... explain this show to me? Just... anything. What's it about? Who's it got? Spin-off? Crossovers? Etc..

Originally posted by ClesStahn
... explain this show to me? Just... anything. What's it about? Who's it got? Spin-off? Crossovers? Etc..

September 18, 1971 - September 2, 1974

Cast
Dick Preston..........Dick Van Dyke
Jenny Preston........Hope Lange
Mike Preston..........Fannie Flagg
Carol Davis............Nancy Dussault
Ted Atwater...........David Doyle
Lucas Preston........Michael Shea
Annie Preston.........Angela Powell
Max Mathias ...........Dick Van Patten
Dennis Withehead....Barry Gordon
Alex Montenez.........Henry Darrow
Richard Richardson.....Richard Dawson
Connie Richardson.....Chita Rivera
Margot Brighton.........Barbara Rush


Dick Preston was the host of a local talk show on a Phoenix, Arizona television station. The series revolved around his personal life with his wife, Jenny and their daughter, and his professional life with the talk show. His manager, Bernie, and Bernie's wife were personal friends and his sister Mike doubled as his secretary. Seen occasionally was Dick's son Lucas, who was away at private boarding school. In the third season the setting of the show moved to Hollywood, and so did its production. Dick moved his family there so that he could take advantage of an opportunity to star in a daytime soap opera.

Goodlife just starting showing the third season, and it's interesting to see how the second format is a much more deliberate attempt to duplicate the original "Dick Van Dyke Show", with the two semi-wacky neighbors on the home front, and the show-business work setting. Production on the soap opera is fast-paced like "The Alan Brady Show", while the talk-show setting is more laid-back. Carl Reiner, the creator of both series, only worked as a creative consultant during the first two years of NDVD, because it was filmed on location in Arizona. When production moved to Hollywood for the third season, Reiner assumed the producer role for most of that year.

There are some talented people both in front of and behind the camera on this show, but it never really hangs together the way the original DVD show did. The chemistry between the characters just isn't there. And watch out for the theme song in the third-season episodes -- it's so bad that it will make your ears bleed.

Well, thanks for the info, but I have no desire to watch this show. :)