Mary Tyler Moore Movies

Having reached its peak popularity during its third season on the air, The Dick Van Dyke Show faltered a bit in the ratings during season four, dropping to seventh place in the overall ratings. This, however, had absolutely no effect on the excellent quality of the series' writing, nor the stellar performances of leading players Dick Van Dyke (as TV comedy writer Rob Petrie), Mary Tyler Moore (as Rob's wife, Laura), Larry Mathews (as the Petries' son, Ritchie), Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam (as Rob's coworkers at "The Alan Brady Show," Sally Rogers and Buddy Sorrell). Among other highlights, this is the season in which series creator Carl Reiner finally appears full-face in the role of Rob Petrie's paranoid, dictatorial boss, comedian Alan Brady. This occurs in the episode "Baby Fat," which also features Strother Martin as a Tennessee Williams-like playwright.

The season gets off to its customary flying start with the episode "My Mother Can Beat Up My Father," in which petite Laura Petrie inadvertently humiliates her muscular husband Rob in public (twice) with her ju-jitsu skills. Other topnotch episodes include the wild and wooly horror spoof "The Ghost of A. Chantz;" "The Man From Emperor," in which Rob is offered a job by the publisher of a magazine that bears a very close resemblance to Playboy; "The Lady and the Babysitter," with Eddie Hodges as a moonstruck teenager who develops a crush on Laura; the two-part "4.5" and "The Alan Brady Show Goes to Jail," guest-starring Don Rickles as hilariously unrepentant petty crook Lyle Delp; another two-parter, "Stacey Petrie," with Dick Van Dyke's brother Jerry Van Dyke appropriately cast as Rob's brother Stacey; "Pink Pills and Purple Parents," a flashback episode in which Laura takes the wrong "nerve pills" just before meeting Rob's parents; "Brother, Can You Spare $2500," featuring Gene Baylos as a bum who holds a lost copy of "The Alan Brady Show"'s script for ransom; "The Redcoats are Coming," a lampoon of Beatlemania featuring rock stars Chad and Jeremy; and "Never Bathe on Saturday," the one in which Laura gets her toe stuck in the faucet of a hotel bathtub. (Initially, Mary Tyler Moore balked at appearing in this episode because she was off-screen for the most part, but was eventually convinced that the end result would be hilarious.) Season four of The Dick Van Dyke Show was capped by Dick Van Dyke's second Emmy Award win in a row. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The best thing that ever happened to The Dick Van Dyke Show was The Beverly Hillbillies. After languishing in a low-rated Tuesday night slot throughout its first season, Dick Van Dyke was moved to Wednesday during season two -- with Hillbillies, CBS' number one attraction, as its lead-in. Though ratings did not immediately skyrocket, "word of mouth" helped to build a large and loyal audience for Dick Van Dyke -- and by the time its second season had ended, the series had climbed to the number nine berth in the overall ratings. In many ways, the most exciting aspect of the series' first season had been the matriculation of co-star Mary Tyler Moore from just another pretty ingénue to gifted comic actress in the role of Laura Petrie, the wife of TV comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke). By the time season two rolls around, Moore is as poised and confident as any of her more experienced co-stars, who in addition to Dick Van Dyke include Rose Marie as Sally Rogers, Morey Amsterdam as Buddy Sorrell, and Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley.

The Dick Van Dyke Show's second season is an embarrassment of riches, yielding some of the series' all-time best episodes. Among these are "Never Name a Duck," in which Rob and Laura Petrie can't convince their son, Ritchie (Larry Mathews), to give up his ever-growing pet duck, Stanley; "My Husband is Not a Drunk," a tour de force for Dick Van Dyke as he deftly switches from cold sobriety to falling-down inebriation and back again as the result of a post-hypnotic suggestion; "What's in a Middle Name," wherein Ritchie is given a long, convoluted, but ultimately logical explanation as to why his middle name is "Rosebud"; "It May Look Like a Walnut!," an outrageous Twilight Zone-esque affair capped with a guest appearance by the series' executive producer, Danny Thomas; "Give Me Your Walls!," featuring the inimitable Vito Scotti as an extremely eccentric house painter; "I'm No Henry Walden!," in which series creator Carl Reiner cameos as a pretentious poet named Yale Summers; and "When a Bowling Pin Talks, Listen," the story of how an innocent suggestion from Ritchie nearly results in a major lawsuit for "The Alan Brady Show." Best of all is "The Sam Pomerantz Scandals," a showcase for the musical talents of the principal players, topped by a classic Laurel and Hardy imitation with Dick Van Dyke as Stan and Henry Calvin as Ollie. Nominated for Emmy Awards in four categories during its second season, The Dick Van Dyke Show copped an "outstanding directing" statuette for John Rich. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It is now part of TV folklore that the classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show was originally conceived as a starring vehicle for the series' creator, Carl Reiner. In the pilot episode "Head of the Family," filmed in New York in 1959, Reiner played TV comedy writer Rob Petrie (then pronounced "pea-tree"), who divided his time between his job as a head writer on "The Alan Sturdy Show" with co-workers Buddy Sorrell (Morty Gunty) and Sally Rogers (Sylvia Miles) and his home life in New Rochelle with his wife, Laura (Barbara Britton) and son, Ritchie (Gary Morgan). Potential sponsors and networks liked the premise but not the cast...or to be more blunt, no one wanted to buy a series with Carl Reiner as star. Swallowing his pride, Reiner limited himself to the jobs of producer, director, and writer. He retooled "Head of the Family," and recast the property with Dick Van Dyke as Rob, Mary Tyler Moore as Laura, Larry Mathews as Ritchie, Morey Amsterdam as Buddy, and Rose Marie as Sally; the rest, as they say, is history.

Debuting October 3, 1961, on CBS, The Dick Van Dyke Show, as mentioned, top-billed the titular star as Rob Petrie, who was now head writer for "The Alan Brady Show" During the series' first few seasons, Alan Brady (a brash, dictatorial character reportedly inspired by Reiner's former boss and colleague Sid Caesar) was seldom seen -- and when he was, it was only from the back. It was an open secret that Carl Reiner himself played Brady, though he did not take screen billing. Only in the series' fourth season was Brady's face actually seen, and only then was Reiner credited on-screen as the actor playing the part. Other recurring characters included Richard Deacon as Alan Brady's producer (and beleaguered brother-in-law) Mel Cooley, Jerry Paris and Ann Morgan Guilbert as the Petries' next-door neighbors Jerry and Millie Helper (he was a dentist, she was Laura's best friend), future director Bill Idelson as Sally Rogers' erstwhile boyfriend, Herman Glimpshire, and Joan Shawlee as Buddy's ex-showgirl wife, Pickles.

Although the series was distinguished by the high level of wit in its writing and its wonderful physical-comedy set pieces, the strong suit of The Dick Van Dyke Show was the warm rapport among its principal players. Indeed, only a handful of TV sitcoms have been so perfectly cast, making one wonder how the series would have fared with its original cast members. Incredible though it may seem today, The Dick Van Dyke Show was not an instantaneous hit. Indeed, the series fared so poorly opposite its first season competition, Bachelor Father and Laramie, that CBS canceled the show outright, sending out notices to the cast members on the last day of shooting. The series might have been just another one season wonder had not one of its sponsors picked it up for a second season, insisting that CBS find a better time slot than Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. Thus, the show was moved to Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. -- fortuitously right after CBS's biggest success of the 1962-1963 season, The Beverly Hillbillies.

Although The Dick Van Dyke Show's somewhat higher ratings still did not set the world on fire, the series received a great deal of word-of-mouth buzz during its second season, and its audience grew steadily throughout the remainder of its run. The fact that the series picked up several Emmy Awards along the way was the icing on the cake. After five seasons, star Dick Van Dyke and producer Carl Reiner opted to quit while they were ahead -- a rare move in the mid-'60s (and even rarer four decades later). Thus, The Dick Van Dyke Show concluded its nighttime run on September 7, 1966, though reruns continued to air on CBS's daytime schedule until 1969. Thereafter, the series entered off-network syndication, where its has continued to flourish mightily well into the 21st century. And in 2003, the surviving cast members were reunited for a two-hour special, The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taken from the popular television series, an enthusiastic reporter follows around bounty hunter Josh Randall in an episode entitled "The Twain Shall Meet." ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide