The Bob Newhart Show
Fly the Unfriendly Skies
TV Flash files “Fly the Unfriendly Skies” as a desk essential hour — The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1972-09-16, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 142 in the The Bob Newhart Show guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1972-09-16 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Tracy Grammar School, I'll Lick You Yet” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Fly the Unfriendly Skies”. Fly the Unfriendly Skies opens MTM's quiet engine. Newhart already listens; Pleshette's Emily keeps the marriage dryly off-kilter; phone-bit timing, no panic.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Emily joins Bob's fear of flying group after she confesses that she is also afraid of flying in airplanes.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Fly the Unfriendly Skies sit in the The Bob Newhart Show guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 142 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did The Bob Newhart Show S01E01 air?
Fly the Unfriendly Skies aired 1972-09-16 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this the same show as 1980s Newhart?
No. This is the 1972–1978 CBS psychologist sitcom with Suzanne Pleshette. The later Newhart is a separate Vermont-inn series.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Bob Newhart's Chicago psychologist listens to everyone else's neuroses while Suzanne Pleshette's Emily keeps the marriage dryly off-kilter. MTM quiet comedy: group-therapy Greek chorus, phone-bit timing, no catchphrase panic. The buttoned-up lead surrounded by lunatics, perfected.
The opening beat is a pause. Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley listens to everyone else's neuroses while his own life stays dryly off-kilter, and CBS's The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978) builds six seasons, 142 episodes, out of stammer-and-wait timing. David Davis and Lorenzo Music made it under the MTM banner associated with quality 1970s comedy: smart, warm, never frantic. Suzanne Pleshette's Emily keeps the marriage off-kilter on purpose. Bill Daily's Howard, Peter Bonerz's Jerry, and Marcia Wallace's Carol…
Filed against
- Bob Newhart as Dr. Bob Hartley
Bob Newhart’s Dr. Bob Hartley made The Bob Newhart Show a buttoned-up climate — 1970s catalog MTM quiet, phone-bit timing, lunatics around a psychologist. Newhart later moved the stammer to a Vermont inn and stole the finale. TV Flash…
- Suzanne Pleshette as Emily Hartley
Suzanne Pleshette dry-witted The Bob Newhart Show as Emily Hartley — Chicago psychologist's wife, MTM quiet comedy, group-therapy Greek chorus, phone-bit timing with no catchphrase panic. The marriage that kept the buttoned-up lead…
- Bill Daily as Howard Borden
Bill Daily’s Maj. Roger Healey kept I Dream of Jeannie’s NASA secret from being a two-person bottle — 1960s catalog Space Race sitcom, then The Bob Newhart Show recasting the pal as Howard Borden’s flight-weather. TV Flash files him as…
- Peter Bonerz as Jerry Robinson
Peter Bonerz played Jerry Robinson on The Bob Newhart Show, 1970s MTM quiet comedy — a Chicago psychologist listening to everyone else’s neuroses, Suzanne Pleshette’s Emily keeping the marriage dryly off-kilter, group-therapy Greek…
- Marcia Wallace as Carol Kester
Marcia Wallace ran the reception as Carol Kester on The Bob Newhart Show — Chicago psychologist, Suzanne Pleshette’s Emily, MTM quiet comedy, group-therapy Greek chorus, phone-bit timing, no catchphrase panic. The buttoned-up lead…