Hi, Bob -- revisited

Alex from Detroit corrects our version of the "Hi, Bob" rules:

The way you play it, you pass a beer around and whoever has it when a character says, "Hi, Bob" takes a swig. You chug whatever is in the bottle when someone says, "Hi there, Bob."

That way makes it more of a game. Your way does have certain advantages, of course.

It was a great Saturday night lineup, wasn't it? Got me through law school--Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moor and Carol Burnett. They hold up quite well even though the subject of every plot wasn't who was going to have sex with whom. Of course, Mary Tyler Moore could sit there in a burlap sack and read from the phone book, and I'd watch, rapt and fascinated.

You're so right! And that was the last era when Saturday night TV was worth staying home for.