Wednesday, april 12, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 13
On The Bob Newhart Show9 the normals are loony too
By Pete Mason
Entertainment Editor
Well, another first-rate comedy show
has bitten the dust. This one, however, is
not a victim of poor ratings or a callous
network vice president.
television
review
Bob Newhart simply got tired. He had
tried to quit last year but the producers
convinced him to do another season,
evidently by offering him big bucks. He
stuck around, but reportedly his heart just
wasn't in it and last week the last first-run
Bob Newhart Show bid a fond farewell.
The Bob Newhart Show was not just
another situation comedy, it was an exer
cise in controlled insanity. Bob Hartley, a
psychologist, played the role of father
confessor, guidance counselor and baby
sitter to some of the most neurotic charact
ers ever assembled on one set. A neat trick
Red Cross
considering that Hartley was as neurotic as
the rest of them. It was often a case of the
blind leading the blind.
All of the fruitcakes weren't Dr.
Hartley's patients. Consider if you will,
Howard Borden, one of the most bizarre
characters ever written into a script.
If the world of Bob Hartley and his
motley crew was the real world, Howard
Borden would be a frighteningly dangerous
person. Fortunately for anyone who ever
flew the friendly skies, Hartley's world was
a sort of Never-Never Land and Howard
Borden was only one of its elves.
Borden was an airline navigator.
Navigators have the reponsibility for guid
ing their craft and its 200 or so passengers
through the darkness to a safe landing.
Howard Borden couldn't navigate his body
to the bathroom. How in the name of all
things holy could he navigate an airplane?
"Howard, how do you manage to navi
gate an airplane?"
"Oh no, you got to go to school and
learn, just like I did."
Howard Borden was a babe in the
woods, a naive innocent somehow manag
ing to survive in a worldly, cynical
environment. God watches over drunks,
little children - and Howard Borden.
If there was a point or theme to the
Newhart Show it was that we're all crazy.
The only difference between one nut and
another is that one goes to a shrink and
knows he's out of his gourd and the other
thinks he's normal. On the Bob Newhart
Show the normals were loonier than the
crazies. And the only person who knew the
distinction was Hartley himself.
Hartley knew that his presence, his
availability to his patients, was the only
way to help them cope. He had no means
of delivering them from their suffering.
His job was that of punching bag for his
patients. They took their frustrations out
on him, thus enabling them to survive one
more day.
Hartley, who had as many frustrations
as his patients, had no punching bag but
managed to cope "anyway. He was a heroic
character, one of the thousands of
unknown heros who get no recognition, no
medals of honor, no purple hearts.
It was a rather sad Final show. In his
final session with his patients, Hartley
introduced another psychologist, who, in
the course of a quck few moments, manag
ed to take over, proving Hartley's expend-
ahilitv Hartley took one last look at the
Hartley wasn't a gieat psychologist in peopie with whom he had shared a love-
hate relationship for years and left forever.
In the five years the show was on, that
question was only asked once - on the
final show. Jerry, Bob's dentist pal (played
superbly by Peter Bonerz) asked the quest
ion after a particularly stupid statement by
Howard.
the traditional sense. He never cured any
one of their neuroses and psychoses. His
words of wisdom were limited to cliches
like "When the going gets tough, the
tough get.going." His patients were quick
to point out that kind of advice didn't
So, after the reruns are over, there'll be
no more Bob Newhart Show. I'm sure I can
cope. Well, at least I think I can. As Bob
help. But Hartley knew that. He was just Hartley would say, "Good, now would you
going through the motions.
like to go with that?"
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NEBRASKA UfllOn BOARD
Proposed Bylaw Change
Union Board proposes the following two
bylaw changes to allow the Union Program
Councils compliance with the Regents'
February 18th decision on Student Fee
funding.
Section U(B)2) of the bylaws of the Ne
braska Union Board be amended to read:
The Program Councils shall act as the
executive bodies responsible for both
the implementation or program activi
ties and the allocation to qualifying
student organizations of seed money
for qualifying programs and activities.
and Section 11(B)(8) be added and read:
The Program Councils, by inclusion
in their bylaws, shall adopt a set of
procedures and criteria for allocation
of seed money pursuant to Section
11(B)(2) of these bylaws. In the case
that the Associated Students of the
University of Nebraska choose to de
fine qualifying programs and activites
or organizations, such definitions shall
be adopted by the Program Councils
as their own.
Any comments on the above bylaw changes
can be directed to the Nebraska Union
Board, Suite 220 Nebraska Union in care of
John Kreuscher. The proposed changes will
be formally voted on by Union Board at
the April 26 meeting.
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