The Dick Van Dyke Show

8x8 oil on panel, black floater frame

Just me? Or did every episode either have Laura saying, "Ooooohhhh Rob!" or Rob saying, "Laura, I can explain everything." Which pretty much sums up married life in the 1960s, I guess.

One character I truly enjoyed was Sally Rogers, played by Rose Marie. Sally was a career-driven, hilarious comedy writer who was respected by her male colleagues. In the 1960s! How very modern. Imagine that?

Apparently, the studio bosses couldn't imagine that, since, from what I can tell, of the roughly 40 writers who worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show only two were women. So, apparently, they thought women could PLAY comedy writers, but not actually BE comedy writers.

Well, now you might well accuse me of being unfair. Having ANY female writers on a show in the 1960s, was a bit forward thinking, surely? But I watched "Hidden Figures" … I saw how that brilliant African American mathematician, Katherine Johnson was treated by the head engineer, who quite literally took credit for her work. (He made her erase her name from reports and inserted his own … the unmitigated gall is appalling … and in case you hadn't guessed, I'm still mad at NASA about this). So you can't tell me the female writers on The Dick Van Dyke Show didn't pitch more than one hilarious scenario that was poo poo'd until some dude in the writers' room pitched the exact same story and everyone slapped him on the back and congratulated him for coming up with such a brilliant plot.

Oooo… I'm so angry now. I'm gonna go burn some bras, and hate-watch The Bachelor.