The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete First Season
by Alan Rafkin, George Tyne, Jay Sandrich, Jerry London, Martin Cohan
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bill Daily, Bob Newhart, Marcia Wallace, Peter Bonerz, Suzanne PleshetteDirector: Alan Rafkin, George Tyne, Jay Sandrich, Jerry London, Martin Cohan
Brand: NEWHART,BOB
Writer: Austin Kalish
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 630 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete First Season
Movie Review: "Hi Bob" ... "Hi Emily" ... Hi Fox Video -- And Thanks, Fox, For This Nice 1st-Season "Bob Newhart" DVD Batch!
Summary: 5 Stars
I hadn't seen any episodes of "The Bob Newhart Show" in a number of years prior to purchasing this very nice set of DVDs that has been marketed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
I had almost forgotten how good this sitcom was (and still is). It's been fun being able to see these episodes again, and in uncut form, on DVD. Bob Newhart's dry humor and deadpan style create many jocular moments during this 24-episode rookie season of Bob's self-titled CBS television series (which aired during the 1972-1973 TV season). And those one-man telephone conversations that Bob is known for are always good for some chuckles too. There are usually at least two or three of those in each episode.
"The Bob Newhart Show" began its 6-year, 142-episode-long network-television lifespan on Saturday evening, September 16, 1972, when the first episode ("Fly The Unfriendly Skies") aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System. When looking back on the impeccable Saturday-night television line-up that CBS possessed in the early 1970s, my mouth pops open with amazement at how good that roster of shows was. As an example, Saturday nights on CBS during the 1973-1974 TV campaign (which was the second season of Newhart's series) featured the following impressive parade of programs:
8:00 PM -- "All In The Family"
8:30 PM -- "M*A*S*H"
9:00 PM -- "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
9:30 PM -- "The Bob Newhart Show"
10:00 PM -- "The Carol Burnett Show"
No wonder Saturdays were big for CBS during that era. What a fabulous line-up indeed. Prior to confirming the above CBS prime-time program schedule, I had thought that the long-running "M*A*S*H" had always been part of the Saturday-night schedule. But, in fact, it was only during that one season (1973-1974) that the show appeared on Saturdays. For the remainder of its prime-time run, "M*A*S*H" aired on either Sundays, Tuesdays, or Fridays.
During Bob Newhart's very first season ('72-'73), the CBS Saturday lineup featured three-fifths of the same programming as the '73-'74 season, with the differences in the schedule being "Bridget Loves Bernie" (at 8:30 PM) and "Mission: Impossible" in the 10:00 time slot.
There's nothing overly fancy about this 3-Disc Bob Newhart DVD boxed set from 20th Century Fox, but it certainly gets the job done very nicely anyway (in a low-key, no-frills manner).
These early-'70s episodes look just fine through my orbs. I have no complaints about these DVD transfers at all. This TV show was photographed on film and in color; and the colors look pretty good and natural on the DVDs. Perhaps each show isn't absolutely blemish-free, but still very nice overall.
Even if these DVD prints were glazed over with a coating of sand and shrouded in fog, I'd probably still enjoy watching them, because of the singular on-screen presence of one Suzanne Pleshette. Suzanne, who was age 35 and 36 when these episodes first aired in '72 and '73 (and she's looking mahhhh-velous!), has that certain 'something' that I've always enjoyed watching. I love her in everything she's done -- from her excellent dramatic roles in the 1960s TV series "The Fugitive", to her first-rate portrayal of an ill-fated schoolteacher in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" in 1963, to her part as the smart, funny, and always-feisty "Emily Hartley" on "The Bob Newhart Show".
I should also mention Suzanne's appearance opposite Michael Rennie's "Harry Lime" in an episode of the TV series "The Third Man". That episode in question, called "Listen For The Sound Of A Witch", was filmed in 1959. A darn good ep. too, featuring a stunning 22-year-old brunette actress named "Suzanne".
Suzanne Trivia ..... Did you know that Suzanne Pleshette very nearly became "Catwoman" in the "Batman" TV series of the 1960s? (I'd have loved her in that show, I'm sure....and in that "Cat" outfit, too.) ~wink~
This Bob Newhart DVD collection comes packed in a fairly-rugged cardboard box, which comfortably holds two slim-style plastic cases. The trim disc-holding cases that were included with the DVD set that I received from Amazon are black in color (there's no need for the clear, transparent ones here, since there's no text or artwork on the reverse side of the removable paper inserts that wrap around the cases). The first two double-sided discs fit inside the first case, while Disc 3 goes solo into the other one. A brief episode description for each of the shows, plus original CBS air dates, can be found on the back side of each of the two plastic cases.
There are no DVD bonus items included here, unless you want to count a foreign-language soundtrack and subtitling as "bonus" material. This set does indeed have a non-English audio option -- there's a Spanish Dolby Digital track available for each episode (of the 2-channel Mono variety; I enjoy hearing the voice of the very beautiful Suzanne Pleshette being dubbed in Spanish), in addition to the very adequate English DD 2.0 Mono audio. Both English and Spanish subtitles can be toggled on and off as well. Video, as you would expect, comes in the native Full-Frame TV ratio of 1.33:1.
The non-animated DVD Menus employed for this first-season Bob Newhart set are simplistic and will quickly get you to where you want to be. The episodes are divided up into several individual chapters (9 chapter breaks per show, with a "Scene Selection" Menu option available for all episodes), with a chapter stop inserted immediately after the opening titles, which is always a good idea in my opinion.
Fox's "The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Second Season" 3-Disc DVD collection is pretty much identical in layout and style to this first-season product, and is also energetically recommended by this reviewer. Any Bob Newhart buff will want to collect all seasons of "Dr. Hartley's" series.
Plus, these seasonal boxed sets of "The Bob Newhart Show" look right at home on the ever-growing "TV-on-DVD" shelf, especially when nestled right up against all of the excellent full-season DVD collections of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Those two first-class sitcoms, which both fall under the "MTM Enterprises" umbrella, are required viewing for any self-respecting devotee of top-notch 1970s-era television programming.
Summary of The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete First Season
It?s time again to say "Hi, Bob!" when The Bob Newhart Show Season 1 hits DVD on April 12, 2005! Relive the memories of this true comedy classic -- a "must have" for TV comedy fans!Similar DVD Movies
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