Many of you know that my two all-time favorite TV sitcoms are The Cosby Show and I Love Lucy. As much as I adore both series, I actually consider The Dick Van Dyke Show to be the greatest sitcom in television history.
The Dick Van Dyke Show aired on CBS from 1961-1966 and starred a then largely unknown Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie, the head comedy writer for the fictitious Alan Brady Show. Mary Tyler Moore, whose own eponymous 1970s sitcom made her a TV legend in her own right and will be the subject of a future post, co-starred as his wife Laura. Larry Mathews played their son Ritchie.
Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam were Sally Rogers and Buddy Sorrell, who co-wrote The Alan Brady Show with Rob. Rounding out the supporting cast was Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley, the producer of The Alan Brady Show. Ann-Morgan Guilbert and Jerry Paris had recurring roles as neighbors Millie and Jerry Helper. The show’s creator and producer Carl Reiner also appeared as Alan Brady.
The cast members were all multi-talented performers and the writers more than capitalized on those talents. Van Dyke was a natural song-and-dance man whose tall and lanky frame lent itself very well to the show’s broad physical comedy. Rose Marie’s lengthy career in vaudeville and radio served her well with the frequent musical numbers. And Morey Amsterdam was a master of the set-up and punchline.
The biggest surprise to them all was Mary Tyler Moore, who was hired largely to serve as an ear for Rob during the home scenes but obviously proved to be a natural comedic actress. In fact, the series’ ninth episode filmed, titled “My Blonde-Haired Brunette”, was the first in which she served as the centerpiece and aired as the second episode in order to showcase her rapidly-emerging talents. The episode is a standout more for Moore’s hysterical crying jag at the end of the second act than for the the plot itself.
Because of such top-notch casting, brilliant writing and stellar performances, The Dick Van Dyke Show easily stood head-and-shoulders above the era’s “idiot sitcoms” such The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and Gilligan’s Island with its sophisticated humor mined from relateable situations as opposed to gags and one-liners. Like its 1996-2005 descendent Everybody Loves Raymond, many episodes were inspired by the cast and crew’s real-life experiences.
The show’s hallmark was its use of flashbacks to fill-in the Rob and Laura backstory beyond just mere references within the context of a show’s ongoing storyline — a first for a TV comedy. Its ability to still maintain such continuity over the course of 158 episodes, at an average of more than 30 per season, is quite remarkable.
Another keys to the show’s success was consistency. Carl Reiner wrote most of the episodes for the first two seasons, with John Rich directing. By the third season, Bill Persky and Sam Denoff had taken over writing duties with Jerry Paris directing. This is largely unheard of in today’s sitcoms and its unfortunate because the difference is glaringly obvious.
I discovered The Dick Van Dyke Show in high school when Nick-at-Nite was actually running shows that pre-date my existence — a far cry from its current Viacom-owned state of being. I now own all five seasons on DVD and recently made my way through each of them. In doing so, I realized I want the show’s intelligent situation-based humor to serve as the inspiration for my own fiction writing.
When I introduce the show to people, I always start them off with the classic third-season episode called “That’s My Boy??” in which Rob thinks he brought the wrong baby home from the hospital. It ends with one of the best comedy payoffs in television history.
In addition to “Brunette” and “Boy”, there are several other classics:
– In “The Curious Thing About Women” (Season One), Rob finds himself in hot water with Laura for writing a sketch based on something she did in real-life.
– “Where Did I Come From?” (Season One) is the first of the flashback episodes. Here, Ritchie asks the question and his parents recall the final days leading up to his birth.
– In, “It May Look Like a Walnut” (Season Two), Rob dreams his world is taken over by aliens. Mary Tyler Moore makes one of the greatest entrances in television history.
– In “My Husband is Not a Drunk” (Season Two), Rob unwittingly intercepts a hypnotic suggestion. This episode is a tour-de-force for Dick Van Dyke.
– In “All About Eavesdropping” (Season Three), Rob and Laura overhear a less-than-flattering conversation between Millie and Jerry about them on Ritchie’s toy intercom. The episode features a hilarious game of Charades.
– In “My Part-Time Wife” (Season Three), Laura substitutes for Sally in the writer’s room against Rob’s soon-to-be justified best judgment. Listen for the brilliant Laura line, “Don’t you realize that in the office you’d be the boss?”
– In “October Eve” (Season Three), a nude painting of Laura makes its way into a major art gallery and is discovered by Sally.
– “Pink Pills and Purple Parents” (Season Four) is a flashback episode recalling the first time Laura met Rob’s parents and features a classic Millie moment.
– In “Coast-to-Coast Big-Mouth” (Season Five), Laura accidentally reveals on live television that Alan Brady is bald. The final scene where Laura tries to smooth things over with Alan is a fan favorite.
What I love most about the show is that you can’t get away with being just a pretty face. Dick Van Dyke may have been handsome and Mary Tyler Moore may have been a hottie, but they delivered. Everyone delivered. Everyone brought something to the table with which to elevate the already-superb writing. Everyone got laughs. Everyone had stage business to execute. Scenes were often lengthy. Lines weren’t just regurgitated. MOMENTS were PLAYED. There were funny lines, but it wasn’t all about the laughs. It was about the situation. It was about the moments. And that’s how they got the laughs.