Tommy Westphall Universe
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Tommy Westphall Universe

The Bob Newhart Show is an American sitcom created by David Davis and Lorenzo Music for CBS. It ran from September 16, 1972 to April 1, 1978 for six seasons.

Series summary[]

Bob Newhart plays Dr Robert Hartley, a psychologist based in Chicago. Each episode is split between Hartley's hectic home life and the time he spends with his various patients, including mean-spirited and neurotic Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley), milquetoast Marine veteran Emil Peterson (John Fiedler) and shy, reserved Lillian Bakerman (Florida Friebus), an elderly lady who spent most of her sessions knitting.

Westphall connections to The Bob Newhart Show[]

  • Several episodes of St. Elsewhere feature a psych ward patient named Elliot Carlin, played by Jack Riley. Carlin, played by Riley, originally appeared on The Bob Newhart Show.
  • Elliot Carlin appeared in Newhart "I Married Dick" where he met Dick Louden.
  • Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz) appeared in Bob "Better To Have Loved And Flossed".
  • Carol (Marcia Wallace) appeared as a secretary in Murphy Brown "Anything But Cured".
  • On the reunion special, Howard Borden (Bill Daily) claimed to have had a dream in which he was astronaut Roger Healey, meaning that he actually dreamed the entirety of I Dream of Jeannie.
  • Bob Newhart's character in The Bob Newhart Show, Bob Hartley, wakes up in the final episode of the otherwise unconnected show Newhart, revealing that entire show existed only as a dream.

Disputed Westphall connections[]

  • Jack Riley appeared in ALF "Going Out of My Head Over You" as an unnamed patient of Dr. Lawrence 'Larry' Dykstra, played by Bill Daly who played Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show. In the same episode, the series was mentioned by name.
  • In George & Leo "The Cameo Show", many actors from Bob Newhart's and Judd Hirsch's other series made cameo appearances. Even though Peter Scolari's character was given the name Michael Harris, the same name from Newhart, he is not the same character. Cast members from The Bob Newhart Show, Taxi, and Dear John also made unnamed cameo appearances.
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