Worst Week

Produced by the team that propelled the The Mary Tyler Moore Show to great success, The Bob Newhart Show was part of CBS's historic Saturday night line-up, which created "Appointment Television" before there was ever anything called "Must-See TV." Bob Newhart, coming off a highly successful stand-up career, was well suited to the low-key, adult comedy that was The Bob Newhart Show. The show was based around successful Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) and his schoolteacher wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), as they worked through the everyday difficulties facing a married couple. At Newhart's request, the creators never tried to force children into the Hartleys' lives. The writers were able to add a quiet realness (similar to the writing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show), which made the show a hit right from the beginning. It was the writing, coupled with stuffy, dry-witted Bob and the warm and friendly but slightly sarcastic Emily, that helped the show end its first season in 16th place. Many episodes (especially after season one) took place at Bob's office. His wisecracking husband-hunting receptionist Carol Kestler (Marcia Wallace), and Bob's good friend, the skirt-chasing orthodontist Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz), added big laughs to the storylines, without being unrealistic. The writers were also able to add a series of running jokes that involved the elevators (behind Carol's desk) and various cast members. It was almost as if the elevators themselves became a member of the cast. One of the show's greatest sources of humor, which became more of a focus in later seasons, was the dynamic between Bob and his patients in their sessions. Maybe it's because no one in therapy seemed any stranger than the characters in Bob's non-professional life. In fact, the writers often made use of the contrast between the (relative) normalcy of Bob's patients versus the zaniness of the people not in therapy, allowing audiences to see that funny behavior isn't always a "pie in the face." Another running joke was Bob's frequent one-sided telephone conversations. This was developed by Newhart himself from his popular stand-up act from the 1960s. The writers found the phone calls highlighted Newhart's excellent deadpan timing, without adding significant or unnecessary padding to the show. The Bob Newhart Show ran for six very well-received seasons, until Newhart and the writers decided Bob would step away from his practice to pursue a teaching job in Oregon. This allowed everyone to leave on a high note, with a successful show. Nearly four years later, Newhart would begin developing his new show, simply titled Newhart.

Family man Jim Anderson copes with the everyday problems among his wife Margaret and their three children as they experience day-to-day changes.

A widow and her three daughters (and Uncle Joe, who's a-movin' kinda slow) run the Shady Rest Hotel in Hooterville, whose clientele consists mainly of passengers on the spur line of an almost-defunct railroad.

Two waitresses in a small Brooklyn diner try to make a cupcake business fly off the ground. Caroline and Max came from opposite economic backgrounds growing up, but fate brought them together to become coworkers, roommates, friends, and business partners. Their diminutive employer Han allows them to use a vacant backroom in the diner to start their cupcake shop.

A suburban Chicago family is pestered by nerdy, nosy neighbor Steve Urkel in this long-running spin-off of 'Perfect Strangers' (Harriette Winslow was the wisecracking elevator operator at the newspaper where Larry and Balki worked). Originally, Urkel was a supporting character but he quickly emerged as a breakout star whose shenanigans came to dominate the sitcom.

The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was when we were doing it, of a time gone by."The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry. The show's enduring popularity has generated a good deal of show-related merchandise. Reruns currently air on TV Land, and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by streaming video services such as Netflix.