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S39E8: Starring Dick Van Dyke | Clip

Watch the unmatched chemistry between Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke

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Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore had such great on-screen chemistry that they reunited for a variety special in 1969 called “Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman.” The success of this special led CBS to offer Mary Tyler Moore her own show, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

TRANSCRIPT

- I also did a special called "Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman," where I brought Mary on and just let her do everything she wanted to do and we did some great stuff together.

♪ Life is like a situation comedy ♪ ♪ A series of incidents that happened every day ♪ ♪ Life is like a situation comedy ♪ ♪ The trivial things that make your hair start turning gray♪ ♪ But we were very lucky ♪ ♪ The parts we had to play ♪ ♪ They taught us how to handle life the sane and sober way ♪ ♪ So nights at home were nothing but a rerun of the day ♪ ♪ A comedy ♪ ♪ That's life ♪ - Mary's career after "The Dick Van Dyke Show" had hit kind of a valley.

She was, she had attempted to do a Broadway show that was a musical version of "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

It was doomed.

It was doomed.

But we thought it would be fun to do a special reuniting, the two of them.

- I've worked with a lot of wonderful actresses, but you know, after doing a series together for five years, well, Mary just kind of holds a special place in my heart.

- With his wife's approval.

- Yes, ma'am, right.

(audience laughing) Normally that phrase, the other woman, implies a relationship between two people, which might be considered unsavory.

- Yeah.

- But of course, a relationship between Mary and myself is of course completely savory.

- Completely.

Actually, when we were doing the series, people thought we were married.

- Oh boy.

So much so that I often had trouble checking into a hotel with my real wife, Margie.

- And I had trouble checking into a hotel with my real husband, Grant.

- And Margie and Grant had trouble checking in anywhere.

(audience laughing) - They gave me a wonderful opportunity to sing and dance and clown and do everything that I felt comfortable doing.

And Dick stood by applauding my every move.

It was very successful.

And CBS noted how successful it was, how comfortable I seemed being in the spotlight.

And they asked me if I wanted to do my own show, to which I said yes.

(gentle music)