This Dick Van Dyke Show trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers all five seasons of Carl Reiner's 1961-66 sitcom: the Petries of New Rochelle, the writers' room of The Alan Brady Show, the neighbours next door, the ottoman in the opening titles, and classic episodes like 'It May Look Like a Walnut', 'Coast to Coast Big Mouth' and 'That's My Boy??'. It also digs into how the show got made: the failed pilot in which Reiner played Rob himself, the finalist who lost the part to Dick Van Dyke, the 60 actresses who tried out before Mary Tyler Moore, the sponsor that saved the show from cancellation, the meaning of 'Calvada', and why the cast chose to quit while they were ahead. Difficulty runs from easy nostalgia to questions for people who have seen all 158 episodes. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which network aired The Dick Van Dyke Show from 1961 to 1966?
CBS
Carl Reiner created it from his own life as a TV comedy writer, and played the show-within-the-show's star, Alan Brady, a blend of Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason (and, he insisted, not Sid Caesar).
Q 02How many episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show were made over its five seasons?
158
All were shot in black and white before a live audience at Desilu Studios, which was unusual for a sitcom of the era.
Q 03What was the title of the 1960 pilot in which Carl Reiner himself played Rob Petrie?
Head of the Family
Barbara Britton played Laura, Morty Gunty was Buddy and Sylvia Miles was Sally. Sheldon Leonard liked the script but told Reiner to recast the lead.
Q 04Which future late-night host was a finalist for the role of Rob Petrie before Dick Van Dyke got it?
Johnny Carson
Sheldon Leonard chose Van Dyke after seeing him on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie, the role that won him a Tony in 1961.
Q 05What does Rob Petrie do for a living?
Head writer for a TV comedian
He runs the writers' room of The Alan Brady Show in New York with Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers, then commutes home to New Rochelle.
Q 06In which New York suburb do Rob and Laura Petrie live?
New Rochelle
Carl Reiner had lived there himself while writing for television, and their neighbours Jerry and Millie Helper are next door.
Q 07What was Laura Petrie's maiden name?
Meehan
Rob met her at Camp Crowder in Missouri while he was in the Army and she was a USO dancer.
Q 08Roughly how many actresses auditioned for the part of Laura Petrie before Mary Tyler Moore was signed?
About 60
Her look on the show was partly modelled on First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and her fitted capri pants started a fashion.
Q 09Which First Lady influenced the look of Laura Petrie?
Jackie Kennedy
Mary Tyler Moore's capri pants became her signature; the sponsor reportedly wanted her in dresses more often.
Q 10Which former child performer played wisecracking writer Sally Rogers?
Rose Marie
Sally is the perpetually single member of the writing staff. Morey Amsterdam played her partner in insults, Buddy Sorrell.
Q 11Who played Buddy Sorrell, the joke-a-second writer who torments producer Mel Cooley?
Morey Amsterdam
Amsterdam was a real-life 'human joke machine' from vaudeville and radio, and many of Buddy's zingers were his own.
Q 12How is bald producer Mel Cooley related to the star, Alan Brady?
Brother-in-law
That family connection is the only reason the writers put up with him. Richard Deacon played the part.
Q 13What is the profession of Jerry Helper, the Petries' next-door neighbour?
Dentist
Jerry Paris, who played him, went on to direct most of Happy Days. Ann Morgan Guilbert played his wife Millie.
Q 21How did Rob first meet Laura, according to the show's flashback episodes?
At Camp Crowder, when she was a USO dancer
Rob was a sergeant in the Army Special Services at the Missouri base when he fell for the dancer named Laura Meehan.
Q 22What is Ritchie Petrie's unusual middle name?
Rosebud
It is an acronym stitched together from names suggested by every relative who wanted a say.
Q 23Who played Stacey Petrie, Rob's sibling?
Jerry Van Dyke
Jerry Van Dyke later starred in Coach; Stacey was a sleepwalking banjo player when first introduced.
Q 14What piece of furniture does Rob famously trip over, or sidestep, in the opening credits?
An ottoman
Two versions of the titles were shot: in one he falls over it, in the other he neatly steps around it. Viewers never knew which they would get.
Q 15How many Emmy Awards did The Dick Van Dyke Show win in total?
15
That included Outstanding Comedy Series four years running from 1963 to 1966, plus three lead-actor Emmys for Van Dyke himself.
Q 16Which sponsor threatened to pull CBS daytime ads to stop the show being cancelled after its low-rated first season?
Procter & Gamble
CBS relented, and by the third episode of season two the show was in the Nielsen top ten, helped by following The Beverly Hillbillies.
Q 17Which number one show served as The Dick Van Dyke Show's lead-in when its ratings took off in season two?
The Beverly Hillbillies
CBS had come close to cancelling the series after year one; the new time slot changed everything.
Q 18Why did The Dick Van Dyke Show end in 1966?
The creators chose to quit while it was still on top
'We wanted to quit while we were still proud of it,' Van Dyke said. It was still a top-rated show at the time.
Q 19Calvada Productions was named for Carl Reiner, Sheldon Leonard, Dick Van Dyke and who else?
Danny Thomas
CA-rl, L-eonard, VA-n Dyke, DA-nny. Thomas, star of Make Room for Daddy, was Leonard's producing partner.
Q 20Who composed the show's jaunty theme tune?
Earle Hagen
He also wrote the whistled theme for The Andy Griffith Show, among many others.
Q 24In the episode 'It May Look Like a Walnut', where does the alien Kolak come from?
The planet Twilo
Rob dreams the whole thing after a late-night sci-fi movie: Kolak uses walnuts filled with absorb-a-tron to steal Earthlings' thumbs and imaginations. Danny Thomas played Kolak.
Q 25What secret does Laura blurt out on national television in 'Coast to Coast Big Mouth'?
That Alan Brady wears a toupee
TV Guide ranked it the eighth greatest episode of all time in 1997. It was one of two episodes CBS colourised for a 2016 special.
Q 26Where did TV Guide rank 'Coast to Coast Big Mouth' on its 1997 list of 100 greatest episodes?
8th
'It May Look Like a Walnut' made the same list at number 15. The series itself was 13th on the magazine's 50 greatest shows in 2002.
Q 27In 'Bank Book 6565696', what does Rob discover Laura has been hiding?
A secret savings account
There is more than three hundred dollars in it, and Rob spends the episode imagining what she is saving for.
Q 28Which Dick Van Dyke Show opener, where Rob fears the hospital swapped babies, was colourised in 2016?
That's My Boy??
'That's My Boy??' is the flashback in which Rob is convinced the hospital swapped babies, until the other couple, the Peters, turn out to be Black, to one of the longest audience laughs ever recorded.
Q 29Who hosted the 2004 reunion special The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited?
Ray Romano
The special caught up with the surviving characters decades on; the show's archives were later donated to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.
Q 30At which studio was The Dick Van Dyke Show filmed?
Desilu Studios
Desilu was Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's company; the show shared its Cahuenga lot with The Andy Griffith Show.