DVD The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Second Season:
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DVD The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Second Season
In its sophomore season, The Bob Newhart Show became an integral part of CBS's phenomenal Stay Home Saturday lineup of now-immortal shows that included All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Carol Burnett Show. Audiences were initially slow to pick up on Bob, but by its second season, the show was on a roll, and enjoyed the highest ratings of its six-year run.
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The season-opening episode, "Last TV Show," in which Chicago psychologist Bob reluctantly, and regretfully, allows one of his group-therapy sessions to be filmed for television, is a series classic that showcases Newhart's gifts as a great reactive comic actor. The Bob Newhart Show mined brilliant character-based comedy from Bob's interactions with his patients (including the supremely neurotic Mr. Carlin, indelibly portrayed by Jack Riley), his best friend, womanizing dentist Jerry (Peter Bonerz), his wisecracking receptionist Carol (Macia Wallace), his intrusive neighbor Howard, a divorced airline pilot (Bill Daily), and, of course, his usually level-headed schoolteacher wife of five years, Emily (Suzanne Pleschette). Among her finest half-hours are "Mister Emily Hartley," in which Bob discovers that Emily's I.Q. is higher than his, and "The Modernization of Emily," in which Emily embarks on a disastrous youth kick after she meets a former student who is now in college. Through it all, the pitch-perfect writing keeps it real and in perfect sync with Newhart's understated style. In addition to the wonderful ensemble, this second season is brightened by several "before they were famous" appearances, by, among others, Teri Garr ("Confessions of an Orthodontist"), a pre-Fonzie Henry Winkler ("Clink Shrink"), Howard Hesseman ("The Jobless Corps"), and Raul Julia ("Oh, Brother"). Incredibly, The Bob Newhart Show never won an Emmy, but it endures as one of TV's class acts. --Donald Liebenson
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Review(s): DVD The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Second Season
Best of All Seasons
This season brought us the best stuff in the whole series. Really funny, original, and truly "situational" comedy of the first rank.
Like many others here, I watched this show when it was on TV (although I'd not heard of the accompanying drinking game until today). Being born and bred in Chicago, though, there was a great mystery here...
In the opening sequence, we see Bob leaving his downtown Chicago office. We then see him repeatedly going back and forth across the north branch of the Chicago River. Which leads any reviewer to speculate on the causes for this:
1. Did he find Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) too hard to take, and was debating whether to go home or not?
2. Did Bob have undiagnosed ADHD?
3. Was he looking for the Billy Goat Tavern?
The audio commentaries on the DVD, while great, leave these questions unanswered. What we do get here, though, is great TV: no innuendos, no racial humor, nothing but straight, funny writing and acting. And this season was the best!
Better Than The First Season!
As funny as the first season was, the second season (1973-1974) of "The Bob Newhart Show" is even more hilarious. This show thrived on a great ensemble cast and great writing, and after the first season all the minor hiccups had been worked out. It is difficult to believe that this show not only never won any Emmy Awards, but was never even nominated for any.
Bob's patients play a bigger role this season, and in no episode is that more apparent than the first show of the season called "Last TV Show", in which his group talks him into holding one of their sessions on Television. They are also very funny in "Mutiny on the Hartley" when they try to continue without Bob after he raises his rates. Bob's sister Ellen (Pat Finley) makes her first appearance near the end of the season in "A Love Story" where she is engaged to be married until Howard enters her life.
There are numerous great episodes this season beyond those I have already mentioned, such as "Mister Emily Hartley" where an IQ test shows that Emily's is significantly higher than Bob's, "T. S. Elliot" where Mr. Carlin takes Carol out on a Date (Shirley O'Hara's first appearance as Debbie occurs in this episode), and "By The Way...You're Fired" where Carol's new romance interferes with her job duties. As with the first season there are 24 episodes, but in this season they are smoother and more consistently funny.
There are many well known guest stars in this season. Teri Garr plays Miss Brennan, a receptionist. Mariette Hartley plays Marilyn Dietz who is fought over by Howard and Jerry after Emily sets them both up with her. Katherine Helmond plays Dr. Webster, a marriage counselor that Bob and Emily go to when their marriage seems to be stuck in a rut. Ron Glass has a minor role as an Elevator Repairman. Raul Julia plays Jerry's brother who starts stealing Jerry's patients after Jerry put him through dental school. Sharon Gless plays Rosalie Shaeffer, one of Howard's girlfriends. Howard Hesseman plays Craig Plager, one of Bob's patients. Henry Winkler plays Miles Lascoe, a man on parole for armed robbery who is one of Bob's patients.
Unlike the first season set, there are some extras included with this season. There are five audio commentaries. All of them include Bob Newhart, one by himself, one with Jack Riley who played Elliot Carlin, and the last three with Marcia Wallace who played Carol and David Davis who helped create the show. The commentaries are not the best, as there are many extended pauses and some of the stories they tell they repeat on other commentaries, however, I still enjoyed listening to them because there were some interesting stories and information about the show. There is also a short featurette on the show, with some interviews. Again I would not say it was the best I have seen, but it has its moments. Nobody should buy the set because of the extras, but they do add a little something to the total package.
The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Second Season
Fantastic show. Bob Newhart is a classic and master of the dry wit. My only question is this: when they finish releasing all of The Bob Newhart Show on DVD, will they FINALLY start releasing the equally classic Newhart show from the 80s?
Related DVD's The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Second Season
In addition to inspiring a college drinking game that's never gone out of style, The Bob Newhart Show gave one of America's greatest stand-up comedians a perfect sitcom showcase. This wasn't Newhart's first TV show (following the success of his comedy albums, he hosted a short-lived variety show in 1961-62), but it was the first to transfer his wry, inimitable wit to an effective alter ego, and as mild-mannered psychologist Bob Hartley, 43-year-old Newhart found a sublime character conduit for stone-faced sarcasm that was biting but never malicious.
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"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" was clearly comedian Bob Newhart and company's motto during the fourth season (1975-76) of The Bob Newhart Show, all 24 episodes of which are preserved in this three-disc set. Even with the show's ratings dipping somewhat, there's no shark-jumping going on here; Newhart and producers Jay Tarses and Tom Patchett clearly understood what made this show tick, and notwithstanding a little tinkering, they stuck with it. "It," of course, largely depended on Newhart himself. A brilliant reactor, he continues to bring his array of deadpan takes and brilliant, understated timing to the part of Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley, who's surrounded by the usual group of family (primarily Suzanne Pleshette as wife Emily), friends (Peter Bonerz as best bud Jerry... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 19 September 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In this third season, Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore), she of the "bright smile and infectious vivacity," got to display some of that celebrated "spunk" of hers. In the season–opener, "The Good-Time News," she demands to be paid the same amount of money as her predecessor. In "The Georgette Story," she defies her boss, Lou Grant (Ed Asner), and vainglorious anchorperson Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) by counseling Ted's new girlfriend, whom he takes for granted. And in "Romeo and Mary," she finally stands up to an overzealous suitor (guest star Stuart Margolin), which hilariously backfires on her.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show endures because its timeless comedy is drawn from the wellspring of its fully drawn characters, who were allowed to grow beyond one-note caricatures. Mary's... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 17 January 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Emmy-winning first season was an auspicious beginning. By its second season, the classic theme song "Love is All Around" has been revamped with an even more optimistic outlook: "You're gonna make it after all." In the sophomore season of this instant gold-standard sitcom, the ace writing staff and peerless ensemble begin to flesh out the iconic characters. Gruff Lou Grant (Ed Asner, enjoying his second Emmy-winning season) reveals his more loveable side when he discovers his son-in-law out with another woman in "The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch." Vain Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) becomes a more sympathetic character in "Cover Boy," featuring the hilariously preening Jack Cassidy as Ted's competitive brother, and "And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter," in which a substitute anchor earns higher... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 26 July 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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