One of the reason I love the show is because it shows just how happy and fulfilled a childless couple can really be. With Bob as a psychologist and Emily as a schoolteacher, they worked with patients and pupils who were like their children and didn't need any of their own. So for all cynics out there who label childless couples as "selfish" and don't possibly think they could be fulfilled, you ought to watch the reruns of this show and modify your opinion.

I like the way the show portrayed them in a positive manner as a childless couple. Not all people are meant to have children and it does not make a woman no less than a woman if she does not give birth and it does not make the couple selfish.

Agreed. Bob & Emily Hartley were probably the most positive, well-adjusted couple on TV in the 1970s. They seemed like a real married couple to me.

Agreed. Bob & Emily Hartley were probably the most positive, well-adjusted couple on TV in the 1970s. They seemed like a real married couple to me.
Out of all the TV wives Bob Newhart had in three series, The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart and Bob, Suzanne Pleshette was the best and they seemed to be married to each other in real life. Their relationship was real and genuine. I put that TV marriage in the TV marriage hall of fame along with Rob and Laura Petrie (Dick Van Dyke Show), Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (I Love Lucy - even though Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball was married in real life at the time), Archie and Edith Bunker (All in the Family), Lionel (Mike Evans) and Jenny Willis Jefferson (The Jeffersons), Henry and Muriel Rush (Too Close for Comfort), Steven and Elyse Keaton (Family Ties), and Philip and Vivian (Janet Hubert-Whitten) (Fresh Prince of Bel Air).

Mary Frann and Carlene Watkins did not, to me, had the right chemistry with Bob Newhart as Suzanne did. From what I understand the viewers were not happy with Carlene Watkins as Bob's TV wife because she was so young. They decreased her airtime because of the letters they got of the age gap between Carlene and Bob.

I think they made a terrific couple and having children would have sent the
show in a totally different direction. It probably wouldn't have been as good.

Great thread....I totally concur, Bob and Suzanne had a great chemistry. While they seemed to be married to each other, Bob had been married to Ginnie for years and by the end of the TBNS series, they had 4 kids. (The third was born at the beginning of the series and the 4th was born at the end.) Suzanne had been married to her first Tommy for awhile, too. (He died in 2000 and she then married Tom Poston a couple of years later.) But they remain friends to this day - that whole cast does.

The proof of the pudding regarding the audience reaction to Bob's TV wives came out at the end of Newhart (the innkeeper series), when he woke up in bed and Emily comes out from under the covers. The way the live audience screamed and squealed in delight, told us all that everyone thought the chemistry was right between Bob and Suzanne, and all wrong between Bob and Mary Frann (RIP).

Regarding children....Howard was their child, in a way. He could be so child-like. Also, Bob told the producers right off, he did not want to be a dad in this show. He loves kids (good thing, he has 4! and I lost track of how many grandkids), but didn't want to do a show where the kids always shine over Dad and make him look stupid. So Howard became their kid.


Donna

Bob and Suzanne rocked! Liked Mary Frann too.

Just like the Mary Tyler Moore Show changed the view of single women, the Bob Newhart Show did for childless couples. Some couples just don't want kids, and I don't see anything wrong with that. The show was fine enough without kids, and why did they need kids when they had Howard Borden next door? :lol: Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette were great together, and Bob was also great with Mary Frann. :)

One of the reason I love the show is because it shows just how happy and fulfilled a childless couple can really be. With Bob as a psychologist and Emily as a schoolteacher, they worked with patients and pupils who were like their children and didn't need any of their own. So for all cynics out there who label childless couples as "selfish" and don't possibly think they could be fulfilled, you ought to watch the reruns of this show and modify your opinion.

I agree!:yourock:

Just like the Mary Tyler Moore Show changed the view of single women, the Bob Newhart Show did for childless couples.

You took the words right out of my mouth! :)

Very happy they did not have any kids on the show. There is a place for shows with kids, but The Bob Newhart Show would have suffered greatly if they had added some offspring in my opinion.