Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Latter_Feeling2656 t1_jdhea73 wrote

Reply to comment by NotsoNewtoGermany in TIL The Dick Van Dyke Show was originally written entirely by Carl Reiner, about stories from Reiner's life, and starred Carl Reiner. The pilot was unsuccessful so it was reworked with Dick Van Dyke playing Robert Petrie. by jamescookenotthatone

"There's a great interview with one of the writers on the Dick Van Dyke Show— of which there were three."

They used a plethora of writers. Reiner himself wrote about a third. Bill Persky and Sam Denoff wrote a lot, and became the script consultants (finishers). Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson wrote a lot, and then the rest were spread out among others. Bill Idelson, who played Herman Glimpsher, wrote a few scripts.

1

NotsoNewtoGermany t1_jdhjnrx wrote

Not exactly, from what I understand there were people they accepted scripts from, but we're not employed by the show.

1

Latter_Feeling2656 t1_jdhzqq0 wrote

You're probably talking about Reiner, and then Persky and Denoff who succeeded him as "Story Consultants." They would be the rewrite guys who would punch up a script and make sure the tone was consistent with the show in general. Persky and Denoff got bit roles in the last filmed episode, "The Gunslinger." Garry Marshall was also in the episode, along with at least one other.

1