This Classic ’60s Sitcom Told A Generation Of Kids Their Dream Job Was Real

There are pretty much three genres of sitcom, and they’re all about different kinds of families: there are family sitcoms, about families like the Simpsons and the Tanners; ensemble sitcoms about groups of friends that are a kind of found family, like Seinfeld and Friends and New Girl; and workplace sitcoms about the workplace family, like the paper merchants of The Office and the witty detectives of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. But since the employees in the workplace shows have families and the families in the family shows go to work, and everyone has their own group of friends, there’s often a lot of crossover between these genres.

Bob’s Burgers is a mix of family show and workplace show where the workplace is a family-run business. Seinfeld had plenty of iconic episodes involving Jerry and George’s curmudgeonly parents. King of the Hill had plenty of iconic episodes involving Hank’s propane business.

Family sitcoms about a traditional American nuclear family often have B-plots following Dad to work. But Dad’s job is usually a very boring, safe, mundane profession, or it’s mindless blue-collar work. Phil Dunphy is a real estate agent. Al Bundy is a shoe salesman. Homer Simpson is a safety inspector at a power plant (as you might expect, that plant is not very safe).

But The Dick Van Dyke Show changed everything by giving Dad a really cool job. In The Dick Van Dyke Show, the dad’s job is comedy writer on a variety show — and it taught a generation of young comedy fans that being funny was actually a viable career path.

The Dick Van Dyke Show Used A Comedy Writers’ Room As Dad’s Workplace

The Dick Van Dyke Show stars Dick Van Dyke, but it’s actually the semi-autobiographical creation of Carl Reiner, the late, great Rob Reiner’s father and a legend of film, television, and comedy in his own right. Van Dyke’s character, Rob Petrie, has all of Van Dyke’s mannerisms and physicality, but his life is based on Reiner’s: the beautiful suburban home, the wisecracking young son, and, most importantly, the career in comedy.

Rob is the head writer of a variety sketch show called The Alan Brady Show. Alan Brady, played by Reiner himself, is the star of the show, but Rob and his pals Buddy and Sally are the brains behind it. This was all based on Reiner’s experiences as the head writer of Sid Caesar’s comedy vehicle Your Show of Shows, and Buddy is pretty clearly based on Reiner’s long-time friend and fellow lightning-fast comic genius Mel Brooks.

Rob’s workplace storylines in The Dick Van Dyke Show marked a lot of impressionable young viewers’ first exposure to the possibility of a legitimate career in comedy. It’s when the class clowns sitting at home, wondering what they were going to do when they grew up, realized you could get paid to hang out and joke around with your friends. When I binge-watched The Dick Van Dyke Show as a kid, I couldn’t believe Rob got paid to shoot the breeze with Buddy and Sally, and call it a day once they’d typed up the funniest bits that came out of their conversations.

The Dick Van Dyke Show Was The First Of Many TV Shows About Making A TV Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show was the first TV show to shine a light on how television gets made. It was revolutionary in its time, showing audiences how the sausage gets made within the sausage itself. This has since become common practice; Aaron Sorkin alone has created three whole TV shows about the backstage drama at a TV show (a news show, a sports news show, and an SNL-style live comedy show).

From The Larry Sanders Show to 30 Rock, The Dick Van Dyke Show has inspired a ton of satirical TV comedies lampooning their own medium from the inside. Seinfeld’s entire fourth season sees Jerry and George pitching, writing, and producing an in-universe version of the very show they’re in.