Bye, Bob.
You meant the world to so many of us. Your talents certainly weren't confined to your television work (your vinyl comedy albums are legendary), but it is there that you most famously entertained generations of fans old and new. Like so many entertainment icons before you, and the few that are left, you helped make broadcast television the cultural behemoth that it became, beginning in 1961 with your NBC variety hour and continuing in the '70s with your classic sitcom The Bob Newhart Show and your memorable guest-hosting stints on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, in the '80s with your other smash sitcom Newhart, in the 2000s with two other sadly short-lived sitcoms (Bob and George and Leo) and then in the current millennium with recurring roles on Desperate Housewives, The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has been reading my columns through the years that when I hear the name Bob Newhart I instantly obsess over The Bob Newhart Show, in which he portrayed perpetually put-upon Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley, and Newhart, in which he portrayed perpetually put-upon Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon. These shows are two of my personal all-time favorites -- but way beyond that, they both deserve important places in television history.
In the '70s,The Bob Newhart Show was part of CBS' formidable Saturday night lineup, which included at various times All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Carol Burnett Show. These shows were the foundation of what is arguably the strongest same-night schedule in broadcast television history; a schedule that is even more impressive because it ran on Saturday nights, when millions of people would stay home to watch. (Imagine … Must-See TV on Saturday nights!) For six seasons Bob Newhart was an integral part of its success.
In the '80s,Newhart was Bob's second consecutive hit. Few television stars can claim so profound an accomplishment. (Lucille Ball did it with I Love Lucyand The Lucy Show -- and continued her run at the top with Here's Lucy, though I would argue that the latter two haven't aged as well as the first. Bea Arthur and Betty White bounced from Maude and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, respectively, to The Golden Girls. But Bob, like Lucy, was the solo title star of his back-to-back TV wins.)
If for no other reason, Newhart will always be remembered for giving us the best broadcast TV series finale ever -- one that will likely never be matched, no matter how long the medium endures. In 1990, the closing scene of the series' last episode took place in Bob Hartley's bedroom from The Bob Newhart Show, with Bob waking up next to his wife Emily, once again portrayed by Suzanne Pleshette, and revealing that everything that happened across eight seasons of Newhart had been one long bad dream.
It may seem an odd choice of words, but the end of the Newhart finale was thrilling. Over on pay cable, the final scene of The Sopranos, which had millions of us thinking our cable had gone out, came close in terms of its cultural impact at the time. But Newhart gets the top prize for an ending that had everyone talking -- one that tied together two long-running series across two decades (and into the beginning of a third) and was perfect in keeping with the inspired lunacy that characterized the show. (Newhart was punctuated by moments of nutty genius not unlike those of Green Acres.)
There is so much talk these days about the challenges facing broadcast television. Everyone is beating up on it. But with thoughts of The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart top of mind at the moment, they serve as a vivid reminder of the enduring enrichment that so many scripted broadcast comedies have brought us through the years, and a sad reminder that the proliferation of such shows seems to have reached an end. I wonder why this is happening, given the escalating popularity on streamers of scripted series that first ran on broadcast television (as well as basic cable, which seems also to be under attack)?
Which reminds me … I think I'll binge a few episodes of The Bob Newhart Show tonight on Hulu. And then I'll watch that Newhart finale on Prime Video.
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