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 - You're Fired, Mr. Chips
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/1977
Bob interviews a variety of psychologists to take over his patients while he's out of town. It's soon apparent that they are very much in need of help themselves. When Bob's former teacher, Professor Dreebe, offers his services, it seems the perfect answer.
#2 - 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.
#3 - Carol Ankles for Indie-Prod
Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/4/1978
On the eve of being announced "Secretary of the Year," Carol informs Bob that she's leaving his employ.
#4 - The Mentor
Season 5 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/5/1977
A despondent friend accepts Bob's suggestion and turns the psychologist's reception area into a mini-Polynesian village.
#5 - A Girl in Her Twenties
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/1977
Emily's protective instincts are aroused when 70-year-old Grace DuBois, an odd but friendly recluse, is threatened with being sent to a rest home for elderly people who can't cope with reality.
#6 - Grizzly Emily
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/14/1978
Emily Hartley discovers a new low in male chauvinism when Bob's father arranges a fishing trip to his cabin and assigns her woman's work while the men brave the great out-of-doors.
#7 - My Son the Comedian
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/1977
It's no laughing matter for Howard when his 12 year old son Howie announces he's leaving home to become a comedian.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - Grand Delusion
Season 6 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/17/1977
Bob and Emily celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary with a dream flight into the fantasy of being married to different partners.
#12 - Death Be My Destiny
Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/12/1977
Bob strikes out against a friend's fear of falling, but succumbs to the same phobia himself when he is subjected to a harrowing elevator experience.
#13 - Crisis in Education
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/11/1978
At the school where Emily works, low reading scores prompt indignant outbursts and threats from angry parents. Principal Phil Bannister flees their wrath by going on an extended fishing trip—but not before he tells Emily to handle the crisis.
#14 - Desperate Sessions
Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/26/1977
Bob is held hostage in his office by a friendly bank robber.
#15 - The Slammer
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/20/1976
Bob and his friend "The Peeper" take a trip down Memory Lane and wind up in the slammer.
#16 - 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.
#17 - 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.
#18 - 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.
#19 - 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.
#20 - Et Tu, Carol?
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/1976
Both Bob's receptionist and a Buddha figure with a clock in its navel give the psychologist a hard time.
#21 - Emily Carlin, Emily Carlin
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/4/1978
Bob's paranoid, perennial patient, Mr. Carlin, involves Emily in his scheme to impress his former schoolmates—especially a girl who never gave him the time of day.
#22 - 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.
#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.
#24 - Shallow Throat
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/1977
At first, Bob is thrilled when a nontalkative patient named Mr. Twillmer finally opens up after being told that anything he might say will be held in the strictest confidence. His joy is short-lived when Twillmer confesses to grand larceny.
#25 - 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.