The WORST episodes of The Bob Newhart Show
Every episode of The Bob Newhart Show ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Bob Newhart Show!
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.
#1 - Easy for You to Say
Season 6 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/11/1978
Paul Billingham—known to his radio fans as Ralph Alfalfa, the Happy Farmer—comes to Bob because of his stuttering problem. On radio, he practiced several unseen rhythmic devices to mask his problem, but a new television opportunity threatens to expose his problem with disastrous results.
#2 - A Matter of Principal
Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/2/1974
It's a matter of principal versus principle when Emily refuses to skip one of her students ahead two grades at the elementary school where she teaches.
#3 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#5 - 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.
#6 - 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.
#7 - 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.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - 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.
#12 - No Sale
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/3/1976
Bob becomes his patient's partner in a get-rich-quick real-estate venture.
#13 - 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.
#14 - 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.
#16 - Caged Fury
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/2/1976
The Hartleys miss their friend's gala Fourth of July Bicentennial party celebration when they become trapped in a storage locker.
#17 - Jerry's Retirement
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1976
Bob defends the work ethic when Jerry comes into a pile of money and promptly retires from the dental profession.
#18 - Group on a Hot Tin Roof
Season 6 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/28/1978
Bob advises a patient named Mr. Plager to realize his human potential by writing a play based on his own experiences. But when Plager writes, directs, and produces an actual World War I drama whose characters bear a startling resemblance to the rest of Bob's patients, the warfare really begins.
#19 - Son of an Ex-Con Job
Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/21/1978
Bob counsels a quintet of jovial ex-convicts to help them find honest employment.
#20 - 'Twas the Pie Before Christmas
Season 6 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/24/1977
Bob finds himself with unhappy and hostile patients who refuse to attend his Christmas party when they are mistakenly informed of a rate increase at the height of the Yuletide season. One patient is moved to hire a pie-throwing service.
#21 - Carlin's New Suit
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/22/1977
Bob deals with the amusing problems of an improbable paternity suit and a phone paging service that never pages him.
#22 - A Jackie Story
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/8/1977
Jerry is terrified of losing his new dream girl.
#23 - Bob's Change of Life
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/1977
Bob's well-ordered life turns topsy-turvy when he and Emily move to a new Chicago residence.
#24 - Shrinking Violence
Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/12/1977
Bob offers sound psychological advice to his wife and his therapy group on how to handle anger. Then he proceeds to blow up himself.
#25 - Taxation Without Celebration
Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/19/1977
Bob's memory is taxed to the limit when he forgets that April 15 is the Federal income tax deadline—and also the date of the Hartleys' seventh wedding anniversary.