the dick van dyke show

The TV neighbor has served many useful roles over the years; some that many thought had been lost by the unrelenting sands of time.

They've become the great modern philosopher like Wilson, the evolving thinker like Bill Dauterive, the bearer of bad news like Newman, and even the court jester -- as long as you don't count one of these guys.

Not only would we not want some of them living next door to us, we wouldn't want them living. Period. These are the annoying next-door neighbors who should have been run out by the Neighborhood Homeowners' Association with torches and pitchforks.

Recently, when I interviewed Matt Weiner, the creator of AMC's Mad Men, we talked about the movies, books and television shows that influenced the inception of the show. The 1960 Oscar-winning best picture The Apartment was one, so were the sitcoms Dobie Gillis and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Of all the television shows he mentioned, though, there was one that was the most influential. "You can't have the '60s without The Twilight Zone. It is a mind opening experience for a generation," said Matt. "It was not just science fiction, it dealt with social issues. It's filled with the texture of real life. Just the idea of having a show every week where you don't know who is going to be in it and what it's going to be about, to have this acceptance of the fact that we don't know everything about the world. That in itself was something."

Going through The Twilight Zone episode guide, there are quite a few shows in which you can see where Mad Men could find inspiration. Here's four that reminded me of Don and Betty and Pete and Sterling Cooper:

When Matt Weiner was a successful sitcom writer -- CBS's Becker -- he had this idea for another kind of show. He couldn't figure out how to pitch it, so he wrote a sample script. The Sopranos' creator David Chase read it and hired him. After copping a couple of Emmys for his work on that HBO drama, Weiner finally got his spec script sold. Now, Mad Men has earned 16 Emmy nominations and Matt Weiner is working on the second season of the show.

Recently, for TV Week, I interviewed Matt about the Emmy nominations. Here are some other thoughts he shared with me about Mad Men:

TVS: What's the show all about to you?

Matt Weiner: A lot of the episodes are about "who am I." A lot of the shows are about what's embarrassing. A lot of it's about denial, about how we juggle our work and our private lives. A lot of the issues that came up in the early 1960s are really hitting us right now.

The bar mitzvah is a Jewish rite of passage, the time in a boy's life when he becomes a man -- symbolically -- by reading from the Torah. When a girl does the ritual, it's called a bat mitzvah. I mention all this because in TV, the bar/bat mitzvah has been the catalyst for some wonderful episodes, mostly on sitcoms.

The Simpsons celebrated Krusty the Klown's bar mitzvah in the episode "Today I Am A Klown," which was a variation on one of the all-time great sitcom bar mitzvahs of all time: the episode "Buddy Sorrell, Man and Boy," on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Square Pegs shared "Muffy's Bat Mitzvah" with viewers, and this past season, Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David used his friend Jeff Greene's daughter Sammi's bat mitzvah to announce that he never put a gerbil up his butt.

It's Father's Day. Dad's day of the year. Earlier this week, I took the AOL TV Dad's Quiz, like Debra, and I was reminded of the variety of fathers on the tube. I think I have a unique take on TV dads. My own died when I was just eight, so I tend to admire those characters that remind me of him. For that reason, the pipe-smoking, cardigan sweater wearing Jim Anderson on Father Knows Best doesn't ring true; neither does the coarse Archie Bunker of All in the Family.

So, here's my five favorite sitcom dads, the ones I related to the most. That means I've excluded single dads and animated dads. That means Hank Hill, Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin and Fred Flintstone are ineligible for my list. Also, this is strictly sitcom pops.
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The "big" shows are over, and now the typically low-key summer TV schedule begins. Oh sure, there are some real gems in there that are still airing or will start soon, but overall the excitement is nothing like the September-through-May period. Maybe people are ... gasp ... going outside to enjoy the sun?

It's been two years since we first delved into the world of Retro Squad, so we're back now with what we believe is a better format. Rather than pick a few shows and only review one season from each throughout the summer, we're doing theme/show weeks. These weeks will not only have standout episode reviews from any past season, but we'll have themed lists, Vs., interviews and videos. There are only so many weeks in the summer, so we can't cover all of your favorites, but I think there's something for just about everyone here. Check out the schedule below, after the jump.

New York, New York -- a place so big that had to name it twice. Isn't that what they say about the Big Apple? Recently, movie critic Leonard Maltin, host of the ReelzChannel original series Secret's Out named his picks for the 15 greatest New York scenes in movie history. That got me thinking about the television shows that are intimately tied to New York, series that are inextricably New York shows. Whether they are -- or were -- filmed in the city, here's 15 absolutely, positively New York TV shows (in the order in which they debuted!). You don't have to agree with me -- and I may have overlooked one or two (which I urge you to comment and let me know) -- but I have good reasons for every one of my choices!
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(S03E10) "Dr. Pronto to reception please." - Nurse

The simple decision to recap last week's episode in such a comically dramatic style is one of the things that sets My Name is Earl apart from other sitcoms.

After watching Catalina's scene with Joy's children, I now understand why they have so little screen time. They are bad actors. While I give the show credit for using kids who actually look like their parents, I feel that these kids could easily fall into the DJ Conner trap where their continuing lack of cuteness reveals their lack of talent. As a side note, seeing Catalina with those kids really made it difficult for me to enjoy her scenes in my usual way. Hey, I'm a creep not a criminal.

Whitney Matheson has an interesting topic over at the Pop Candy blog. She lists her 10 favorite props from the movies, and includes some items like Indy's hat from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, Darth Vader's light saber, and many items from Steve Martin's The Jerk. This got me thinking, what props from TV shows would I like to own? I have a few from Ed, including a name plate from the courtroom and a drinking bird, but I'd like more. My list is below, in no particular order.

Anything from The Dick Van Dyke Show: In particular, the typewriter in the office or anything from the Petrie's kitchen. Or maybe the ottoman Rob trips over!

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Being newly single, I've been spending a lot of time these days thinking about the perfect woman. More often than not, my thoughts end up drifting into the realm of television and all of the perfect women there. So I decided to compile a list of the ten hottest moms on television. Unfortunately, there were way too many to fit on a top ten list, so I expanded the list to fifteen. This was a tough list to compile and I'm sure many of your favorites are absent, but I doubt that anyone can refute the fifteen below.

Susan Mayer - Desperate Housewives (Teri Hatcher) Hatcher has always been smoking hot but it wasn't until Desperate Housewives that she became a TV mom. The best part of her character is how Susan is continually clumsy, awkward and unsure of herself and still manages to be hot.

Jerry Belson, who has written for classic shows like The Odd Couple and The Dick Van Dyke Show, died of cancer on Tuesday. He was 68.

His death was announced by his friend and writing partner, Garry Marshall; they worked together on the two shows mentioned above and on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. As you can see by his IMDb profile, he's worked as a writer, producer, or director on many classic shows, as well as many cult classics like The Tracey Ullman Show. His last TV credits were on The Drew Carey Show, Tracey Takes On..., and The Norm Show.

Toon Zone has reported that Lennie Weinrib passed away on Wednesday at his home in Chile. He was 71-years-old. You may not recognize the name, although he wrote for and performed in numerous television series for over 40 years. However, if you were a child of the 1960's, 70's or 80's you would probably recognize him as the voice of numerous Saturday morning cartoon characters that you loved, including H.R. Pufnstuf and Scrappy-Doo.

Lennie began his television career as an actor in various shows such as Peter Gunn, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Burke's Law. His first voice work was for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Jetsons back in 1962. Seven years later he became the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf for the Sid and Marty Krofft show of the same name.

After that his voice career took off. In addition to Pufnstuf and Scrappy-Doo he was the voice of Moonrock on The Pebbles and Bam-Bam Show, Inch High on Inch High, Private Eye, and good guy Hunk and bad guy Lotor on Voltron. He was also an additional voice in cartoons like The New Adventures of Batman (where he voiced Commissioner and most of the villains), Jabberjaw, and The Smurfs.

Writer Mark Evanier has a very nice tribute to Weinrib on his website.