User Reviews

Sister Ellen's job offers are pretty bleak. Even with the college degree, her only offers are Avon Lady or Fuller Brush Man. There's some comedy disdain for the door-to-door sales rep in sit com history, remember Barney Fife hawking those vacuums? The tight job market is accurate for the mid-70s. In 1975 the US unemployment rate was 8.2% and GDP was -0.2. YIKES.

In another cultural diversion, how about Carol's Pier 1 Imports apartment? It's all wicker furniture, bean bags, chair swinging from the ceiling, hanging baskets kind of place. I would love to have that tuba as planter by the door.

That bag on Carol's head has a hose that would attach to a drier that would send heated air to fill that bag in order to .... I don't know why anyone would use a thing like that. Did she need this sort of treatment to get her hair to look like it usually did during this show? I wonder if anyone ever showed their barber a Carol photo asking "give me one of these"?

Back to the show. Bob's queasy about his little sister being with Howard. This is another sexual tension issue that seems less edgy with the passage of time. Ellen is a healthy attractive young woman and Howard, up to now, has been cast as an openly active heterosexual. There's a bit of nudging and winking and at the end of the show the happily unmarried couple are heading to Howard's apartment. We're left to wonder what happens next.

The character of Ellen had been introduced in Season Two when Howard met her before she was about to get married to someone else. That was Episode 21 of Season Two and it was called "A Love Story."

The opening title sequence was changed for season three and Bob doesn't come home to Emily, but rather the two arrive home at more or less the same time.

I'm not sure at what point in television, you could have a unmarrried couple cohabitating, although the show had already depicted Jerry and Carol as spending the night with members of the opposite sex.

The "Bob Newhart Show" didn't usually go for big opening and closing episodes.

this episode is so out of the blue... i was wondering if there was a writing change.

the humor is very plot driven and less about interaction and empty spaces. suddenly a sister character is thrown into the mix in the first show of a season. but not only that, howard proclaims his love and desire to marry her about 20 times in about 20 minutes. it's just bizarre and jarring.

anyone know what's behind the change?

opening credit sequence now has a non sequitur of emily walking around in (southern California) mixed in with the familiar shots of bob walking around chicago. but they throw a kiss in there (emily coming home to bob this time), so you can relax they haven't gotten a divorce.