howard borden
who else thinks that Howard is sometimes annoying. and you wish that bob punches him.
shareI saw numerous occassions where Bob and Emily needed to punch Howard but both were too nice to ever do so.
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MovieChat Forums > The Bob Newhart Show (1972) Discussion > howard borden
His character was annoying, but I can't imagine the show without him in it. He was a wonderful blend to the cast of the show.
shareHoward was like their child. If you look at him like that, he's a great character.
Donna at http://www.geocities.com/jeanniesisters/ (An I Dream of Jeannie website)
I can easily imagine this otherwise fine program without Borden. He was an obnoxious moron. This clown should not have even had a drivers license let alone a certificate to navigate a commercial jet! If the shows creators had made him a clerk in a DMV office or an assistant manager in a shoe store he would have been almost tolerable. As Bob's father notes in the Thanksgiving episode, Borden is a "flake."
And by the way, the six season goof in this program was the number of stripes on Bordens uniform. It should have been two. Only the copilot wears three stripes.
This clown should not have even had a drivers license let alone a certificate to navigate a commercial jet!Yes, that is the joke, I believe. Thanks for pointing it out for everyone that didn't get it! share
Hey, I realize I'm about 6 years late in replying to this comment, but that's the joke..
And probably no one outside of the military or airline pilots actually understands the insignia on a pilot's uniform. Howard Borden (and Carol and Jerry and even Emily) were 2nd only to Bob Newhart himself on the show.
Yes, it would have been a great show if any one of them hadn't been there, but the combination was fantastic. If all of those characters weren't on the show, it would have gone nowhere. It would have just been Bob and his patients.
Borden was a clown (a 'flake' even) - that was what was funny about him. The fact that he was an airline pilot made it even better.
It was a comedy not a drama or a documentary.
Moo Goo Gai Pan!
Howard was eventually promoted to copilot although one has to be a very die hard BNS fan to remember that (-:
It was only mentioned in passing. Besides, at some point (in the real world) he'd have had to have taken promotion to copilot as the navigator position was being phased out in most places.
teacher, i could see howard as a child figure. but doesn't he talk about hooking up with ladies? that kinda ruins the child idea.
of course, i can't reasonably see him hitting on a woman and having her take it seriously.
"The Bob Newhart Show" without Howard would be like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" without Ted Baxter...better for the other characters, maybe, but certainly a loss for the viewers!
I LOVED his caracter!!You ppl are taking it too serioulsy..He WAS to b like a child they never had--He was to b confused-and his whole Navigator thing was a joke to leave the audience questioning ..HOW THE HELL?????? a storke of comic genius!
shareI agree with Tia. I got into this show on a recommendation from my dad, and we have all the seasons that are out on DVD, and we're watching them nigh religiously every night. I think Howard is actually my favorite character.
...and that is all. Disappointing, isn't it?
Of course Howard was annoying, and that is why he is so funny. In a way, all the characters around Bob were in one way or another annoying to him. Don't you get it?
share"How long have you been cooking that turkey?"
"Well, the recipe said 15 minutes per pound and I weigh 180..."
There's something different about you today, Mr. Laurio.
Bartender: "(It's a ) Harvey Wallbanger"
Howard: "Nice to meet you, Harvey! I'm Howard...!"
________
Hi, Bob.
[deleted]
I appreciate the Howard Borden character even more so many years later. The childlike annoying traits were part of his charm. It played well with Bob & Emily. Sometimes you wonder how his son Howie seemed so well adjusted. LOL
shareHoward was like a brother to me.
Hi, Bob.
Howard started out in the first season as a fairly normal but slightly eccentric middle-aged man, but became progressively more simple and childlike as the series progressed. By the final season you wondered how he could even tie his own shoelaces let alone navigate an airplane.
shareI always wanted to be Howard. He had the perfect life. He got to fly around the world, and then hang out with Bob and the very hot Emily every few days.
I thought Howard was hilarious. Not exactly realistic, but so what? He was as realistic as Ted Baxter or Frank Burns. Funny is funny.
shareHes so funny. I dont see his character being the main character on a show, because that would be annoying...but as a supporting role, he is hilarious. I am always cracking up at what an ass he is. I can say he is the one character who seems to make me laugh out loud the most. I especially love when he cracks up at something that he thinks is funny and its really not.
shareYes, Howard was a likable schnorrer and a gadfly. On the dvd commentaries, actress Marcia Wallace observed that Bob and Emily never seemed to lock their apartment door, even in 1970s Chicago (which was hardly a low-crime municipality such as Mayberry, NC even way back then!). So, Howard was always able to barge into the Hartley's apartment at any time, 24/7 and 365 days a year.
shareBill Daly's Howard Borden was even funnier than Kramer.
He played that perfectly and stole every scene he was in.
Howard was annoying, but he had such a sweetness that you just couldn't turn him away.
shareI was a kid during the original run of the show, and at that time, Howard really annoyed me.
However, viewing the series as an adult, first in reruns on TV Land, and now on the DVD collection, I see him differently. I enjoy the zaniness he brings to the mix, and don't think that the series would be the same without him.
[Bob walks in. There's a trunk in the middle of the living room floor. Unbeknownst to him, Howard is inside, practicing his "magic" act. Bob wants to know why the trunk is moving.]
EMILY: Of all the people you know in Chicago, who do you think would be locked in a trunk in the middle of our living room?
BOB (to trunk): Hi, Howard.
HOWARD: Don't let me out!
BOB: Don't worry.
One of my favorite TBNS bits ever. :)
"The best thing about that kid's name is how much it pisses the Snape-haters off."
Naw... He's too nice and goofy to ever do that, and Bob knows it.
Dini
Yeah, those child-like qualities made me wonder sometime - and I really couldn't figure out how he and Bob's sister were a couple. Can't remember if that was toward the end of show's run or at the beginning.
I did enjoy the visit from his brother Gordon Borden - the running gag during that whole show was the rhyming bit with his name.
The last shot on that show:
Bob: "So did Gordon get off okay?"
Emily: "Yes - Bob, did you know they had another brother? He works at the tabernacle in Salt Lake."
Bob (sighs): "And his name is...?"
Emily: "Norman Borden, the Mormon doorman!"
That made me LMAO!
"Hi! Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?"
"Are they made from real Girl Scouts?"