Talk:The Dick Van Dyke Show

Public domain

I've added to the article that several episodes of the show are in the public domain. I had to use the weasel term "for reasons unknown". Does anyone know why four episodes of the series (but, it appears, no others) became public domain? 23skidoo 08:09, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to David for making the public domain situation a little clearer. I'm still curious as to why a few 2nd season episodes lost their copyright... 23skidoo 16:33, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Good question. I couldn't find anything online about the reason, even at gossip-laden fan sites. Presumably somebody just forgot to submit the paperwork. - DavidWBrooks 20:12, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Probably. There's actually a good article to be written about famous movies and TV shows that have fallen into public domain because of such oversights. Aside from Dick Van Dyke, a few episodes of Bonanza, Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffth and Dragnet have also fallen off the copyright bandwagon, and then there were major movies that should still be in copyright but aren't such as Royal Wedding, Till the Clouds Roll By and Charade... 23skidoo 22:05, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Characters

I've gone and bulleted the already named characters, and added a few more. I notice that someone has cleaned up what I did a little, so thanks, I did it in a rush. I wasn't sure on all of the actors names so I hope someone can verify them.

Mbatman72 22:16, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

R.O.S.E.B.U.D.?

Could someone post an explanation (in the article, preferably) for Ritchie's middle name, which is listed as "R.O.S.E.B.U.D." in the current version? This isn't vandalism, is it? --ScottAlanHill 21:17, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

It's not vandalism—there's an episode about it, and it stands for Robert Oscar Sam Edward Benjamin Ulysses David. But I question whether that one episode is sufficiently notable for R.O.S.E.B.U.D. to be listed prominently in the main cast list. AJD 21:37, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd respectfully disagree (though not strongly); if it is his middle name, then I think it should be included, and because it is unusual, it should be explained. The middle names of TV characters are often revealed in only one or two episodes, but still included in Wikipedia articles; see Fonzie and James T. Kirk for two probable examples. As another example, I haven't watched a lot of the Dick Van Dyke show, but I notice that Buddy Sorrell's first name is "Maurice"; I'd bet that this was only revealed in one or two episodes, and certainly only for comedic effect. (I could be wrong, though.) --ScottAlanHill 04:02, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

True, but "ROSEBUD" is so bizarre and takes up so much space (to show and explain) that it naturally attracts way more attention than it deserves, and distracts people from reading the cast list. There's no way to include it at all without giving it undue weight. I agree with you that it's not a big deal either way, but I think it's silly to include. AJD 14:37, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd also prefer that it not be right there in the cast list, but if it is, must it be in all-caps with the periods? Wouldn't the name really just be "Rosebud"? Joyous! | Talk 15:37, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Helper/Halper

Isn't Jerry and Millie's last name Halper? I see it both ways in various forums. Sorry--too busy to research myself. 4.240.30.55 (talk) 04:01, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Certainly both versions have been frequently quoted. Checking a few dozen of the Google hits for each I get the very clear impression that "Helper" occurs on those pages which seem to be more authoritative. Also "Helper" is much more common (e.g. 1600 Google hits for "Dick Van Dyke" "Millie Helper", and 90 hits for "Dick Van Dyke" "Millie Halper"). I know that Google statistics are not a reliable guide, and the very fact of appearing on Wikipedia tends to lead to a boost for a particular version, but I feel overall the evidence favours "Helper". It would be great to have a definitive answer, though. JamesBWatson (talk) 09:53, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Since writing the above I have found that the "Official" Dick Van Dyke Show Web site uses the form "Helper". The site says it is created by Carl Reiner, Bill Persky, Sam Denoff (Writers and producers of the series), Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, so it seems about as authoritative as one could ask for. JamesBWatson (talk) 10:36, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Alan Brady

I distinctly remember Carl Reiner saying years afterward that he originally wanted to play the part of Rob Petrie himself, but the higher-ups at CBS decided that Reiner was "too Jewish" for the part. The idea behind Alan Brady never showing his face was in fact an inside joke by Reiner, poking fun at his bosses. And of course the idea was copied 30 years later by Home Improvement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Trac63 (talk • contribs) 15:56, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

DVD Comic

The editors of this article may be interested in this page, which features information on the 12-issue Gold Key comic book based on the TV show. Kouban 18:24, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

This is a "spoof" page ... while very cleverly detailed, no "Dick van Dyke Show" comic book was ever published, unless someone can find any other evidence ... anywhere ...

68.215.168.100 (talk) 20:34, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't know if there are other sources for the DVD Show comic book, but I can assure you that the referenced webpage is not a "spoof" page. Mark Evanier, who runs that site, is very knowledgeable on such topics, and I can confirm that as a boy, while I never had DVD comics, I DID own several of the other comics listed on that page. Rich (talk) 02:51, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Interesting logic: "some of the other comics mentioned by Mark Evanier existed, therefore this one must have existed". Well, here is what Mark Evanier himself has to say about it on his own website (at http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2003_08_09.html#007191):

And the comic book based on The Dick Van Dyke Show wasn't drawn by anyone since it didn't exist. Yeah, I'm sorry: It's a phony that I cobbled up using an old still and pieces from other Gold Key covers. I wish they had done such a comic and if they had, it would probably have been drawn by Dan Spiegle. But they never did so I whipped up the cover to one to see if anyone would notice.

JamesBWatson (talk) 10:11, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh. Rich (talk) 13:07, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Looking for help writing an article about the spin-offs and crossovers of this series

I am writing an article about all of the series which are in the same shared reality as this one through spin-offs and crossovers. I could use a little help expanding the article since it is currently extremely dense and a bit jumbled with some sentence structures being extremely repetitive. I would like to be able to put this article into article space soon. Any and all help in writing the article would be appreciated, even a comment or two on the talk page would help. Please give it a read through, also please do not comment here since I do not have all of the series on my watch list. - LA @ 16:30, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Pilot episode

The pilot episode, apparently originally called "Head of the Household", starred Carl Reiner:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/14762/the-dick-van-dyke-show-pilot-head-of-the-family --Filll (talk | wpc) 20:40, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Kennedy Assasination

The episode in the text called "Too Many More" is really named "Too Many Stars" and could not have been filmed four days after the Kennedy assassination because it aired October 30, 1963 (wiki and imdb). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.0.34.38 (talk) 18:17, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

I'd say so fix it, but I think you are confusing two different episodes, both from season 3: "Too Many Stars" and "Happy Birthday and Too Many More". See List_of_The_Dick_Van_Dyke_Show_episodes#Season_3_.281963.2F64.29. - SummerPhD (talk) 19:45, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

The Alan Brady Show

In 2003, TV Land produced a pilot for an actual series based on The Alan Brady Show, the fictional show within The Dick Van Dyke Show.[1][2][3] I wasn't sure where to mention this in the article.--76.106.245.93 (talk) 14:34, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

I added a "popcult" section and put it there. I couldn't use the Vimeo link because of copyright problems. BMK (talk) 23:09, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

(But I did watch the Vimeo clip -- looked pretty bad. BMK (talk) 23:13, 24 June 2015 (UTC))

Thanks! Are you sure you can't link to the Vimeo clip? It was uploaded to Vimeo by the show's producer, so he clearly wouldn't mind.--76.106.245.93 (talk) 12:42, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

It all depends on who owns the copyright. We can't link to copyright violating material. BMK (talk) 21:56, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

née Meehan?

The writers seemed to be confused about Laura's maiden name: I haven't kept track of what exact episodes use which, but it's given as Meeker in Oh, How We Met the Night We Danced. Paul Magnussen (talk) 00:35, 11 October 2015 (UTC)

Of course, this is not a reliable source and could not be used in the article, but it says: "Laura's maiden name was changed from Meeker to Meehan following Mary Tyler Moore's divorce from her first husband, Richard Meeker."--Bbb23 (talk) 00:43, 11 October 2015 (UTC)

Oh. Thanks, I didn't know that. Paul Magnussen (talk) 00:59, 11 October 2015 (UTC)

Color

I just noticed that CBS is going to air some colorized versions - we may want to include that somewhere. (Ched) 2601:547:1203:1414:DD8B:DDC2:739A:85B3 (talk) 02:56, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

Colorization high video quality

• http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/12/dick-van-dyke-coast-to-coast-big-mouth-carl-reiner

true to the show’s actual set, the living-room couch at 148 Bonnie Meadow Rd. in New Rochelle NY, would be same hideous yellow-orange on-screen that it was in real life. So don’t blame the colorization team.

• http://nypost.com/2016/12/08/how-producers-brought-dick-van-dyke-into-living-color/

“I was shocked at how accurate [the episodes’ color] is,” says Reiner, 94. “One of our photographers back in those days took color photos of the sets and some of the actors in costume and we duplicated it — it was eerie, like being there.”

Noted TV historian/archivist Paul Brownstein, who executive-produced the two colorized “Dick Van Dyke Show” episodes (along with Carl Reiner and George Shapiro), says it was often a challenging task.

“There were a total of a half-dozen pictures from the entire series that are in color. The kitchen had blue walls and the dinette set was actually orange-colored,” he says. “We had to find a telephone [color] in Alan Brady’s office, so I went online and looked up Western Electric telephones from that era. There was a beige Bell System phone that was an iconic color for people of that generation, so we used that.

Brownstein says he hopes these two colorized “Dick Van Dyke Show” episodes will open more doors for the series.

“Ideally our goal right now is to colorize the entire series and bring it out as a fresh show,” he says. “I think it could hold its own in prime time.”

Two episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show were broadcast on December 11, 2016 in a colorized version. Aside from the added color, the video quality seemed impressively sharp and perfect. Was this derived from special original sources, or generated by modern computer processing?

IMDB says The Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed in 35 mm (monochrome?). Does any of that film version survive? Are current DVD etc versions derived from film, or what?-71.174.190.122 (talk) 19:48, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Episode description

An editor is edit-warring to include in the "Laura Petrie" character section a description of the episode in which Laura reveals whe was underage when she and Rob got married, and that they got married in the next episode. This description has been removed by tow other editors, myself included. My reason for removing it is that every episode of the program provided character information, but we cannot include all of this information in the brief character descriptions -- if we did, they would soon become bloated. The plot also has no future implications for the character, another reason it should not be included.

Further the "we not really married and have to get re-married" plot is a staple of situation comedies, so it's hardly unique to this program. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:03, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

Lead image

Why is a colorized version of the series logo used in the infobox? The series was made and broadcast in BW and we should have a monochrome series logo, not one presumably from the altered version of the show aired as a gimmick just a few years ago. An original can easily be obtained online from one of the public domain episodes in circulation if not restored from an earlier edit of this article. 2605:8D80:400:DEAE:2930:1704:D489:1A25 (talk) 19:51, 16 December 2019 (UTC)