DAY 102: The Bob Newhart Show

Series Run : 1972-1978

142 episodes

Network: CBS

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

The life of Psychiatrist Bob Hartley

Episode Watched: Oh Brother (Season 2)

Episode Summary:  Jerry’s brother comes to Chicago to work for Jerry, soon they start fighting with each other, leaving Bob to play mediator.

My Thoughts: Like most of Bob Newhart’s stand up, this show is a slow burn of comedy that builds and builds as it goes along. It really was a joy to watch, as jokes built throught the episode, the great characters surrounding Bob, a terrific guest star in Raul Julia, and a memorable exchange between Bob and a forlorn patient. This show used to be on every night at 930 in reruns as I was growing up, I often would watch it before heading to bed for the night. Watching it now brought back some nostalgia for me, but really I was amazed at how well they translated Bob’s humor into the fabric of the show. The laughs arent necessarily fired off in one liners, but rather reactions to built up situations. It is a somewhat novel approach, and one we really havent seen much of in the last 100 days, outside of maybe some BBC sitcoms. Bob goes on to have 2 other shows with his second one probably being the most infamous of them all. But this is a good one to watch for starters and to see a technique pretty rare in the sitcom world.

Memorable Quotes:

“You’re married, huh? Just as well, I would have broke your heart.” -Greg

“Bob, you know if you werent a psychologist, you’d be a great bartender” –Emily

“It’s like he rinses but he never spits” – Jerry

Acting Notables:

Bob Newhart- Bob

Suzanne Pleshette- Emily

Bill Daily- Howard

Marcia Wallace- Carol

Tomorrow: Another show with a supernatural woman

DAY 56: Occasional Wife

Series Run : 1966-1967

30 episodes

Network: NBC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Bachelor hires a woman to act as his wife so he can get promoted at work

Episode Watched: The Rivalry (Season 1)

Episode Summary:  Peter forces Greta to break a date so she can accompany him to the farmhouse of his boss for the weekend

My Thoughts: Everyone needs to watch this show! Not because of the show itself, but because the narrator is VIN SCULLY! He narrates a lot, and adds a fair amount of class to a rather silly show. The premise of this show is that of an employee of a baby food company being told he will never be promoted as long as he is a bachelor, which I am pretty sure is illegal. But in tv land we don’t take the company to court, no we just go and hire a hat check girl to play the role of his wife. In addition to spending money, Peter buys Greta an apartment two floors above his own. When you have that much scratch, I wonder why you need a promotion to begin with? And if this episode is any indication, the status of having a wife did nothing to guarantee a promotion, just got him into the discussion. I assume most episodes involve Peter trying to one-up his rival in order to secure this mythical promotion. The boss Peter is beholden to is played by the guy who played Mike Brady’s boss on the Brady Bunch, and Mr. Carlin from the Bob Newhart show plays Peter’s rival. I can only assume that eventually they would have had Peter and Greta actually fall in love, but this show only lasted one season, as such I am guessing the chemistry between the two got no better than what I saw in this snippet. This seems to be another of those 1960’s show that attempts to have a strong woman character, but ignores the clearly chauvinistic premise they drop the character into. But I digress, you don’t watch this for the woman, for the man, for the plots, for the premise, NO SIR! You watch this to hear Vin Scully giving you a pseudo play by-play of the happenings.

Memorable Quotes:

“I understand, Greta.  Its only the 7th date you’ve had to break.” –Bernie

“Well Peter’s holding the suitcase, but poor Greta is left holding the bag.”- Vin Scully

“Its perfume”– Peter  “Called, An Evening in Kansas?” –Greta

Acting Notables:

Michael Callan- Peter

Patricia Harry- Greta

Vin Scully- Himself

Tomorrow: My youthful self loved it, my adult self hates it

DAY 34: Fawlty Towers

Series Run : 1975-1979

12 episodes

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Basil Fawlty and his wife run a bed and breakfast in the English countryside

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Episode Watched: The Germans (Season 1)

Episode Summary: With his wife in the hospital, Basil must run the hotel by himself, which includes hanging a moosehead, executing a fire drill, and entertaining German guests without mentioning the war.

My Thoughts: I love Monty Python, and most of the actors that were part of that troupe. However, I think I knew what Fawlty Towers was, long before I knew John Cleese was a python. I remember watching these shows on PBS growing up and having quite a laugh at each viewing, it was nice to sit down and watch an episode end to end, as its been a while. This episode is my favorite of all the Fawlty Towers, the laugh-a-minute encounter with the Germans over the last 6-7 minutes is worth seeing, even if you don’t watch the rest of it. The real star here is Cleese and his character of Fawlty, a man as clueless as he is obstinate. His wife and housekeeper do excellent as the straight men to his lunacy, and the waiter Manuel adds some excellent physical humor to the mix. I believe I referenced this show when talking about the Brittas Empire (Day 9), and there is a lot of similarity, beyond the English accents. Additionally, Bob Newhart’s second show, Newhart,  was derived from Fawlty Towers. All of that being said, I was shocked to see that only 12 episodes were ever produced over the course of 4 years and 2 seasons (6 episodes each). Perhaps the episodes were cut in half for broadcast on PBS, or it just seems like there was more than this pedestrian amount. In any case, this is a good one and I recommend it highly.

Memorable Quotes:

“What’s the point of reminding me of what I am already doing?”-Basil

“What’s the point of a fire extinguisher, it sits there for months and when you need it, it blows your bloody head off. “- Basil

“They’re Germans, don’t mention the war”– Basil

Acting Notables:

John Cleese- Basil

Prunella Scales- Sybil

Connie Booth- Polly

Andrew Sachs- Manuel

Tomorrow: Don Adams attempt at Law and Order