Opening

[Michael [hXc]]

On today's episode, instead of the opening that I am familiar with when he comes in the door and trips over the foot stool, it showed someone scatter pictures and it was showing pictures, like the opening of Gidget.

I have never seen it before. What season is it from? Also, which is first, the one where he trips or when he goes around the stool? What opening was with what season?

[jamesanthony]

Hey:

In one of the companion books for the series I remember reading that the first 13 shows have the opening with the scatter pictures. After that they filmed three different versions of the main titles where Rob comes home. In one he trips over the ottoman. In a second he walks around it. In the third he almost trips over the ottomon, steps around it, then trips over the rug and falls flat on his back. The actors wear the same clothes in all 3 of these scenes and they would mix them up and show them as the openings for the rest of the series just to keep viewers on their toes. In reruns if you are expecting to tell which season you're watching just from looking at the main titles you can't really do it in this show.

Richie must not have grown that tall in the 5 years for them to keep the same opening. I know I can tell most of the ones from year 5 because Dick and Mary have new hairdos, otherwise the show has a very uniform look throughout.

[Lolac]

jamesanthony is correct and well informed! TV Land is currently showing season 1. It's hard for me to watch these episodes on TV Land now because the quality is not good on cable and I know what has been cut out. I watched the one today, "A Word a Day," and I kept thinking how I want to go back and watch it on dvd. Only 3 more weeks until season 4 comes out! I can't wait!

Lolac

[ScottD]

Hey Lolac, I have a question that you'll probably be able to answer. In the opening, is there a way to tell whether Rob is going to trip or sidestep the ottoman? This sounds crazy to me, but a friend says that he can tell by how Rob's fingers are positioned on the front door when he opens it. I just keep telling him that he's crazy, but I figured I'd ask some of the experts here on the board. I haven't been around here in awhile but it seems like this board is pretty jumping lately!

[Lolac]

You know, Scott, I've never been that curious to try to figure that out, but now that you've asked the question, I just may have to try! I hope someone else can answer that for you!

Lolac

[Pentimento]

(OK, I officially have way too much time on my hands...)

I just looked at the openings of several episodes on DVD, and the one where Rob sidesteps the ottoman but trips on the carpet is entirely different from the other two. (Laura's dress is dark in that one but light in the others.) With the other two, it looks like the part where Rob comes through the door is identical for both openings. The difference comes after Laura points out that they have company. If you look at Ritchie, he puts his hand up to his face, and then when Rob is about to trip over the ottoman, Ritchie is wiping his nose. The other opening is edited at that point -- the edit is obvious because Ritchie suddenly has his hands at his sides again as Rob is about to sidestep the ottoman.

[Larry Surrell]

Pentimento,

Which season is the Rob trips on the rug opening from? In all the years I've been watching The Dick Van Dyke Show I've never seen him jump around the ottoman but trip over the rug. Now when I watch the DVDs I skip over the opening because I've seen him trip or jump around that ottoman a thousand times, but want to see this 4th openeng that I didn't know existed!

[Pentimento]

Hello, Larry...

The DVD I was looking at was from Season 3. I didn't check the first two seasons, so the fourth opening might have been used earlier, but definitely by the third year.

[jehobden]

The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book explains the different openings pretty well. The scattered photos were used through the entire first season, but the different arrangement of the opening theme was replaced by the closing arrangement after 14 eps. Two openings, where Rob trips over the Ottoman and sidesteps it, were filmed after filming was completed for "The Two Faces of Rob", which was the 2nd ep of the 2nd season. The cast members were still wearing their wardrobe from the final scene, which you can verify either from your DVD collection or when TV Land reruns the ep in the next couple weeks. The 3rd opening, where Rob barely sidesteps the Ottoman but trips on the carpet, was filmed early in the 3rd season, w/ the cast in a more formal wardrobe, including MTM's black dress, and only seems to have been used early in the 3rd season. As the book also mentions, after the 3rd season, the show usually ran the 2nd opening where Rob misses the Ottoman. I'm hoping someone w/ too much time on his/her hands would sometime go through every ep and tally which ep uses which opening. I guess I could do that myself since I have the first 3 seasons on DVD now and plan to get the last 2. It wouldn't take too long to view just the opening of every ep on DVD, no rewinding tape at least.

[treky]

does anyone remember the promo for the show that N@N had back when they showed the series (back when they were a good channel) where they would show the opening-the "living room" one, not the "scattered pictures" one, and an announcer would sing words to the theme that went:

DIIICK VAAAN DYKE IS ROBERT PETRIE

WHO COMES IN

HUGS LAURA

AND THEN HE TRIPS OVER THAT THIING!

BUT SOMETIMES HE DOSEN'T DO IT

CAUSE THEY CHANGED IT

INSTEAD HE SKIRTS IT WITH A NIFTY STEEEP!!

AND THERE'S YET ANOTHER VERSION

WHERE HE MISSES IT

ENTIRLY

BUT IRONICALLY HE TRIPS OVER THE RUUUG!!

AND THEN ROB, BUDDY & SALLY SHAKE HANDS; THE EPISODE TITLE COMES UUP

AAAND

NOTICE ROB SHAKES HANDS WITH BUDDY AGAIN!!.....AND THAT'S IT!

[Pentimento]

I remember that promo! It was the first time I noticed that Rob shook Buddy's hand twice.

(Great...now I have the music AND those goofy lyrics stuck in my head! )