Okay, the Bob Newhart Show wasn't for everybody. I never got a chance to watch it on television. Now on DVD, I am discovering it for the first time. The writing is smart and the acting is smarter than ever with Bob Newhart in the title role as a Chicago psychologist, Susan Pleshette as his wife and third grade school teacher. They are great couple on screen. Surprisingly, they don't have children in the show which is a big plus because the show works better without them. Marcia Wallace is wonderful as his secretary. The show is smart, funny, savvy, relevant, and most of all timeless. It's a classic sitcom that might be overlooked because it's not dirty or stupid like most sitcoms are today. The Bob Newhart Show and others of that era are classic and timeless and relevant to today's life. Too bad, shows like that aren't being developed for television today. It's our loss, isn't it?

Newhart does it again in a sparkling show that suffers from dated material and format but remains very watchable. Bob Newhart emerged from one of the Golden Ages of American Comedy that also brought us Shelly Bermann, Lenny Bruce and Don Rickles among many others. Long before he hit it big in TV, his LPs (remember them?) were hot sellers. The only thing drier than Newhart on disc was a martini and the only thing funnier was probably the LPs from Mike Nicols and Elaine May. Newhart is still funny (watch him deadpan his way through Elf with Will Farrel) but his earlier TV shows really sparkled. This second one, starring the radiant Suzanne Pleshette, doesn't match up to his first but it did give us 'Daryl, Daryl and my other brother Daryl' and some fantastic ensemble work. Bob lives!

I LOVED this sitcom. Bob Newhart the perfect straight-man for Bill Daily, Marcia Wallace, and the rest. With the always fantastic Suzanne Pleshette, his strange friends, and those oh-so-odd patients (of which Mr. Carlin had to be the best), this one qualifies as a classic 70's sitcom!

I spent WAY too many hours glued to the TV as a youngster during the 1970s. Many of the shows I thought were absolutely perfect in 1972 or 1975, I have trouble sitting through for 10 minutes today. Some, however, have stood the test of time.I would have to say that The Bob Newhart Show, more than any other show, has grown in my estimation as I have matured. I enjoyed it as a kid, but love it all the much more now.Mr. Newhart, simply put, was and is a comedic genius. One blank look from him can surpass a 15-minute monologue by many comedians, for laugh production. In the right setting, with the right handling, Bob Newhart was one of the funniest ever. Fortunately for us, that perfect setting came together in the 1972-78 Bob Newhart Show. This show had impeccable writing by Charlotte Brown, Dick Clair and others, great directing by Peter Baldwin and many others, as well as wonderful acting.One might have doubted that the struggles of a psychologist and his patients would make good fodder for comedy. Wrong! Who can forget the obnoxious Elliot Carlton (Jack Riley), the sharp knitting needles of Mrs. Bakerman (Florida Friebus, a.k.a., Dobie Gillis' mom), and wimpy Mr. Peterson (John Fielding, also in `12 Angry Men')? Who can forget the elevator and its frequent involvement in scenes, or Bernie Tupperman (Larry Gelman), the pudgy urinologist, or the periodic visits from `The Peeper' (Tom Poston)? And these, of course, were NOT part of the main supporting cast.Suzanne Pleshette was perfect as Bob's lovely and usually supportive wife, Emily. Marcia Wallace became a household name as Carol, the perky secretary. Peter Borenz and Bill Daily, meanwhile, were absolutely delightful as Bob's two best friends, dentist Jerry Robinson and navigator Howard Borden. Daily, who was also great in `I Dream of Jeannie,' provided one of the most hilarious characters in sit-com history, as the clueless neighbor, Howard.The cast of The Bob Newhart Show was so good and so deep that I have to make one confession. While I love Bob Newhart himself, I believe my favorite episode was one in which he had only a cameo appearance, phoning home from a convention somewhere. Carol, Jerry and Howard became convinced that an old flame visiting Emily while Bob was gone, spelled trouble. They spied on the two in a restaurant and the scene was possibly the most hilarious in the show's run, as Jerry wore a ridiculous fake glasses/nose combo and Howard could never seem to recognize him.The Bob Newhart Show was a high-water mark for intelligent, sophisticated humor - although occasional forays into slapstick gave it an even more satisfying balance. Overall, I would call it one of the top three or four comedies ever made.