One of my favorite shows from that era. It always made me laugh. The episode where Bob has his whole group over for Thanksgiving dinner while Emily is away, is absolutely hysterical.
Seeing this episode of The Bob Newhart Show as a teenager I realized that, as white male, I was largely insulated from the way American society often treated people outside the majority as less than. E.g., my public high school was quite evenly mixed among Black, white anglo, and Hispanic students, but in my 90% white hometown, a sizable minority viewed Black people moving in as unwelcome outsiders.
Coming out five years later, I soon learned the reality of our society's (and some family members') ostracism, prejudice, hate, and cruelty. The kindness and fairness modeled by Dr. Bob Hartley's character in this episode was emblematic of the humanity in Bob Newhart's show. No wonder I liked watching it so much.
My first reaction is that this was just another one of those "very special episodes" that had a gay character appear for one week, never to be seen again. That happened a lot in the 70s and even into the 80s. Most shows did one episode with a gay character appearing, and that was it.
So credit to Bob Newhart, because Howard Hesseman appeared in this particular role several times. And that was unusual for the time.
Congrats to MTM Productions too, and to Howard Hesseman, who really did a fantastic job of playing the gay character as a very grounded dude, no stereotypical portrayal. His handling of the role and the dialogue they gave him didn't try to lift him up beyond reproach or try to make him a saint; they let him play a cranky pragmatist and somebody who wasn't out to change the world, until he managed to get Bob Hartley on his side. The show creators had Hartley do the "grandstanding," which is great because that's about as low-key a grandstanding method as you can get.
I escape this country's madness by watching sitcoms from the 70s at night. I've been surprised at how many of them brought up homosexuality. Barney Miller had two semi-regular characters that were a gay couple. All in the Family had Archie making fun of one of Mike's friends who was straight but effeminate. Archie was later shocked when he found out one of his heroes at Kelsey's bar, a big burly, ex-football player was gay...
There's a Mary Tyler Moore episode where Phyllis (the incomparable Chloris Leachman) wants to fix her brother -- a visiting classical pianist and jungle composer -- up with Mary, but he takes to Rhoda instead . In the final scene Rhoda has to tell Phyllis that Phyllis need not panic, the brother isn't going to marry the uncultured Rhoda. Because he's gay. Minimal drama, light humor, and the actor playing the brother did just a great job as an interesting, fun pal to Rhoda.
It's also telling that The Bob Newhart Show was also an MTM production, so some of this praise should be connected to MTM as well.
The person or persons who wrote the episode should have gotten a mention here (no time to look it up and put it here myself). I’d also like to know who convinced the network censors to let this through. THAT must have been an interesting meeting.
They just don't make 'em like that anymore. I do miss quiet humor.
One of my favorite shows from that era. It always made me laugh. The episode where Bob has his whole group over for Thanksgiving dinner while Emily is away, is absolutely hysterical.
Yep, all of Bob Newhart's shows were great. I loved to watch them.
Seeing this episode of The Bob Newhart Show as a teenager I realized that, as white male, I was largely insulated from the way American society often treated people outside the majority as less than. E.g., my public high school was quite evenly mixed among Black, white anglo, and Hispanic students, but in my 90% white hometown, a sizable minority viewed Black people moving in as unwelcome outsiders.
Coming out five years later, I soon learned the reality of our society's (and some family members') ostracism, prejudice, hate, and cruelty. The kindness and fairness modeled by Dr. Bob Hartley's character in this episode was emblematic of the humanity in Bob Newhart's show. No wonder I liked watching it so much.
My first reaction is that this was just another one of those "very special episodes" that had a gay character appear for one week, never to be seen again. That happened a lot in the 70s and even into the 80s. Most shows did one episode with a gay character appearing, and that was it.
So credit to Bob Newhart, because Howard Hesseman appeared in this particular role several times. And that was unusual for the time.
Congrats to MTM Productions too, and to Howard Hesseman, who really did a fantastic job of playing the gay character as a very grounded dude, no stereotypical portrayal. His handling of the role and the dialogue they gave him didn't try to lift him up beyond reproach or try to make him a saint; they let him play a cranky pragmatist and somebody who wasn't out to change the world, until he managed to get Bob Hartley on his side. The show creators had Hartley do the "grandstanding," which is great because that's about as low-key a grandstanding method as you can get.
I don’t remember that episode (it WAS 50 years ago), but I loved that show. It was kind as well as funny.
I escape this country's madness by watching sitcoms from the 70s at night. I've been surprised at how many of them brought up homosexuality. Barney Miller had two semi-regular characters that were a gay couple. All in the Family had Archie making fun of one of Mike's friends who was straight but effeminate. Archie was later shocked when he found out one of his heroes at Kelsey's bar, a big burly, ex-football player was gay...
I do the same.
There's a Mary Tyler Moore episode where Phyllis (the incomparable Chloris Leachman) wants to fix her brother -- a visiting classical pianist and jungle composer -- up with Mary, but he takes to Rhoda instead . In the final scene Rhoda has to tell Phyllis that Phyllis need not panic, the brother isn't going to marry the uncultured Rhoda. Because he's gay. Minimal drama, light humor, and the actor playing the brother did just a great job as an interesting, fun pal to Rhoda.
It's also telling that The Bob Newhart Show was also an MTM production, so some of this praise should be connected to MTM as well.
Bob Newhart was a rare gem. No shouting, swearing or ranting. Funny, yes. In his quiet, human, kind and honest way.
The person or persons who wrote the episode should have gotten a mention here (no time to look it up and put it here myself). I’d also like to know who convinced the network censors to let this through. THAT must have been an interesting meeting.
Thank you for posting this. It was wonderful to be reminded of Bob Newhart's quiet impact on us from 50 years ago.