Top 5 television characters

One of the characters in this movie admits to that very thing.

 

i don't really remember Rob and Laura doing that much parenting in TDVDS.
Richie (I didn't really remember the kid's name) was kept blissfully off screen in most episodes.

 

You didn’t remember his name? I even remember his MIDDLE name.

Rosebud.

 

Heck, one of the greatest Dick Van Dyke episodes is one where Rob is convinced that the hospital gave them the wrong baby, and he thinks a family with a similar name to his ("Peters") got "his" child. Invites them over, and . . .

 

Wow, that's a seriously amazing ensemble of actors for a b-movie.

 

It is so very much a B movie. The conceit is clever, but I think it would work better as a play. It's possibly one of those films where someone called in favors to populate the cast.

Here's another example with talking head cameos by A and B-listers. Very flawed and probably the funniest movie you've never seen. (If the big blond looks familiar, it's because William Dozier was the bully in Better Off Dead)

 

That role will now always be clouded by Bill Cosby's off-camera behavior, but I wholeheartedly agree. He always did well generating humor out of the family dynamic, back to his stand-up days. The scene in the pilot episode where he had the "regular people" conversation with Theo is still one of my favorite sitcom scenes of all time.

To add one that hasn't been mentioned in this thread (as far as I could see): Louie DePalma of "Taxi." Just a great antagonist, and I think it was sometime in the '90s that TV Guide had a list of 50 Greatest TV Characters or something like that and they had Louie as No. 1. I remembered thinking at the time it was an inspired choice.

 

imdb says Richie was in 158 episodes, though that does not seem right, but i think its more than you remember.

Richie tells other kids about birds/bees
Richie in a car ad with Freddie Helper
Richie and Freddie draw on the wall
Richie and Freddie draw the Liberty Bell
Richie helps rob cheat at cards
Richie gets pecked at by a wood pecker
Richie is Rosebud
Richie does not like Father of the week in school
Richie gets beat up by a girl

someone stop me!!!!

 

Definitely not in 158, just one off the top here...Godfrey Cambridge is Mr Bond the FBI guy and Richjie is at camp or something, that is why they use his bedroom.
Also the "what time do we feed the walls" episode at the haunted cabin. not there.

 

There were a few DVDS episodes in which Rob and/or Laura had memorable parenting moments, but it's pretty safe to say the vast vast majority of the shows best moments centered around Rob at work or Rob/Laura's social life.

TAGS was far far more concentrated around Andy as a father-- in fact, so much so that Andy's role, which originally was supposed to be the zany comic lead, morphed into the wise all-knowing father figure while most of the laugh lines went to Don Knotts.

 

The real genius of the Dick Van Dyke Show was that Rob’s job as a comedy writer gave him (and Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie) an excuse to take a few minutes of every episode to JUST BE FUNNY. Tell some jokes. Do a sketch. Find creative and funny ways to insult Mel. It didn’t have to have anything to do with that week’s plot. They could just sit around and be funny, and it worked.

 

Last year I watched DVDS for the first time, probably 35-40 episodes.

It was funny, but it was edgy funny, which seemed odd because DVD appeared to be a square.