The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show  is an American  television sitcom  created by  Carl Reiner  that initially aired on  CBS  from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Productions in association with the CBS Television Network, and was shot at  Desilu Studios . Other producers included  Bill Persky  and  Sam Denoff . The music for the show's theme song was written by  Earle Hagen . The show starred  Dick Van Dyke ,  Mary Tyler Moore ,  Rose Marie ,  Morey Amsterdam , and  Larry Mathews .  The Dick Van Dyke Show  centered on the work and home life of television comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), the head writer for the fictional  Alan Brady Show,  who lived in New Rochelle, New York with his stylish wife Laura Petrie ( Mary Tyler Moore ) and young son Ritchie ( Larry Mathews ). The series portrayed daily life, comic scenarios that charming, goofy Rob Petrie found himself in the middle of with work colleagues—Buddy Sorrell ( Morey Amsterdam ), Sally Rogers ( Rose Marie ), Mel Cooley ( Richard Deacon )--or family, various friends, and neighbors Millie ( Ann Morgan Guilbert ) and Jerry Helper ( Jerry Paris ). The series won 15  Emmy Awards . In 1997, the episodes "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth" and "It May Look Like a Walnut" were ranked at 8 and 15 respectively on  TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time . In 2002, the series was ranked at 13 on  TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time and in 2013 it was ranked at 20 on their list of the 60 Best Series The two main settings are the work and home life of Rob Petrie ( Dick Van Dyke ), the head writer of a comedy/variety show produced in Manhattan. Viewers are given an "inside look" at how a  television show  (the fictional  The Alan Brady Show ) was written and produced. Many scenes deal with Rob and his co-writers, Buddy Sorrell ( Morey Amsterdam ) and Sally Rogers ( Rose Marie ). Mel Cooley ( Richard Deacon ), a balding  straight man  and recipient of numerous insulting one-liners from Buddy, was the show's producer and the brother-in-law of the show's star, Alan Brady ( Carl Reiner ). As Rob, Buddy, and Sally write for a comedy show, the premise provides a built-in forum for them to constantly make jokes. Other scenes focus on the home life of Rob, his wife Laura ( Mary Tyler Moore ), and son Ritchie ( Larry Mathews ), who live in suburban  New Rochelle, New York . Also often seen are their next-door neighbors and best friends, Jerry Helper ( Jerry Paris ), a dentist, and his wife Millie ( Ann Morgan Guilbert ). Many of the characters in  The Dick Van Dyke Show  were based on real people, as Carl Reiner created the show based on his time spent as head writer for the  Sid Caesar  vehicle  Your Show of Shows . Carl Reiner portrayed Alan Brady who is a combination of the abrasive  Milton Berle  and  Jackie Gleason , according to Reiner, refuting rumors that Alan Brady was based on Caesar. Van Dyke's character was based on Reiner himself. Moore's character's "look" was influenced to some extent by that of  Jackie Kennedy , who was at the time  First Lady of the United States .