The BEST episodes of The Bob Newhart Show season 3

Every episode of The Bob Newhart Show season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Bob Newhart Show season 3!

Bob Newhart is Dr. Robert Hartley, a Chicago psychologist living with his schoolteacher wife Emily. Complicating life for the serene, stammering doc was his neighbor, Howard, a flighty navigator; and Bob's coworkers, dentist Jerry and flippant receptionist Carol. The humor was gentle, sophisticated and, at times, wonderfully surreal.

Last Updated: 11/4/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
Bob Hits the Ceiling
star
7.64
14 votes

#1 - Bob Hits the Ceiling

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/15/1975

Bob breaks a long-standing rule against treating friends when he agrees to counsel Emily's chum, whose marriage to a muscular gym teacher seems to be breaking up.

Directors: Jay Sandrich
Writer: Phil Davis
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Gray Flannel Shrink
star
7.62
26 votes

#2 - The Gray Flannel Shrink

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/19/1974

Bob gives up most of his private practice to become the staff psychologist with a major insurance company. He soon learns that it's possible for a man in the corporate world to do his job too well.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Jerry Mayer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
My Business is Shrinking
star
7.53
17 votes

#3 - My Business is Shrinking

Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/1/1975

With his confidence fading as fast as his list of patients, Bob decides to follow Emily's advice and see a psychiatrist about his problem.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Tobin's Back in Town
star
7.33
42 votes

#4 - Tobin's Back in Town

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/4/1975

Ellen's ex-fiancee, John Tobin a tall, handsome egomaniac in suede and leather arrives in Chicago to win Ellen back. The situation plays havoc with Howard's basic insecurities.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Ceiling Hits Bob
star
7.31
16 votes

#5 - The Ceiling Hits Bob

Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/8/1975

Bob becomes the "oldest permanent psychologist in Chicago" when the ceiling in his office collapses and he has to set up shop wherever he can find the space.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The New Look
star
7.29
17 votes

#6 - The New Look

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/8/1975

Emily redecorates the apartment in antiques. Bob finds her choice of furniture uncomfortable, unappealing, and hazardous to his health.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Big Brother is Watching
star
7.24
50 votes

#7 - Big Brother is Watching

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/14/1974

Bob is faced with the possibility that his younger sister, Ellen, may move in with Howard, her boyfriend.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Battle of the Groups
star
7.21
53 votes

#8 - The Battle of the Groups

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/21/1974

Bob takes two of his therapy groups to a rustic retreat for a marathon session that never progresses further than everyone's complaints about the primitive conditions of their accommodations.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Serve for Daylight
star
7.20
50 votes

#9 - Serve for Daylight

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/14/1974

Bob thinks his chances of winning a doctor's tennis tournament are pretty good until he learns that his doubles partner will be Emily.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Writer: Jerry Mayer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Emily Hits the Ceiling
star
7.20
20 votes

#10 - Emily Hits the Ceiling

Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/22/1975

Emily agrees to help operate a children's summer camp and tries to persuade Bob to be one of the counselors.

Directors: James Burrows
Writer: Jerry Mayer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Home is Where the Hurt Is
star
7.20
46 votes

#11 - Home is Where the Hurt Is

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/21/1974

Facing the depressing prospect of returning home to Iowa to spend the holidays with her domineering parents, Carol brings her troubles to Bob's apartment. There she spends Christmas Eve pouring out the disasters of her childhood.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
We Love You... Good-Bye
star
7.19
48 votes

#12 - We Love You... Good-Bye

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/30/1974

Bob forms an all-women consciousness-raising group. He gets kicked out after Emily joins and inadvertently points out some of the unliberated areas in their own marriage.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Separation Story
star
7.17
52 votes

#13 - The Separation Story

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/5/1974

For the sake of their marriage as well as Emily's Master's Degree and Bob's heavy work schedule the Hartleys decide that it would be best if they took up separate residences.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
An American Family
star
7.17
47 votes

#14 - An American Family

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/23/1974

Emily's plans for a wonderful turkey dinner go downhill when Bob's mother and Emily's father begin insulting one another the night before Thanksgiving.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Life is a Hamburger
star
7.17
54 votes

#15 - Life is a Hamburger

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/16/1974

Carol's announcement that she's going to marry Don Fesler an unpublished poet with bad feet brings negative reactions from her friends.

Directors: George Tyne
Writer: Jerry Mayer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Jerry Robinson Crusoe
star
7.16
50 votes

#16 - Jerry Robinson Crusoe

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/7/1974

After renewing an acquaintance with the beautiful and free-spirited Courtney Simpson, Jerry decides to give up his dental practice: he wants to follow his dreams of romance and adventure by taking Miss Simpson to Tahiti.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Writer: Erik Tarloff
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Ship of Shrinks
star
7.15
54 votes

#17 - Ship of Shrinks

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/9/1974

Bob's first literary venture turns out to be less than triumphant. His embarrassment makes him reluctant to join a convention of psychologists on a flight to Hawaii, especially when he finds out that Howard is the navigator.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Think Smartly--Vote Hartley
star
7.15
48 votes

#18 - Think Smartly--Vote Hartley

Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/11/1975

Before he has a chance to say no, Bob finds himself running for the chairman of the local school board against an incumbent who hasn't attended a board meeting for six months.

Directors: Bob Finkel
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Way We Weren't
star
7.13
47 votes

#19 - The Way We Weren't

Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/18/1975

Emily is more than a little curious about Bob's reluctance to talk about a girl he used to date. Then Howard inadvertently spills the beans.

Directors: James Burrows
Writer: Roger Beatty
Watch Now:Apple TV
The Great Rimpau Medical Arts Co-Op Experiment
star
7.12
49 votes

#20 - The Great Rimpau Medical Arts Co-Op Experiment

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1974

Jerry Robinson suggests that all the doctors in the building form a co-op to treat each other for free. This leads to chaos and hostility that find expression in Bob's special all-doctor therapy group.

Directors: George Tyne
Watch Now:Apple TV
Brutally Yours, Bob Hartley
star
7.11
53 votes

#21 - Brutally Yours, Bob Hartley

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/2/1974

Having preached honesty in relationships to his patients, Bob decides to follow his own advice. Immediately he offends two dinner guests and starts an argument with Emily.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Sorry, Wrong Mother
star
7.10
50 votes

#22 - Sorry, Wrong Mother

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/12/1974

As Howard prepares to introduce Howie to Ellen, he tries to remold Ellen into an image the boy will like.

Directors: Jay Sandrich
Watch Now:Apple TV
A Pound of Flesh
star
7.06
47 votes

#23 - A Pound of Flesh

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/25/1975

Bob and Jerry have a falling-out when Jerry demands that Bob lend him money for a new motorcycle.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Writer: Jerry Mayer
Watch Now:Apple TV
Dr. Ryan's Express
star
7.00
23 votes

#24 - Dr. Ryan's Express

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/26/1974

Bob's office routine becomes a wreck when Jerry hires a temporary receptionist. She's a very nice but very vague woman who can't even get Bob's name straight.

Directors: Alan Rafkin
Watch Now:Apple TV