BEGINNING THIS SUNDAY, JULY 5 AT 10p & 10:30p ET/PT
The MeTV Network will celebrate legendary writer, director and actor Carl Reiner with a special, month-long presentation of his favorite episodes of 15-time Emmy award-winning sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. The tribute begins this Sunday, July 5 at 10p & 10:30p ET/PT and will air every Sunday night through July 26 on MeTV.
Born in the Bronx borough of New York, Carl Reiner appeared in several Broadway musicals including “Inside U.S.A.” and “Call Me Mister” before he was cast in the variety show “Your Show of Shows” in 1950. Throughout the series’ four-year run, Reiner honed his writing chops alongside fellow comedy writers Mel Brooks and Neil Simon, and went on to write for the variety TV series “Caesar’s Hour” and “The Dinah Shore Chevy Show.”
In 1960, Reiner and Brooks began appearing as a comedy duo on “The Steve Allen Show,” where they performed the iconic sketch “The 2,000 Year Old Man” for the first time. The duo expanded the popular sketch into a 1975 animated television special and a series of five comedy albums, the last of which earned a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album in 1999.
In 1959, Reiner developed a television pilot, “Head of the Family,” where he was set to star as a suburban family man who worked in show business. The pilot was ultimately rejected, but producer Sheldon Leonard decided to rework the show, famously telling Reiner, “We’ll get a better actor to play you.” That “better” actor would turn out to be Dick Van Dyke.
Created by Carl Reiner, The Dick Van Dyke Show followed the work and home life of Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), head comedy writer for the fictional variety series The Alan Brady Show, starring Alan Brady (Carl Reiner), with plots inspired by Reiner’s real-life experiences as a writer for the live variety show Your Show of Shows and the sketch-comedy series Caesar’s Hour. Mary Tyler Moore portrayed Rob’s wife, Laura Petrie, and earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for her performance. The Dick Van Dyke Show is considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the best sitcoms in television history, as the series earned 25 Primetime Emmy nominations and won 15 Primetime Emmy Awards during its five seasons (1961-1966).
Following the landmark success of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Reiner went on to write and direct feature films, including the cult classic “Where’s Poppa?” (1970), “Oh, God!” (1977) starring George Burns and “The Jerk” (1979), starring Steve Martin. Throughout his expansive 70-year career, Reiner continued to appear in television series and films including “House M.D.,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “Parks and Recreation” and the “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise. Reiner is also an accomplished author, having published nearly 20 books, including memoirs “My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir” (2003), “I Remember Me” (2012), “I Just Remembered” (2014) and “What I Forgot to Remember” (2015). In 2019, The Paley Center for Media presented the icon with a Paley Honors Award for his enduring impact on television comedy.
Carl Reiner passed on June 29 at the age of 98.
“MeTV Celebrates Carl Reiner” Schedule
Week 1 (Sunday, 7/5/20)
10:00pm ET/PT- “Coast to Coast Big Mouth”
Description: Laura accidently reveals that Alan Brady is bald on live TV!
10:30pm ET/PT- “That’s My Boy??”
Description: Rob and Laura think they brought the wrong baby home from the hospital.
Week 2 (Sunday, 7/12/20)
10:00pm ET/PT- “It May Look Like a Walnut”
Description: Rob falls asleep with a sci-fi movie on and gets visited by an alien from another planet.
10:30pm ET/PT- “The Curious Thing About Women”
Description: Laura is shocked when Rob uses their breakfast banter as basis for an “Alan Brady” sketch.
Week 3 (Sunday, 7/19/20)
10:00pm ET/PT- “Never Bathe on a Saturday”
Description: Laura gets stuck in the bathtub.
10:30pm ET/PT- “Where Did I Come From?”
Description: Richie’s simple question unfolds the hilarious tale of the day he was born.
Week 4 (Sunday, 7/26/20)
10:00pm ET/PT- “October Eve”
Description: Laura’s past comes back to haunt her in form of a naked painting.
10:30pm ET/PT- “All About Eavesdropping”
Description: Richie’s toy intercom leads to trouble when Rob and Laura turn into eavesdroppers.