The BEST episodes of The Bob Newhart Show season 4

Every episode of The Bob Newhart Show season 4, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Bob Newhart Show season 4!

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
Who is Mr. X?
star
8.00
17 votes

#1 - Who is Mr. X?

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1975

Bob accepts a seemingly innocent invitation to appear as the guest on a TV discussion program. He winds up in the jaws of a dilemma when the show host turns out to have the disposition of a shark.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Bruce Kane
Watch Now:Amazon
Shrinks Across the Sea
star
7.93
15 votes

#2 - Shrinks Across the Sea

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/25/1975

Bob and Emily suffer international complications when they host a French psychologist in their home as part of a medical exchange program.

Directors: Bob Claver
Watch Now:Amazon
Over the River and Through the Woods
star
7.92
26 votes

#3 - Over the River and Through the Woods

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/22/1975

It's a stag Thanksgiving for Bob when Emily flies off to join a family reunion, leaving Bob to share the holiday with his male buddies.

Directors: James Burrows
Writer: Bruce Kane
Watch Now:Amazon
Birth of a Salesman
star
7.79
14 votes

#4 - Birth of a Salesman

Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/14/1976

The Hartleys are bombarded with legal hassles when Bob is sued by a shy patient and Emily decides to fight a parking ticket.

Writer: Sy Rosen
Watch Now:Amazon
No Sale
star
7.50
12 votes

#5 - No Sale

Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/3/1976

Bob becomes his patient's partner in a get-rich-quick real-estate venture.

Directors: Eddie Ryder
Watch Now:Amazon
Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
star
7.44
16 votes

#6 - Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/15/1975

Bob moves up in the world from the seventh to the tenth floor when he joins the firm of a swinging psychiatrist.

Directors: Richard Kinon
Watch Now:Amazon
Fathers and Sons and Mothers
star
7.39
18 votes

#7 - Fathers and Sons and Mothers

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/29/1975

Bob suffers family problems when his mother becomes a houseguest and an elderly patient involves him in a parent-child vendetta.

Directors: James Burrows
Writer: Arnold Kane
Watch Now:Amazon
What's It All About, Albert?
star
7.37
16 votes

#8 - What's It All About, Albert?

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/1/1975

Bob is depressed by his seeming lack of success as a psychologist. He seeks help from his old college professor, who manages to heighten his despair by informing him that psychology is all nonsense.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Phil Davis
Watch Now:Amazon
The Boy Next Door
star
7.33
15 votes

#9 - The Boy Next Door

Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/21/1976

The Hartleys entertain Howard Borden's young son and hire a beauty queen as his babysitter.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Hugh Wilson
Watch Now:Amazon
Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital
star
7.33
21 votes

#10 - Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/20/1975

Christmas Eve finds Bob in the hospital with tonsillitis and an impending operation. Meanwhile, his friends are all suffering from an attack of Christmas-itis.

Directors: James Burrows
Watch Now:Amazon
Death of a Fruitman
star
7.33
42 votes

#11 - Death of a Fruitman

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/27/1975

Bob's patients observe tradition by planning a surprise party to honor the fourth year of the group's therapy sessions. When an unseen member, a Mr. Gianelli, threatens to turn the party into a disaster, Bob kicks him out of the group. His decision meets with instant group approval until Mr. Gianelli dies under a ton of zucchini.

Watch Now:Amazon
Carol's Wedding
star
7.29
17 votes

#12 - Carol's Wedding

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/18/1975

A blind-date-initiated, 12-hour romance culminates in Carol Kester's civil marriage to a handsome travel agent.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Watch Now:Amazon
Change is Gonna Do Me Good
star
7.26
46 votes

#13 - Change is Gonna Do Me Good

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/1975

Emily accuses Bob of being stuck in a middle-aged rut and challenges him to switch family responsibilities.

Directors: John Erman
Watch Now:Amazon
Here's Looking at You, Kid
star
7.23
48 votes

#14 - Here's Looking at You, Kid

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/20/1975

Howard insists on joining Bob and Emily's anniversary dinner at a fashionable Chicago restaurant in order to enlist their aid in popping the question to Ellen. But he chokes up in the clutch, and Bob is forced to do the proposing for him.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Watch Now:Amazon
The Longest Good-Bye
star
7.18
51 votes

#15 - The Longest Good-Bye

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/13/1975

Bob's old school friend Murdock is in town for a day to sell a complex giveaway item to a Chicago cereal company. Bob invites him to stay overnight at his home. The brief encounter stretches out to a week when Murdock can't make his business connections. He gradually takes over Bob's car, clothing, and most of his home life.

Watch Now:Amazon
Guaranteed Not to Shrink
star
7.18
17 votes

#16 - Guaranteed Not to Shrink

Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/7/1976

Bob develops a unique psychological problem when his receptionist, Carol, decides to resume her college career and become a psychologist.

Directors: James Burrows
Writer: Sy Rosen
Watch Now:Amazon
My Boy Guillermo
star
7.13
15 votes

#17 - My Boy Guillermo

Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/24/1976

Jerry Robinson's depression turns to instant joy when a globe-trotting ex-flame suddenly re-enters his life and proposes.

Directors: Alan Myerson
Writer: Sy Rosen
The Heavyweights
star
7.12
49 votes

#18 - The Heavyweights

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/11/1975

Bob and Emily invite Carol to share her "heavy" experiences with the "overweight workshop."

Directors: Bob Claver
Warden Gordon Borden
star
7.06
17 votes

#19 - Warden Gordon Borden

Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/17/1976

Howard's game-warden brother comes to Chicago to witness the mating of two whooping cranes—and stays to make a play for Howard's girlfriend.

Directors: James Burrows
Duke of Dunk
star
7.00
18 votes

#20 - Duke of Dunk

Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/31/1976

A professional basketball team hires Bob to give a psychological assist to its superstar.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Peeper Two
star
6.94
16 votes

#21 - Peeper Two

Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 2/28/1976

Cliff Murdock, Bob's old laugh-a-minute college buddy, affectionately known as The Peeper, pays a return visit.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
The Article
star
6.92
13 votes

#22 - The Article

Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/6/1975

When she's given an assignment to see what makes a bunch of doctors tick, inquiring news reporter Ellen Hartley gives Bob and his medical cohorts the tell-it-like-it-is treatment.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Erik Tarloff
A Matter of Vice-Prinicipal
star
6.67
15 votes

#23 - A Matter of Vice-Prinicipal

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/13/1975

Emily must contend with irate teachers, hamsters, and an escaped snake when she's unexpectedly upped to the position of school vice principal.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Carol at 6:01
star
6.61
18 votes

#24 - Carol at 6:01

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/10/1976

Bob contends with a patient's delusion that her bingo game is fixed, staggers through a series of wild poker parties, and watches in wonder as his secretary slowly smothers under an attack of love.