IN MEMORIAM: Bob Newhart, 1929-2024

The great Bob Newhart passed away yesterday at the age of 94. In a career lasting over 60 years, he went from a little-remembered variety show to finally earning an Emmy Award for guesting on The Big Bang Theory. But it was what he did in-between that landed him among TV icons.

He was the star of not one, but two long-running and beloved TV sitcoms, both named for him. The Bob Newhart Show ran from 1972-1978. And while it never got the acclaim or awards as its studio stablemate (and lead-in), The Mary Tyler Moore Show, it became an iconic show that earned legions of fans for its sophistication. Newhart insisted that his on screen persona, Bob Hartley and wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) never had kids because he didn't want the show to be like all the family sitcoms that had mostly dominated the TV landscape since its inception. As a result, the Chicago-set sitcom had a sophistication. It wasn't often racy like the Norman Lear shows, but it was very clearly a show made for adults. 

Four years after Newhart chose to end his first sitcom, he returned to CBS with Newhart. This show was a little bit quirkier with Newhart taking the role of Dick Loudon, a similar personality to Bob Hartley but this time he was an innkeeper in Vermont and once again surrounded by quirky characters. While the show ran for eight years, it is most remembered for its finale where Dick Loudon was hit by a golf ball and passed out only to wake up as Bob Hartley in bed with Emily as the audience found out the entire Newhart show had been a dream of Bob's. 

In both sitcoms, Bob Newhart was famous for his deadpan delivery. He was the straight man in a world surrounded by eccentrics and he played it so well. His responses to phone conversations or unusual happenstances were a master class in restrained delivery and comedy. Newhart had a couple other short-lived sitcoms: Bob in 1992-1993 and George & Leo in 1997-1998. He was on the stand-up circuit and also had a memorable appearance in 2003's Elf. But it his two sitcoms, running a total of 14 years and 322 episodes that will be his legacy for years and decades to come. Do yourself a favor and check them out if you never have or haven't for a long time. His humor holds up exceptionally well.