Newhart And Television…

In the photo, we see Bob with an RCA TK41 at NBC Burbank. Notice the lens turret handle on the back of the camera is at a kind of 2 o’clock position which is an easy way to “cap” the camera to save the three very expensive IO tubes inside. There are four lens positions on the turret and lock in with the handle at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions. At the link is a few rare seconds of ‘The Bob Newhart Show’ on NBC in 1961.

There’s too much to tell about Bob Newhart’s sitcoms, and we’ll take those up at another time. This story is more about Bob’s rise to fame via television and the many shows he appeared on before his sitcom days at CBS, and we’ll start at NBC Burbank.

Newhart’s success in stand-up led to his own NBC variety show in 1961, ‘The Bob Newhart Show’. The show lasted only a single season, but earned Newhart a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and a Peabody Award. The Peabody Board cited him as:

“… a person whose gentle satire and wry and irreverent wit waft a breath of fresh and bracing air through the stale and stuffy electronic corridors. A merry marauder, who looks less like St. George than a choirboy, Newhart has wounded, if not slain, many of the dragons that stalk our society. In a troubled and apprehensive world, Newhart has proved once again that laughter is the best medicine.”

In the mid-1960s, Newhart appeared on The Dean Martin Show 24 times, and on The Ed Sullivan Show eight times. He appeared in a 1963 episode of ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Hour’, “How to Get Rid of Your Wife”, and on ‘The Judy Garland Show’. Newhart guest-hosted ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’ 87 times, and hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ twice, 15 years apart (1980 and 1995).

In addition to stand-up comedy, Newhart appeared as a character actor on ‘Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre’, ‘It’s Garry Shandling’s Show’ and he appeared as Dr. Bob Hartley on ‘Murphy Brown’. He also appeared as himself on ‘The Simpsons’, and as a retired forensic pathologist on ‘NCIS’.

Newhart guest-starred on three episodes of ‘ER’, for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, and on ‘Desperate Housewives’. In 2013 he appeared on ‘Committed’ and was in an episode of the sixth season of ‘The Big Bang Theory’, for which he was awarded a Primetime Emmy Award, and several episodes of the seventh season.

‘Password’ welcomed Bob many times, as did other game shows which are too numerous to mention.

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