Although most of the comedy pilots that aired on this series were unremarkable, the notable exception was the first pilot for "Head of the Family" starring Carl Reiner as television writer Rob Petrie and Barbara Britton as his wife, Laura, and Jack Wakefield as the star of the "show", Alan Sturdy. The pilot tanked, but the network liked the concept, so it was rewritten and recast with Dick Van Dyke playing the lead role, Mary Tyler Moore as his wife and Reiner as the bullying series star Alan Brady.
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