The Bob Newhart Show: "Over The River And Through The Woods"

Premiered November 22nd, 1975

Jerry:This is the worst Thanksgiving I ever had.
Bob:I knew it was gonna be bad, but I didn't know it was gonna be this bad this early.

It's autumn in Chicago and Thanksgiving is approaching.

Psychologist Dr. Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) and his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) are planning to spend Thanksgiving with Emily's family in Seattle.

Elliot Carlin stepping into Bob's office. 

One of Bob's patients, Elliot Carlin is worried about Thanksgiving.  Carlin hates the holidays.  He's still depressed that no one knocked on his door on Halloween and he's dreading Thanksgiving.  With Carlin in such despair, Bob thinks he should stay in Chicago to help his patient.  It also doesn't hurt that he's not terribly enthusiastic about going to see Emily's family in Seattle.

Bob wins a tiny turkey in a raffle. 

When Emily hears about this, she says Bob can do what he likes for Thanksgiving, but she still is going to Seattle without Bob.  Realizing he'll be alone at Thanksgiving,  Dr. Hartley invites his patient Mr. Carlin, and his colleague Dr. Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) (who has no family) to his house for the holiday. Jerry is excited about watching football on Thanksgiving, because his Alma Mater William & Mary is playing in a televised game.

Bob unsuccessfully attempts to flip a pancake. 

The holiday morning arrives, Bob misses Emily, who always made pancakes for him on Thanksgivings of the past.

Jerry in his W&M sweater,  jug in hand. 

Jerry arrives with a jug filled with vodka and cider (but mostly vodka).  William & Mary is losing their game badly so he takes a drink every time the other team scores.  Mr. Carlin shows up in his usual pessimistic mood.  He has brought a bottle of scotch to go with Jerry's booze.  Bob's neighbor Howard (Bill Daly) shows up as well.  Howard was supposed to spend the holiday with his son, but plans have changed and he is also left alone on Thanksgiving.

The gang watches football.  Carlin comments that this is the worst party he's ever been to.

All four of them are lonely and depressed.  Everyone decides to drown their sorrows in alcohol. They have a tiny turkey, but no one is sure of how to cook it.

Bob drunkenly attempts to order some takeout. 

Will they still manage to have a good Thanksgiving feast?


J.A. Morris says:

It's hard to this episode justice.  The plot of "Over The River And Through The Woods" is basically "Bob Hartley & friends get drunk on Thanksgiving,"  but  there's more to it than that.

Jack Riley is absolutely brilliant here as Elliot Carlin .  He stays in "deadpan" mode throughout the episode while everyone around him is howling drunk with laughter.  Riley's delivery (or lack thereof!) is especially great when he tries to tell knock-knock jokes.

Bob and Emily are usually the level-headed characters surrounded by quirky oddballs.  But this episode shows that after a few shots of alcohol, Dr. Hartley is just as goofy as Howard and Jerry.  It shows that without Emily, Bob is adrift, and she's the real brains of the marriage.

Like most Thanksgiving episodes (including an earlier Thanksgiving episode of this series), food preparation comes into play.  It often involves arguments over how to make the food, but in this case, no one knows how to cook a turkey.  The most important "turkey" moment involves one of this episode's many knock-knock jokes, which I won't spoil.

At its heart, "Over The River And Through The Woods" is another Thanksgiving episode where lonely people find common ground with others and create a "family" of sorts for the holiday.

As an added "bonus," the characters wear 1975 fashions that haven't aged very well.  The clothes increase the comedic value of this episode.  Bob's leisure suit is especially ridiculous.

Gotta love those plaid pants!

This episode is available for viewing on dvd.  You'll find it on The Bob Newhart Show:The Complete Fourth Season.

"Over The River And Through The Woods" is one of the best episodes of The Bob Newhart Show.   It's also one of the greatest Thanksgiving episodes in the history of television.  On a personal note, I quote this episode year-round.  Highly recommended!

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 pumpkin pies!


RigbyMel says:

This is a silly, funny episode of a great show.

Hijinks!

I enjoy the drunken hijinks of the cast but question whether they actually would have been televising a football game featuring William & Mary (MY alma mater) on TV in Chicago in 1975.  (W&M is a small school, and football is not their forte.)

Jerry explains how bad the holidays were at the orphanage when he was a kid. 

I also think the deconstruction of knock knock jokes, which is a running gag through much of the episode, is pretty on the nose.

Male bonding over booze.

As J.A. Morris says, we visit the trope of lonely people forming a surrogate family for the holidays in this episode, but with a twist -- of vodka and cider and scotch -- which certainly makes it interesting even if the silliness gets the better of it in spots.

I don't have as strong a liking for this episode as my co-blogger, but it is most definitely worth watching.

RigbyMel's rating:

3 pumpkin pies.
   

The Bob Newhart Show: "Caged Fury"

Premiered October 2 1976.

Emily:Howard, Bob and I got railroaded into giving a July 4th party, would like you like to come?
Howard:Oh, great, when is it?

Dr. Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) is talked into hosting a Bicentennial Party on the 4th of July.  But when Bob and his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) tell their neighbor Howard (Bill Daly) about the party, Howard offers to host the festivities, provided he can borrow all of their party supplies.  Howard suggests a costume party and Emily agrees with that idea.

Emily and Bob go down to their apartment's storage locker to get their punchbowl and card table. Shortly before they exit, Emily accidentally traps them in the locker!

This causes the couple to engage some deep conversations.  Emily asks Bob if he really loves her, and asks if he would re-marry if she died. They ask each other if they wish they'd had children.

Meanwhile, guests begin arriving at Howard's apartment.  Bob's office mate Dr. Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) arrives and is unpleasantly surprised to find that he and Howard have both dressed as Uncle Sam.

The trend continues when Bob's secretary Carol (Marcia Wallace) and her husband Larry (Will Mackenzie) enter the scene.

But Bob's regular patient Elliot Carlin shows up dressed a "colonial spy"...sort of.

Can you spot the "colonial spy" in this picture?

Howard's party gets off to a rocky start, because everyone is waiting for Bob and Emily to bring the food and other supplies.

Will Bob and Emily escape from the storage locker?  Will Howard's party be ruined without the presence of their punchbowl and card table?

J.A. Morris says:

I'll start by saying that America's Bicentennial celebration was a big yearlong event of my childhood. American Flags adorned everything.  There was red, white and blue food, clothing, you name it (I remember owning a tank top that was emblazoned in Stars & Stripes).

But we didn't get a lot of specials or episodes that celebrated this country's 200th birthday.  For that matter, there are very few TV episodes that take place on the 4th of July.  That's probably due to fact that historically, only reruns aired during the Summer.

"Caged Fury" is a very good episode of The Bob Newhart Show.  As usual, Bob and Emily are the "normal" people surrounded by crazy and/or dysfunctional friends.  But when they're trapped in the locker, we get to see that they've got issues themselves.

Bob attempts to break through door, but learns that it "only works on television."

They say some nasty things to each other.  Bob calls Emily a moron, she calls him "flabby" multiple times.  But I get the impression it's just a way to blow off steam in a difficult scenario.

The highlight is Howard's 4th of July party.  We get four Uncle Sams in the same room.  Jack Riley is funny as ever, showing up to the party in his "spy" costume.  Howard is perhaps the worst party host in history.

This episode can be found on The Bob Newhart Show:Season 5 dvd set.

"Caged Fury" is good entertainment for the 4th of July weekend and is recommend.
J.A. Morris' rating:

.5
  

3 and a half American Flags.

RigbyMel says:

This is an interesting episode of a fun series.   As J.A. Morris says above, there aren't a whole lot of 4th of July themed television episodes to be had, so we should appreciate what is available to us.  

The multiple Uncle Sam costumes make for an excellent sight gag and the "trapped in a closet"  (or storage locker) trope is used to good effect.  Any time that "trapped in the closet" does NOT morph into a clip show is noteworthy -- kudos to The Bob Newhart Show writers for thinking of something a bit different to do with the trope!

My main issue with the episode stems from some of the unnecessarily mean bickering between Bob and Emily.   Sure, getting stuck in a small space is frustrating,  but Bob and Emily are both intelligent people who love each other.  For example,  I had difficulty buying psychologist Bob calling his wife a "moron" for making a silly mistake.  It seems a bit harsh, and out of character for him.    Fewer kudos to the show's writers for that.

That being said, this episode is well worth your time.

RigbyMel's rating:

3 American flags

The Bob Newhart Show: "An American Family"

Premiered November 23, 1974

Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) and his wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) are preparing for Thanksgiving. Bob's parents Martha and Herb (Martha Scott and Barnard Hughes) are spending Thanksgiving with them for the first time in five years.  Martha is a control freak and has strict ideas about how a turkey should be prepared, what pies should be served, how table seating should be arranged, etc.  Bob's sister Ellen (Pat Finley) and her fiance Howard (Bill Daily) will also be there.  Howard is very nervous about meeting Ellen's parents for the first time.  Bob's office mate Jerry (Peter Bonerz) and his receptionist Carol (Marcia Wallace) will also be joining them for Thanksgiving dinner, so there will be eight dinner guests all together.

Emily's parents, Junior and Aggie Harrison (John Randolph and Ann Rutherford) show up unannounced, they've flown in with a 35-pound turkey and intend to celebrate the holiday with Bob and Emily.  Martha doesn't like this, as she has planned to cook a turkey.  Plus she and Junior have never gotten along, they start sniping at each other immediately.  So the Hartleys will now have ten guests at Thanksgiving dinner, Jerry agrees to bring extra chairs.  Bob and Emily agree to try to keep the peace between Martha and Junior.

On Thanksgiving Day, Junior and Martha make up flimsy excuses so they can skip dinner and avoid each other.  Emily invites her parents for dessert, and Bob does the same, as a way of forcing them to act like adults.  Can Martha and Junior finish their pie without ruining Thanksgiving?

J.A. Morris says:

This is a great Thanksgiving episode because most of us can relate to the plot. I've been in holiday scenarios where I had to keep peace between relatives for one reason or another. Bob and Emily were often the sanest characters on the show, this time the "crazies" they have to deal with are their own parents.

I hadn't watched The Bob Newhart show in years, but it's still a very funny series. It featured a great ensemble cast, every character had at least two laugh lines in "An American Family."  Barnard Hughes (one of the best character actors of his era) stands out as Herb.  He gets to deliver a great speech about families uniting around what they have in common during holiday gatherings.

This episode can be found on the third season dvd set of The Bob Newhart Show and is currently streaming on Hulu.

My rating:
3 and a half pumpkin pies