Dick Van Fans

It's no secret that we're kinda...yeah, we're a tad "different." We listen to eclectic music selections; we watch vintage Sesame Street; we wish Hadley could grow up in Carville while we devour our Andy Hardy movies (rest in peace, Mickey!) and other classic, black-and-white films; I love history books and Dave loves comic books. We've got all sorts of quirky up in here.

So, it should come as little surprise that we have a new favorite.

Thanks, once again, to our super basic cable package and Netflix usage, we have stumbled upon The Dick Van Dyke Show in much the same way that he tended to stumble over a wayward toy or ottoman. With great zeal!

The weird thing is that I never watched this show as a kid, and I don't think Dave did. I followed plenty of old shows (Mr. Ed, Dennis the Menace, Lassie, My Three Sons -- horrible acting, great storyline, a bunch of the old cop shows, and two personal favorites -- Batman and The Monkees), but I never saw "The Dick Van Dyke Show." But, boy, are we wicked glad we have now!

Since the winter has kept us pretty much eating in front of the TV every night, we've gotten into the habit of dragging Hadley's seat into the living room, firing up the ol' Wii sensor, and continuing on with the next show. We've become familiar with every single character and their particular quirks, and Dave has read several "trivia" pieces from the interwebs when a question or an "I wonder if they..." idea pops up.

A few of our favorites?

- The show was the first of its kind to have a character like Sally (played by Rose Marie, who just happened to guest star in two Monkees episodes), a single, independent, working woman.

- Dick Van Dyke gave up his role on Broadway to star and was such a mess on the day they taped the first show that he missed out on Kennedy's inauguration (which everyone else seemed to watch).

- He also seemed to think that Mary Tyler Moore was too young to portray his wife, and she was also meant to be a secondary character (with most of the action happening at the office). Her talent was quickly noticed and her character was given more storylines (Rose Marie didn't get along with her very well for this reason), and Dick was won over. Side note: They were said to each have crushes on the other at certain points throughout the show. *blushes* So cute!

- The show was actually based on Carl Reiner's time writing for "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar. The character of Buddy was based on Mel Brooks.

- Buddy (friend and "co-writer" to Dick's character) and Mel (the "show's" producer) were actually great friends in real life despite having characters that are constantly at each other's throats. As a matter of fact, they used to get together and have drinks after work to see what zingers they could come up with.

Ohhh, it just keeps going. Of course, my favorite bit of trivia happens in our very own living room. Hadley sometimes finds himself smitten with Laura, giving the TV doe eyes and getting shy. It's these times when he decides to shout out to her -- "Mama! Mama, mama, mama!" I could possibly be flattered, but I know that anyone who appears to be a) a woman or b) in pairs, he tends to refer to that way.

We also ADORE the fact that they tried very hard to keep slang out of conversation in order to make the show seem less timely. In other words, it has held up VERY well (for the most part) and we find ourselves laughing our butts off today.

What about your family? Do you have any quirky favorites?