For my Top 10 this week, I am counting down the Top 10 The Dick Van Dyke Show Characters!
Trying to come up with a #10 for this list was difficult as we're basically reduced to guest stars, there are really only nine regular or recurring characters on the show. I put Stacey Petrie on the list because it's fun to watch Jerry Van Dyke and Dick Van Dyke interact with each other and because Stacey was a more fully realized character than a lot of one-off guest stars.
9. RITCHIE PETRIE
I love The Dick Van Dyke Show but let's be honest, Ritchie is towards the bottom of the list as far as TV Kids go. He sometimes has some funny moments and there are some good moments for Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore interacting with them but more often than not, Larry Mathews is an unfortunate weak part of the show. He still comes in at #9 though because he's obviously an important character.
8. JERRY HELPER
Jerry doesn't make as many appearances as his on screen wife but he's always good for some laughs when he does appear. In another version of the show, the Helpers might have been every week characters like the Mertzes but that wasn't necessary with Buddy and Sally in the picture. Jerry did provide some good opportunities for different dynamics among the lead characters.
For a long time, Alan Brady was referred to but not seen on camera and that created a sense of mystery about him. Eventually, creator Carl Reiner gave a face to Alan Brady but the show wisely used him sparingly. He could be hilarious (as in the all time classic "Coast to Coast Big Mouth") but he was prone to Carl Reiner overdoing things sometimes. So when we see him once in awhile, he works quite well as a character.
6. MEL COOLEY
Poor Mel Cooley, one of TV's first punching bags. He was like Toby from The Office many decades earlier. The show did a nice job of making Mel a sympathetic character and not just an easy target. That showed remarkable character development for a 1960s sitcom because it would have been very easy to make it just a caricature. But the show realized the put-downs would only work if we were still rooting for Mel sometimes too.
Millie was a great character who I think actually could have been used more in the show. She added a nice level to the home scenes and gave Laura a confidante since every other character was more directly connected to Rob. Ann Morgan Guilbert had great comedic timing as a louder and more outspoken character compared to Laura.
4. BUDDY SORRELL
Buddy Sorrell could have been such a caricature with so many of his lines being punchlines to jokes but Morey Amsterdam did such a great job with delivery that he made it work and even gave the character some depth when the show called for it. But of course he was at his best with his jokes. I mentioned why the Mel jokes worked from his end of things but they also worked because Buddy was just so harmless and never mean spirited.
Sally Rogers does not always get the credit she deserves for being a groundbreaking character. Not only was she a woman working in a man's world of TV writing, she was also a single woman and an older single woman at that. Sure, the character was "man hungry" but more in the wisecracking way and not in the desperate way. Rose Marie gave Sally a great self-deprecating nature but just like Buddy, she was also up to the challenge when the show wanted to give the character more depth.
2. LAURA PETRIE
Laura Petrie was the first of two iconic sitcom characters played by Mary Tyler Moore and she re-defined what it meant to be a TV housewife. She wasn't a scheming screwball like Lucy Ricardo or perfect in every way like June Cleaver and many others. She was somewhere in between and much more realistic. Mary Tyler Moore gave a fantastic performance as Laura in all situations but she was never funnier than when she had to cry. It's crazy to think that the team at The Dick Van Dyke Show didn't really realize the comic talent they had in Moore at first but I'm glad they figured it out quickly.
Dick Van Dyke has had an illustrious career but he was never better than he was as Rob Petrie. The show is called The Dick Van Dyke Show for a reason and though it's a great ensemble, Rob is the one who carries it. Whether at work or at home, Van Dyke's infectious energy and comic timing was a perfect match for the more sophisticated writing on the show than its contemporaries. He was also one of TV's all time great physical comedians and could make almost any little thing funny just by moving around.
Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at Bridget Loves Bernie!
Next Tuesday: Top 10 Parks and Recreation Characters!
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