"The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961) TV series 1961-1966

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Creator:

Carl Reiner

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

3 October 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Plot:

The misadventures of a TV writer both at work and at home.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Husband Wife Relationship | Only Child | Insult | Army

Awards:

Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 20 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Dick Van Dyke	...	Robert 'Rob' Petrie (158 episodes, 1961-1966)
Mary Tyler Moore	...	Laura Petrie (153 episodes, 1961-1966)
Rose Marie	...	Sally Rogers (131 episodes, 1961-1966)
Morey Amsterdam	...	Maurice B. 'Buddy' Sorrell (131 episodes, 1961-1966)
Richard Deacon	...	Melvin 'Mel' Cooley (108 episodes, 1961-1966)
Larry Mathews	...	Richard Rosebud 'Ritchie' Petrie (70 episodes, 1961-1966)

Also Known As:

"All in a Day's Work" (USA) (working title)
"Double Trouble" (USA) (working title)
"Full House" (USA) (working title)
"Head of the Family" (USA) (working title)
"The Dick Van Dyke Daytime Show" (USA) (rerun title)

Runtime:

30 min (158 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | USA:TV-G

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Calvada Productions

Trivia:

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore played a married couple so convincingly on the show that many viewers actually thought they were married in real life. They did in fact become very close--"like brother and sister", as Van Dyke said--and both admit they had crushes on each other while the show was in production. They have remained close friends ever since.

Quotes:

Richard Rosebud 'Ritchie: [notices Rob and Laura kissing while watching home movies of their wedding] Boy, you two sure kiss a lot! Show me that again, Daddy.
Rob Petrie: OK.
[they start kissing again]
Richard Rosebud 'Ritchie: No, not that - that!
[points to the movie screen]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Coming to Homerica (#20.21)" (2009)

A sophisticated masterpiece

Dick van Dyke was a truly remarkable comedian. In this show he was in his prime and he never seemed to match the level of critical acclaim popularity and overall quality of his performances he did here. The sitcom is without a doubt one of the classic shows of all time. In the show Dick van Dyke played Robert Petrie a writer for the Alan Brady Show. His wife was Laura Petrie and his two co-workers were Sally Rogers and Buddy Sorell. His boss was Mel Cooley.

The show had a lot of slapstick, a lot of wordplay and a lot of singing and dancing. It was a great five-year run. My favorite character on the show was Mel Cooley. He was played excellently by Richard Deacon. He was sophisticated and had perfect Mary Tyler Moore became very famous as a result of this show. She was very funny here and will continue to impress audiences for generations.

I think this is one of those shows where there was not a bad show. Every episode of the Dick Van Dyke show has it's own unique little charm. There are some great episodes. Perhaps the Twizzle episode and the walnut episode are some of the best. The show did end too early. They were on top of the game and Dick van Dyke and Carl Reiner both just wanted to quit. Perhaps they wanted to do other things.

Dick van Dyke as I said never seemed to achieve such high status since. Perhaps his alcoholism didn't help. He was the reason they never did a sequel to Mary Poppins because they couldn't do the movie without him. Mary Tyler Moore would of course go on to do the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rose Marie would be on the Hollywood Squares for a long time after this. Morey Amsterdam and Richard Deacon would continue to make cameos and appear on talk shows for years to come.

This was one of the first truly sophisticated comedies. The writing was excellent and witty, the acting was perfect and the show just had it together. The show overall probably could have been on for fifteen years if it really wanted to be. Still it is on TV Land sometime you will probably get a laugh out of it.