The New Dick Van Dyke Show

*The New Dick Van Dyke Show*
The New Dick Van Dyke Show
	Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 18, 1971 –; March 18, 1974

The New Dick Van Dyke Show is an American sitcom starring Dick Van Dyke that aired on CBS from 1971 to 1974. It was Van Dyke's first return to series television since The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Background

CBS was so eager to have Dick Van Dyke return to their network that they signed him to a three-year contract. Van Dyke was living in Cave Creek, Arizona, at the time and did not want to move back to Hollywood, so the network agreed to film the show at Southwestern Studio on Stage 1 in nearby Carefree, Arizona.^[1] The Dick Van Dyke Show creator Carl Reiner wrote and directed numerous episodes, also serving as creative consultant.

Cast

Dick Van Dyke as Dick Preston
Hope Lange as Jenny Preston
Marty Brill as Bernie Davis
Fannie Flagg as Mike Preston
Nancy Dussault as Carol Davis
Angela Powell as Annie Preston

Episodes

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired
1	24	September 18, 1971	March 4, 1972
2	24	September 17, 1972	March 25, 1973
3	24	September 10, 1973	March 11, 1974

Van Dyke starred as Dick Preston, a

David Doyle as his boss, Ted; and Marty Brill and Nancy Dussault as the Prestons' friends, Bernie and Carol Davis. The Prestons also had a son, Lucas (played by Michael Shea seasons 1–2; Wendell Burton season 3), who was away at college and seen occasionally. Jenny also gave birth to another son, Chrissy during season 1.^[1]

Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings

Season	Time slot (ET)	Rank	Rating
1971–72	Saturday at 9:00 pm	18	22.2
1972–73	Sunday at 9:00 pm Sunday at 7:30 pm	55 ^[2]	15.6 ^[2]
1973–74	Monday at 9:30 pm	41 ^[3]	18.4 ^[3]

The show's

Nielsen ratings were good during the first season. The show had a timeslot in CBS's highly rated Saturday night lineup which included All in the Family, Funny Face and The Mary Tyler Moore Show,^[4] which starred Van Dyke's former co-star. The ratings, however, were much lower than the shows surrounding it. In its second season, the show was moved to the network's low-rated Sunday night lineup and the ratings plummeted.^[4] CBS

wanted to cancel the show but they had Van Dyke under a three-year contract, so the network decided to retool the show.

The final season

For the third season, the setting and production of the show moved to

stage manager, Barbara Rush as the show's star, and Richard Dawson and Chita Rivera as the Prestons' neighbors. In the fall of 1973, the beginning of its third year, CBS gave the series another time slot, this time on Monday nights at 9:30 P.M. immediately following Here's Lucy starring Lucille Ball

. The network felt that Ball's series would provide a strong lead-in for The New Dick Van Dyke Show.

An episode produced for the third season, "Lt. Preston of the 4th Cavalry," included an off-camera scene in which Annie, Dick and Jenny's daughter, walked in on her parents having sex. CBS refused to air the episode, claiming it was incompatible with Van Dyke's family-friendly image. This so incensed Carl Reiner that he refused to continue on the show beyond the third season, citing the network's hypocrisy. CBS at this time was allowing a number of other shows, such as All in the Family, which featured Reiner's son, Rob, to deal openly with much more controversial topics. Reiner promised never to work in television, particularly CBS, again.^[5]

Although the show's ratings improved, Van Dyke did not enjoy working away from his home and did not want to continue the show without Reiner. After the third season, he chose not to renew his contract and moved back to Arizona, prompting the cancellation of the show.