Jump to content

Dick Van Dyke Show 50 years old


quartermainefan

Recommended Posts

  • Members

October 3rd is the 50th anniversary of the debut of the Dick Van Dyke Show. In honor of this, TV Land miraculously has decided to air an actual TV classic and will start rerunning the program. It holds up to this day, and Rob and Laura Petrie still might be the best husband and wife duo TV ever came up with.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I3uNYUw5s4s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The writing was great, and the cast was all pretty talented but it was the marriage of Rob and Laura that was just perfect

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WG1nycdlu-Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 12
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Qfan, thank you so much for starting this thread. As you suggested, the chemistry between Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore was absolutely amazing.

As much as I enjoyed The Dick Van Dyke Show, my favorite show starring this television legend is actually Diagnosis Murder. This show--which co-starred Victoria Rowell, Scott Baio (for its first two seasons), and Dick's son, Barry--was a light-hearted mystery program in the mold of Matlock. Dick played Dr. Mark Sloan, a hospital physician who assisted his police officer son (played by Barry) in solving murders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

They kind of represented the energy and idealism of the Kennedy era of the time. Not only were they warm and funny they were incredibly sexy together and unlike so many other TV couples actually were allowed to show affection and attraction to each other on screen. This and Mary Tyler Moores own show probably 2 of my fave sitcoms. Sharp and witty writing and a great cast for both shows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

In essence they almost did the same thing. She moved to Minneapolis to restart her life after she and her fiance of so many years split. They did the breakup without the "divorce" which was a clever way of sticking with the original premise but dodging the "rob petrie" bullet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

For me the best part of the show was usually the scenes at the office. I thought Laura was better when they didn't overdo her catchphrases. I would sometimes dread home scenes because of RIchie, perhaps the most annoying sitcom child ever.

I did enjoy the neighbors. I loved the episode where they were feuding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It really does hold up, and still feels like a rather sophisticate, urban comedy, which weren't really the norm at the time (or arguably now either...).

There were a few failed attempts at similar shows in the 60s, like He and She which lasted one year.

Please register in order to view this content

And Love on a Rooftop, which also lasted a year, but they didn't capture the full charm and chemistry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqk_N8itxbM&feature=related

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

It's a refreshing change of pace from today's comedies, which at times seem to be one long stream of sex and poop jokes.

I'm not sure I could pick one favorite episode, but I think the funniest moment is when Rob opens the door to the parents he thinks babyRitchie was switched with...and they're black.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I know Passions used this trope with Ethan and Sam to drag out the paternity, but GH seems to speed through certain stories while dragging others.
    • For any other soap, I think I’d agree, but GH, I don’t know

      Please register in order to view this content

    • Agreed, that there was some strange choices in the episode, especially at the end, but overall, that was some great drama that opens up the potential for so much future storyline. Kat vs. Eva having the most potential, especially over Tomas. I have mixed feelings about Martin/BC though. I thought he did pretty well in scenes with Smitty/MM, but the scenes of him confronting Leslie and of him throwing the books were bad lol she acted circles around him.  It’s similar to what Harding Lemay said about George Reinholt at AW; he could be brilliant in one scene, but then mediocre in the next. 
    • I know some of y'all really like Brooke Kerr, and so I've tried to give her a shot, despite her frequent flat line readings and distracted "did I leave the front door unlocked?" facial expressions. But lord, she is so bad at playing a tough-talking badass that I was actually rooting for Brad today to spill the beans to Drew. 
    • Googling does tend to ruin it.  For those of us who were teens in the late 1970s and early 1980s, you can't imagine how much fun it was to watch the show in the afternoons.  (It came on right after school.)  There weren't any "spoilers" at the time.  We would always try to anticipate how each crime and each mystery would be resolved, and we were ALWAYS wrong, because the stories are filled with so many weird twists and turns.   The head writer (Henry Slesar) and his dialogue writer (Steve Lehrman) invariably toss genuine clues directly into your face in the most unlikely ways, but then they provide a host of "red herrings" to completely confuse you and send you off on the wrong path.  Once the story reaches its conclusion, all you can think is Why didn't I figure that out weeks ago?  lol
    • Does the vault have the original scene and not the short flashback?
    • I appreciate that you are using AI with the knowledge of it's limitations. Some posters take everything it produces as fact.
    • And of course Mama Ru herself appeared on All My Children.
    • The Saturday 8pm slot usually had the lowest rating of the NBC 4 sitcom lineup for some reason. NBC let Saturday night fizzle, They used 9.30 pm to launch 227 and Amen, both of which moved to earlier in the evening but they  kept Empty Nest following GG for several seasons.  Empty Nest should have moved to 8pm with their strongest new sitcom at 9.30, anticipating that GG would eventually falter. Instead they left them there and stretching the sitcom pool too thinly on other nights. When Grand talk over at 9.30 Thurs maybe Night Court and Wings could have been used on Saturday.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy