As a follow-up to my recent post on Sam Denoff, here are two classic DICK VAN DYKE SHOWS written by Sam and his partner, Bill Persky. The first is "Coast to Coast Big Mouth", the script I first saw in a book. And the second is "That's My Boy", which contains one of the greatest payoffs in sitcom history. Enjoy.
Coast to Coast Big Mouth
That's My Boy
18 comments :
It's 1:36AM.
I hope these are still on youtube when I try to watch them about ten hours from now...
"The only Dick and Betty Carter I know are Phil and Edna Greenbaum."
Classic. Such a simple line but one of the funniest lines in the episode.
Both episodes--and every other Dick Van Dyke Show episode, for that matter--are on Hulu.
Coast to Coast Big Mouth
That's My Boy?
Here's a question for friday: is the creator of a show supposed to automatically get executive producer credit? I've read that but I've seen shows where it didn't happen.
Excellent, really enjoyed these. Thanks.
Hulu reminds me that they did 32 episodes of The Dick van Dyke Show that season. Those were the days!
It's often been retold--perhaps even by you, Ken--of how CBS was adamant about not shooting the episode for fear of "offending" viewers. IIRC, Sheldon Leonard prevailed by agreeing to swallow the production cost if it provoked a negative reaction. And once again, talent was right and the suits were wrong.
Two of my favorite episodes! I remember watching this show everyday when I got home from kindergarten. At the time I didn't realize how groundbreaking it was to have a female tv writer in Sally (Rose Marie) as a role model for little girls. I thought this was normal. Today I own the series on DVD and watch it often. Have the MTM series, too and a small confession: I keep a tiny photo of Mary Richards by my computer monitor for inspiration to "think different." (I work in graphic design so we're allowed to be weird like that.) I'm so glad to find how all this is connected thru you in some of my other favorite series like Cheers and Frasier.
THAT'S MY BOY! Truly one of the best pay offs of all time! Thank goodness Sheldon prevailed.
The Dick Van Dyke show really holds up as one of the all time smart, funny, classy shows.
thanks Ken!
"needy bald people" Only a comedic genius could think of that line. I don't care how often they rehearse, I don't see how Mr. Reiner and Ms Moore could get through that dialogue without laughing.
And the bit about Mel's tie. It had nothing to do with the episode but it's hilarious. How did the writers even think of that?
Two out of the holy Dick Van Dyke trifecta - Now I have to find out who wrote the episode where Laura got her toe stuck in the bathtub.
All the episodes are also on Amazon on Dmenad (or whatever they call it) and are free if you have Amazon Prime. My wife still hasn't forgiven me for showing a few episodes to my son without her.
Classic is right.
I remember seeing That's My Boy? as a kid when it was rerun on WGN in the afternoon. And when the payoff happened, I laughed but then didn't even know if it was okay to laugh -- something about a joke based on race coming from an earlier time, my immediate thought, as a kid, was that it was somehow offensive. I realized it wasn't, and now, even knowing how it ends, I laugh and laugh. Showing it to my boyfriend who had never seen it, he reacted exactly how I wanted him to.
"One of" the greatest payoffs is a fairly safe bet. I'd love to see people's lists that they consider rivals for the crown.
That's My Boy video I haven't rewatched today - I have the entire series on DVD- but STILL remember Rob's face when he opens the door.
The Coast to Coast Big Mouth scene between Laura and Alan is quite possibly the funniest thing on TV. Ever.
The shot of Alan Brady with his many toupees on their stands is one of my favorite sitcom visuals ever.
I loved the Dick van Dyke Show as a child with the single exception that I could never really stand Mary Tyler Moore's character. At the age when I might have been looking to TV women as role models I loved Rose Marie.
A few years ago, when I got the DVD DVDs for Christmas, I was surprised to realize how much of the time Rose Marie's character moaned about not having a man in her life. What *I* saw and remembered was she had a great job, she was an equal with the men in the office, and she was FUNNY. Today: still don't care at all for MTM's character. Laura was a wimp.
wg
Watching the "Coast-to-Coast-Big-Mouth" clip I was struck by just how funny Mary Tyler Moore could be. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but if I haven't seen either "Dick Van Dyke" or her own 1970s show in quite a while, I tend to think of her a straight man for the rest of the cast. She was that much of the time, but not always. In this clip, I think Van Dyke plays straight man to her.
The first episode made me sad because it reminded me that Pluto isn't a planet anymore ;-)
But seriously I laughed more than I did watching the last three episodes of "Futurama" :-)
Ah, I love the Dick van Dyke show. It was a pleasure to discover on TV Land when I moved to LA. I was in my 20s, but I still loved it.
The best EVER !
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