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.

Last Updated: 2/8/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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You're Fired, Mr. Chips
star
5.49
35 votes

#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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Lloyd Garver
Group on a Hot Tin Roof
star
6.00
8 votes

#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.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Andrew Smith
Carol Ankles for Indie-Prod
star
6.14
7 votes

#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.

Directors: Mark Tinker
Writer: Lloyd Garver
Grizzly Emily
star
6.29
7 votes

#4 - 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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Laura Levine
A Girl in Her Twenties
star
6.31
35 votes

#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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Laura Levine
The Mentor
star
6.33
9 votes

#6 - 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.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
My Son the Comedian
star
6.44
9 votes

#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.

Directors: Dick Martin
Writer: David Lloyd
Grand Delusion
star
6.50
6 votes

#8 - 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.

Directors: Dick Martin
Writer: Lloyd Garver
Carol at 6:01
star
6.62
16 votes

#9 - 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.

Son of an Ex-Con Job
star
6.63
8 votes

#10 - 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.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
A Matter of Vice-Prinicipal
star
6.64
14 votes

#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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Death Be My Destiny
star
6.67
6 votes

#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.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Sy Rosen
The Slammer
star
6.82
11 votes

#13 - 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.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Peeper Two
star
6.87
15 votes

#14 - 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
Desperate Sessions
star
6.88
8 votes

#15 - Desperate Sessions

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/26/1977

Bob is held hostage in his office by a friendly bank robber.

Directors: Dick Martin
Of Mice and Men
star
7.00
9 votes

#16 - Of Mice and Men

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/22/1977

Bob runs into marital problems when he brings his therapy group home for a wild role-playing encounter.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Bruce Kane
Dr. Ryan's Express
star
7.00
21 votes

#17 - 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
Duke of Dunk
star
7.00
17 votes

#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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Taxation Without Celebration
star
7.00
8 votes

#19 - 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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Sy Rosen
Et Tu, Carol?
star
7.00
13 votes

#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.

Directors: Alan Myerson
Crisis in Education
star
7.00
8 votes

#21 - 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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Shallow Throat
star
7.00
10 votes

#22 - 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.

Directors: Dick Martin
The Article
star
7.00
12 votes

#23 - 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
Sorry, Wrong Mother
star
7.04
47 votes

#24 - 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
Emily Carlin, Emily Carlin
star
7.06
34 votes

#25 - 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.

Directors: Peter Bonerz
Writer: Laura Levine