101 Best Written TV Series

Aired: CBS, 1960-1966

Carl Reiner has said he based his first sitcom on his experiences as a writer on Your Show of Shows, working for temperamental star Sid Caesar while also trying to be a husband and father. Reiner, who occasionally played Alan Brady, the Caesar-ish star of the fictional comedy-variety series for whom Rob Petrie (Van Dyke) worked, told the Los Angeles Times in 1999 that he originally wrote The Dick Van Dyke Show "for a Bronx Jew" to play the lead role. "I starred in a pilot we did in New York, and it was OK, and I'm glad it didn't sell," Reiner said. The show's other writers included Garry Marshall, Jerry Belson, Sam Denoff and John Whedon, father of Joss Whedon.

Credited Writers

David Adler
Ronald G. Alexander
Ronald Axe
Art Baer
Jerry Belson
Joseph Bonaduce
Ray Brenner
Harvey Bullock
Jay Burton
Joseph C. Cavella
Ernest Chambers
Lawrence J. Cohen
Nathaniel Curtis
Joan Darling
Sam Denoff
Lee Erwin
Fred Freeman
Ben Gershman
Jack Guss
Edward Haas
Darryl Hickman
Gordon Hunt
William Idelson
Ben Joelson
Sheldon B. Keller
Walter Kempley
Carl Kleinschmitt
Norm Liebmann
Garry Marshall
Dale McRaven
Howard Merrill
Rick Mittleman
Howard Ostroff
Bill Persky
Arnold Peyser
Lois Peyser
Martin A. Ragaway
Jack Raymond
Carl Reiner
Ray Allen Saffian
Leo Solomon
Frank Tarloff
John Whedon
Jack Winter