Trivia Facts | Top Quotes | Goofs/Mistakes
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Bob and Emily lived in apartment #523.
  • Bob's office was on the seventh floor, suite #715.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Bob Newhart and Peter Bonerz are the only cast members to appear in all 142 episodes of the show.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Bob Newhart was drunk during the scene in the third season opener where he slams closed the 'group in session' sign.
  • 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.
  • The title is from the advertising campaign: Fly the friendly skies of United.
  • Prior to her regular role as Miss Larson, Penny Marshall appeared in this pilot as The Stewardess (16 September 1972).
  • The newspaper Bob is reading is the August 1, 1972 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.
  • The title comes from the family sitcom Father Knows Best starring Robert Young and Jane Wyatt.
  • The title is the famous quotation from Greta Garbo in the movie Grand Hotel.
  • The title is derived from the 1941 song "Let's Get Away from It All" with music by Matt Dennis and lyrics by Tom Adair, published in 1941 made famous by Frank Sinatra.
  • The title alludes to the Crash of '29 when the stock market went into a tail spin at the start of the Great Depression.
  • Even though Bob Newhart didn't want there to be children turning his show into a family sitcom, Emily Hartley did announce that she was pregnant during a show that turned out to be one of Bob's nightmares.
  • The title is from the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun and from the Ian Fleming novel of the same name.
  • The title is a parody of the French phrase "Bon voyage" which means "good journey" and is said when a friend or relative leaves on a trip.
  • The title comes from the typical question asked upon the return of "The Three Bears" from the porridge walk: Who's been sleeping in my bed?
  • The title is from an expression of thanksgiving when good fortune occurs: Somebody up there likes me.