This is kinda neat. It's a cut-down version (opening, commercials, credits) of The Bob Newhart Show…but not the Bob Newhart Show that you probably remember. This was before that one. It was a half-hour variety show he did on NBC from 1961 to 1962 that received great critical acclaim and many awards. It was somewhat noteworthy for having received an Emmy after it was cancelled, a circumstance that provoked a very funny acceptance speech from Mr. Newhart on the Emmy telecast. After that speech, a lot of folks probably wished they'd watched the thing.
It led to Bob's second series, which was also not the sitcom about the psychologist. Two years later, he surfaced as one of the rotating stars of a CBS variety hour called The Entertainers. You can read about this one over on this page of the Old TV Tickets website. And by the way, we wish the clowns who run that site would do us the courtesy of updating it once in a while.
One of the interesting things I noticed about the clip below is the name of the announcer at the end. It's Dan Sorkin. Mr. Sorkin was the Chicago disc jockey who "discovered" Newhart and who said to Warner Brothers Records something like, "Hey, I know this guy who's really funny and ought to be a comedian." The rest became history so it's nice to see that Bob decided to reward his benefactor by bringing him along.
Here's six and a half minutes of the forgotten Bob Newhart Show…
