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The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers. The show was filmed before a live audience.
“THE DOCTOR IS IN!”
1973
Bob's therapy group insists that he accept an invitation for the group to conduct one of its weekly sessions on television.
A trip to Peoria turns into one long embarrassment for Bob when Jerry introduces him to a pretty girl named Janine. Janine doesn't seem to care that Bob is a married man.
One of Bob's more masculine patients enthusiastically slaps him on the back—and, unfortunately for Bob, it throws his back out. Even more unfortunately, Bob and Emily were supposed to be going to Mexico for a vacation.
Rev. Dan Bradford seeks professional advice from Bob then makes a startling announcement in his Sunday sermon.
With Carol on vacation, Emily is elected to fill in as the receptionist. Everyone loves the idea—except Bob.
Marilyn Dietz, a very attractive divorcee, creates a feud between Jerry and Howard when she starts dating both of them.
A rather embarrassing operation leads to romance between Carol and her doctor. Everyone questions the relationship due to the new couple's age disparity.
Bob suffers an inferiority attack when a test reveals that Emily's IQ is higher than his.
Bob decides to meet the rising cost of living by raising his rates. But the members of his therapy group revolt when he picks the most inappropriate moment to tell them.
Bob turns out to be an uncooperative patient when Emily makes an appointment for them to see a marriage counselor.
Determined to lose eight pounds from around his middle, Bob goes on a strict diet. With Jerry's help, he joins a weight-reducing class that seems to be populated mostly by women.
Howard's son, Howie is visiting. Howard tells Bob he and his ex-wife, Lois, are getting along really well lately, and he thinks she wants to get together again, but Howard's upset to find out she's getting married, and wants Howard's approval.
Emily's parents pay a surprise visit that makes Bob terribly uncomfortable. Emily's father is gregarious, well-traveled, a war hero, an outdoors man—in short, everything that Bob isn't.
Bob's patient Elliot Carlin parades all his phobias and insecurities as he prepares to ask Carol Kester for a date. He then finds it even harder to accept her answer—which is "yes."
Christmas Eve is almost spoiled when Bob is trapped in the office because of a power failure.
Jerry Robinson's brother shows up in Chicago after finishing dental school. He takes over Jerry's life, his apartment, and his dental practice.
Emily decides to update her image with a kicky new wardrobe that she says is youthful and Bob says is childish.
Depressed after losing his job with the airline, Howard accepts Bob's offer to join his "out of workshop," a special therapy group for the unemployed. (Bob extends the invitation at Emily's insistence when Howard's attempts to help her around the apartment begin driving her up the wall.)
Hoping to make a contribution to society, Bob offers his psychological counseling services free to a parolee out on an armed-robbery conviction. But Bob seems to be more influenced by his patient's manner than the patient is by Bob's therapy.
At Jerry's urging, Bob hires a business manager to handle his money. He ends up living on a meager allowance that affords him only such luxuries as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.
Howard falls head over heels in love with Bob's sister Ellen. Under most circumstances, Bob would find this perfectly acceptable—except that Ellen is getting married to someone else.
When Carol's new love interest interferes with her work, Jerry Robinson doesn't seemed too concerned. But when it disrupts his love life, he decides to fire her.
While filling in for a fellow psychologist, Bob is surprised to find that his first patient is Jerry Robinson, who is reluctant to reveal his problem. A little prodding produces the startling admission that Jerry is in love with Emily.
It's a matter of principal versus principle when Emily refuses to skip one of her students ahead two grades at the elementary school where she teaches.
1976
Bob receives a telegram saying that his old college chum, The Peeper, is coming to Chicago and bringing a surprise. The surprise turns out to be a brand-new bride.
The Hartleys miss their friend's gala Fourth of July Bicentennial party celebration when they become trapped in a storage locker.
Bob's therapy group has an unexpected visitor when a friendly homosexual joins in the sessions.
The Hartleys take a vacation. In their absence, Howard undergoes a crash psychological program that changes his entire personality.
The Hartley apartment becomes a hot and cold battleground when the good doctor declares psychological warfare on his landlord.
Both Bob's receptionist and a Buddha figure with a clock in its navel give the psychologist a hard time.
Bob and his friends host an orphan contingent for a wildly improbable camping-out experience.
Bob turns amateur detective when he believes that his expensive tape recorder has been stolen.
Bob and his friend The Peeper take a trip down Memory Lane and wind up in the slammer.
Bob defends the work ethic when Jerry comes into a pile of money and promptly retires from the dental profession.
Jerry, retired orthodontist and orphan, takes off on a world tour to search for his long-lost parents.
Bob undergoes a shock when his mother announces that she has separated from his father after 47 years of marriage.
Bob takes on the role of Christmas peacemaker when he attempts to reconcile his parents.
Bob watches in amazement as one of his patients supports a blossoming romance with a tissue of lies.
Bob's invitation to lecture at a prestigious sex seminar results in distress when the audience shows up nude.
Bob runs into marital problems when he brings his therapy group home for a wild role-playing encounter.
Bob succumbs to the pressures of living in a big city and desperately seeks employment of a small rural college.
Bob thinks that Veronica Kidd, a student trainee, has fallen in love with him.
Bob strikes out against a friend's fear of falling, but succumbs to the same phobia himself when he is subjected to a harrowing elevator experience.
Bob's memory is taxed to the limit when he forgets that April 15 is the Federal income tax deadline—and also the date of the Hartleys' seventh wedding anniversary.
Bob is held hostage in his office by a friendly bank robber.
A despondent friend accepts Bob's suggestion and turns the psychologist's reception area into a mini-Polynesian village.
Bob offers sound psychological advice to his wife and his therapy group on how to handle anger. Then he proceeds to blow up himself.
Hot baby news is the order of the day when Carol, Bob's receptionist, announces that she's expecting a baby. Then, Emily drops her bombshell—and Bob nearly comes unglued at the prospect of becoming a father.
1974
Bob is faced with the possibility that his younger sister, Ellen, may move in with Howard, her boyfriend.
Bob takes two of his therapy groups to a rustic retreat for a marathon session that never progresses further than everyone's complaints about the primitive conditions of their accommodations.
Dr Newman removed a wart from Bob's neck and charged him. Bob tells Jerry he should have done it for free since Bob had helped him with his marriage. Jerry agrees and sets up a plan where all the doctors treat each other for free.
For the sake of their marriage, as well as Emily's Master's Degree and Bob's heavy work schedule, the Hartleys decide that it would be best if they took up separate residences.
As Howard prepares to introduce Howie to Ellen, he tries to remold Ellen into an image the boy will like.
Bob gives up most of his private practice to become the staff psychologist with a major insurance company. He soon learns that it's possible for a man in the corporate world to do his job too well.
Bob's office routine becomes a wreck when Jerry hires a temporary receptionist. She's a very nice but very vague woman who can't even get Bob's name straight.
Having preached honesty in relationships to his patients, Bob decides to follow his own advice. Immediately he offends two dinner guests and starts an argument with Emily.
Bob's first literary venture turns out to be less than triumphant. His embarrassment makes him reluctant to join a convention of psychologists on a flight to Hawaii, especially when he finds out that Howard is the navigator.
Carol's announcement that she's going to marry Don Fesler—an unpublished poet with bad feet—brings negative reactions from her friends.
Emily's plans for a wonderful turkey dinner go downhill when Bob's mother and Emily's father begin insulting one another the night before Thanksgiving.
Bob forms an all-women consciousness-raising group. He gets kicked out after Emily joins and inadvertently points out some of the unliberated areas in their own marriage.
After renewing an acquaintance with the beautiful and free-spirited Courtney Simpson, Jerry decides to give up his dental practice: he wants to follow his dreams of romance and adventure by taking Miss Simpson to Tahiti.
Bob thinks his chances of winning a doctor's tennis tournament are pretty good until he learns that his doubles partner will be Emily.
Facing the depressing prospect of returning home to Iowa to spend the holidays with her domineering parents, Carol brings her troubles to Bob's apartment. There she spends Christmas Eve pouring out the disasters of her childhood.
Ellen's ex-fiancee, John Tobin—a tall, handsome egomaniac in suede and leather—arrives in Chicago to win Ellen back. The situation plays havoc with Howard's basic insecurities.
Before he has a chance to say no, Bob finds himself running for the chairman of the local school board against an incumbent who hasn't attended a board meeting for six months.
Emily is more than a little curious about Bob's reluctance to talk about a girl he used to date. Then Howard inadvertently spills the beans.
Bob and Jerry have a falling-out when Jerry demands that Bob lend him money for a new motorcycle.
With his confidence fading as fast as his list of patients, Bob decides to follow Emily's advice and see a psychiatrist about his problem.
Emily redecorates the apartment in antiques. Bob finds her choice of furniture uncomfortable, unappealing, and hazardous to his health.
Bob breaks a long-standing rule against treating friends when he agrees to counsel Emily's chum, whose marriage to a muscular gym teacher seems to be breaking up.
Emily agrees to help operate a children's summer camp and tries to persuade Bob to be one of the counselors.
Bob becomes the "oldest permanent psychologist in Chicago" when the ceiling in his office collapses and he has to set up shop wherever he can find the space.
1972
Bob invites Emily to join his fear of flying group on a trip to New York City. Much to Bob's surprise he finds that Emily also has a fear of flying and refuses to go. After a conversation with Howard she decides to go only to back out after boarding the plane.
It's Vocation Day in Emily's class, and Bob feels left out when he's not invited. At the last minute, he's asked to fill in, but Emily's worst fears are confirmed when Bob fails to excite the kids' interest.
Bob experiences pangs of jealousy when Emily's handsome new tennis instructor comes to see him with an emotional problem, namely, his inability to turn down the women who are all uncontrollably attracted to him.
Bob finds it extremely difficult to tell his mother that he loves her.
Bob's old girlfriend comes to Chicago with her husband and calls on Emily and Bob.
Carol tries to get Bob to approve her moving in with her new boyfriend Roger, who has just separated from his wife. Bob refuses, telling her she will have to make her own decision.
Bob's divorced neighbor, Howard Borden, is convinced that his son, Howie, doesn't really like him. Later, Howard's ex-wife convinces him that Howie thinks he is the greatest guy in the world.
Bob wants to watch football every Monday night. Emily feels this is unfair: their other activities allow the couple only two nights each week to be together, and she thinks they should do something that they both enjoy. This leads to an unresolved, all-night argument that ends only when the two participants become exhausted.
Bob and Emily have been trying for some time to have a child. When they attend a party where the conversation turns to the subject of children, they feel so left out that they decide to adopt a child.
As soon as Bob returns to the office from his vacation in Mexico, Jerry announces that he is about to be married to a girl he met nine days ago. Cynthia, a beautiful but domineering oral hygienist, becomes too much for Jerry, and he realizes that he has made a mistake.
Bob decides that for his own mental well-being, he needs some peace and quiet. He moves into a hotel room by himself, leaving a confused Howard Borden thinking that Bob and Emily have split up.
Howard "floats" into Bob's office on Cloud Nine after having a tooth pulled. He is so poetic that Carol tells Emily, "I want him." Emily agrees to help Carol get him, and the two have an up-and-down romance.
Jerry decides there is something wrong with him because he never becomes serious about any of the girls he dates. He asks Bob if he can become one of his patients. Bob agrees, but they have to abandon the plan when it begins to interfere with their friendship.
Christmas becomes a sad memory for Bob's group therapy session, and it's evident that "'tis not the season" for everyone to be jolly. Bob decides to invite the group over for Christmas Eve.
Bob and Emily travel to a ski lodge that's nearly deserted except for the annoying couple with whom they share a bathroom. After sitting through a disastrous dinner, the Hartleys decide to leave only to find themselves caught in the spotlight of the abominable floor show they're trying to escape.
Feeling unfulfilled as a woman, and having just passed her 29th birthday, Carol quits her job as Bob's receptionist. After having been gone for a while, Carol suddenly shows up at one of Bob's group-therapy sessions and creates a situation in which Bob finds himself more of a patient than a doctor.
Bob refuses to wear the beautiful gold watch Emily gave him for his 40th birthday after he learns just how expensive it was.
When one of his patients falls in love with him, Bob has problems at the office and at home.
Howard Borden's 22-year old sister Debbie arrives to spend the week with him. Emily arranges a blind date for her with Jerry Robinson and Howard suddenly turns into an overprotective big brother.
Bob and Emily try to decide if they should give up their apartment and buy a house.
Bob is upset when Emily takes a full-time job with the Board of Education. Emily explains that working full-time makes her feel wonderful, while quitting would make her miserable. Bob decides to leave well enough alone.
When a star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs credits Bob with saving his career, the endorsement brings Bob a new patient, Moose Washburn, a second-string player whose career is beyond a mere psychologist's help.
Afraid that his practice, as well as his patients, will fall apart if he leaves, Bob keeps resisting Emily's plans for a two-month European cruise.
Recovering from another broken romance, Jerry Robinson accepts Bob's invitation to spend a couple of days at his apartment. Bob soon comes to regret his kindness.
1975
Bob's old school friend Murdock is in town for a day to sell a complex giveaway item to a Chicago cereal company. Bob invites him to stay overnight at his home. The brief encounter stretches out to a week when Murdock can't make his business connections. He gradually takes over Bob's car, clothing, and most of his home life.
Howard insists on joining Bob and Emily's anniversary dinner at a fashionable Chicago restaurant in order to enlist their aid in popping the question to Ellen. But he chokes up in the clutch, and Bob is forced to do the proposing for him.
Bob's patients observe tradition by planning a surprise party to honor the fourth year of the group's therapy sessions. When an unseen member, a Mr. Gianelli, threatens to turn the party into a disaster, Bob kicks him out of the group. His decision meets with instant group approval until Mr. Gianelli dies under a ton of zucchini.
Emily accuses Bob of being stuck in a middle-aged rut and challenges him to switch family responsibilities.
Bob and Emily invite Carol to share her "heavy" experiences with the "overweight workshop."
A blind-date-initiated, 12-hour romance culminates in Carol Kester's civil marriage to a handsome travel agent.
Bob and Emily suffer international complications when they host a French psychologist in their home as part of a medical exchange program.
Bob is depressed by his seeming lack of success as a psychologist. He seeks help from his old college professor, who manages to heighten his despair by informing him that psychology is all nonsense.
Bob accepts a seemingly innocent invitation to appear as the guest on a TV discussion program. He winds up in the jaws of a dilemma when the show host turns out to have the disposition of a shark.
Bob moves up in the world from the seventh to the tenth floor when he joins the firm of a swinging psychiatrist.
It's a stag Thanksgiving for Bob when Emily flies off to join a family reunion, leaving Bob to share the holiday with his male buddies.
Bob suffers family problems when his mother becomes a houseguest and an elderly patient involves him in a parent-child vendetta.
When she's given an assignment to see what makes a bunch of doctors tick, inquiring news reporter Ellen Hartley gives Bob and his medical cohorts the tell-it-like-it-is treatment.
Emily must contend with irate teachers, hamsters, and an escaped snake when she's unexpectedly upped to the position of school vice principal.
Christmas Eve finds Bob in the hospital with tonsillitis and an impending operation. Meanwhile, his friends are all suffering from an attack of Christmas-itis.
Bob becomes his patient's partner in a get-rich-quick real-estate venture.
Bob contends with a patient's delusion that her bingo game is fixed, staggers through a series of wild poker parties, and watches in wonder as his secretary slowly smothers under an attack of love.
Howard's game-warden brother comes to Chicago to witness the mating of two whooping cranes—and stays to make a play for Howard's girlfriend.
Jerry Robinson's depression turns to instant joy when a globe-trotting ex-flame suddenly re-enters his life and proposes.
A professional basketball team hires Bob to give a psychological assist to its superstar.
Bob develops a unique psychological problem when his receptionist, Carol, decides to resume her college career and become a psychologist.
The Hartleys are bombarded with legal hassles when Bob is sued by a shy patient and Emily decides to fight a parking ticket.
The Hartleys entertain Howard Borden's young son and hire a beauty queen as his babysitter.
Cliff Murdock, Bob's old laugh-a-minute college buddy, affectionately known as The Peeper, pays a return visit.
Bob Newhart
Robert Hartley
Suzanne Pleshette
Emily Hartley
Bill Daily
Howard Borden
Marcia Wallace
Carol Kester
Peter Bonerz
Jerry Robinson
1977
Bob's well-ordered life turns topsy-turvy when he and Emily move to a new Chicago residence.
Bob's attempt at treating convicts who are about to be released has him climbing the walls.
Jerry is terrified of losing his new dream girl.
Bob is puzzled when his henpecked patient, Mr. Petersen, asserts himself with far-reaching consequences.
Bob deals with the amusing problems of an improbable paternity suit and a phone paging service that never pages him.
Bob's impulsive decision to leave town for a week is received with disastrous emotions by his patients, who seemingly can't make it without him.
It's no laughing matter for Howard when his 12-year-old son Howie announces he's leaving home to become a comedian.
Bob interviews a variety of psychologists to take over his patients while he's out of town. It's soon apparent that they are very much in need of help themselves. When Bob's former teacher, Professor Dreebe, offers his services, it seems the perfect answer.
At first, Bob is thrilled when a nontalkative patient named Mr. Twillmer finally opens up after being told that anything he might say will be held in the strictest confidence. His joy is short-lived when Twillmer confesses to grand larceny.
Emily's protective instincts are aroused when 70-year-old Grace DuBois, an odd but friendly recluse, is threatened with being sent to a rest home for elderly people who can't cope with reality.
Bob and Emily celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary with a dream flight into the fantasy of being married to different partners.
Bob finds himself with unhappy and hostile patients who refuse to attend his Christmas party when they are mistakenly informed of a rate increase at the height of the Yuletide season. One patient is moved to hire a pie-throwing service.
The Hartleys embark on a seagoing vacation to put work behind them. But Bob can't resist playing psychologist when he undertakes to counsel a married couple.
Emily Hartley discovers a new low in male chauvinism when Bob's father arranges a fishing trip to his cabin and assigns her woman's work while the men brave the great out-of-doors.
Bob counsels a quintet of jovial ex-convicts to help them find honest employment.
Bob advises a patient named Mr. Plager to realize his human potential by writing a play based on his own experiences. But when Plager writes, directs, and produces an actual World War I drama whose characters bear a startling resemblance to the rest of Bob's patients, the warfare really begins.
Bob's paranoid, perennial patient, Mr. Carlin, involves Emily in his scheme to impress his former schoolmates—especially a girl who never gave him the time of day.
Paul Billingham—known to his radio fans as Ralph Alfalfa, the Happy Farmer—comes to Bob because of his stuttering problem. On radio, he practiced several unseen rhythmic devices to mask his problem, but a new television opportunity threatens to expose his problem with disastrous results.
Bob's friends close ranks to "protect" Emily Hartley when a handsome old flame pays her a very warm visit.
On the eve of being announced "Secretary of the Year," Carol informs Bob that she's leaving his employ.
At the school where Emily works, low reading scores prompt indignant outbursts and threats from angry parents. Principal Phil Bannister flees their wrath by going on an extended fishing trip—but not before he tells Emily to handle the crisis.
Bob gives up his psychological practice in Chicago to become a professor at a small college in Oregon.
