Recently my boyfriend and I were talking about Dick Van Dyke. I love him as an actor, and I find him an all around fascinating guy. My boyfriend loves to point out that he is the perfect example of how grown men are really still little boys at heart. We could not think of a single role that he has been in that we did not love.
My kids were confused and had no idea who we were talking about. So of course we start listing his movies. They really couldn’t picture him. (We totally need to rewatch those now!)
I found Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on netflix.
I never realized the guy who wrote James Bond, did this too… How cool are you Ian Fleming?
The movie was longer than I remembered and it was too close to bed time to watch it. Netflix suggested the Dick Van Dyke Show. The kids had never seen it, and it’s been well over a decade for me. So we watched it, with Mary Tyler Moore in her capri pants. The kids did not really get the big deal over that, and the double beds confused them. (Oh how times are changed.)
After watching a few episodes They recognized him as “The Anti-Kelso” from Scrubs.
Honestly I put the show on more for me, I assumed it would bore them. My boyfriend and I laughed and giggled at things we had forgotten. Even joked about an “Ohhhh Rob” drinking game.
Somehow we managed to miss that all three kids were sprawled out on the floor totally engrossed in the show.
At bed time my middle child asked, “Can we watch more tomorrow? That is way better than our cartoons.”
The oldest added, “I like that show, it is a smart comedy. Why don’t they makes shows like that anymore?”
I said, “because they don’t make writers like that anymore. We’re lucky if a show has writers.”
I have thought about how TV has changed over the years. That is the main reason that I have Netflix and a Roku and not cable. When the TVs went digital I never upgraded. I keep old TVs and have no converter box. We have DVDs and the internet. As it gets stupider and stupider I stay farther away from shows. I know the kids miss some channels that they have at grandma’s.
The night we watched The Dick Van Dyke Show seems to have become a turning point for my kids. They now see why I sigh and walk away when they watch some of their shows. They have now asked to watch more “intelligent comedies.” I’m not sure I can think of many off the top of my head, but it makes me wanna watch I Love Lucy.
Cute & Crazy 