Surely inspired by their success in colorizing classic I Love Lucy episodes, CBS has announced that they are bringing color to two classic episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, including the classic “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” which is lauded as one of the funniest sitcom episodes of all time.
Here’s the press release with more details:
SPREAD THE HOLIDAY CHEER WITH “THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR!,” A NEW ONE-HOUR SPECIAL FEATURING TWO NEWLY COLORIZED CLASSIC EPISODES, TO BE BROADCAST SUNDAY, DEC. 11
The Featured Episodes, “That’s My Boy??” and “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” to Be Seamlessly Combined
Spread the holiday cheer with “The Dick Van Dyke Show – Now in Living Color!,” a new one-hour special featuring two newly colorized back-to-back classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series, to be broadcast Sunday, Dec. 11 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Series creator and co-star Carl Reiner personally supervised the colorization of the episodes.
The special features the groundbreaking episode “That’s My Boy??” and “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” which ranked #8 on TV Guide’s list of the “100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time.” Both episodes were written by Bill Persky & Sam Denoff. The main titles and end credits of the two episodes are seamlessly combined into one set – at the beginning and end of the hour – with no interruption between the episodes.
The Emmy Award-winning series starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore as television comedy writer Rob and his wife Laura Petrie; Larry Matthews as their son Ritchie; Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie as Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers, co-writers on the fictional “The Alan Brady Show,” Carl Reiner as Alan Brady; Richard Deacon as Mel Cooley; Jerry Paris as Dr. Jerry Helper; and Ann Morgan Guilbert as Millie Krumbermacher Helper.
In “That’s My Boy??,” as Rob and Laura host a dinner party with a few friends, Rob recalls the hectic days after their son Ritchie was born, when he was sure the hospital had given him and Laura the wrong baby. The episode, originally broadcast on Sept. 25, 1963, was the third season premiere.
In “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” Laura Petrie blurts out a top secret on a national television quiz show, revealing that comedian Alan Brady wears a toupee. The episode, which was the show’s fifth and final season premiere, was originally broadcast on Sept. 15, 1965. “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1966.
“The Dick Van Dyke Show” originally aired on CBS from Oct. 3, 1961, through June 1, 1966, finishing in the Nielsen Top 10 in three of its five seasons, peaking at #3 during the 1963-1964 season. The show received 15 total primetime Emmy Awards, including three Emmys for Dick Van Dyke, five for Carl Reiner and two for Mary Tyler Moore.
Carl Reiner is an executive producer, with George Shapiro and Paul Brownstein. THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW is distributed by Paul Brownstein Productions.
