Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Van Dyke Show

The Van Dyke Show aired from October until December 1988 on CBS.

Trying to make a success of the small town regional theater he was running in rural Pennsylvania was not easy for Matt Burgess ( Barry Van Dyke). When his dad, Broadway musical star Dick Burgess ( Dick Van Dyke), decided to give up the Great White Way to live and work with Matt and get to know his family, things didn't get much easier. Dick was a big audience draw, but both men were proud and stubburn and comically disagreed about everything, particularly when it related to the theater-choice of plays, staging, and casting. Fortunately for all concerned, Matt's wife Chris ( Kari Lizer) was usually around to keep things from getting completely out of hand. Featured members of the theater's staff were Doc ( Whitman Mayo), the ancient stage manager with an encyclopedic knowledge of theatrical trivia; Jillian ( Maura Tierney), Matt's secretary; and Eric ( Paul Scherrer), Matt's enthusiastic young helper. Noah ( Billy O'Sullivan) was Matt and Chris' young son.

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore had each returned to CBS in back-to-back Wednesday night sitcoms in the fall of 1988; and both were unsuccessful. This short-lived series did, however, give real-life father and son Dick and Barry Van Dyke their first opportunity to work together professionally. They would do much better with their next show Diagnosis Murder which ran from October 1993 until September 2001 on CBS.

A Review from The New York Times

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: October 26, 1988

Don't despair. There will indeed be a new television season, giving all television watchers their annual opportunity to moan about how everything is even more dreadful than expected. Postponed by the writers' strike, the new series are slowly surfacing. This evening, three are on tap: ''The Van Dyke Show'' at 8 o'clock and Mary Tyler Moore's ''Annie McGuire'' at 8:30, both on CBS, and ''Tattingers'' at 10 o'clock on NBC. ''Annie McGuire'' was not available for review. Make of that what you will.

The star of ''The Van Dyke Show,'' of course, is Dick, Ms. Moore's co-star of yore. This time around, Mr. Van Dyke is playing Dick Burgess, a film and stage actor reaching that point in his career when auditions are necessary again. On his way from California to New York to discuss the lead in a new musical version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame,'' Dick stops off to see his son Matt in Pennsylvania. Matt is played by Barry Van Dyke, Dick Van Dyke's real son. The casting does not constitute a very convincing case for nepotism.

Formerly in advertising, Matt has dropped out to run a regional theater. He lives in the kind of cute little country house so beloved by television sitcoms, the kind that always seems to inspire a bouncy theme song. He has an adorably understanding wife (Kari Lizer) and a precocious young son (Billy O'Sullivan) who takes karate lessons. Dick arrives late, explaining that ''I ended up in Amish country and helped them build a barn.'' Going directly to the theater, he mistakenly wanders on stage into the middle of an excruciatingly dull play written by the local mayor. With nothing else to do, Dick delights the audience with his version of ''Up the Lazy River.''

We are, as you may have guessed, in the middle of currently trendy ''familyland.'' Having never paid much attention to his son, Dick is now ready to make amends. He will settle down in Pennsylvania and become a partner in the theater. He will become a pal to his grandson. He will, in short, become the reigning cliche of the moment. Directed by Jay Sandrich and written by the executive producers, Sam Bobrick and Ron Clark, ''The Van Dyke Show'' is amiable enough but already frayed around the edges.

For a Fan Site dedicated to Barry Van Dyke go to http://members.tripod.com/~VanDykeFan/celebrity/BarryVanDyke.html

For another Barry Van Dyke Fan Site go to http://barryvandyke.fano.net/

For a Website dedicated to Maura Tierney go to http://www.mauratierney.com/