Bob (TV series)
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Bob is an American television situation comedy starring Bob Newhart. It was the actor's third series for CBS and proved to be far less successful than The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, his previous outings with the network, and is an example of a show being canceled due to being placed in the Friday night death slot.
In it Newhart portrayed Bob McKay, the creator of the 1950s comic book superhero Mad-Dog. When a Senate sub-committee decided such reading material could corrupt young readers, Mad-Dog faded into oblivion. Bob became a greeting card artist, and years later Mad-Dog is revived when the American-Canadian Trans-Continental Communications Company buys the rights to the series. Complications ensued when AmCanTranConComCo head Harlan Stone insisted Mad-Dog should be a bloodthirsty vigilante rather than the hero Bob originally created. Also creating havoc in Bob's life was constant conflict with his daughter Trisha, who bemoaned her perpetually single state. Other characters included Bob's wife Kaye; Albie, a klutzy gofer with low self-esteem; Chad, a spaced-out cartoon inker with a crush on Trisha; curmudgeonly Iris, an old-timer at the card company; Trisha's roommate Kathy; and Kathy's parents Patty and Jerry.
Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner and Phoef Sutton comprised the creative writing team behind the show, which premiered at 8:30pm ET/PT on September 13, 1992. In addition to Newhart, the cast included Carlene Watkins as Kaye, Cynthia Stevenson as Trisha, John Cygan as Harlan Stone, Andrew Bilgore as Albie, Timothy Fall as Chad, Ruth Kobart as Iris, Lisa Kudrow as Kathy, and Dorothy Lyman and Tom Poston as Patty and Jerry. Writer Mark Evanier also worked on the show.
Although it was hailed by the critics and heavily promoted by TV Guide, which featured it on the cover twice during its freshman season, Bob failed to catch on with the viewing public in its Friday night time slot (which had been shifted to 9:30pm). When it was switched to Monday nights in April 1993, ratings improved, and the network renewed it for a second season.
In the final episode of the first season, AmCanTranConComCo was sold to a millionaire who hated comic books, and the entire Mad-Dog staff, including Bob, was fired. When Bob returned in September 1993, the show was revamped completely. Most of the supporting cast of the prior season had disappeared and the show's premise had changed. Sylvia Schmitt (Betty White), the wife of his former boss (who had run off with his dental hygienist), hired Bob as President of Schmitt Greetings. Her obnoxious son Pete (Jere Burns), the Vice-President of Sales who had expected to take over the company and now had to work for Bob, was irate. Others working at the company were the sarcastic bookkeeper Chris (Megan Cavanagh) and dumb but lovable Whitey (Eric Allan Kramer), a member of the production team who adored Bob.
The show was back on the Friday night schedule and its ratings suffered. A switch to Monday nights in December was too late to do much good, and the series was cancelled after the December 27 broadcast. Three remaining episodes finally aired on March 23, 1993.
