Newhart enjoys ‘life’ as Proton

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Bob Newhart has millions of fans: The longtime devotees of classic sitcoms The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart and more recent ones who enjoy his work as Professor Proton on TV’s top comedy, The Big Bang Theory.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2017 (3222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bob Newhart has millions of fans: The longtime devotees of classic sitcoms The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart and more recent ones who enjoy his work as Professor Proton on TV’s top comedy, The Big Bang Theory.

Has he ever met one like Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), the supercilious genius who conjures up Professor Proton in his dreams on Thursday’s Big Bang?

“Let me think,” the 88-year-old Newhart says, pausing in classic style during a phone interview to discuss his fifth appearance on the CBS comedy (The comedian’s phone-call routines spawned best-selling albums in the 1960s.). “No. No one comes to mind. I think Sheldon is more annoying than anybody.”

LOS ANGELES TIMES FILES
Jim Parsons, left, and Bob Newhart at the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2013.
LOS ANGELES TIMES FILES Jim Parsons, left, and Bob Newhart at the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2013.

And that’s the secret to the Sheldon-Proton chemistry. Sheldon so admires Professor Proton — a Bill Nye-like TV scientist who inspired him to become a physicist — that his subconscious won’t let him go, even after the death of Arthur Jeffries, portrayed by Newhart, who played the kids’ show host.

That doesn’t mean the perpetually aggrieved Jeffries goes along willingly, even though he’s a product of Sheldon’s mind. “Even as a figment of his imagination, I can’t stand him,” Newhart says, laughing.

In Thursday’s episode, Sheldon found himself competing with rival/friend Wil Wheaton for the chance to play Proton in a revival of the science show.

Unsurprisingly, the imperious physicist’s not exactly kid-friendly audition leads to a return engagement with Arthur in dreamland, where Star Wars fan Sheldon once again imagines his TV hero as a robe-wearing Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“What part of Rest in Peace don’t you understand?” a clearly annoyed Arthur asks Sheldon. Newhart’s signature reaction shots speak volumes about his character’s aggravation.

Unlike Arthur, Newhart has fun spending time with Parsons, his castmates and Big Bang’s writers and crew. It probably doesn’t hurt that he won an Emmy in 2013 for his work.

Newhart, who also makes occasional appearances on TNT’s The Librarians, is open to returning to Big Bang, but his ambitions are modest.

“I’m 88,” he says. “I’m not looking for a career on television.”

— USA Today

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