The Dick Van Dyke Show Explained

Genre:Sitcom
Runtime:22 - 24 minutes
Creator:Carl Reiner
Executive Producer:Sheldon Leonard, in association with Danny Thomas
Producer:Carl Reiner
Bill Persky (1965)
Sam Denoff (1965)
Director:Sheldon Leonard
John Rich
Jerry Paris
Howard Morris
Alan Rafkin
Starring:Dick Van Dyke
Mary Tyler Moore
Rose Marie
Morey Amsterdam
Larry Mathews
Richard Deacon
Theme Music Composer:Earle Hagen
Composer:Earle Hagen
Company:Calvada Productions
Country:United States
Network:CBS
Num Seasons:5
Num Episodes:158 half-hour black-and-white episodes + 1 reunion special in color
List Episodes:List of The Dick Van Dyke Show episodes
Related:The New Dick Van Dyke Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961, to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Productions[1] in association with the CBS Television Network, and was shot at Desilu Studios. Other producers included Bill Persky and Sam Denoff. The music for the show's theme song was written by Earle Hagen.[2]

The show starred Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, and Larry Mathews. The Dick Van Dyke Show centered on the work and home life of television comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), the head writer for the fictional Alan Brady Show in New York, who lived in suburban New Rochelle, New York with his stylish wife Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) and young son Ritchie (Larry Mathews). The series portrayed daily life, comic scenarios that charming, goofy Rob Petrie found himself in the middle of with his family, his colleagues  - Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam), Sally Rogers (Rose Marie), Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon)  - and his neighbors Millie (Ann Morgan Guilbert) and Jerry Helper (Jerry Paris) and friends.

The series won 15 Emmy Awards. In 1997, the episodes "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth" and "It May Look Like a Walnut" were ranked at 8 and 15 respectively on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[3] In 2002, the series was ranked at 13 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time[4] and in 2013 it was ranked at 20 on their list of the 60 Best Series.[5] Also in 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it #14 on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series.[6]

Premise

The two main settings are the work and home life of Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), the head writer of a comedy/variety show produced in Manhattan. Viewers are given an "inside look" at how a television show (the fictional The Alan Brady Show) was written and produced. Many scenes deal with Rob and his co-writers, Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) and Sally Rogers (Rose Marie). Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), a balding straight man and recipient of numerous insulting one-liners from Buddy, was the show's producer and the brother-in-law of the show's star, Alan Brady (Carl Reiner). As Rob, Buddy, and Sally write for a comedy show, the premise provides a built-in forum for them to constantly make jokes. Other scenes focus on the home life of Rob, his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore), and son Ritchie (Larry Mathews), who live in suburban New Rochelle, New York. Also often seen are their next-door neighbors and best friends, Jerry Helper (Jerry Paris), a dentist, and his wife Millie (Ann Morgan Guilbert).

Many of the characters in The Dick Van Dyke Show were based on real people, as Carl Reiner created the show based on his time spent as head writer for the Sid Caesar vehicle Your Show of Shows. Carl Reiner portrayed Alan Brady who is a combination of the abrasive Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason, according to Reiner, refuting rumors that Alan Brady was based on Caesar.[7] Van Dyke's character was based on Reiner himself.

Moore's character's "look" was influenced to some extent by that of Jackie Kennedy, who was at the time First Lady of the United States.[8]

Head of the Family pilot

The Dick Van Dyke Show was preceded by a 1960 pilot for a series to be called Head of the Family, filmed at Gold Medal Studios,[9] [10] with a different cast, although the characters were essentially the same, except for the absence of Mel Cooley. In the pilot, Carl Reiner, who created the show based on his own experiences as a TV writer, played Robbie Petrie. Laura Petrie was played by Barbara Britton, Buddy Sorrell by Morty Gunty, Sally Rogers by Sylvia Miles, Ritchie by Gary Morgan, and Alan Sturdy, the Alan Brady character, was played by Jack Wakefield, although his face was never fully seen, which was also the case with Carl Reiner's Alan Brady for the first three seasons of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Although broadcast on CBS as an episode of the summer anthology series The Comedy Spot on July 19, 1960,[11] [12] [13] the pilot was unsuccessful, which led Reiner to rework the show with Dick Van Dyke playing the central character (who went by Rob, not "Robbie", and pronounced his last name PET-tree rather than the pilot's PEE-tree.)[14]

The plot of the pilot was subsequently the basis of the series episode "Father of the Week".

Episodes

See main article: List of The Dick Van Dyke Show episodes.

At least four episodes were filmed without a live studio audience: "The Bad Old Days," which featured an extended flashback sequence that relied on optical effects that would have been impractical to shoot with a live audience in the studio;[15] "The Alan Brady Show Presents," which required elaborate set and costume changes;[16] "Happy Birthday and Too Many More," which was filmed on November 26, 1963, only four days after President Kennedy's assassination;[17] and "The Gunslinger", which was filmed on location. "The Last Chapter" was the last episode that aired; "The Gunslinger" was the last episode filmed.

In color

Reiner considered moving the production of the series to full color as early as season three, only to drop the idea when he was informed that it would add about $7,000 to the cost of each episode.[18] In 2016, several episodes were colorized by West Wing Studios and aired on CBS.

Characters

Main:

Supporting:

Recurring:

A group of character actors played several different roles during the five seasons. Actors who appeared more than once, sometimes in different roles, included Elvia Allman (as Herman Glimscher's mother), Tiny Brauer, Bella Bruck, Jane Dulo, Herbie Faye, Bernard Fox, Dabbs Greer, Jerry Hausner, Peter Hobbs, Jackie Joseph, Sandy Kenyon (who also appeared in the 2004 reunion special), Alvy Moore, Isabel Randolph, Burt Remsen, Johnny Silver, Doris Singleton, Amzie Strickland, George Tyne, Herb Vigran and Len Weinrib. Frank Adamo, who served as Van Dyke's personal assistant and stand-in, also played small roles throughout the show's five seasons.

Production

The Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed before a live audience (one of the few sitcoms at the time to do so) at Desilu-Cahuenga Studios in Hollywood, California,[26] with audience "sweetening" performed in post-production.

Many of the show's plots were inspired by Reiner's experiences as a writer for Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, both of which starred Sid Caesar. Reiner based the character of Rob Petrie on himself, but Rob's egocentric boss Alan Brady is not based on Caesar, but is a combination of the abrasive Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason, according to Reiner.[7]

Johnny Carson was a finalist for the role of Rob Petrie, but Sheldon Leonard selected Van Dyke based on his Broadway performance in Bye Bye Birdie.[27] [28]

CBS had intended to cancel the show after its first season, but Procter & Gamble threatened to pull its advertising from "the network's extremely lucrative daytime lineup" and the show was renewed, keeping its Wednesday night time slot.[29] The show jumped into the top 10 by the third episode of its second season, helped by coming directly after The Beverly Hillbillies, the number one show at the time.

The week of the final broadcast in June 1966, LIFE magazine reported: “The series is not being killed by the network. CBS is drooling to continue this consistent entry in the Nielsen top 20. But the five-year-old show decided to retire. ‘We wanted to quit while we were still proud of it,’ said Van Dyke.”[30]

In 2019 the show's archives were donated to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.[31]

Crossovers

Theme

The show's theme was by Earle Hagen, who also wrote many other TV series themes, including those for The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., I Spy, and The Mod Squad.

In a 2004 TVLand Awards appearance, Van Dyke revealed Morey Amsterdam's lyrics for the show's theme song:

So you think that you've got trouble?

Well, trouble's a bubble

So tell old Mr. Trouble to get lost!

Why not hold your head up high and

Stop cryin', start tryin'

And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.

When you find the joy of livin'

Is lovin' and givin'

You'll be there when the winning dice are tossed.

A smile is just a frown that's turned upside down

So smile, and that frown will defrost.

And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed.[32]

Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings

Season TV Season Time slot (ET) Nielsen ratings[33]
Rank Rating
1 Tuesday at 8:00 pm (October 3 - December 26, 1961)
Wednesday at 9:30 pm (January 3 - April 18, 1962)
80 16.1
2 Wednesday at 9:30 pm 9 27.1
3 3 33.3
4 Wednesday at 9:00 pm 7 27.1
5 Wednesday at 9:30 pm 16 23.6

Primetime Emmy Awards

The Dick Van Dyke Show was nominated for 25 Primetime Emmy Awards and won 15.[34]

Award Nominee Result
1961–1962 (presented May 22, 1962)
1962–1963 (presented May 26, 1963)
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead) rowspan="3"
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) Mary Tyler Moore
Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress Rose Marie
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy John Rich rowspan="2"
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy Carl Reiner
1963–1964 (presented May 25, 1964)
Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Comedy rowspan="3"
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead) Dick Van Dyke
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) Mary Tyler Moore
Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress Rose Marie
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy rowspan="2"
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy or Variety Carl Reiner, Sam Denoff and Bill Persky
1964–1965 (presented September 12, 1965)
Outstanding Program Achievements in Entertainment Carl Reiner, producer
Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Actors and Performers Dick Van Dyke
Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Writers Carl Reiner for "Never Bathe on Saturday"
1965–1966 (presented May 22, 1966)
Outstanding Comedy Series Carl Reiner, producer rowspan="3"
Dick Van Dyke
Mary Tyler Moore
rowspan="3"
Rose Marie
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Jerry Paris
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy Bill Persky and Sam Denoff for "Coast to Coast Big Mouth"
Bill Persky and Sam Denoff for "The Ugliest Dog in the World"

Cast reunions

Home media

Image Entertainment has released all five seasons of The Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD in Region 1. Season sets were released between October 2003 – June 2004. Also, on May 24, 2005, Image Entertainment repackaged the discs from the individual season sets into a complete series box set. On Blu-ray, the complete series, remastered in high definition, was released on November 13, 2012.[35]

In Region 2, Revelation Films has released the first two seasons on DVD in the UK.[36] [37]

In Region 4, Umbrella Entertainment has released the first three seasons on DVD in Australia.

Following the well-received colorizations of I Love Lucy in the US, two episodes, "That’s My Boy" and "Coast to Coast Big Mouth", were computer colorized by West Wing Studios in 2016 and broadcast by CBS.[38] [39] They were later released on DVD and Blu-ray by CBS Home Entertainment as The Dick Van Dyke Show: Now in Living Color!

DVD NameEp#Release Date
Season 131October 21, 2003
Season 233October 21, 2003
Season 331February 24, 2004
Season 432April 27, 2004
Season 531June 29, 2004
The Complete Series158May 24, 2005 (DVD)
November 13, 2012 (Blu-ray)
November 10, 2015 (remastered DVD)
Now in Living Color!2March 3, 2017 (DVD and Blu-ray)

Six episodes of the series, all from the second season, are believed to have lapsed into the public domain and have been released by numerous discount distributors. There also seems to be no original record of copyright for episodes 33–62, which were released in 1962 and 1963. This does not preclude their creators from claiming royalties for them.[40] CBS policy has generally been to claim indirect copyright on such episodes by claiming them as derivative works of earlier episodes that were copyrighted.[41] [42]

In popular culture

See also

References

Informational notes

Citations

External links

Notes and References

  1. "Calvada" is derived from the letters from producers CArl Reiner, Sheldon Leonard, VAn Dyke and DAnny Thomas. Source: The Dick Van Dyke Show: Anatomy of a Classic
  2. Web site: October 23, 2010 . Dick Van Dyke Plays Not My Job . February 13, 2011 . NPR.
  3. Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time . . June 28, 1997 .
  4. News: TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows . April 26, 2002 . June 18, 2011 . CBS News.
  5. Fretts . Bruce . Roush . Matt . The Greatest Shows on Earth . TV Guide Magazine . 61 . 3194–3195 . 16–19 . . 22 December 2013 -->.
  6. Web site: 101 Best Written TV Series. Writers Guild of America West. June 2, 2013.
  7. Web site: '2,000 Year Old Man' still kicking on new DVD. John. Clark. November 22, 2009. San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. Book: Farber, David . The Sixties Chronicles . 2004 . Publications International Ltd. . 1-4127-1009-X . 153.
  9. Book: Reiner . Carl . Carl Reiner . I Remember Me . 2012 . AuthorHouse . 978-1-4772-6458-4 . 276 . en . Head of the Family in late 1958, at the Gold Medal Studios in my hometown, the Bronx !.
  10. Book: Waldron . Vince . The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book [Deluxe Expanded Archive Edition]

    The Definitive History of Television's Most Enduring Comedy ]

    . 3 May 2014 . Words in Edgewise . 978-0-9852782-6-7 . 52 . 16 July 2024 . en . ... Head of the Family finally went before the cameras at New York's Gold Medal Studios a few weeks before Christmas 1958. Produced by Stuart Rosenberg and ....
  11. Book: Terrace, Vincent . 1976 . The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs 1947–1976, Volume I: A–K . New York. A. S. Barnes and Company. 165. 0-498-01561-0.
  12. Web site: UNSOLD PILOTS ON TELEVISION, 1956–1966 . . 15 August 2019 . tvobscurities.com . Television Obscurities . 3 June 2024.
  13. Book: Brooks. Tim. Marsh . Earl . 2007 . The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network an Cable TV Shows 1946–Present . New York. Ballantine Books. 276. Ninth. 978-0-345-49773-4.
  14. Web site: The Dick Van Dyke Show . The Museum of Broadcast Communications . Paul . Cullum . July 15, 2015.
  15. Book: Waldron, Vince. The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. 2011. Chicago Review Press. Episode Guide. 978-1-56976-839-6. 310.
  16. Book: Waldron, Vince. The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. 2011. Chicago Review Press. Episode Guide. 978-1-56976-839-6. 334.
  17. Book: Waldron, Vince. The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. 2011. Chicago Review Press. Episode Guide. 978-1-56976-839-6. 336–337.
  18. Book: Waldron, Vince. The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. 2011. Chicago Review Press. Footnote. 978-1-56976-839-6. 250.
  19. News: Genzlinger. Neil. Neil Genzlinger. 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' in Color? See It on Sunday. December 9, 2016. The New York Times. December 11, 2016 .
  20. Web site: "The Dick Van Dyke Show - Now in Living Color! A Special Tribute to Carl Reiner," A One-Hour Special Featuring Two Beloved Episodes, to Be Broadcast Friday, July 3. The Futon Critic. July 3, 2020.
  21. News: CBS Presents Two Newly Colorized Episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Today. BroadwayWorld.com. December 22, 2017. December 27, 2017.
  22. News: Thomas . Nick . For Carl Reiner, the projects keep on coming . December 16, 2018 . . . December 7, 2018 . Jackson, Tennessee.
  23. Web site: CBS Facebook post. Facebook. May 14, 2021.
  24. Book: Waldron, Vince. The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. 2011. Chicago Review Press. Episode Guide. 978-1-56976-839-6. 291.
  25. Book: Waldron, Vince. The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book. 2011. Chicago Review Press. Episode Guide. 978-1-56976-839-6. 291, 299, 303, 320, 334, 351, 361, 377, 379, 383, 387.
  26. Book: Moore . Mary Tyler . Mary Tyler Moore . After All . 2001 . Putnam . New York . 978-0399140914 . 82, 88 . registration .
  27. Web site: Who Almost Played the Lead on the Dick van Dyke Show? . October 3, 2013 .
  28. Web site: Before the Dick van Dyke Show There Was Carl Reiner's Head of the Family . March 22, 2013 .
  29. Book: Waldron . Vince . The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book: The Definitive History and Ultimate Viewer's Guide . 2001 . 170 . Hal Leonard Corporation . 9781557834539 . 7 June 2023.
  30. Ferrer III, José M. “A Good Show Quits While It’s Ahead.” LIFE 60:22 (3 June 1966), 15.
  31. https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2019/03/20/dick-van-dyke-show-archives-scripts-donated-to.html Dick Van Dyke show archives, scripts donated to National Comedy Center
  32. Dick Van Dyke Plays Not My Job (October 23, 2010) NPR.org archive Retrieved September 6, 2011
  33. Book: Brooks . Tim . Tim Brooks (historian) . Marsh . Earle . 2007 . The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present . Ballantine Books . 1683–1684 . 978-0-345-49773-4 . Ninth .
  34. Book: Brooks, Tim . Tim Brooks (historian) . The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present . 2007 . Ballantine Books . 978-0-345-49773-4 . 1634–1636. Ninth .
  35. Web site: The Dick Van Dyke Show: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review. Blu-ray.com.
  36. Web site: The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Season One. March 5, 2007 . Amazon.co.uk.
  37. Web site: The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Season Two. May 21, 2007. Amazon.co.uk.
  38. Web site: 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' is back on CBS in living color. December 8, 2016. Los Angeles Times.
  39. Carl Reiner Almost Left Dick Van Dyke Over This Controversial Episode. December 9, 2016. Vanity Fair.
  40. Web site: WebVoyage. 2021-08-25. cocatalog.loc.gov.
  41. Web site: Winston.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130831181432/http://winston.com/index.cfm?contentid=34&itemid=2488 . August 31, 2013 .
  42. Web site: CBS Operations Inc v. Reel Funds International Inc. gpo.gov.
  43. Keneney, Bill. "Toons with a lot more 'tude" USA Today (June 26, 2003)
  44. Web site: Dueben . Alex . How 'Mad About You' Perfected the Network Multi-Camera Sitcom . Vulture . August 24, 2016 . January 15, 2021.
  45. Sepinwall . Alan . Alan Sepinwall . 'WandaVision': Marvel Studios Bows Down to the Heroes of the Small Screen . Rolling Stone . January 14, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220922061642/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/wandavision-recap-episode-7-previously-on-1133822/ . 2022-09-22 . December 23, 2022 . subscription.
  46. 'WandaVision' Recap: Some Assembly Required . https://web.archive.org/web/20210303212420/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-recaps/wandavision-recap-episode-7-previously-on-1133822/ . 2021-03-03 . . February 26, 2021 . December 23, 2022 . subscription.
  47. Web site: Not Your Mother's Suburbs .
  48. Honey, I'm Chrome: Marvel prepares to take over TV with 'WandaVision' . .