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To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the debut of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (chosen "All Time Favorite Sitcom" by the readers of a blogger who used to Write and Produce M*A*S*H and Cheers, fergunisakes), there was a salute/reunion staged by American Cinematheque at which series creator Carl Reiner (aka Mel Brooks' straightman) told of the genesis of the show (if you have problems with the video, here's someone else's written account of the same thing) and Dick Van Dyke sang (with backup) the never-broadcast words to the show's iconic theme song. [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop on Oct 10, 2011 - 40 comments

In 1979, the producers of "Taxi" were hot, and got carte blanche to make another sitcom for ABC. So they adapted John Jay Osborn's novel "The Associates"*, his follow-up to "The Paper Chase" (which, as a TV series, had just been cancelled by CBS) about young lawyers at a prestigious New York firm. It starred a very young Martin Short as a very young (and surprisingly normal) Junior Associate, Wilfred Hyde-White as a very old Senior Partner and some other folks you may or may not recognize. It bombed. But the next-to-last episode to be aired before the plug was pulled was something you would never expect any broadcast network in 1980 (or maybe even now) to show, in which young lawyer Short represented a network against a rebellious producer, titled "The Censors". And yes, that is John Ritter as a Hollywood actor in character.
Bonus content: "The Associates" pilot episode in two parts. via the world-class blog by Ken Levine of M*A*S*H, Cheers and the Seattle Mariners
* TOTALLY not related to John Grisham's "The Associate"
posted by oneswellfoop on Aug 3, 2011 - 15 comments