May 13, 2021

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR!”

A NEW, ONE-HOUR SPECIAL FEATURING TWO FRESHLY COLORIZED EPISODES, TO BE BROADCAST FRIDAY, MAY 21

Featured Episodes Include “Baby Fat” and “The Bottom of Mel Cooley’s Heart”

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR! is a new, one-hour special featuring two freshly colorized classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series airing back-to-back on Friday, May 21 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network.

The special features the season four episode “Baby Fat,” written by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, and the season five episode “The Bottom of Mel Cooley’s Heart,” written by John Whedon. The main titles and end credits of the two episodes are seamlessly combined into one set —at the beginning and end of the hour—with no interruption between each.

The Emmy Award-winning series starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore as television comedy writer Rob and his wife, Laura Petrie; Larry Matthews as their son Ritchie; Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie as Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers, co-writers on the fictional “The Alan Brady Show”; Carl Reiner as Alan Brady; Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley; Jerry Paris as Dr. Jerry Helper; and Ann Morgan Guilbert as Millie Krumbermacher Helper.

In “Baby Fat,” Alan Brady calls on Rob to ghostwrite some new material for a troubled Broadway play he’s starring in. The episode is based on an incident that actually happened to co-writer Garry Marshall: he was tapped to fix a play for comedian Jack Carter, who insisted that the ghostwriter make himself scarce whenever the official playwright showed up. The episode first aired on April 21, 1965, during season four.

“The Bottom of Mel Cooley’s Heart,” which aired late in the show’s final season, served as a kind of “curtain call” for longtime supporting actor Richard Deacon, who finally got to take center stage when Mel Cooley stands up to brother-in-law/employer Alan Brady (played by “Dick Van Dyke Show” creator Carl Reiner). The episode first aired on Feb. 9, 1966.

“The Dick Van Dyke Show” originally aired on CBS from Oct. 3, 1961, through June 1, 1966, finishing in the Nielsen Top 10 in three of its five seasons, and peaking at #3 during the 1963-1964 season. The show received 15 Primetime Emmy Awards, including three Emmys for Dick Van Dyke, five for Carl Reiner and two for Mary Tyler Moore.

Carl Reiner was an executive producer, with George Shapiro and Paul Brownstein. “The Dick Van Dyke Show” is distributed by Paul Brownstein Productions. 

CHEAT TWEET: Catch 2 newly colorized episodes of the classic television comedy #DickVanDyke 5/21 8pm on #CBS! https://bit.ly/2RSjvPP

RATING: To Be Announced

Photos available at www.viacomcbspressexpress.com

Official CBS website: www.cbs.com

CBS on Twitter: @CBSTweet

 

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Press Contact:

Kate Fisher

khfisher@cbs.com

 

Photo Contact:

Kathleen Holloway

kholloway@cbs.com

 

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