EMMYS 1962: The Bob Newhart Show

NETWORK: NBC

You may have read the title and thought, "That's incorrect! You mean 1972. The Bob Newhart Show was a staple of the 1970s." And on the one hand, you would be right. However, you may be entirely unaware that ten years before Bob Newhart's seminal television sitcom, he had a short-lived variety show also called The Bob Newhart Show. I was just as surprised as you are.

Bob Newhart was an accountant-turned-comedian who did stand-up in the early 1960s. His style was generally low-key, presenting humorous scenarios where he often played imaginary conversations with another party, usually over the phone. His comedy frequently took a satiric look at modern American life, television, and politics. At the time, one of his best-known bits involved a contemporary Madison Avenue image consultant type coaching Abraham Lincoln through the Gettysburg Address.

Newhart made a few appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show as he made his name in comedy, as well as other variety shows, which culminated in the release of his 1960 comedy album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. He wanted to call it The Best New Comedian Since Attila the Hun, but the record label used that instead as a subtitle. This 30-minute record, including the Abe Lincoln bit, was a huge success. Huge for comedy records and huge in general. It won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Album of the Year. Bob Newhart's comedy stylings beat out musicians like Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald and other pop favorites of the early 1960s for the best album. And his follow-up record, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!, won for best comedy album.

So with his star on the rise, naturally NBC snagged him for a television series. The Bob Newhart Show ran only one season, from 1961-1962 on Wednesday nights. Like other comedy variety shows of the day, the format was generally an opening monologue from Bob, then a sketch or two and maybe a musical act. There would also be celebrity guest appearances. And as with the success of his first record, the series would go on to win the Emmy Award for the Field of Humor that year.

But after that first season, Bob Newhart decided to call it quits. He wasn't happy in the television medium at the time, particularly because the schedule put a demand on the writing. He felt that if they went into another season, it would be too difficult to have top material for monologues and the comedy would suffer. He preferred honing his material for college crowds in the stand-up scene. The way he tells it now, he "pulled a Dave Chapelle," citing the contemporary comedian who also walked away from a highly successful series.

Despite being so short-lived, the original Bob Newhart Show not only won the Emmy, but a Peabody Award as well. And so it is surprising that very little seems to be known about the series, and indeed, this was the first series in this project that I was unable to find even one full episode of. Previously, I've been stuck with scattered episodes for a few series, but even for The Art Carney Special there were a few on the internet. All I was able to uncover was a single internet video featuring about ten minutes of an episode with guest Fess Parker.



There are a number of his stand-up appearances on other shows of the era, and many episodes he did of The Dean Martin Show a few years later. But for some reason, his own series is just a mystery.
It's a real shame that I can't give a proper review to the show, and that it isn't available somewhere, especially considering the name that Bob Newhart remains even today. That this award-winning series should fade into obscurity is a real tragedy. I did listen to The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart and a couple of his others from this period to get a feel for his comedy and for what the show might have been like. But it's really not the same as getting to see even one full episode in living color as it first aired. If anyone out there is reading this who could help dust off this television curiosity, please do!

Anyway, at least moving forward I know that series will be easier to obtain, as we head firmly into the sitcom era, leaving variety mostly behind us.

FAVORITE EPISODES: N/A (sadly)
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