Series Description

The Dick Van Dyke Show was a 30 minute comedy series on CBS about the comedy writers for a fictional television series. Yes, Rob Petrie was the head comedy writer for the "Alan Brady Show". The non-stop laughs revolved around Rob's relationships with the show's other writers, its star "Alan Brady" and producer "Mel Cooley". At home, we also got to chuckle (and sometimes cry) over Rob's antics involving his wife, son and his neighbors.

Dick Van Dyke Show Broadcast History:

October 1961 to December 1961: Tuesdays from 8:00 to 8:30 PM on CBS

January 1962 thru May 1964: Wednesdays from 9:30 to 10:00 PM on CBS
Fourth Season: Wednesdays from 9:00 to 9:30 PM on CBS
Fifth Season: Wednesdays from 9:30 to 10:00 PM on CBS

Dick Van Dyke Show Cast

Dick Van Dyke .... Rob Petrie
Mary Tyler Moore .... Laura Petrie
Larry Matthews .... Ritchie Petrie
Rose Marie .... Sally Rogers
Morey Amsterdam .... Buddy Sorrell
Richard Deacon .... Mel Cooley
Jerry Paris .... Jerry Helper
Ann Morgan Guilbert .... Millie Helper
Carl Reiner .... Alan Brady

Dick Van Dyke Show Trivia

You may remember Carl Reiner as the egotistical star of the ficticious Alan Brady Show. Actually, Carl was also the creator, producer and director for the series. He also wrote many of the episode scripts. Carl's premise for the series was his years as a writer for the legendary "Your Show Of Shows" starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. For the first several seasons, Carl never appeared on screen as Alan Brady although his voice was heard occasionally.

Carl Reiner also played the part of Rob Petrie in the series' pilot! We all know that Dick Van Dyke was chosen for the part on the series but did you know that Johnny Carson was the second choice for the role?

The role of Laura Petrie was a little harder to cast. More than 60 actresses were auditioned before Mary Tyler Moore was selected! Mary's first on screen appearance was as "Happy Hotpoint" an elf in the Hotpoint appliance commercials that appeared on the "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952)".

Richard Deacon was one of few actors to have a supporting role on two series at the same time. In addition to his Dick Van Dyke Show role as Mel Cooley, he also played the part of Fred Rutherford on "Leave It To Beaver (1957)".

The Dick Van Dyke Show was not canceled and was still very popular when it left the air in 1966. Several of the Cast including Dick Van Dyke simply decided that it was time to move on to new projects.

Calvada Productions produced the Dick Van Dyke Show. The name was a conglomeration of the names of the major contributors to the production phase of the series; Ca rl Reiner, Sheldon L eonard, Dick Va n Dyke and Da nny Thomas.

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore did work together again after this series ended. Mary was a guest star on a Dick Van Dyke variety special which aired in the late 1960's and Dick returned the favor in 1979 by appearing on Mary's show, "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour".

The first episode of the series began filming on January 20, 1961. John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President of the United States on that same day.

This series was actually canceled after the first season! There are two rumors as to why CBS changed their minds. First, producer Sheldon Leonard somehow convinced CBS renew it. Second, Proctor and Gamble threatened to cancel all of their daytime soap opera advertising if the show didn't continue. No one has ever verified the facts.

Jerry Van Dyke, best known from his role on the series, "Coach (1989)", is Dick Van Dyke's brother in real life and occasionally appeared as his onscreen brother Stacey Petrie.

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

Pilot Episode

Head Of The Family (Not Originally Aired)

Season 1

1... The Sick Boy And The Sitter (10/3/1961)
2... My Blonde-Haired Brunette (10/10/1961)
3... Sally And The Lab Technician (10/17/1961)
4... Washington vs. The Bunny (10/24/1961)
5... Oh, How We Met On The Night That We Danced (10/31/1961)
6... Harrison B. Harding Of Camp Crowder, Mo. (11/6/1961)
7... Jealousy! (11/7/1961)
8... To Tell Or Not To Tell (11/14/1961)
9... The Unwelcome House Guest (11/21/1961)
10. The Meerschatz Pipe (11/28/1961)
11. Forty-Four Tickets (12/5/1961)
12. Empress Carlotta's Necklace (12/12/1961)
13. Sally Is A Girl (12/19/1961)
14. Buddy, Can You Spare A Job (12/26/1961)
15. Where Did I Come From? (1/3/1962)
16. The Curious Thing About Women (1/10/1962)
17. Punch Thy Neighbor (1/17/1962)
18. Who Owes Who What? (1/24/1962)
19. The Talented Neighborhood (1/31/1962)
20. A Word A Day (2/7/1962)
21. The Boarder Incident (2/14/1962)
22. Father Of The Week (2/21/1962)
23. The Twizzle (2/28/1962)
24. One Angry Man (3/7/1962)
25. Where You Been, Fassbinder? (3/14/1962)
26. I Am My Brother's Keeper (3/21/1962)
27. The Sleeping Brother (3/28/1962)
28. The Bad Old Days (4/4/1962)
29. Sol And The Sponsor (4/11/1962)
30. The Return Of Happy Spangler (4/18/1962)

Season 2

31. Never Name A Duck (9/26/1962)
32. The Two Faces Of Rob (10/3/1962)
33. The Attempted Marriage (10/10/1962)
34. Bank Book 6565696 (10/17/1962)
35. Hustling The Hustler (10/24/1962)
36. My Husband Is Not A Drunk (10/31/1962)
37. What's In A Middle Name? (11/7/1962)
38. Like A Sister (11/14/1962)
39. The Night The Roof Fell In (11/21/1962)
40. The Secret Life Of Buddy And Sally (11/28/1962)
41. A Bird In The Head Hurts (12/5/1962)
42. Gesundheit, Darling (12/12/1962)
43. A Man's Teeth Are Not His Own (12/19/1962)
44. Somebody Has To Play Cleopatra (12/26/1962)
45. The Cat Burglar (1/2/1963)
46. The Foul Weather Girl (1/9/1963)
47. Will You Two Be My Wife? (1/16/1963)
48. Ray Murdock's X-Ray (1/23/1963)
49. I Was A Teenage Head Writer (1/30/1963)
50. It May Look Like A Walnut (2/6/1963)
51. My Husband Is A Check Grabber (2/13/1963)
52. Don't Trip Over That Mountain (2/20/1963)
53. Give Me Your Walls (2/27/1963)
54. The Sam Pomerantz Scandals (3/6/1963)
55. The Square Triangle (3/20/1963)
56. I'm No Henry Walden (3/27/1963)
57. Racy Tracy Ratigan (4/3/1963)
58. Divorce (4/10/1963)
59. It's A Shame She Married Me (4/17/1963)
60. A Surprise Is A Surprise Is A Surprise (4/24/1963)
61. Jilting The Jilter (5/1/1963)
62. When A Bowling Pin Talks, Listen (5/8/1963)

Season 3

63. That's My Boy (9/25/1963)
64. The Masterpiece (10/2/1963)
65. Laura's Little Lie (10/9/1963)
66. Very Old Shoes, Very Old Rice (10/16/1963)
67. All About Eavesdropping (10/23/1963)
68. Too Many Stars (10/30/1963)
69. Who And Where Was Antonio Stradivarius? (11/6/1963)
70. Uncle George (11/13/1963)
71. Big Max Calvada (11/20/1963)
72. Turtles, Ties, And Toreadors (12/4/1963)
73. The Sound Of The Trumpets Of Conscience Falls Deafly On A Brain That Holds Its Ears...Or Something Like That! (12/11/1963)
74. The Alan Brady Show Presents (12/18/1963)
75. The Ballad Of Betty Lou (12/27/1963)
76. The Third One From The Left (1/1/1964)
77. My Husband Is The Best One (1/8/1964)
78. The Lady And The Tiger And The Lawyer (1/15/1964)
79. The Life And Loves Of Joe Coogan (1/22/1964)
80. A Nice Friendly Game Of Cards (1/29/1964)
81. Happy Birthday And Too Many More (2/5/1964)
82. The Brave And The Backache (2/12/1964)
83. The Pen Is Mightier Than The Mouth (2/19/1964)
84. My Part-Time Wife (2/26/1964)
85. Honeymoons Are For The Lucky (3/4/1964)
86. How To Spank A Star (3/11/1964)
87. The Plot Thickens (3/18/1964)
88. Scratch My Car And Die (3/25/1964)
89. The Return Of Edwin Carp (4/1/1964)
90. October Eve (4/8/1964)
91. Dear Mrs. Petrie, Your Husband Is In Jail (4/15/1964)
92. My Neighbor's Husband's Other Life (4/22/1964)
93. I'd Rather Be Bald Than Have No Head At All (4/29/1964)
94. Teacher's Petrie (5/13/1964)

Season 4

95. My Mother Can Beat Up My Father (9/23/1964)
96. The Ghost Of A. Chantz (9/30/1964)
97. The Lady And The Baby-Sitter (10/7/1964)
98. The Vigilante Ripped My Sports Coat (10/14/1964)
99. The Man From Emperor (10/21/1964)
100. Romance, Roses, And Rye Bread (10/28/1964)
101. 4 1/2 (11/4/1964)
102. The Alan Brady Show Goes To Jail (11/11/1964)
103. Three Letters From One Wife (11/18/1964)
104. Pink Pill And Purple Parents (11/25/1964)
105. It Wouldn't Hurt Them To Give Us A Raise (12/2/1964)
106. The Death Of The Party (12/9/1964)
107. My Two Showoffs And Me (12/16/1964)
108. Stretch Petrie vs. Kid Schenk (12/30/1964)
109. Brother, Can You Spare $2,500? (1/6/1965)
110. The Impractical Joke (1/13/1965)
111. Stacey Petrie, Part 1 (1/20/1965)
112. Stacey Petrie, Part 2 (1/27/1965)
113. Boy Number One Versus Boy Number Two (2/3/1965)
114. The Redcoats Are Coming (2/10/1965)
115. The Case Of The Pillow (2/17/1965)
116. Young Man With A Shoehorn (2/24/1965)
117. Girls Will Be Boys (3/3/1965)
118. Bupkis (3/10/1965)
119. Your Home Sweet Home Is My Home (3/17/1965)
120. Not Now, Anthony Stone (3/24/1965)
121. Never Bathe On Saturday (3/31/1965)
122. A Show Of Hands (4/14/1965)
123. Baby Fat (4/21/1965)
124. 100 Terrible Hours (5/5/1965)
125. Br-room, Br-room (5/12/1965)
126. There's No Sale Like Wholesale (5/26/1965)

Season 5

127. Coast-To-Coast Big Mouth (9/15/1965)
128. A Farewell To Writing (9/22/1965)
129. Uhny Uftz (9/29/1965)
130. The Ugliest Dog In The World (10/6/1965)
131. No Rice At My Wedding (10/13/1965)
132. Draw Me A Pear (10/20/1965)
133. The Great Petrie Fortune (10/27/1965)
134. Odd But True (11/3/1965)
135. Viva Petrie (11/10/1965)
136. Go Tell The Birds And The Bees (11/17/1965)
137. Body And Sol (11/24/1965)
138. See Rob Write, Write Rob, Write (12/8/1965)
139. You're Under Arrest (12/15/1965)
140. Fifty-Two Forty-Five Or Work (12/29/1965)
141. Who Stole My Watch? (1/5/1966)
142. I Do Not Choose To Run (1/19/1966)
143. The Making Of A Councilman (1/26/1966)
144. The Curse Of The People (2/2/1966)
145. The Bottom Of Mel Cooley's Heart (2/9/1966)
146. Remember The Alimony (2/16/1966)
147. Dear Sally Rogers (2/23/1966)
148. Buddy Sorrell - Man And Boy (3/2/1966)
149. Bad Reception In Albany (3/9/1966)
150. Long Night's Journey Into Day (3/16/1966)
151. Talk To The Snail (3/23/1966)
152. A Day In The Life Of Alan Brady (4/6/1966)
153. Obnoxious, Offensive, Egomaniac, Etc. (4/13/1966)
154. The Man From My Uncle (4/20/1966)
155. You Ought To Be In Pictures (4/27/1966)
156. Love Thy Other Neighbor (5/4/1966)
157. The Gunslinger (5/25/1966)
158. The Last Chapter (6/1/1966)