Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 13-1: The Bob Newhart Show

*Welcome back to Battle of the Network Shows! We are excited to bring you a packed 13th season!

*The Bob Newhart Show was on CBS for 6 seasons, 1972-1978, and aired 142 episodes--all on Saturday nights, most at 9:30. It won zero Emmys and only 4 nominations.

*Perhaps the show Mike is thinking of as a Saturday night non-sitcom is Mission Impossible, which aired on Saturdays for a while, including for 1 1/2 seasons in the early 1970s.

*The 1961 Bob Newhart Show from 1961 ran one season on NBC; the variety show isn't easy to see, but you can get a glimpse of it in this week's video playlist.

*The books we reference are I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! by Bob Newhart and Hi, Bob! by Joey Green.

*The complete series DVD set is still available from Shout!

*Ages at the time of this episode: Bob is 43, Suzanne is 35.

"Don't Go to Bed Mad" (Season 1, Episode 8) has Emily upset over Bob's Monday Night Football habits. "Motel" (Season 2, Episode 2) shows Bob and Jerry going to a motel so they can watch a big game. There's another early episode where Bob wants to watch a big basketball game but has to do it in the bedroom because Emily has scheduled a PTA meeting at the apartment (Season 1, Episode 21, "Emily, I'm Home...Emily?")

*Peter Bonerz was in The Premise in New York and later in San-Francisco-based The Committee.

*Season 3's "The Battle of the Groups" is when two of Bob's groups go on a retreat together.

*"Mister Emily Hartley" is the eighth episode of Season 2, and it premiered November 3, 1973. Check out the podcast for details on what other shows aired that night, and catch some clips in our video playlist.

*Ben Gazzara starred in Run For Your Life, which I mention because it was one of my favorite TV show openings ever (See it in the playlist) and Arrest and Trial, a show that preceded Law and Order by decades!

*Writer Charlotte Brown is not to be confused with short-lived Peanuts character Charlotte Braun. Brown produced Rhoda, which we talked about last season!

*Regarding Bob's comment about Emily knowing Nixon's home prices: In 1973, Richard Nixon was asked how he could afford his $1.5 million San Clemente estate. This became a thing, with some explorations into the possibility that he used money from his 1968 campaign to buy the place and questions about the role of longtime associate Bebe Rebozo. Nixon's folks at different times gave different numbers for the total costs of the house and the down payments 

*"Roller Disco," the CHiPs episode where Bill Daily manages Leif Garrett's rocker, was our topic in this episode of the podcast from back in our first season!

Please enjoy our video playlist for this episode with promos, intros, commercials, and more! Click below to go right to it, or you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past episodes and similar lists for each one of them!

Episode 13-1: The Bob Newhart Show

We open our 13th season in the Windy City with an all-time classic, The Bob Newhart Show. In "Mister Emily Hartley," psychologist Bob Hartley reluctantly takes an IQ test only to learn he has a lower IQ than his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette). Attending the Chicago High IQ Club dance as Emily's plus-one only confirms his feelings of inferiority as he suffers indignity after indignity. We discuss this along iwth the show's high-level consistency, stellar cast, and questionable fashions.

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Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

RetroFan Review: issue 40 spotlights a former BOTNS Retro Retro show!

I'm still a bit behind in my RetroFan reviews, but I can't let issue 40 go without comment. After all, the cover boy is Jay North, star of our Retro Retro series from Season 11, Dennis the Menace!

My standard message remains in effect: RetroFan is my favorite mag, and I recommend you check it out at TwoMorrows.com.

Mark Voger's cover story on the 1959 CBS series is a great overview (Listen to our podcast for some more details) of the series itself but also delves into the unfortunate dark side of the show for North. His on-set guardian was an abusive aunt who physically hit him (out of sight of the other adults) when he messed up a line. No wonder North grew to resent the show before reconciling it with later (He died earlier this year).

Voger manages to convey the gravity of that situation while still celebrating the accomplishments of the sitcom and its comic strip origins. Just be aware the story is as much about North and the perils of child stardom.

Another cover subject is the equally precocious Incredible Hulk! Andy Mangels discusses a show that we might well have covered on the podcast if it weren't mysteriously unavailable on Disney Plus: The 1982 Saturday morning Hulk cartoon on NBC. Mangels is also puzzled by its scarcity, but he delivers my favorite piece in the whole issue.

He gets some interesting quotes from some original animators, like Rick Hoberg, who assets that much of Marvel's animation team turned its attention right to G.I. Joe as soon as that deal went into effect and therefore wasn't too disappointed when NBC ordered no new episodes after the initial 13. Mangels does explore the original plan for a second season: A pairing of Bruce Banner with his cousin Jen Walters, AKA She-Hulk. He also talks about the idea to give a series to Video Man from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Anyone who is curious about the history of the neglected 1982 Hulktoon must read this one.

Will Murray covers one of the greatest Western TV series, Have Gun Will Travel. He focuses on star Richard Boone's influence on the show and the production changes behind the scenes over the course of its 6 years. It's all fascinating stuff, though as is often the case with these TV overviews, I would have loved more discussion of specific notable episodes.

I enjoyed the story on Big Little Books adapting adventure TV shows. Like all these pieces, it's well illustrated with interesting photos and examples. Coverage of The Prisoner takes an interesting angle, with an interview with a creator of a comic book based on the show and a travel story about visiting the original shooting location in Wales.

This is a very 50s/60s issue, what with a look at Remco's 1966 Lost in Space robot toy, plus an extensive profile of Mickey Dolenz's time starring in Circus Boy. The latter draws heavily on Dolenz's autobiography, and it makes me think I really ought to read that book.

Hogan's Heroes gets a thorough profile courtesy of Bob Crane biographer Carol Ford. While there is an obvious emphasis on Crane, Ford does not neglect other individuals and aspects of the show.

This is a stellar issue of RetroFan, and though the Hulk piece is one of the few with direct relevance to BOTNS-era TV, I think our listeners will find a lot to enjoy. 

Top Ten #375

1) Season 13: The podcast returns next week! And that is all I will say until Thursday!

2) The Paul Lynde Halloween Special: Thanks to Jason in our Facebook group for reminding everyone, hey, it's time to start firming up plans for our annual watch parties!

3) Roosevelt Franklin: Thanks to my uncle snagging it for me, I am now the proud owner of the new action figure of this Sesame legend:

4) Farmer's Day: I could try to link to a 1982 ag report that aired at 5:00 AM, but let's save that for next year and instead give all the farmers a giant SALLLLL-UUUTE!

5) Out of the Darkness: 40 years ago tonight, CBS aired this TV movie about the Son of Sam saga. Martin Sheen and Hector Elizondo starred, and some guy named Charlie Sheen was credited as "Man Shaving."

6) Susan Anton: Happy 75th birthday to one of the big stars of the BOTNS sweet spot (1975-1985)!

7) The 1975 World Series: Game 2 of one the most remembered Fall Classics in MLB history aired on NBC 50 years ago today...at 1:00 in the afternoon! The game was played in a wet Fenway Park and was interrupted by a big rain delay.

8) Viva Valdez: I had hoped Sony would celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by uploading another episode, but I'll just post one they already gave us:

9) ABC Weekend Special: The anthology program for kids returned with a new episode on this day in 1985: "Captain O.G. Readmore's Jack and the Beanstalk."

10)  Hockey: The NHL returned this week! For TV coverage...don't go to USA Network. They don't have it anymore.

Next Week on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Top Ten #374

1) Roku Channel: Something happened over there, and the platform got a nice influx of classic TV for October, including a lot of Sony library programs that had been limited to a season or two. It's been way too long since someone was able to binge The Facts of Life on streaming.

2) The Munsters: Tubi added the show, which we cover here, for October. It's a good thing it landed there. Grandpa's first spell put the show on History Vault.

3) Peanuts: The gang celebrates is 75th anniversary this week, and I bet there are a few seniors out there who still have bits of Almond Joy in their teeth.

4) McCoy: The short-lived Tony Curtis starrer debuted 50 years ago tonight as part of NBC's Mystery Wheel. The title character was a con man who turned "good" to outcon other con men.

5) President Harry Truman: He gave the first televised presidential address on this date in 1947. Viewers on YouTube had to sit through an unskippable 60-second ad for Thomas Dewey.

6) Gimme a Break: 40 years ago tonight, the series aired "The Man from Zoron," in which Ken Berry played a man claiming to be from outer space. Hey, I kind of want to see this now. Note that Berry gets special guest star credit in the actual opening credits/theme song. 

7) Angela Lansbury: She's Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month. OK, OK, I suppose she had a career before Murder, She Wrote.

8) National Pizza Month: I plan to celebrate early and often.

9) The Honeymooners: Ralph Kramden debuted on this day in 1951 as a sketch on DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars, and Catchy Comedy celebrates with a marathon of the show this weekend. Outside the BOTNS time frame, you say? The 'Mooners are always welcome around here!

(The Classic 39 filmed half-hour version of the show premiered October 1, 1955.)

10) Ron Friedman, Patricia Routledge: We missed the death of the longtime TV writer a few weeks ago.