Why Did Dick Van Dyke’s ’80s Sitcom Fail?
What To Know
- The Van Dyke Show, starring Dick Van Dyke and his son Barry, aired briefly on CBS in late 1988 but failed to gain traction with audiences or critics.
- Despite a promising premise and a talented cast, including real-life father-son dynamics and notable guest stars, the show suffered from poor timing and low ratings.
- CBS canceled the sitcom after just six aired episodes, with four additional episodes remaining unaired as viewership declined sharply during its short run.
Fans of Dick Van Dyke know all about his classic films like Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and hit TV shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis Murder. They might remember his turns in movies like Fitzwilly and Cold Turkey, the only film ever directed by Norman Lear. But even devoted viewers might not recall The Van Dyke Show, which starred Van Dyke and his son, Barry, and aired from October 26 to December 7, 1988. While the premise was sweet, it just never took off like some of Van Dyke’s other projects, and remains a small note in his long career. However, it set the stage for Dick and Barry’s ultra-successful collaboration on Diagnosis Murder a few years later.
What was Dick Van Dyke’s 1988 sitcom about?
In the series, Barry Van Dyke played Matt Burgess, a small regional theater owner in Pennsylvania, and Dick played his father, Dick Burgess, a Broadway musical star who decides to leave the bright lights behind to work with his son. Their fictional partnership mirrored their real-life bond, and the show was the second time the pair had worked together on television. (The first was when Dick guest-starred in a fourth-season episode of Airwolf, a showwhere Barry was the lead.)
Bernard Boudreau/CBS/Everett Collection
The cast of The Van Dyke Show featured Kari Lizer as Chris Burgess, Maura Tierney as Jillian Ryan, Billy O’Sullivan as Noah Burgess, Paul Scherrer as Eric Olander, and Whitman Mayo, beloved by many for Sanford and Son, as Doc Sterling, the stage manager. The series even featured guest appearances from Lainie Kazan and Lee Paul.
Why did The Van Dyke Show get cancelled?
Bernard Boudreau/CBS/Everett Collection
It seemed like it had the recipe for a quality sitcom, but turns out that the timing wasn’t right. Critics were generally unkind, and ratings didn’t rise enough to save it. CBS canceled the series on December 14, 1988, one week after the sixth episode aired. Ten episodes had been filmed, but only the first six ever reached television screens. The unaired titles included “The Revival,” “A Dark and Stormy Night” Parts 1 and 2 and “Dick Burgess: Between the Sheets.”
Even so, the aired episodes carved out small but memorable moments, including the premiere, “Opening Night,” which drew 11.7 million viewers, and episodes like “Dick Stops Smoking” and “Death Can Be Catching.” By the time “The Benefit” aired on December 7, the audience had dwindled to 6.4 million, and the curtain soon closed on the Burgess family’s theater for good.
However, it wasn’t the end of Dick and Barry’s on-screen partnership. Just five years later, the father-son duo returned to the small screen on Diagnosis Murder; Dick played Dr. Mark Sloan, a doctor who solves crimes with the help of his homicide detective son, Steve, played by Barry. The show was a hit, running from 1993 to 2001.
In an interview for the film Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration, per Us Weekly, Van Dyke said, “My son, he and I love to work together. We’re like Laurel and Hardy. We ran a very loose ship on that show. We didn’t take our murder mystery seriously, and we just had a good time.”
Remind 
100 Years of Dick Van Dyke
April 2025
Dick Van Dyke is a trailblazer like no other and one of the greatest of the golden age of television.
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