"The New Dick Van Dyke Show" (1971) TV series 1971-1974

Creator:

Carl Reiner

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

18 September 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Performer Name In Title | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Dick Van Dyke	...	Dick Preston (72 episodes, 1971-1974)
Hope Lange	...	Jenny Preston (72 episodes, 1971-1974)
Marty Brill	...	Bernie Davis (47 episodes, 1971-1973)
Fannie Flagg	...	'Mike' Preston (47 episodes, 1971-1973)
Nancy Dussault	...	Carol Davis (47 episodes, 1971-1973)

Runtime:

30 min (72 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Cave Creek Enterprises

Trivia:

The New Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed in the exclusive desert enclave of Carefree, Arizona in a state-of-the-art production facility, Southwestern Studios. Van Dyke had announced his retirement and moved to Cave Creek, the grittier, charming cowboy town adjacent to its upscale cousin of Carefree. It is rumored that CBS wanted Van Dyke to return to their prime time line up so much that they constructed Southwestern Studios when they could not lure him back to Hollywood from his new, beloved desert home.

A class act unfortunately forgotten

Dick van Dyke and Hope Lange, likeable stalwarts of 1960s sitcoms made a second series together with pretty good results. No particularly memorable plots but you really believed them as a modern married couple with a young teenage daughter.

The writers wanted to make a more modern series; this was after all the era of ALL IN THE FAMILY. That led to the one scene that people remember from the show and a scene likely to appear on TV comedy retrospectives-- It's night time, the daughter is asleep and the parents have gone off to make love in their bedroom. The camera shows the hallway linking the two bedrooms. Out of the door on the right, the daughter comes out, calling to her parents in a sleepy voice. She crosses to her parents' room, opens the door, and enters. Wait two beats..... On the third beat she backs up back into the hallway and silently crosses back to her room. Wait two beats.... The parents, hurriedly tying bathrobes shut, head to the daughter's room!

A nice scene follows where the parents try to explain what the daughter saw. The daughter listens intently, nods her acceptance, and then giggles the punchline, "You two sure looked funny!"