The Dick Van Dyke Show - General Discussion

[SusanM]

17 minutes ago, rmontro said:

Just out of curiosity, where are you watching your episodes?  Some of us are watching on MeTV, but I know the show is available on a LOT of streaming platforms. 

We have a channel out of Hamilton, ON CHCH which has older programs on all day.  It's pretty awesome actually!  The only catch is sometimes they will just abruptly stop (good bye Partridge Family) so it's probably a good idea not to get too attached to any one program!

19 minutes ago, rmontro said:

How do you feel about sardine sandwiches?  :)

Nauseated...

[SusanM]

Yesterday's episode was The Twizzle.  Oh my.  I remembered really liking this one the first time I saw it - but in my defense I think I was about 10 or 12 when it last made it into reruns on a channel I got.  It either has not aged well or I've aged out of appreciating it.  Either way.  Oh my.

Edited March 4, 2022 by SusannahM

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, SusannahM said:

It either has not aged well or I've aged out of appreciating it.  Either way.  Oh my.

It's got some cool dancing in it though.  And whatever you think of the song, I could still remember it between who knows how many years of views.  Another oddity, it has Classy Freddie Blassie in it.

[SusanM]

I just saw two of the episodes I love most - the one where the woodpecker keeps attacking Richie and the one where Rob recounts the circumstances around the days just before Richie is born.  Little Larry Matthews was never the best child actor out there but in these two episodes he was just fine.  Another recent one that he did well in was the never name a duck one.  Anyway he's not as awkward on screen as I had remembered him to be.

[Gemma Violet]

2 hours ago, SusanM said:

I just saw two of the episodes I love most - the one where the woodpecker keeps attacking Richie and the one where Rob recounts the circumstances around the days just before Richie is born.  Little Larry Matthews was never the best child actor out there but in these two episodes he was just fine.  Another recent one that he did well in was the never name a duck one.  Anyway he's not as awkward on screen as I had remembered him to be.

It was kind of hit-and-miss for him.  Some of his performances weren't bad.  (BTW, the duck episode is one of my two favorite episodes; the other is Rob's ski trip.)  Other performances are cringy, especially when you can tell he's holding back a grin when he says a funny line.  

[rmontro]

Okay, curiosity got the best of me and I made myself a couple of sardine sandwiches tonight.  I used sardines canned in water.  Whole wheat bread, tomato, onion, mayo, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and a little basil.  I have to say it wasn't bad, at all.  Could barely taste the sardines really.  Tasted about how I expected it to, very fresh with the tomato and onion.  I may very well have it again sometime.  Some chips on the side would have gone well with it, and maybe a pickle. 

When I was making it, I kept thinking "How about that, I have to punch up my own sandwich".  Which IMO was one of the ruder things Rob ever said to Laura.  He could have shown some gratitude for her making him some lunch.  He said that because he had to add tomato and onion.  

[Gemma Violet]

I started watching this Youtube channel where they map out a computer tour of famous TV homes.  Here is the Petrie home.  It's really well-done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrH9vOENr38

Edited April 16, 2022 by Gemma Violet

[SusanM]

I just saw "It May Look Like a Walnut" today.  There aren't a lot of shows on the air anymore where I laugh out loud the way I did watching this!

[SusanM]

Any hard core fans out there who can help me out here!  Heading towards the episode where we find out Laura was only 17 when she married Rob - yet I just saw episodes where: (1) we are told Laura's aunt was at the wedding - so presumably would have known how old her niece was and (2) an episode with Robert Vaughan who played a former love interest of Laura's - who would certainly have known if he had been dating someone barely out of high school!  

I am assuming in the grand tradition of sitcoms they handwaved away any earlier episodes that touched on how old Laura was so they could go with the episode they wanted to write but that still leaves me wondering something.  Are we ever told how long Rob and Laura have been married?  I know Mary Tyler Moore was only about 25 when the show first came on the air but of course an actor's actual age doesn't have to mean that's the age they are playing.

[rubaco]

1 hour ago, SusanM said:

Are we ever told how long Rob and Laura have been married?  I know Mary Tyler Moore was only about 25 when the show first came on the air but of course an actor's actual age doesn't have to mean that's the age they are playing.

In the episode "Draw Me a Pear," which was during season 5, Laura says they've been married for 9 years. 

Context: Rob and Laura take an art class and the teacher's attracted to Rob (not knowing at first that they're a married couple). Teacher later phones him but Laura answers, saying "He's my husband. Yeah, yeah, 9 years now."

[Driad]

2 hours ago, SusanM said:

(1) we are told Laura's aunt was at the wedding - so presumably would have known how old her niece was

IIRC, the chapel scene was just Laura (crying) and Rob (injured).  Laura said "My aunt came all the way from O-hi-o!" but this was hours after the scheduled time of the wedding, and apparently Laura's aunt and other guests had left.  R&L got married in the hospital, and I don't remember any relatives there.

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, SusanM said:

 (1) we are told Laura's aunt was at the wedding - so presumably would have known how old her niece was and (2) an episode with Robert Vaughan who played a former love interest of Laura's - who would certainly have known if he had been dating someone barely out of high school!  

Maybe the aunt didn't stay touch with the family that much, since she did come all the way from O-hi-o.  But it wasn't as unusual in the early '60s for women to be married at a young age, not sure why she would bring it up.  In any case, there were surely other family  members there, so Laura was taking a risk.  But hey, she was 17, kids do all sorts of risky things.

As for Robert Vaughn (Jim Darling), maybe Laura was lying to him too.

 

57 minutes ago, rubaco said:

In the episode "Draw Me a Pear," which was during season 5, Laura says they've been married for 9 years.

Mary Tyler Moore would have been 29 during season five, which would have put her marrying Rob at 20.  So apparently she was playing Laura a few years younger than she was

[Maverick]

 There was just an episode on the other day where Alan Brady decides to take 2 months off for the summer and Rob recalls when the same thing happened 10 years earlier, only a few months after Rob had been hired and Laura had just found out she was pregnant.   

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, Maverick said:

 There was just an episode on the other day where Alan Brady decides to take 2 months off for the summer and Rob recalls when the same thing happened 10 years earlier, only a few months after Rob had been hired and Laura had just found out she was pregnant.  

Rob said nine years ago.  That was a season five episode, so it squares with what rubaco said above, but the numbers are getting tight.

[rmontro]

They had the two parter on MeTV tonight where Rob runs for city council.  I know this was getting late in the series (the 15th and 16th episodes of season five), but it always kind of bugged me that it was never mentioned again.

[shapeshifter]

On 4/26/2022 at 3:10 PM, SusanM said:

Any hard core fans out there who can help me out here!  Heading towards the episode where we find out Laura was only 17 when she married Rob - yet I just saw episodes where: (1) we are told Laura's aunt was at the wedding - so presumably would have known how old her niece was and (2) an episode with Robert Vaughan who played a former love interest of Laura's - who would certainly have known if he had been dating someone barely out of high school!  

I am assuming in the grand tradition of sitcoms they handwaved away any earlier episodes that touched on how old Laura was so they could go with the episode they wanted to write but that still leaves me wondering something.  Are we ever told how long Rob and Laura have been married?  I know Mary Tyler Moore was only about 25 when the show first came on the air but of course an actor's actual age doesn't have to mean that's the age they are playing.

On 4/26/2022 at 6:56 PM, Maverick said:

 There was just an episode on the other day where Alan Brady decides to take 2 months off for the summer and Rob recalls when the same thing happened 10 years earlier, only a few months after Rob had been hired and Laura had just found out she was pregnant.   

On 4/26/2022 at 10:46 PM, rmontro said:

Rob said nine years ago.  That was a season five episode, so it squares with what rubaco said above, but the numbers are getting tight.

So Laura was likely a high school drop out? Huh.
My parents married in 1947; they were both in college and living at home with their families. Mom was 19 when they got married and she dropped out of college.

I'm guessing they made Laura 17 when she got married so her present-day character could still be a 20-something on the show.

 

[SusanM]

46 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm guessing they made Laura 17 when she got married so her present-day character could still be a 20-something on the show.

I think you're probably right about that but even now as a more, ahem, mature adult I see Laura as being somewhere in her 30s.  Probably the hair style and the clothes of course but also she may have looked much younger than Sally and Milly but she didn't really act any younger.  And one thing I did like a lot about this show is that while they do have the obligatory scene or two where Rob asserts himself as the head of the household they don't overdo that.  For it's time they had a pretty equal marriage.

[Driad]

46 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

So Laura was likely a high school drop out? Huh.

Quite a few people graduate from high school at 17, depending on local rules for when children start school. After finishing high school she could have had several months to be a dancer and marry Rob, and still be 17.

[chessiegal]

I was 17 when I graduated from high school, no skipping grades.

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, Driad said:

Quite a few people graduate from high school at 17, depending on local rules for when children start school. After finishing high school she could have had several months to be a dancer and marry Rob, and still be 17.

Could be, although that makes for a fast engagement.  Which happens, so that's far from impossible.  But it's not impossible that she dropped out of high school either.  I'm thinking that was more common in those days for young women, as they got married younger then and weren't necessarily expected to pursue careers.  

I'm assuming Rob met Laura when she was working as a USO dancer at Camp Crowder.  Was she going to high school at the same time?  Really, it doesn't matter for the show's purposes whether she graduated high school or not.  The timeline seems more relaxed if she dropped out of high school, became a dancer, went to Camp Crowder, met Rob, those two got to know each other, they got engaged, and then married. 

[chessiegal]

I thought it was established show canon that Rob met Laura when she was a USO show dancer. Didn't they have a flash back episode showing that?

[shapeshifter]

8 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I thought it was established show canon that Rob met Laura when she was a USO show dancer. Didn't they have a flash back episode showing that?

Yes. I saw that flashback episode a few years ago. But I don’t think it had details about how long she’d been a USO dancer. 
It’s possible she graduated high school half a year early.

[SusanM]

28 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Yes. I saw that flashback episode a few years ago. But I don’t think it had details about how long she’d been a USO dancer. 
It’s possible she graduated high school half a year early.

I think the most likely explanation is she wasn't actually 17 in that episode!  Especially as Milly was a friend of hers at the time and no one is going to be able to convince me that we were supposed to believe Milly was even in her teens at that point and certainly not 17.  Come to think of it though Milly being a friend from her USO days messes with the timeline a bit as well since we are told Milly and Jerry have two children older than Richie (one daughter old enough to babysit and then Ellen who is a few years older than Richie).  I think it really does come down to sitcoms and not really worrying about what is said from episode to episode!

 

[rmontro]

29 minutes ago, SusanM said:

I think the most likely explanation is she wasn't actually 17 in that episode!

So she was what, 16?  It appeared that she was still a USO dancer when she married Rob, and she was allegedly 17 then.  Rob had to get a pass for his honeymoon.  

[SusanM]

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

So she was what, 16?  It appeared that she was still a USO dancer when she married Rob, and she was allegedly 17 then.  Rob had to get a pass for his honeymoon.  

I think she was at least the 19 she claimed to be in the episode where we find out she lied on the marriage certificate and likely was probably meant to be even a few years older than that.  In the flashback episode to their wedding as far as I recall neither Laura nor Rob's ages are given - I think we are meant to assume they are both in their 20s with Rob at least  a few years older than Laura but still young enough to be plausibly doing his military service either by choice or by draft.

I don't know why they decided to make Laura a teenage bride in the first place other than because it was funny and ran for two episodes.  Come to think of it that was probably enough of a reason!

[SusanM]

Just saw the famous "that's my boy" episode and it did not disappoint but the other episode I saw today had me laughing out loud.  The one where Rob and Laura accidentally eavesdrop on Milly and Jerry.  If anyone out there hasn't seen that episode yet the scene where they play charades is an excellent example of why this show has stood the test of time and why it's on so many "Best Sitcoms" lists.

[rubaco]

53 minutes ago, SusanM said:

If anyone out there hasn't seen that episode yet the scene where they play charades is an excellent example of why this show has stood the test of time and why it's on so many "Best Sitcoms" lists.

"Treachery. Two-faced. Malicious accusery. Pearl Harbor... I got it: On the Street Where You Live!"

Agreed, that is amazing writing, and so well-performed too. 

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, SusanM said:

the other episode I saw today had me laughing out loud.  The one where Rob and Laura accidentally eavesdrop on Milly and Jerry.  If anyone out there hasn't seen that episode yet the scene where they play charades is an excellent example of why this show has stood the test of time and why it's on so many "Best Sitcoms" lists.

Agreed, that is one of the best written episodes IMO.

[Egg McMuffin]

I don’t remember that one - will have to check it out.

I love this show, and it was ahead of its time - so much more sophisticated than its peers. I wish they had filmed it in color, because I think it would have had more staying power in syndication. Instead it looked pretty dated only 10 years later (I remember a local station running The New Dick Van Dyke Show instead). Carl Reiner said he and his partners discussed color, but didn’t want to pay the extra 8K per episode to do it. He regretted it later.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

Carl Reiner said he and his partners discussed color, but didn’t want to pay the extra 8K per episode to do it. He regretted it later.

Interesting. Given that he continued to be active in the industry for another half century, that could be a long time to regret something. 
But, obviously, he applied what he learned from that one regretful choice to go on to make many other decisions that gave audiences much enjoyment as well as momentary relief from their own regrets.

Aren't there colorized I Love Lucy episodes? I wonder why it hasn't been done with The Dick Van Dyke Show.

[chessiegal]

34 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Aren't there colorized I Love Lucy episodes? I wonder why it hasn't been done with The Dick Van Dyke Show.

It has been done.

Colorized Dick Van Dyke.

ETA: I remember seeing one. It must have been on MeTV, as that's the only channel I get that airs the show. Although it could have been a PBS special.

Edited May 14, 2022 by chessiegal
Additional info

[shapeshifter]

26 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

It has been done.

Colorized Dick Van Dyke.

ETA: I remember seeing one. It must have been on MeTV, as that's the only channel I get that airs the show. Although it could have been a PBS special.

Oh, right! I did see those 2 colorized episodes of Dick Van Dyke.
It just seems that by now technology should be able to colorize anything without too much expense. I mean, it's just programming the right algorithms, I guess? 🤷‍♀️
Dear Everyone here: I apologize for not getting a Computer Science degree so The Dick Van Dyke Show and other shows could all be seen in color now.

[Egg McMuffin]

CBS has aired some colorized DVDS episodes around the holidays. I think they’ve done four of them. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but there’s still manual labor to be done despite the software. The technician will manually color one frame, and then let the computer colorize the next 10 frames based on the information from the prior manual colored frame. It’s still a painstaking process.

Someday it will be more automated - the same way that someday they’ll be able to add frames to the old sitcoms done on videotape in the 70s (like All in the Family), so they can be showed in high definition.

[rmontro]

I think the colorized shows look pretty good.  Some of the shades reminded me of when I younger, because it seems like some of those shades only existed in the '60s lol.  Like the blue refrigerator and stove.  

I don't mind watching the black and white shows, I'm used to it from being a kid.  I think my family was one of the last ones to get a color set.  Wow, what a thrill that was.  The black and white gives the show a classic look, but if I had my choice I wish they had been in color.  The black and white are probably always going to cost the show some viewers.

Side note:  My biggest surprise with a color set was that Dirty Dragon was red and orange.  I had assumed he was green.  That was from the BJ and Dirty Dragon Show, AKA Cartoon Town, which was aired on Chicago's WFLD and WGN.

[Driad]

In the colorized episodes, I was sometimes puzzled by their color choices. For example, in the episode in which Laura was on TV and revealed that Alan Brady is bald, Laura went to apologize to Alan. They colored her suit red, but I think blue or green would have been more appropriate for an apology.

[shapeshifter]

50 minutes ago, Driad said:

In the colorized episodes, I was sometimes puzzled by their color choices. For example, in the episode in which Laura was on TV and revealed that Alan Brady is bald, Laura went to apologize to Alan. They colored her suit red, but I think blue or green would have been more appropriate for an apology.

I wondered what determined the colors if they don't know for sure. 
I've never seen blue kitchen appliances. Just avocado green or gold.
But maybe it just has to do with the shade of gray?

[rmontro]

9 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I wondered what determined the colors if they don't know for sure. 
I've never seen blue kitchen appliances. Just avocado green or gold.
But maybe it just has to do with the shade of gray?

I've always wondered that myself.  Is there some sort of scientific way to determine the true color from a black and white picture?  I think I've heard that Carl Reiner said they took extra care in getting the colors right for the colorized versions.

Just Google "blue retro appliances" and you'll see some.  Or click on this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+retro+appliances&sxsrf=ALiCzsZXE2XJCJCk4s94HKyc3vBezn2Hjg%3A1652675821667&ei=7dSBYtqyKJqFtQb5ko7YCA&ved=0ahUKEwia3Z2ameP3AhWaQs0KHXmJA4sQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=blue+retro+appliances&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBAgjECcyBggAEAcQHjIKCAAQDxAHEAUQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzoHCAAQRxCwAzoKCAAQRxCwAxDJA0oECEEYAEoECEYYAFDtBFjtBGCpDGgBcAF4AIABXYgBXZIBATGYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz

[Egg McMuffin]

They had color pictures of the set, so that’s how they did those colors. For clothing colors, they guessed a lot.

[Gemma Violet]

I posted this last month.  In case anyone missed it, it'll let you know the true colors of the house:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrH9vOENr38

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

I posted this last month.  In case anyone missed it, it'll let you know the true colors of the house:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrH9vOENr38

That's interesting, even if just for what the exterior of the house would look like.  

[TheLastKidPicked]

On 5/14/2022 at 3:17 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

Carl Reiner said he and his partners discussed color, but didn’t want to pay the extra 8K per episode to do it. He regretted it later

 

On 5/15/2022 at 9:30 PM, Driad said:

In the colorized episodes, I was sometimes puzzled by their color choices

 

On 5/15/2022 at 10:22 PM, shapeshifter said:

I wondered what determined the colors if they don't know for sure. 

The colorized versions are fun to watch, and they give you a whole new perspective.  If you've watched the show for years, the color choices can be a bit distracting.  If you've always imagined the couch or appliances to be a certain color, it seems funny to see them differently than you imagined and it definitely took some getting used to when we first watched the color versions.

On 5/17/2022 at 11:18 PM, Gemma Violet said:

I posted this last month.  In case anyone missed it, it'll let you know the true colors of the house:

Thank you for posting that!

 

[shapeshifter]

2.5 "Hustling the Hustler" just aired. At the end Laura takes a trick pool shot that seemed to surprise her. No wonder. It was real:

Quote

The trick shot by Laura was actually made in one take. They had planned for a pool expert to make the shot after cutting away from showing Laura hitting the cue ball. But to everyone's surprise, she actually made the shot. Both Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke stayed in character and finished the take, thus the genuine look of surprise on their faces.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0559763/trivia?item=tr3373554

[Driad]

Happy 97th birthday, Dick Van Dyke!  (Actually yesterday, I hope he doesn't mind.)

[chitowngirl]

I always worry when this thread has activity!  Glad it’s happy news. Happy Birthday DVD!

Edited December 14, 2022 by chitowngirl

[Harry24]

2 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I always worry when this thread has activity!  Glad it’s happy news. Happy Birthday DVD!

I know!

[Driad]

What do we know about Millie and Jerry's house?  IIRC from the "rock in the basement" episode, it is very much like Laura & Rob's house (presumably the same size).  Jerry's dental office is in the house, and I wonder where. M&J have two kids (boy & girl?) so if their house has 3 bedrooms like L&R's, they use them all.  (One of L&R's bedrooms is a study and guest room.) Maybe M&J walled off part of the living room to be the dental office?

[chessiegal]

MeTV is airing Pilot episodes this afternoon. The Dick Van Dyke Show is one of them.

[Harry24]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

MeTV is airing Pilot episodes this afternoon. The Dick Van Dyke Show is one of them.

I wonder if that’s the one Carl Reiner starred in or the first real DVDS, where they made DVD up like he was in silent films.  Happily they figured that out pretty quickly. 

[chessiegal]

On-line guide says "S1E1 The Sick Boy and the Sitter. Rob talks Laura into leaving their sick son with a baby sitter while they go to a party at Alan Brady's penthouse."

[rubaco]

8 hours ago, Driad said:

What do we know about Millie and Jerry's house?  IIRC from the "rock in the basement" episode, it is very much like Laura & Rob's house (presumably the same size).  Jerry's dental office is in the house, and I wonder where. M&J have two kids (boy & girl?) so if their house has 3 bedrooms like L&R's, they use them all.  (One of L&R's bedrooms is a study and guest room.) Maybe M&J walled off part of the living room to be the dental office?

Supposedly, the houses are identical (according to that episode you referenced, the rock episode). We see their living room in the "eavesdropping" ep where Millie and Jerry host a party. (With the charade game that builds to "On the Street Where You Live!") I think it looks like a full living room. 

Maybe they had an addition built onto the house for the dental office.