Bob

Comedian Bob Newhart had starred in two highly successful ensemble comedy series for CBS. The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978) and Newhart (1982-1990) and in 1992 Bob Newhart returned to television and to CBS with Bob.

In it, Newhart played Bob McKay, who had been working as an artist for the Chicago-based Schmitt Greeting Card Company for 20 years when he thought his dream had come true. In his younger days he had created a canine comic-book character called "Mad-Dog' that had lasted for only 12 issues, and now ACE Comics wanted to revive the character. What Bob didn't realize was that Harlan the obnoxious, manipulative senior story editor at ACE, had taken Bob's decent superhero and turned Mad-Dog into a bloodthirsty vigilante. The president of ACE Mr. Terhorst, who only communicated by phone, decided that if the two worked together they could create a truly great comic-book hero. Theirs was an uneasy alliance, with constant bickering about the way Mad-Dog stories should go. Other eccentrics at ACE were Trisha, Bob's flaky daughter, who colored the comic frames; Albie, the klutzy gofer with low self-esteem; Chad, the spaced-out cartoon inker with a crush on Trisha; and Iris, the crotchety old-timer who had seen it all. Kaye was Bob's sensible wife of 25 years and Shayla was Harlan's pushy bimbo girlfriend.

In the last episode of the 1992-1993 season the conglomerate that owned ACE Comics sold out to a millionaire who hated comic books and the entire Mad-Dog staff, including Bob, was fired. When the series returned for the 1993-1994 season Sylvia Schmitt, the wife of his former boss offered Bob the presidency of Schmitt Greetings to replace her husband, who had run off with his dental hygienist. Slyvia's obnoxious son, Pete, the sales VP who had expected to take over the company and now had to work for Bob, was irate. Others at Schmitt were Chris, the sarcastic bookkeeper, and Whitey, a huge dumb guy from the production who adored Bob.