Did You Know?
The office building where Bob's office is located, according to the outside shots on the show, was at that time the Bay Federal Bank Building on Michigan Avenue.
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Actor Peter Bonerz who played Jerry the dentist learned how to direct on the set of this show and went on to become an award-winning director of other comedy series.
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It was later revealed that Jerry was adopted. Jerry did eventually find his mother, but his father, an American plumber working in England, was killed in an air raid during World War II
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A popular drinking game was invented by college students during the run of the show. Whenever someone on the show says, "Bob," each player had to take a drink. If someone said "Hi, Bob," you had to guzzle your drink.
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Prior to her regular role as Miss Larson, 'Penny Marshall' appeared in the series' first episode as The Stewardess ("Fly the Unfriendly Skies", 16 September 1972).
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When Bob Newhart read the premise for the proposed series, he insisted on two changes. First, he insisted that his character be changed from a psychiatrist to a psychologist so he wouldn't make fun of the seriously mentally ill, and he insisted that his character have no children as to avoid the standard scenario of a goofy father.
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Suzanne Pleshette was cast after she appeared by accident on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson seated next to Bob Newhart. Producers thought she and Bob clicked together and asked her to read for the show.
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When the scripts were first written for the show, writers would write the line "Bob reacts" just like they would for other comic actors. After a while, the writers stopped doing that because Bob basically had the same reaction to every bit. There was no need to write it.
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Over the course of the series, the phrase, "Hi, Bob" was said 256 times. Howard Borden (Bill Daily) said it a total of 118 times. Dr. Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) logged 43. Carol Kester (Marcia Wallace): 36 times and Emily Hartley (Suzanne Pleshette): 17 times. Minor characters or guest stars said it 43 times, and Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) even said it once himself.
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Bill Quinn, the actor who played the recurring role of the mailman for Bob Hartley's office building, was Newhart's father-in-law in real life.
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Even though Bob Newhart didn't want there to be children turning his show into a family sitcom, Emily Hartley did announced that she was pregnant during a show that turned out to be one of Bob's nightmares.
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The exterior office building shots, where Bob's office was supposed to be located, were of the Uptown Federal Savings Building at 430 North Michigan Avenue near the Wrigley Building. The Uptown Federal Savings sign on the building can clearly be seen in many of the shots.
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The characters Bob Hartley and Carol Kester-Bondurant appeared outside The Bob Newhart Show in the 1994 episode of Murphy Brown when Carol became Murphy's 66th secretary. Unlike all of Murphy's other secretaries, Carol (Marcia Wallace) is a great secretary. Unfortunately (for Murphy), Bob Newhart (as Bob Hartley) shows up at the end of the show to convinces her to come back to work for him.
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Bob Newhart was drunk during the scene in the third season opener where he slams closed the 'group in session' sign.
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The zip code of Robert Hartley's apartment building address in Chicago, IL was 60611. The actual building used for exterior shots of Bob's apartment is on North Sheridan Road, and bears zip code 60660. It abuts Lake Michigan on the East. Ironically, the office building used does, in reality, bear code 60611.
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