The Dick Van Dyke Show was one of numerous delightful sitcoms produced during the early 60's, but I note it as being one of the first to actually have continuity to it's backstory. Most sitcom couples would relate a few different versions of how they met, but this series tried to do more than just go through the motions. Yes, it was hysterical, but it also tried to make it's players more like real people and less like characters just used as props to get laughs. As the title might indicate, Dick Van Dyke took the lead as TV comedy writer Rob Petrie. He and his co-workers (Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam) would spend their days writing for the fictional The Alan Brady Show. At home, Rob would deal with whatever domestic issues arose involving his pretty wife Laura and their son Ritchie. Laura was played by a young model and rising actress by name of Mary Tyler Moore, who was just scrumptious in black and white. While it always put humor first, and much of that zany slapstick, The Dick Van Dyke Show set itself in a world very real in it's background details. It wasn't preachy and self-righteous like several 70's sitcoms would be, but some matters came up that you didn't see on earlier shows. (In a classic episode, Rob is to address the Committee For Inter-Racial Understanding, in order to accept an award for Alan Brady. Moments before leaving, he accidentally dyes his hands black!) The jokes were rapid-fire, the situations believable yet extreme, the characters likeable if overly emotional and prone to occasional bouts of selfishness -particularly Laura, who seemed to be the model for most sitcom wives to follow (though she seemed to genuinely love Rob more than most of her descendants seemed to love their husbands). Some of the hardest laughter I've ever bellowed resulted from this show. I really must pick up the complete series set soon!
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