Watching two old friends

Nov 20th 1988

Watching two old friends

Two old friends are back on network TV; and, as sometimes happens when old friends visit, one outwears his welcome quickly and the other has potential to be invited for a long stay.

Our "cocktails only" guest is "The Dick Van Dyke Show," on CBS's WRGB Channel 6, Wednesday at 8p.m.  Van Dyke stars in a half-hour sit-com about a small rural theater owned by the fun-loving Dick and his competent partner/son played by this real life son, Barry.  In spite of the script writers' attempts to distinguish between the two, these players are so alike that it is like being  in a time machine.

Dick is the same old Dick as he was in the 1961-66 show of the same name, dissembling, fumbling, mumbling when confused, and easily upset but afraid to express it, Or, to put it another way, the "Rob Petrie" character that was so funny when the Van Dyke was 36 years old has not developed a bit now that he's 63.

Watching this season's "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is like being in a time machine in more then that, however.  It is like watching of the 50's or 60's situation comedies in color, complete with cloying, sentimental music to start, a separate moving shot of each character with the actor or actresses name displayed (actually a boon to a critic), and unrealistic, space-cadet plots where the minor glitches in the flow of people's lives become major crises.  Attractive, helpful, all-knowing women, an amusing Black man, jack of all trades, and an adorable angelic, tow-headed child complete the picture of a show that is not for the 1980s.

The saddest thing about this effort is that Van Dyke showed such potential early on.  Through too young for vaudeville, he certainly carried on the tradition of Jimmy Durante, George Burns and Bob Hope with a nice balance of slapstick and quick gags, while adding a depth of uncertainty that was appealing in the 1960s Rob Petrie character.  But he seems to be a case of arrested development in the new show and that's a shame for a person who had such promise.

Once Dick leaves, we can welcome his old co-star, Mary Tyler Moore, a woman whose talents have developed considerably since the early '60s.  As Laura Petrie, she was a whiney beauty with a partially developed personality and comedic sense.  By 1970, she was brilliant in her show about a single, reasonably well adjusted career woman tackling professional and personal problems in hilarious fashion on what I think was the greatest sit-com aired.

True, Moore's career has been a series of ups and downs; she was a disaster in Broadway and Hollywood after "The Dick Van Dyke Show," came to fame and fortune on "Mary Tyler Moore Show," became a surprising success in a new try at film and theater, yet failed in two attempts to make another hit in prime time.

But Mary's back again, in "Annie McGuire," following Van Dyke at 8:30 p.m.At age 52, she obviously keeps herself in fine shape, perhaps looking a bit too dieted and overexercised.  After all why shouldn't a woman of 50 look 50?

Moore plays the still-lusty wife of a widower, Nicky, played in chunky, charming style by Dennis Arndt.  The most unusual convention of "Annie McGuire" is that is uses voice-overs to show what our characters are thinking, and in that way it's reminiscent of an old Rock Hudson, Doris Day movie, but with no virgins.  Her character is much as it was in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"; she double-deals  in her personal relationships, not because she is "bad," but because of an odd quirk in her personality.

I'd hardly call this show brilliant but it shows promise if it gets away from the overdone look of the otherwise welcome sexual tension between Annie and her husband.

"Annie McGuire," unlike "...Van Dyke...", has the potential to grow, and seeing whether it does or not makes is at least a house-guest for a few weeks at my place.

And glory on glory it has no laugh track.

Mac Rush works in the Banner's composing room.

Today is my dad's birthday, I miss him.