
Not to be confused with Newhart's eponymous 1961 variety show, "The Bob Newhart Show" finds the comic playing Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist living with wife Emily in a highrise. Bob is forced to deal with crazy patients, his wife and their friends.
Bob is depressed by his seeming lack of success as a psychologist. He seeks help from his old college professor (Keenan Wynn), who manages to heighten his despair by informing him that psychology is all nonsense.
Bob accepts a seemingly innocent invitation to appear as the guest on a TV discussion program. He winds up in the jaws of a dilemma when the show host turns out to have the disposition of a shark.
Bob moves up in the world from the seventh to the 10th floor when he joins the firm of a swinging psychiatrist.
Bob suffers family problems when his mother becomes a houseguest and an elderly patient involves him in a parent-child vendetta.