Carlin tells Bob that the other day while he was taking a shower, he thinks Tony Perkins tried to kill him.
Landlord from Hell: Episode 5, "The Great Landlord from Hell" (1976). When things start breaking in his apartment, and he can't get his landlord on the phone, Bob tries to organize a Landlord from Hell with the other tenants in the building, but nobody wants to join him.
Gruesome Gift: Episode 6, "Et Tu, Carol?" (1976). Howard gives Bob and Emily a hideous Buddha clock he got from the unclaimed baggage at the airport, and they both pretend to like it to be nice to Howard, but later, Bob has Carol throw it in the river.
Camping Out: Episode 7, "Send This Boy to Camp" (1976). When Howard tells Bob and Emily that Howie went off to camp, Bob reveals that he never went camping as a kid, so he and Howard decide to join Jerry on a camping trip with two boys from the orphanage where Jerry grew up. Unfortunately, due to their lack of planning, they end up having to camp out in a parking lot in the middle of the city.
The Old Inflatable Raft Gag: Episode 7, "Send This Boy to Camp" (1976). When Jerry, Bob, and Howard get ready to go camping, Howard accidentally pulls the string on his inflatable raft and inflates it in the elevator.
Ticket Scalping: Episode 9, "The Slammer" (1976). Bob and the Peeper try to buy tickets to a football game from two women who they think are scalpers, but they turn out to be undercover cops posing as prostitutes.
False Arrest: Episode 9, "The Slammer" (1976) When Bob and The Peeper try to buy some football tickets from two women in a bar, they end up getting arrested for trying pick up prostitutes.
Rags to Riches: Episodes 10-11, "Jerry's Retirement/Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson" (1976). Jerry makes enough money on a real estate deal to retire early, but he blows it all on a massive search for his birth parents.
Practice Makes Perfect: Episode 11, "Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson" (1976). Howard gets a good deal on a stand-up bass and practices day and night, playing the same note over and over, to the chagrin of Bob and Emily.
Accidental Bank Robbery: Episode 21, "Desperate Sessions" (1977). A bank robber who was in line in front of Bob hides out in Bob's office and holds him hostage.
Hostage Situation: Episode 21, "Desperate Sessions" (1977). A bank robber holds Bob hostage in his office to get the attention of a woman he likes.
Horsing Around: Episode 24, "You're Having My Hartley" (1977). Bob and The Peeper get drunk and come back to Bob's apartment with a horse they say they bought. Later, Bob confesses they stole it from a cop.

Season 6

What a Dummy: Episode 3, "A Jackie Story" (1977). Bob's new patient is a ventriloquist who claims his dummy wants to break up the act and go solo.
Jumper: Episode 4, "Who Was That Masked Man?" (1977). When his wife kicks him out, Mr. Peterson befriends Mr. Carlin, and they get drunk together, but when Carlin sobers up, he kicks Peterson out too. Mr. Peterson gets so depressed that he climbs out on the ledge of Mr. Carlin's building and threatens to jump.
The Last Costume Left: Episode 4, "Who Was That Masked Man?" (1977). Bob and Emily are going to a charity costume party, and they're supposed to dress as the people they most admire. Bob wants to go as Abraham Lincoln, but the only costume they have left in the store is Zorro.
You are Not the Father: Episode 5, "Carlin's New Suit" (1977). Mr. Carlin is being sued for back child support by a woman he's never met, but he becomes attached to her son and wants to be his father anyway.
No Joke: Episode 7, "My Son the Comedian" (1977). Howard's young son, Howie, wants to be a comedian, so he attends Mickey Melnick's School of Comedy, and Mickey thinks Howie shows promise, so he invites him to go on the road with him, but Howard isn't about to let his son throw his life away.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Episode 8, "You're Fired, Mr. Chips" (1977). After Bob's old college professor and mentor is forced into retirement, Bob hires him as his assistant, but he quickly discovers that the professor is better suited for the classroom than the couch.
The Old Pie in the Face Gag: Episode 12, "'Twas the Pie Before Christmas" (1977). Due to a mix-up at the printer, Bob gives Christmas cards to his group therapy group that announce he's raising his rates. In retaliation, Mr. Carlin hires someone to throw a pie in Bob's face, but the pie-thrower misses twice, hitting Mr. Peterson and Jerry. At Bob's Christmas party, the pie-thrower gets fed up with Mr. Carlin's abuse and throws the pie in his face instead of Bob's.
Write What You Know: Episode 16, "Group on a Hot Tin Roof" (1978). Mr. Plager writes a play with characters based on the other members of Bob's group therapy group, and when they watch a rehearsal, they're all offended by how they're depicted, so Plager re-writes the play based on their feedback, and it bombs.
Pretend We're a Couple: Episode 17, "Emily Carlin, Emily Carlin" (1978). Mr. Carlin asks Emily to pose as his wife at his high school reunion.
School Reunion: Episode 17, "Emily Carlin, Emily Carlin" (1978). Emily agrees to attend Mr. Carlin's high school reunion and pretend to be his wife so he can look good in front of his old classmates.
Rorschach Test: Episode 18, "Easy for You to Say" (1978). Bob shows Howard his new ink blots, and Howard reacts to them as if he's looking at pornographic images. He asks Bob if they're "'French' ink blots" and if he can take some "to show the guys at work." He even acts disgusted at one he thinks goes too far and says he wonders "what kind of tramp would pose for those."

Character Tropes

Mild Mannered Man-child: Howard Borden - Played by Bill Daily.
Frenemy: Jerry Robinson - Played by Peter Bonerz.
Swinging Bachelor: Jerry Robinson - Played by Peter Bonerz.
Slutty Spinster: Carol Kester - Played by Marcia Wallace.
Perennial Prankster: The Peeper (Cliff Murdock) - Played by Tom Poston.
Sweet Summer Child: Mrs. Lillian Bakerman - Florida Friebus.