Co-Creator of ‘The Bob Newhart Show’ passes away at 86

David Davis, a comedy writer who co-created the iconic ensemble comedies “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Taxi,” died on November 4 in Los Angeles at the age of 86.Davis’ daughter Samantha Davis-Friedman reportedly verified his death on Saturday.

Davis was well-known within the MTM Television organisation for his work. He wrote for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Rhoda,” and helped to create two sitcoms that are now in the Hall of Fame. Davis stopped writing in 1979, although he continued to work as a consultant on a variety of TV and film projects, including the ABC TV series “Phenom” and well-known movies like 1987’s “Broadcast News” and the 1983 Oscar-winning “Terms of Endearment.” In the early 1960s, Davis, a Brooklyn native who was born in 1936, started his career in television as a script supervisor on comedies including “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” and the “Gilligan’s Island” pilot.