The New Dick Van Dyke Show

The New Dick Van Dyke Show
Van Dyke as Dick Preston and Dick Van Patten as Max Mathias, 1973.
Format	Sitcom
Starring	Dick Van Dyke Hope Lange Fannie Flagg Nancy Dussault David Doyle Dick Van Patten Barry Gordon Henry Darrow Richard Dawson Chita Rivera Barbara Rush
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	72
Production
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 18, 1971 – March 18, 1974

The New Dick Van Dyke Show is an American sitcom starring Dick Van Dyke that aired on CBS from 1971 to 1974. This was Van Dyke's first return to series television since The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Production

CBS was so eager to have Van Dyke return to their network that they signed him to a three-year contract. Van Dyke was living in Cave Creek, Arizona at the time and did not want to move back to Hollywood. So the network agreed to film the show at Southwestern Studio on Stage 1 in nearby Carefree, Arizona. Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner wrote and directed numerous episodes also serving as creative consultant.

Premise

Van Dyke played Dick Preston, a local television talk show host in Phoenix, Arizona. Like Van Dyke's previous series, this show divided its time between Dick's job in television and his home life with his wife and child. The show also featured Hope Lange as his wife, Jenny; Arizona native Angela Powell as their daughter, Annie; Fannie Flagg as his sister, Mike; David Doyle as his boss, Ted; and Marty Brill and Nancy Dussault as the Prestons' friends, Bernie and Carol Davis. The Prestons also had a son, Lucas, who was away at college and seen occasionally.

Reception

The show's Nielsen ratings were good during the first season. The show had a timeslot in CBS's highly-rated Saturday night lineup which included All in the Family, Funny Face and The Mary Tyler Moore Show ^[1] (which starred Van Dyke's former co-star). The ratings, however, were much lower than the shows surrounding it. In its second season, the show was moved to the network's low-rated Sunday night lineup and the ratings fell tremendously.^[1] CBS wanted to cancel the show but they had Van Dyke under a three-year contract. The network decided to retool the show.

The final season

For the third season, the setting and production of the show moved to Hollywood. Dick and his family move there after he lands a role in a soap opera called Those Who Care in which he played Dr. Brad Fairmont. New cast members included Dick Van Patten as the show's producer, Barry Gordon as the show's writer, Henry Darrow as the stage manager, Barbara Rush as the show's star, and Richard Dawson and Chita Rivera as the Prestons' neighbors. In the fall of 1973, the beginning of its third year, CBS gave the series another time slot, this time on Monday nights at 9:30 P.M. immediately following Here's Lucy starring Lucille Ball. The network felt that Ball's series would provide a strong lead-in for The New Dick Van Dyke Show.

An episode produced for the third season, "Lt. Preston of the 4th Cavalry," included an off-camera scene in which Dick and Jenny's daughter walked in on them while they were having sex. CBS refused to air the episode, claiming it was incompatible with Van Dyke's family-friendly image. This so incensed Carl Reiner that he refused to continue on the show beyond the third season, citing the network's hypocrisy. Notably, CBS at this time was allowing a number of other shows, such as All in the Family (starring Reiner's son, Rob) to deal openly with much more controversial topics. Reiner promised never to work in television (particularly CBS) again. (In 1976, Reiner returned as star of the popular but short-lived ABC sitcom, Good Heavens; in 1981, Reiner appeared in an episode of CBS's Walt Disney and the CBS TV-movie Skokie. He also has appeared in a few episodes of the 2010 TVLand sitcom Hot in Cleveland.)

Some sources have inaccurately reported that the controversial unaired episode was produced during the second season, and that Carl Reiner quit the series before the start of the third season. In fact, the episode, was produced during the third season and Carl Reiner remained as producer of the series until the final episode produced which he also wrote and directed.^[2]

Although the show's ratings improved, Van Dyke no longer enjoyed working away from his home and did not want to continue the show without Reiner. He chose not to renew his contract and moved back to Arizona.

Syndication

The show was rarely run in syndication, though various local networks aired it occasionally in the 1970s. In the early-1990s, reruns aired briefly on TNT. In 2004, the show aired on GoodLife TV Network. The reruns included the previously unaired episode "Lt. Preston of the 4th Cavalry".

DVD Release

Coming soon to DVD from Warner Home Video: TBA?

See also

• The Dick Van Dyke Show

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Brooks, Tim; Earl Marsh (2003). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-45542-8. 
2. ^ "The New Dick Van Dyke Show - Season 3". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/the-new-dick-van-dyke-show/show/943/episode_guide.html?season=3&tag=season_dropdown;dropdown;2. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 

• Billy Ingram, TVparty!

External links

• The New Dick Van Dyke Show at the Internet Movie Database