The Dick Van Dyke Show is celebrating a big anniversary on October 3. It was exactly fifty years ago that day that the series debuted on CBS, and made a big mark in television history that only a few other series have managed to make. Several years ago, sitcom and pop-culture expert Vince Waldron wrote The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book, a book that was "the definitive history of television's most enduring comedy." Now, Waldron has written a revised and updated edition of this book, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the series.

Read our review here:
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2011/09/blog-book-review-official-dick-van-dyke.html

Purchase the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1569768390/ref=nosim/happydaysonline3-20

Okay I read the review and it left me with more questions than answers! This is supposed to be an updated and revised editon of the book (I own a copy of the original edition). This review completely fails to inform us what has been revised from the original edition and what has been updated from the original edition. I suspect the person who did the review has never read the original edition of the book and can therefore cannot tell us what the revisions and updates are. Everything that was described in the review appears in the original edition of the book. If anything is updated or revised in this edition I certainly couldn't tell that from the review!

Our original plan was to have it reviewed by somebody who owned the first book, but I guess that changed at some point. I didn't know that our reviewer didn't have the original to compare.

I can tell you from e-mails from the author that the book was completely revised, rewritten and updated from the first to the last page. The book also contains tons of new photographs, many of them never before published. There's a new illustration of the cast by Drew Friedman. Little errors have been fixed. New passages were added with some interesting sidelights that he had since discovered, including the existence of a Dick Van Dyke Show opera.

If you own the original book from 1994, it would certainly be worth it to pick up the new edition.

Our original plan was to have it reviewed by somebody who owned the first book, but I guess that changed at some point. I didn't know that our reviewer didn't have the original to compare.

I can tell you from e-mails from the author that the book was completely revised, rewritten and updated from the first to the last page. The book also contains tons of new photographs, many of them never before published. There's a new illustration of the cast by Drew Friedman. Little errors have been fixed. New passages were added with some interesting sidelights that he had since discovered, including the existence of a Dick Van Dyke Show opera.

If you own the original book from 1994, it would certainly be worth it to pick up the new edition.
Thanks TJ! That's exactly the information I was looking for! I appreciate your prompt reply!

Does the new edition have information on the scripted reunion show that aired on CBS in May 2004? I would hope so. I hope he also corrected such errors such as stating that "The Case of the Pillow" originally aired Feb. 17, 1964 instead of Feb. 17, 1965. (That typo lasted through the earlier reprint as well.)

I put a hold on the updated and revised version from my local library. I can't wait to read it!! :cool: :D