If it's on the Internet, it must be true

I was going to write something about the Dick Van Dyke Show reunion special (Tuesday at 9 ET, CBS) but got sidetracked when my research turned up this article at PBS's web site (in connection with their production of The Gin Game featuring both DVD and MTM):

What also defined The Dick Van Dyke Show was the sparkling chemistry between its lead actors. As his alter ego, Reiner cast a musical comedy star who left a successful Broadway run of The Music Man to try his hand, again, as a prime-time leading man. (Van Dyke had headlined several TV shows that fizzled despite his talent and fame.) To match Van Dyke's cheerful, loose-limbed style, the show's producers searched for a compatible leading woman. Mary Tyler Moore, just 23 when she won the role of Laura Petrie, had little experience in TV comedy; her most noted small screen role was the unseen (but for her fabulous legs) secretary to David Janssen's Richard Diamond on The Fugitive.

Ahem. For "The Music Man" read "Bye Bye Birdie"; for "The Fugitive" read ""Richard Diamond, Private Detective". For "PBS" read "Network you shouldn't trust for research on pop culture".
- posted by Don Porges @ 5/09/2004 09:32:00 PM |