To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the debut of one of the all-time great sitcoms, I invited an expert to talk about it today — Vince Waldron, author of “The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book,” which he has updated and revised for the occasion.

Included in our discussion:

  • How the show was rescued after bad ratings in its first season;
  • Why the network objected to Mary Tyler Moore’s capri pants;
  • What happened to the walnuts;
  • The story behind the episode the cast agrees was their worst;
  • The lyrics that were never heard to the show’s theme song;
  • How the iconic title sequence with Dick tripping over the ottoman wasn’t the original.

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