Reading Travis Andrews’ look back at an iconic sitcom which aired its finale episode 40 years ago this month, “The Bob Newhart Show,” I couldn’t help but remember my favorite story about that series, as Newhart himself told me on January 5, 1988 (you’ll have to imagine his stammering delivery):
Harris: Every show you’ve ever been on has been well written. Do you have a say in who writes the show?
Newhart: Well, you sit down with them and see if there is a chemistry and see what direction they see the show going and who they see me as. On the first show, The Bob Newhart Show, one of the conditions I made was that we don’t have children and that I be a psychologist rather than a psychiatrist. The reason being that a I know a psychiatrist would deal more seriously with people. I didn’t want to be making fun of really serious people.
Harris: Right.
Newhart: I didn’t want to have children because I didn’t want to be the dumb husband/father who keeps getting in trouble and then the precocious children bail him out at the last minute.
Harris: Which is the plot of every major sitcom on television today, by the way.
Newhart: Exactly! So, in the sixth year of The Bob Newhart Show, I got a script to come home with on Friday night. I was reading it Sunday afternoon and noticed that it said that Emily was pregnant. So I called the producer. I said, “I read the script.” He said, “What did you think of it?” I said, “Oh, it’s a very funny story. It is great.” He said, “We were a little concerned, you know.” I said, “It was very funny. [pause] Who are you going to get to play Bob??”
You can read the entire conversation here. You can also listen to my conversation with Bob Newhart about his appearances with Johnny Carson (10/22/07).