The uxorious Newhart is saddled with a nagging wife. His relatives and neighbors are sympathetic. He develops a clever plan that accomplishes two things: (1) he frames his wife for attempted murder, and (2) he gets to meet the blond showgirl of his dreams. Alas, he's undone by a trick of fate, or rather the writers, since the ending is highly improbable but necessary to the code of the time.
Newhart is okay. He calmly smiles his way through the story, self possessed, phlegmatic. His wife, Jane Withers, is one dimensional. The most magnetic performance is given by Joyce Jameson as Rosie Feather, the stripper (or whatever she is; we don't see her perform) who takes a shine to Newhart and does a spot-on imitation of Marilyn Monroe's breathless whisper. She did it in "The Apartment" too.
Other than that, though it's interesting to see the many casual ways in which Newhart lays the clues for the future frame, there are times when it seems like the story would have been a fine idea for a half-hour show rather than being stretched out to its present length.
But Newhart in the end reverts to what's called first-order change. If you don't like something, you attack the problem directly. A more subtle form of solving the problem is to find some way of allowing the problem to take care of itself organically. Well, that's the principle behind ju jitsu. Is it possible, for instance, to provoke a spouse into such a state of rage that he or she strokes out?
Even if that doesn't work out, we should all keep in mind Socrates' advice. "By all means marry. If your wife turns out good, you'll be happy. If she turns out bad, you'll become a philosopher."
Newhart is okay. He calmly smiles his way through the story, self possessed, phlegmatic. His wife, Jane Withers, is one dimensional. The most magnetic performance is given by Joyce Jameson as Rosie Feather, the stripper (or whatever she is; we don't see her perform) who takes a shine to Newhart and does a spot-on imitation of Marilyn Monroe's breathless whisper. She did it in "The Apartment" too.
Other than that, though it's interesting to see the many casual ways in which Newhart lays the clues for the future frame, there are times when it seems like the story would have been a fine idea for a half-hour show rather than being stretched out to its present length.
But Newhart in the end reverts to what's called first-order change. If you don't like something, you attack the problem directly. A more subtle form of solving the problem is to find some way of allowing the problem to take care of itself organically. Well, that's the principle behind ju jitsu. Is it possible, for instance, to provoke a spouse into such a state of rage that he or she strokes out?
Even if that doesn't work out, we should all keep in mind Socrates' advice. "By all means marry. If your wife turns out good, you'll be happy. If she turns out bad, you'll become a philosopher."