Blog Post Director John Rich Dies at 86 The Archive is sad to report that director John Rich passed away yesterday at the age of 86. Rich was one of the most respected and prolific directors in all of television, directing numerous episodes of The Colgate Comedy Hour , Our Miss Brooks , Gunsmoke , The Dick Van Dyke Show , Gilligan's...
Interview Lucille Kallen In her three-hour interview, Lucille Kallen (1922-1999) talks about her early years in the Poconos and her longtime association with her mentor, producer Max Liebman, who hired her on the television show Admiral Broadway Revue . She gives her unique perspective as the only woman writer on Your Show...
Interview Sam Denoff In his four-hour interview, Sam Denoff (1928-2011) describes his work in radio at WNEW in New York and his move to Los Angeles to work in television, starting with The Steve Allen Show . He talks about working on The Andy Williams Show before landing a job with writing partner Bill Persky on The...
Interview Irma Kalish with Emerson College In their three-hour, joint Emerson Comedy Archive interview, Rocky (1921-2016) and Irma Kalish (1924-2021) discuss their backgrounds, and how they met and married. In a free-wheeling discussion, they touch on many of the shows they worked on including Colgate Comedy Hour, Meet Corliss Archer, My...
Interview Rocky Kalish with Emerson College In their three-hour, joint Emerson Comedy Archive interview, Rocky (1921-2016) and Irma Kalish (1924-2021) discuss their backgrounds, and how they met and married. In a free-wheeling discussion, they touch on many of the shows they worked on including Colgate Comedy Hour, Meet Corliss Archer, My...
Blog Post If at First You Don’t Succeed ... Recast: "The Dick Van Dyke Show" Celebrates 50 Years Back in the summer of 1958, Carl Reiner , already an established writer and supporting actor on Sid Caesar ’s Your Show of Shows , sought to create a sitcom in which he would star. He followed the adage of “write what you know” and created thirteen scripts of Head of the Family , a largely...
Blog Post Archive of American Television Celebrates its 10th Top Row (L to R): Television Academy COO Alan Perris with Betty White; Bud Yorkin; Loretta Swit; George Shapiro; Marilyn & Monty Hall; Bob Mackie; Doris Roberts. Middle Row (L to R): Frederick Pierce; Richard & Esther Shapiro; Carl Reiner; Elinor Donahue; Mel Shavelson; Marla Gibbs; Del...
Show Dick Van Dyke Show, The The Dick Van Dyke Show , which ran from 1961 to 1966 on the CBS network, ushered in the golden age of the situation comedy (even more than I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners ), poised as it was on the threshold between the comedy-variety star vehicles of the 1950s (frequently still grounded in...