I love this show, I really do, but I can't take the character of Howard Borden. I like the actor himself, loved him in I dream of Jeannie, but here he's just too dumb to be believable. How can we possibly find it plausible a navigator can be so dumb??? This is the only complaint I have about this show.
shareI agree with you on this. When I watched the show when it was originally on, he didn't bother me. But now, all these years later, I just can hardly tolerate his character. Just not funny to me.
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Agree completely. I know that the "goofy neighbor" is a common type of character, but Howard was just overly annoying.
"Oh Mother, Godfrey loves me - he put me in the shower!!" - Irene Bullock
wow I just replied to "howard vs jerry" before I read your post and typed about the exact same thing you said here. I agree its just not a believable character. sometimes it can be ok, but a lot of the time it's not. I mean they could have made him less dumb and naive and it would have still been a good character
shareI love Howard!! Bill Daily is a fantastic comedic actor in my opinion. He's subtle and has great timing.
shareJust watching again since it has come back to Hallmark, and I am finding myself really disliking the Howard character. I don't remember that he ever bothered me much before. But now, I skip the Howard centered episodes.
shareyou guys think this neighbor was weird.. The neighbors on Bob's next show were even more annoying... remember larry, darryl, and darryl??
Yeah but they were supposed to be weird back-woodsmen. Howard was supposed to be a navigator (later a co-pilot) and in the beginning he was just sort of naive. But they later made him just a moron!
shareThey are Harvard educated weird backwoodsmen. Plus they knew people from Stephanie's rich snotty crowd.
Nothing unbelievable there.
When Dick Martin got involved with the show, Howard pretty much started doing Martin's character from Laugh-In.
shareTotally, positively, absolutely agree. On an otherwise mostly smart show, this character seems to be from another planet. Never did get it.
shareOkay, good. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees this. It was such a great show otherwise, and still fun to watch the reruns.
shareOh, come on. Howard was *adorable*! *Jerry* was the jerk. And the whole point of the joke was that airline pilots (or other flight personnel) were supposed to be the epitome of coolness and suave, back when the show first ran...so for Howard to be bumbling and naive was a complete reversal of the stereotype.
And anyway, he must have been doing *something* right. Howard was the one who usually always had the girlfriends, while Jerry, it seemed, could hardly ever get a date, lol.
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Howard is a very "child like" man,who in some respects carries the "naivete'" of possibly an 11 year old (of his generation).
I think in some cases though,maybe flying at high altitudes has done something to Howard. Then again,if you recall the show with his brother,they seem cut from the same cloth. (Great casting on that episode by the way,he really looks related to Bill Daly).
My 2 favorite Howard moments & lines :
1. Playing scrabble - "Zoophyte?" "That's when animals have a battle in the zoo" (or something like that,haven't seen it in awhile). I actually use that word in my E-mail address.
2. He opens a pizza at Bob & Emily's and looks at it and goes "They changed my favorite pizza!" "aaaaaaah" (he quietly uh, "screams"?)
"I can't breathe,open a window!"
I think playing this type of character is his forte'. UnlikeLarry Hagman who did all he could to not get typecast as an "Astronaut Anthony Nelson" type,Daily seems to revel in this kind of role.
Although in his last regular series,"Starting from Scratch", he was actually top billed,he played "Dr. James Shepherd".... a regular guy and a single dad. It ran in local syndication for 1 season 1988-1989.
happipuppi13 *arf,man!*!
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in a book called [ a help guide to the bob new hart show ]bill daily states as howard bordon..'' I loved the character ,he was just an innocent guy,trying to get through the day,howard borden got dumber every week,I got so dumb that I just couldn't handle it any more''
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