Head of the Family

Wow I had never seen this before, and loved every minute. Tonight on the Catchy Comedy channel they were showing this little seen pilot episode of the "Dick Van Dyke Show", with the only actor I recognized being the late Carl Reiner. I loved seeing this pilot with them saying Petrie different, and even different actors playing the beloved Sally and Buddy. But I do feel having Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam were so much the better choice their interactions really made the show a lot better. I think all the changes that were made make the show so much better, even the character of Ritchie. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore are also such improvements as Rob and Laura in the show with Carl taking up the reins as Alan, and the great addition that was not in the pilot was Richard Deacon as Mel.

It is hard to see why this didn't sell, while the Dick Van Dyke show did. It is basically the same well-written characters, plot and style of a typical Dick Van Dyke show.

It was very possibly the casting that made the difference. Barbara Britton and Carl Reiner were fine in the leads. They were perhaps a bit old. Both were around 40 years old. Dick Van Dyke was 35 and Mary Tyler Moore was 24, which gave the series a more youthful feel. Still, there isn't much difference in the acting, Britton and Reiner are quite professional. Sylvia Miles and Morty Gunty as Sally and Buddy were actually a marginal improvement over Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam. They get laughs without being overly broad, as Marie and Amsterdam often were.

The real problem was Gary Morgan as 6 year old Ritchie. He tries hard,but overacts his part, he comes off as hyper-active and more obnoxious than charming. Larry Matthews who got the role in the series was much more natural.

This is fun to watch for anybody familiar with the Dick Van Dyke show. Anyone else will just find it mildly amusing.

This nascent version of The Dick Van Dyke Show is fascinating on many levels-- however, it isn't an entertaining show at all.

It's not good because we know all these characters subsequently with different actors who in every case are superior to what we see here.

It is not good because even if we didn't know these characters we would not want to get to know them: Rob (Reiner) is flat and plays every line with the same tone. Laura (Britton) is passable, but always "on stage." Ritchie is downright awful-- unpleasantly loud and unattractively toothy. The worst of the lot are Buddy and Sally (Gunty and Miles) who come across as unfunny and uninteresting to the point of being sullen and mean.

The reason to watch this show-- and watch it you should if you ever enjoyed TDVDS-- is to see that this mess somehow morphed so marvelously. Reiner took a seat behind the camera for the most part writing and not starring in the show. They got good actors to portray interesting characters. Moreover they put Dick Van Dyke opposite Mary Tyler Moore and the magic began to flow.

So watch this program, but don't expect much of it-- except to be amazed.

It's only interesting because it became The Dick Van Dyke Show. Otherwise, this was just blah. Carl Reiner as Robert Petrie was mediocre, Laura was tolerable, Buddy was annoying, Sally was fair, and Richie was a jerk. They stuck some canned laughter in here and there in pointless spots. If this was best of the nine replacement episodes, then the others must have stunk.

This is the pilot episode for what later went on to become "The Dick Van Dyke Show". In this pilot, an entirely different group of actors are cast--with Carl Reiner playing Robert Petry (pronounced 'Peetry' in this show). The setup for the show is very similar--the family lives in the suburbs, Rob writes for a weekly variety TV show, etc.. The biggest difference is chemistry. Like most pilots, the chemistry hasn't yet been established. Additionally, there were a few things that really stood out for me as needing improvement. The biggest was how obnoxious and annoying the kid was who played Richie. In many ways, his high-pitched and adenoidal whine was like a little Jerry Lewis--and I can sure see and hear why he wasn't invited back after the show was re-tooled. It was even more obvious than it could have been, as the plot revolved around this brat. Also, the laugh track was very bad--very intrusive and often blasting out laughs when nothing funny was occurring. And finally, it just wasn't particularly funny or enjoyable overall.

This show was a bit of a bust and I could see why it was remade with an all-new cast. However, for fans of the show and the history of TV, it's a fascinating look at the germ that later grew into one of the great shows of the 1960s.