"Button-Down Mind" Unbuttoned

Prior to home video, The Bob Newhart Show was the original "must-see", appointment telebision. Had a VCR by the time Newhart started. 

No sitcom bee ess, per IMDb:

Newhart insisted there never be any children for his character to father in his television series. "I told the creators I didn't want any children, because I didn't want it to be a show about 'How stupid Daddy is, but we love him so much, let's get him out of the trouble he's gotten himself into.'" In the sixth year of Newhart's CBS sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show (1972), the writers wrote a script in which Emily Hartley was pregnant. When Newhart was asked his opinion of the script, he said, "It's very funny. Who are you going to get to play Bob?"

Newhart's inspirations: George Gobel & Bob & Ray. So much for amusing comedy: If they aren't dead they're too old to work.