"The Dick Van Dyke Show" aired from 1961 to 1966 on CBS. Van Dyke starred as Rob Petrie, a comedy writer for a Manhattan show, who lived with his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). Creator Carl Reiner also appeared on the show as Alan Brady, the star of the show for which Rob and his co-workers wrote.
According to Reiner, he based the experiences of Rob on Reiner's own days serving as a comedy writer for the TV program "Your Show of Shows."
The show was usually filmed before a live audience, but one of the few episodes that was not, "Happy Birthday And Too Many More," skipped the usual format because they were taping only a few days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
