The Bob Newhart Show (1972) Alternate Opening Sequence

Check out the opening sequence for The Bob Newhart Show. You can grab the complete series from Shout! Factory at: www.shoutfacto...
This sitcom classic stars the incomparable Bob Newhart as Dr. Robert Hartley, a Chicago psychologist who finds himself surrounded by some unusual and neurotic characters on the job, as well as at home! Hartley faces an uphill battle to not lose patience with his patients, but with the support of his quick-witted wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), you can count on him to conduct a healthy session of laugh therapy in all 142 episodes of The Bob Newhart Show. An outstanding supporting cast is on call to back up Newhart and Pleshette, including Bill Daily (I Dream of Jeannie), Peter Bonerz (Murphy Brown), Jack Riley (Rugrats, Spaceballs), and Marcia Wallace (The Simpsons).
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[@craig528]

I haven’t seen this show for 40 years, but this theme song still runs on repeat in my head for weeks at a time. I don’t think there was a better era for TV themes than the mid-70s.

[@brians9508]

That trumpet solo has been running through my head for over 40 years. It is funny that over the years it changed - and got longer - somehow I had added a couple more bars of solo. Listening to it just now made me realize it was not as long as I kept singing it over the years. I was kind of disappointed that the solo was not my version haha.

[@Jonsey-lm5sv]

Comfort television from my childhood. CBS had some great shows: Bob, Mary, Rhoda, Phyllis.... all top notch!

[@cbs70sfan49]

Jonsey 1969 Mine, too!

[@austinl169]

All the ones you named were from MTM, too!

[@brucejackson6451]

Not bad, I'd forgotten that they changed the opening in the later seasons. The décor of their apartment is so SEVENTIES it's practically a character in its own right. I still prefer the original opening where Bob is heading home through downtown Chicago, but this has its own thing going and it's nice. What a great show.

[@Hear4Metallica]

Yeah, Amen on that set design. So period, its almost to the week. NOTHING left from 1969.

[@PRHILL9696]

People for years gave him grief as his route home was insane and made no sense to people who live in Chicago

[@tranurse]

@@PRHILL9696he was from Chicago, surely he knew that

[@Gemstone115]

I remember him since I was as high as a table, way back in the 70s, and now he's gone. It's hard to believe. RIP

[@PlasmaCoolantLeak]

Same! Been a fan since I heard his albums played on a radio show in the 60s.

[@Mochrie99]

I love how shows like Bob Newhart constantly updated and reworked the theme as the seasons went on (same with shows like Rhoda and MTM Show). But the Bob Newhart Show had one of the greatest themes ever, so brilliantly funky, jazzy, and simply screams 1970s.

[@jimmyg8391]

Adult Contemporary Jazz of the 70's. A pretty decent composition reflecting its category and the era.

[@KnowTrentTimoy]

It's beautiful. The entire intro sequence with the jazz piece and cut-out storyboard with inserts of Bob walking to work and getting back home. GENIUS!! I grew up in the 90's as a kid and never saw anything like this. My parents era. Really beautiful!

[@viralbuthow000]

Music from that era cannot be beat. All you have know is the sound of water dripping in an echo chamber.

[@ceebeeii6723]

One of my top all-time favorite TV themes!

[@waynemasters]

One of the greatest shows of all time.

[@russellregan4736]

Wayne Masters I agree

[@bigwillietheb]

I have to agree , I grew up in the 80's on Newhart , but the Bob Newhart Show was funnier

[@kendallrivers1119]

Next to Sanford and Son and Barney Miller of course but those are the top 3 sitcoms

[@greylanders6101]

@@kendallrivers1119 Honeymooners, Cheers, Bob Newhart Show, Mash, Newhart

[@EHonda1992]

The old cars, the old store fronts, etc, this is a time capsule.

[@KennethHuang-ig8hy]

IN MEMORY OF BOB NEWHART. ( 9/15/1929-7/18/2024). I WATCHED HIS 1972-78 SERIES WHEN I WAS A SMALL BOY. Kenneth Huang. 7/17/24.

[@10pinsneaker75]

Looking back, this music is what created my later love of Jazz😎

[@megamanj2004X]

This is more of the final season intro from 1977-78. Notice how much the theme tune has a more slight semi-disco pop flavor to it. Also, the closing credits from this season is a continuation of Bob walking through the streets in a Mary Tyler Moore Show fashion.

[@JasonCBrewer]

This was the best arrangement of the theme in my opinion. I could listen to a 10 minute extended version with solos!!!!

[@eltonjohn3236]

Suzanne Pleshette was not only an attractive woman, but jeez she was funny as hell.

[@joejoe9435]

she was very attractive

[@blizzytiger]

Gorgeous and the longer hair made her look totally sophisticated, but with a more youthful touch.

[@FomorViceroy]

This intro actually comes from the show's last season, 1977-1978. The shots of Bob walking through the streets of the city are reused from the fourth season opening.

[@H0neybaby_23]

Used to play this song in jazz band. It is such a great song. And a great show

[@kendricjonrs8581]

RIP sir....

[@davidsharp3110]

RIP Bob.

[@MajorSeventh]

My fave version is from season 2, the trumpet solo is beautiful enough to make a hard-hearted troll like me cry.

[@MyLateralThawts]

I enjoy street scenes in show credits, because they just film real people going about their business, who may have never even realized that they subsequently appear weekly on a hit show. In two separate opening credit for The Bob Newhart Show, Bob can be seen talking to a random pedestrian. I suspect these people recognized Bob from his previous work and were just glad to have a quick chat. Wonder what they talked about at the time?

[@jamessanto9745]

Love The Bob Newhart Show and Bob Newhart. Great cast, Funny show, Great music Theme 😊❤️👍. Good old days

[@mitch4527]

I remember this version - the less jazzy one is the one people remember fondly.

[@Camop-iz9kt]

I once heard Bob say that the the scene at :47 was shot with a hidden camera, and the guy next to him recognized him and said, "What are you doing here?"

[@ericthatsme]

Ha! I had always thought that might be the case!

[@bethlehemcogicmediaftwtx3311]

takes me back to my childhood....SMOOTH!

[@davebowler7410]

It does the same for me, too, Pastor. I was only four years old when The Bob Newhart Show came on the air. But I would pretend to not be able to sleep and sit up with my parents and watch it with them because it was so funny. Good clean comedy. It's a shame what TV has turned into today.

[@mthivier]

There was also a version where he hands Bill Daily an empty coffee cup as he and Emily left their apartment, and then Marcia Wallace hands him an empty coffee cup as he arrives at his office.

[@FreedomRock44]

WHy can't the BIG THREE come up with any shows like this anymore?????

[@michaeldodd9671]

They changed to this theme song when the characters Bob and Emily moved to a "remodeled" apartment in the same building as the old one, just on a different floor. I want to say that this was the last season? Truth be told though, I always liked the look of the first apartment a little better but I like all the theme songs, this one included. My guess is they wanted to try a fresh look for the show.

[@lisabridgeman3554]

Boy ! Have I always loved this show ! 💝

[@blipblip88]

Funky tune. Great show. I will enjoy it forever.

[@DanConroy78]

Actually this was 1977, not 1972.

[@trysometruth]

Original theme from 72 is my fave, by kinda a landslide...

[@beeweejr]

Yes, later seasons

[@wrotedog]

77 theme more jazzy than the 72 version

[@chatsidefires]

This version of it is cool and I'm glad it exists but the bombastic horn blast of the standard version. I remember that since I was 10 and I'm many times older than that now

[@winston3341]

I remember when I was a kid, I used to (try and) emulate Newhart's suave 'watch look' seen at 0:50. That's class. ;-)

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

I think the way he brings his hand up, he might be wearing an automatic or self winding watch that winds itself based on wrist and arm movement. In the 70's that mechanism would have primarily been found on high end watches.

[@Screenwriting]

Never admit this to anybody in person.

[@hardlines4]

One of the greatest shows ever

[@hifijohn]

Someone has to turn carols desk so it faces the elevators.

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

Season 6 (1977-78), which ran on CBS Saturday nights from September 24, 1977 through April 1, 1978, and rerun from April 8 to September 2, 1978.

[@RobertLeBlancPhoto]

I prefer the original opening.

[@russellregan4736]

Me 2

[@tnawcwvictoria]

Same here

[@bgjobass]

A rocking theme! Glorioso! Love it!!

[@assignmentearth2899]

Man, what a great theme. A great arrangement and great musicians. In high school I'd watch re-runs and try to emulate the trumpet player on this. Electric sound! Great solo section. Always wondered who that was. Too cool.

[@royalpemberton8724]

That trumpet solo bit on this one sure sounds like Maynard Ferguson to me!

[@chrispettus2532]

Mike Vax, who was lead trumpet for the Stan Kenton orchestra in the early 1970s and who lead the Mike Vax big band which is essentially a Stan Kenton ghost band principally made up of players who were with the Stan Kenton band in the early to mid 1970s.

[@assignmentearth2899]

Hmm, good to know. Always loved that dude's sound. You can hear him, even for just moments, on the Lou Grant theme. Thanks. @@chrispettus2532

[@davidmoore535]

I met Marcia Wallace aka Carol aka Ms.Krabapple!!

[@leroymaxwellii2747]

R.I.P. 🪦 Suzanne Pleshette

[@onelove1968]

We didn't realize it then, but that era was paradise. If you lived in the 70's you'll recognize that very special 'feeling' that I'm referring to. Back then, humanity wasn't being choked to death by digital technology and ridiculous ideology.

At 0:48 you can see the guy to the left of Bob recognizes him, and both men smile.

[@hankkingsley2976]

like ""yeah we're doing a shoot here. you're in it"

[@berlinsaintclair9100]

Aaron Morris Haha, yesss! I saw that too. Kinda reminds me of the the first 3 seasons of the 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' where the old ladies with the scarves over their hair turn into the shot JUST when Mary throws her hat into the air/freeze frame.

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

For years I thought that was Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin) in that scene, but on closer inspection, I don't think it is.

[@akampfer]

I once read that was a man actually going to work who recognized Bob and was asking him what he was doing in town.

[@reginascruggs3326]

I like this opening better than the first version.

[@jsldj]

Originally he was coming home from work (Home to Emily), then they had him going TO work.

[@McGuffeyUSA]

Awesome television show theme 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎺😊

[@dfwboxingisback9173]

0:53 the coolest time check of all times. When I was a kid I'd practice that move. Ha ha

[@gobbletegook]

I absolutely positively had to have a watch like that back in 1975 or so. Because digital watches were so brand new, you had to flip your wrist like that in order to activate the time/red light numbers for just a few seconds each time! That watch cost me $99 back then, which was a lot of money...considering you could get a BIC MAC for something like 65 cents!

[@gizzyguzzi]

@@gobbletegook Bob's watch cost $1250.

[@Robsay01]

Those condos/apts. on Sheridan Road were fancy and nice back then. By 2020, Most got completely gutted on the inside down to the frames and updated or torn down.

[@FitzArias]

RIP Bob Newhart(1929 - 2024)

[@Barbara-jq2se]

Oh wow! That opening is rather familiar! I was such a young little girl at the time.

[@Kevinm.9000]

Love those old yellow cabs

[@peaceofkake1085]

I very much enjoy the 4, 5, and 6th season version of the opening theme music. Each year had a variation for which this is one of them. What makes it so enjoyable for me is that it sounds like a group of serious jazz musicians got together and simply decided to have a jam session. At no time do I feel like I'm listening to a TV theme. Instead, I feel like I'm supposed to literally get up and move my body to it. It's as if you just sitting and listening for a minute was not their intention. Also, I would strongly recommend that you listen to the 3rd season closing theme for this show. It may seriously be the best 30 seconds of rockin' jazz you've ever heard.

[@ceebeeii6723]

Agreed!

[@dailynhutchinson340]

Great Show.

[@nataliegillmore7436]

R.I.P. Bob Newhart😢

[@boofdfast]

Funny, how this intro is Bob GOING to work, instead of coming home from work, like in the original 72 intro.

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

It also reflects a more modern out look with Bob and Emily both going to work rather than her waiting for him at home while he comes home from work. Did Emily work from season one? I know in some seasons she was a grammar school teacher.

[@76carmel]

Emily became a school administrator (vice principal) of a school.

[@codym8897]

From the 6th and final season (1977-1978).

[@eanmuhammad6318]

Too funky.

[@eanmuhammad6318]

So true, so true.

[@bravobravoh1344]

Suzanne Pleshette was sure a looker.

[@Zoomer30]

Ladies and gentlemen, The 70s

[@longstreet47]

This was the opening for season six the final season.

[@111danish111]

0:32 Michigan Ave and Pearson St 0:42 Michigan Ave and Erie St

[@Funny4450]

What a great theme!

[@FitzArias]

Suzanne, pretty like a picture. RIP.

[@videoholicreturns]

This isn't an alternate intro, it's the intro from the later seasons of the show.

[@LarryLeeMoniz]

Not 1972. Later theme and opening sequence. This may actually be the final season (or close to it). Hey Shout! Factory, when are you going to fix this?

[@rmmmm4653]

Bob Newhart is that kind of human being that always look old jaja

[@tobys4197]

This theme music is from later in the series' run, not 1972. Looks like about 1976.

[@mjnsf]

That opening is from 1975. Water Tower Place was not under construction until then.

[@ClagwellsGarage]

At 0:34 is a 1974 Dodge Monaco. Definitely not an opening sequence from 1972.

[@JasonCBrewer]

This is one of “nastiest” TV themes ever!!!! This particular arrangement.

[@toyobuddy]

This wasn't an alternative to the original '72 opening, but rather the later '75 or so one. I personally liked the original score. This score doesn't fit Newhart's personality as the original theme did. It all feels like the network saying to the producers to "jazz things up" or funk it up (has those riffs). The graphics are mid-70s cheesy as well. Like "Barnaby Jones."

[@kendallrivers1119]

Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette, Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, Roseanne Barr and John Goodman, Carolyn Jones and Jon Astin, Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson and Reginald Veljohnson and Jo Marie Peyton are the best t.v. married couples of all time ! The chemistry was so perfect with them all that you couldn't believe they weren't married for real and can't imagine them with anyone else as a spouse on or off screen.

[@joejoe9435]

good list but what about Carroll O Conner and Jean Stapleton

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Bill Cosby needs to have an asterix or otherwise be stricken from that list.

[@billblair6398]

CBS had the best shows in the seventies Bob newhart all in the family mash maude the waltons jefferson s good times marry tyler moore

[@boofdfast]

This intro is from 1975 or 1976, not an alternate 1972, intro. Wow, Suzanne Pleshette's hair musta grew kinda quick then, if this intro is 1972... what is she wearing a weave? Lol

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

This is actually 1977. In 1975 or 1976 I think she had more of a 70's fro, if memory serves.

[@neilp192]

There are two distinctly different theme songs to this show, but I've only seen one title: "Home to Emily." I think that's this one, based on the later recordings by other artists. Anybody got any light to shed?

[@kathryncoles4206]

RIP ❤😂

[@glowaves]

Nothing compared to the slammin' original. Still good though.

[@BadRonald1]

I believe that to be more like 1976 or 77

[@UNOwen1]

I'm confused; 'alternate' - to WHAT? These WERE used (in the later/last season), and when someone says 'alternate', they usually imply it to be an 'alternate to what was used'. This isn't. I'm a huge fan of MTM, and Bob Newhart, and this is nonsense.

[@wrotedog]

Here I always thought he was in San Francisco. Was Chicago all the while..

[@michaelj.richard8353]

From (1977 - 78)

[@KnowTrentTimoy]

My parents use to watch the reruns of these shows in the 90's and I was just a kid. I always admired the simplicity of this opening sequence and the music. It was perfect. It actually Helped Make you Want to watch the show MORE! Brilliant!

[@gizzyguzzi]

we watched it when it was first run!

[@RingoandCarlin]

The music at 0:53-0:55 always sounds like Dr. Seuss music to me. If sounded like his specials he did with DFE and Dean Elliot

[@Marie-PierForest]

Bob newhart 1929-2024 decede 94 ans 😢

[@stockardchanning5354]

I seen Suzanne Pleshette on Will and Grace she played Karen's mom

[@kellyi.4353]

This is not 1972. It's 1977

[@lune78]

Everything about this screams 70s!

[@ericmundsinger6]

I think that was Buddy Childers on trumpet

[@josephjoel9199]

I enjoyed it, but The Rhoda Show is better in every way.

[@StuDBaker]

1972? Interesting considering they are using the 1977-78 apartment set, which was only used for that one season. Even more interesting that the street scenes feature cars built in 1974, 75 and later. My feeling is that someone made up stuff. The problem is that there are people who will think you're right.

[@FreedomRock44]

Not 72 Suzanne's Hair is Long!!!!!! 77-78 season photo. This is later theme song.. 72 had the L in the OPEN!!!!!

[@kennethstevenson4817]

When ever see him walking to work, I'm like from where his apartment is why is on north Michigan Avenue by the water tower mall?

[@PRHILL9696]

The apartment building is actually located on far north side, edgewater area. Thorndale and the lake

[@hankkingsley2976]

0:53 Check out the time traveler with the cell phone!

[@ajeffero]

Eyeglass case

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

Most likely a non numeric pager. They were about that large in the mid 1970s

[@russellregan4736]

I like the other 1 better

[@Ms.Robinson__]

#SheridanRoad!!

[@Werewolf0216]

Don't like the new apartment for season 6.

[@daysturn1971]

This was 1974

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

Honey Chiles In that apartment, it would be 1977.

[@bunnicula38]

Too much self promotion.

[@sexymama1966]

as we already know, for the syndicated tv episodes, this theme would be abbreviated to make room for an extra minute of commercials.

[@worfsonofmogh1154]

Those bastards always up to something.

[@johnp4008]

Damn commercials

[@blizzytiger]

It would be silenced & shrunk down into the bottom of the screen while they played either the first scene of the episode or a commercial above it.

[@MrLeftfootlouie]

Not 1972..74 75.

[@gizzyguzzi]

The original was the best. This is still better than the middle years with the drum solo intro