♪♪ -They created the characters that make us laugh.

-Viv?

-Huh?

-Do you think we could squeeze out through the top?

-We might -- we might not have to.

In a few minutes, we'll be able to float out.

[ Laughter ] -You know, she is a brilliant clown.

She creates her own comedy.

-They can make a fortune... -They brought us together, week after week.

-What's the matter, Ralph?

You got an itch?

-Yeah.

I can't reach it.

Will you grab it?

-Sure.

Where is it?

-To the left.

Up.

Over.

Now go!

[ Laughter ] -I think Jackie instinctively knew what an audience wanted.

And he gave it to them.

-Thank you, Sheriff.

-They offered a glimpse of a better life, a happier time.

-Oh, well, it's my fault if Barney was snoozing a little.

See, I had him out till 4:00 this morning on a chicken stake-out.

-We got a tip that Buzz Jenkins has been lifting a few fryers from Al's poultry headquarters.

-Oh, dear.

Oh, dear!

-You know Buzz?

-That's where I'm having supper this evening.

-It was not a real place, but you wanted it to be.

-Said, "Do you think that's funny?"

And I said, "Oh, Lord, yes, that's funny."

And that was the beginning.

-Their families became ours, role models for a generation.

-And that's why I want to thank you and Daddy.

-Thank us for what?

-Well, to get in to the Little League, you have to be between 8 and 12 years old.

So I want to thank you and Daddy for me being born eight years ago.

[ Laughter ] -You're very welcome.

But believe me, at the time, we weren't thinking of baseball.

-He said, "if you're going to get an audience to follow you, you have to tell the truth the whole way."

-They persevered to bring us their vision.

-I'm so unhappy!

-Why?

-Because you didn't watch all of the show.

-Why, I told you, I had to work.

-No, Rob, at the very end of the show, I didn't handle myself too well when that Patrick rat -- -Oh, he got you to say something embarrassing?

What was it?

-That Alan Brady is bald.

[ Laughter ] -I was funny on "The Van Dyke Show" because of Carl Reiner, who is a great, great comedy writer.

-We knew it was something very good, and something innovative.

It was...it was intelligent comedy.

-Together, they designed the templates for a whole new form of entertainment -- The sitcom.

They are the pioneers of television.

♪♪ Fall, 1955.

Jackie Gleason has scrapped his popular variety hour, in favor of an experiment -- a half-hour sitcom based on one of his sketches.

No one believes this is a good idea.

No one except Jackie.

-See, that's what I'm talking about, right over there, got to get that angle.

-CBS executives wanted Gleason to stay with the variety show, a proven hit, and critics wondered why Gleason would give up the chance to do multiple characters every week.

Now he would limit himself to just one -- Ralph Kramden.

[ Drumroll ] [ Theme music plays ] Despite the skepticism, Gleason held fast.

And on October 1, 1955, "The Honeymooners" series went on the air for the very first time.

♪♪ The season's ratings were not great.

"The Honeymooners" didn't even win its time slot that year.

But those 39 episodes lived on, entertaining generation after generation.

And it never would have happened without the vision and talent of one Jackie Gleason.

-He ran everything.

Everything.

He picked the costumes, you know, he just -- Everyone deferred to him for every question.

It was amazing.

And he seemed to be right most of the time.

Instinctively, he knew what was right, even though he wasn't a well-schooled man.

But theatrically, he knew.

-♪ Just wait till I get back ♪ ♪ To Ohio!

♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -Jackie Gleason got his start in small nightclubs.

And his reputation grew quickly.

He stole most of his jokes.

But it didn't really matter.

Jackie's appeal wasn't the joke.

It was him.

Big, broad, improvisational.

He could take on any character, make anything funny.

-Jackie Gleason was one of the funniest comic actors in the world.

-Hey, Carey, when are we going to get some action?

We're just about out of dough.

-By the 1940s, Gleason's acting skills landed him minor roles in Hollywood films.

But the movies couldn't capture Gleason's strength.

He needed a stage, an audience to inspire the raw, seat-of-the-pants excitement that became his trademark.

[ Applause ] [ Laughter and applause ] I, uh -- I lost about 300 things that time, going over there.

This is nothing.

Look at the tumble... -Fed up with Hollywood, Gleason returned to New York and took a shot at live television.

[ Laughter ] -All you need is just a little shave.

[ Laughter ] [ Screaming ] [ Continues screaming ] -Gleason soon landed his own variety show, where he did a wide range of characters every week.

But one sketch became an audience favorite -- "The Honeymooners."

-Get a load of this.

"Dear Alice, meet me at the same spot this afternoon, and I'll take you around to a few places."

[ Laughter ] "Then I'll sneak up to your place tonight while Ralph is out bowling."

[ Laughter ] Signed, "Joe."

Get a load of that.

"Then I'll sneak up to your place tonight while Ralph is out bowling."

I'll do something -- -Don't let it upset you, will you, pal?

Come on, don't let it upset you -- You'll bowl rocks tonight.

[ Laughter ] -Gleason's foil on "The Honeymooners" was Art Carney.

Quiet and easygoing, Carney was the opposite of the mercurial Gleason in nearly every way.

But there was one trait they did have in common.

They were both very funny.

-The two were just magic together.

I don't think that Jackie would have... been that great without Art.

-I -- -Oh, "I, I, I" nothing!

-In this rare, early version of "The Honeymooners," Pert Kelton played Gleason's wife, Alice.

The scripts were darker, more gritty.

And Gleason played it with striking realism.

-Aren't you ashamed of yourself?

Aren't you ashamed?

Me out working hard all day, and you running around with some sneak by the name of Joe!

You oughta be ashamed of yourself!

-Ralph!

-Don't "Ralph" me!

Maybe this Joe has that Cadillac.

Maybe Joe's got fancy clothes, or maybe Joe's got fingernails that are manicured.

But I coulda had a Cadillac.

I coulda had manicured nails, and I coulda had fancy clothes!

But I didn't throw my money away on anything foolish like that, no, sir.

I took what little money I had and got a twin burial plot for us!

[ Laughter ] [ Applause ] -When Gleason switched networks, Pert Kelton left the cast.

Officially, the reason was health problems.

But in truth, Kelton was blacklisted, falsely accused of Communist ties.

For Kelton, as with most blacklisted performers, it was a devastating blow.

-CBS said that she wasn't going to be on their network.

So Jackie had to find someone else.

And he found Audrey.

-At first, Gleason didn't want Audrey Meadows to play his wife.

He thought she was too pretty.

But with a little makeup and a lot of attitude, Meadows sealed the role and soon became one of Gleason's greatest assets, trading barbs as his equal.

-I hope, Alice, that you're not going to ask me to take this potato salad back to De Vito's, get my money, and then walk two blocks down to Cross's delicatessen to get the potato salad there.

I hope you're not going to ask me that.

I hope you're not going to ask me that!

-I'm not asking you, Ralph.

I'm not asking you.

I'm not asking you, I'm telling you.

[ Laughter ] -You're telling me?

-That's right.

-You're telling me!

-That's right!

-You're telling me?

You're telling me?

Alright!

I'll go!

[ Laughter ] But I'm not going to your mother's tomorrow!

[ Laughter ] [ Slams door ] ♪♪ -When "The Honeymooners" became a series in 1955, Gleason insisted on producing two episodes every week.

So, on any given day, Carney, Meadows, and fourth cast member Joyce Randolph would spend hours memorizing and rehearsing their lines.

But Gleason did not participate.

Jackie believed that preparation made comedy stale.

-We just knew he wanted it spontaneous and fast and live and true, and he felt that you didn't get those things if you had been doing it over and over and over.

It just wasn't fresh enough for him.

And maybe he was inspired when he was nervous, and I think perhaps we all were.

[ Laughing ] -Off camera, Jackie Gleason lived large.

He had a tempestuous reputation.

But the people who worked with Jackie saw him very differently.

-He could do everything.

And I thought he was a very sweet man, you know.

I mean, he had a reputation sometimes of being tough.

-This was a guy who was an enormously great actor.

And a gifted, gifted comedian.

And that there was nothing that he ever did that didn't -- I don't even care if it was the smallest sketch -- that you didn't go, "Whoa!"

-He was kind to actors, and particularly to actresses, I think, and he was kind to everybody.

Well, like, I guess I heard him yell a few times, but... Not at "Honeymooners" people.

-Ralph, why do you get yourself into spots like this?

-You want to know why, Alice?

I'll tell you why.

It's because I have a big mouth!

That's why!

A big mouth!

-Gleason decided to end the "Honeymooners" sitcom after just one season.

39 episodes.

His reason -- He believed the series had run out of ideas.

And he didn't want the show's quality to slip.

♪♪ Gleason would continue on television for the next 15 years, reprising his trademark Ralph Kramden in countless sketches.

Viewers enjoyed revisiting this old friend.

-Every week, you come home with some new, crazy, harebrained scheme!

That's all I've heard for the past 14 years -- One crazy, harebrained scheme after another!

That is all I have heard since the day that we got married.

-You heard one of my harebrained schemes before we got married.

I proposed to you!

[ Laughter ] -Don't you ever say that again, Ralph.

-Alright, I'm sorry.

-The final episode of "The Honeymooners" sitcom marked the end of an era.

The sitcom industry was leaving New York and heading west, following the footsteps of television's biggest hit ever.

-♪ Du Barry was a lady ♪ ♪ No matter what they may say ♪ ♪ Du Barry was a lady ♪ -Lucille Ball was popular even before her landmark sitcom, appearing in dozens of movies.

-Would you accept this little token?

-Oh!

Darling!

You really shouldn't have done it.

Oh, Louis, I just can't accept this.

-Oh, please do.

-Oh, no, really, I just can't accept it.

-Alright, then give it back.

Ohh!

-Lucy's comic talents translated well to radio, with the immensely popular "My Favorite Husband."

-No, no, let me explain, George.

You see, I sent the butcher a valentine by mistake, and since it was already mailed, he wouldn't give it back to me.

-The butcher?

-No, the mailman.

I waited at the butcher shop until he got there, and when I grabbed the valentine, he called the police!

-The mailman?

-No, the butcher.

And I tried to explain how it was all a mistake, but he wouldn't listen.

-The mailman or the butcher?

-The policeman.

Then we all had to go in a police car, and he said it was a federal offense and I oughta be ashamed.

-The mailman, the butcher, or the policeman?

-The judge.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ -When her radio show was adapted for TV, Ball insisted on a new actor to play her costar.

The man she had in mind -- her husband, Desi Arnaz.

The network was not enthused.

Arnaz was Cuban, and CBS thought an ethnically mixed marriage just wasn't plausible.

But Lucille Ball was tough.

Desi got the job.

-He knew his part.

He knew who he was on that show.

And he certainly knew her value.

You know, they worked.

They were perfect together.

-Ricky, are you still mad?

Ricky, talk to me.

Are you still mad?

-No, dear.

Let's just forget it.

-I can't forget it until I know you still love me.

-I love you.

-If you love me, you'll give me a great big kiss.

[ Laughter ] Come on.

Kiss me.

[ Laughter ] [ Screams ] What are you doing here?

-Lucy, I didn't mean to... [ Jazz piano playing ] -Behind the scenes, Desi demonstrated one of the sharpest minds in the entertainment business.

He understood that Lucy needed the feedback of a studio audience.

But that was a revolutionary idea in Hollywood, back in 1951.

None of the production studios could accommodate audiences.

But Desi Arnaz wasn't about to give up.

Because sitcom actors thrive on laughter.

-You get a jolt from the audience when they laugh at you.

And it just gives you that "oomph!"

to go do the next part even better.

-Desi finally cobbled together the right studio space, retrofitted bleachers for the audience, and a new era in television was launched.

♪♪ It was September 4, 1951.

The show was "I Love Lucy."

-Action!

-Uh, Fred and Ethel should be here in a minute.

Oh, here they come now.

-Ricky Ricardo, for the last time, are you going to let me be in that act or not?

-No.

-Hi!

-"I Love Lucy" and Ball's later sitcoms took full advantage of her skills as a physical comedian.

-That was a dumb thing to do!

-Talent unparalleled before or since.

-How did I know this was going to happen?

-Oh, well -- [ Audience laughing ] I didn't know what I was trying.

You know what we're going to have to do?

-What?

-We're going to have to kick this door in.

We're going to have to break the glass.

-Oh, that's a good idea.

-Okay.

Go ahead, kick it.

-Oh, no, you don't!

That's too dangerous!

Not that I'm afraid of cutting myself, but the blood might draw a shark.

[ Laughter ] -Viv?

-Huh?

-Do you think we could squeeze out through the top?

-We might -- we might not have to.

-Lucy prepared for each episode with the rigor of an Olympic athlete, rehearsing every move, working out the tiniest details over and over.

She was not an improviser, like Gleason.

Rather, she was a keen observer who molded performances gradually until they were perfect.

-If you can hear me, I have to get into your purse and get your key to your apartment.

Alright?

Here -- Ah!

Oh!

Oh!

Oh!

No -- -Well, I think she was very much of an analyst and figured out what was funny and then would do it.

♪♪ -Ball's disciplined approach earned her a reputation for toughness.

She knew what worked for her.

And she wasn't afraid to tell guest stars to follow her lead.

-Her show was face front and say the joke.

And I rehearsed all week and rehearsed all week and rehearsed all week, and when it came show time, I realized you gotta face front and say the jokes.

So I did it, and we got big laughs.

And after it was over, she said, "There I was, worried about you all week."

[ Chuckles ] -Despite her reputation as a taskmaster, Ball was also known for acts of kindness, especially toward young actors.

When an unknown Barbara Eden was cast on "I Love Lucy," Ball made sure the newcomer had the best possible wardrobe.

-Hi!

-She said, "Do you like that dress?"

And I said, "It's fine."

[ Laughing ] "It's fine, I like it, yes."

You know, I wasn't going to not like anything.

And she said, "Take it off."

And she spent all the time we were rehearsing, she and her assistant, putting those grommets, those shiny grommets, on my dress so that it would shine, so that it had a little oomph to it.

I think that's remarkable.

-Lucy later inspired another young actress getting her start on the show next door -- Mary Tyler Moore.

For weeks, Ball would climb onto the studio catwalk and secretly watch Moore rehearse.

-And one day, I guess we had done something that really got to her, and she laughed out loud.

And there was no missing that laugh.

Lucille Ball was in the sky.

And we looked at her, and she came down, and she was talking to all of us, and as she was leaving, she turned around to me, and she said, "You're very good."

Not a lot of flowers, not a lot of comedy in that, but it really hit me.

And I knew that I must have something worth continuing with.

♪♪ -Perhaps Lucy's greatest asset was Desi.

He worked tirelessly to put her in the perfect position to shine.

When Desi learned that Karl Freund was the best cinematographer in the country, Arnaz personally lured the superstar out of retirement.

And if Desi thought a real tuna fish was funnier than a prop, he'd spare no expense to get one.

[ Laughter ] -What are you doing with that fish?

-Uh... What fish?

[ Laughter ] -Desi had an uncanny ability to mull a contract one minute and act the next without missing a beat.

But despite his genius, Arnaz was also a man with appetites.

And that led to his downfall.

-I spent a lot of time on that set hiding.

And probably, if I had been a little more sophisticated, I could have handled it better.

But all I knew how to do was to hide.

And that's what I did!

[ Laughing ] I just hid.

I'd see him coming, and I'd go hide.

And then I'd come out when I had to work.

-Your country club is simply fabulous!

-Oh, thank you.

-And the music's so dreamy!

-You like to dance?

-Lucy forgave Desi for the drinking, the dalliances.

But their marriage didn't survive.

The couple divorced in 1960.

Yet the public never stopped loving Lucy.

She starred in successful sitcoms well into the 1970s.

But her TV character never again had a husband.

[ Dish shatters ] [ Laughter ] -Ahem!

Why did you break that dish?

-Well, I'm sorry, but it said, "try our unbreakable dishes," so I just picked them up, and I just tapped -- [ Crashing ] [ Laughter ] -You did it again.

-Well, for heaven's sake, why does it say "unbreakable" when they're breakable?

-Those are unbreakable!

These are imported China.

[ Laughter ] -And breakable.

-You should know.

-These are the unbreakables?

-Guaranteed.

[ Laughter ] [ Laughter and applause ] -"I Love Lucy's" success spawned a long list of imitators in the mid-1950s.

Everyone wanted to be like Lucy.

♪♪ But the next big sitcom star didn't look anything like Lucille Ball.

♪♪ Chicago, 1940.

A young comedian named Amos Jacobs has just arrived in town.

But he can't find work.

He's ready to quit... when he passes by a church and says a prayer.

Within an hour, he lands two plum acting roles.

And before the month is out, he's headlining at Chicago's 5100 Club.

By now, he's chosen a stage name.

And Amos Jacobs became Danny Thomas.

-Danny Thomas -- he was a great storyteller humorist.

He could tell one joke and take 12 minutes to tell it.

But it's funny all the way through.

And then it's funniest at the end.

-And he would get up, and he would just banter.

He could have bantered for four days.

It came easy to him.

♪♪ -By the early '50s, Thomas wanted a sitcom.

But he couldn't find a premise that worked.

The answer came from his young daughter, Marlo.

-My dad used to travel so much, and my mother hated to sleep alone.

So we would take turns sleeping in my mother's big, huge bed.

And we'd bring our toys and our things in there.

And then, when my dad was about to come home, she'd say, "Make room for Daddy," and we would.

And so we said that so much that my father thought that that was a great premise for a show, you know, the idea of making room for this figure that you love, that leaves all the time.

So that was pretty much our childhood.

-Cub Scout mag for you.

-Thank you, Daddy!

-Gosh, thanks!

What did I tell you, Linda?

When he goes away, he comes home with presents!

When are you going away again?

[ Laughter ] -Danny Thomas's sitcom, which began as "Make Room for Daddy," was among the first in a long line of family-based shows.

Now children could be the central players in a TV sitcom.

-What did you do, run into a truck?

-No, I had a fight with Johnny Stewart.

-Yeah?

What about?

-Well, he wouldn't let me cross the street unless I paid him a dime.

[ Laughter ] -He wanted to charge you a dime to cross the street?

-Yeah.

-What's he running, his own private toll road?

-I said I wouldn't give it to him.

-You said the right thing.

-So he slugged me.

[ Laughter ] -What did you do?

-Oh, you don't have to worry, Daddy, I knew what to do.

-Attaboy, you gave it to him, huh?

-Yeah, and he went and bought an ice cream cone.

[ Laughter ] -Just always tell the story.

And every joke has a beginning and middle and end, and every half-hour of a sitcom has a beginning and middle and end.

And you need to just follow through with the story.

And that was the best advice he ever gave me.

-One of the great legacies of Danny Thomas's show was TV's first successful sitcom spin-off, created for an up-and-coming North Carolina comic.

-He's picked on the wrong guy.

Listen, you'll be mighty sorry you've brought me back into town, I'm telling you, you've picked on the wrong man this time, Clem!

-The name ain't Clem.

It's Andy.

Andy Taylor.

[ Applause ] ♪♪ -Andy Griffith always liked performing.

He started out studying for the ministry, then switched to music, and later, comedy.

After college, he developed a series of monologues that captured his Appalachian roots -- Including the million-selling "What It Was, Was Football!"

-It was that both bunches full of them men wanted this funny-looking little pumpkin to play with.

They did, and I know, friends, that they couldn't eat it, because they kicked it the whole evening, and it never busted.

[ Laughter ] -The record made Griffith a national celebrity.

Other monologues followed, including his unique retelling of the story of Hamlet.

-Before the play ever opens up, why, this fellow Claudius plotted and killed Hamlet's daddy so that he might gain the throne.

-Mm-hmm?

[ Laughter ] -And -- well, I appreciate it -- And then, then married, married Hamlet's mom.

And that made him Hamlet's stepdaddy.

And, all, do try to remember that, because you will need it later on.

[ Laughter ] I was looking, always looking for a way to get into show business.

-Now, this fellow here... -By the late 1950s, Griffith had starred in several movies, and on Broadway in the hit play "No Time for Sergeants."

-Because Irvin's been sick.

I heard this fellow, Lucky, tell the others that Irvin had R.O.T.C.

[ Laughter ] For a whole year!

-In 1960, Griffith aimed his sights on television.

An episode of Danny Thomas's show was crafted to showcase Griffith's talents.

But Andy almost quit before his first episode was completed.

-And here's another five.

Go buy yourself a comb, and rake the hayseed out of your hair.

-The first day of rehearsal, we sat around the table and read the script.

And after we finished, Danny Thomas, Sheldon Leonard, and a man named Artie Stander, who wrote the pilot, yelled at one another all day.

-It's highway robbery, that's what it is!

-And I said... "Sheldon, if that's what television is, I don't think I'll be able to take it."

Sheldon was very wise.

He said, "Andy," he said, "You have to understand something."

He said, "Danny likes to yell.

So we all yell."

He said, "If you don't want to yell, nobody will yell."

And it worked out to be true.

♪♪ -After the pilot was produced, Andy Griffith got a call from an old friend -- perhaps the most important call in sitcom history.

It was Don Knotts.

Knotts thought Sheriff Taylor needed a deputy.

Andy agreed.

-When he realized that Don could go, he let him go, let him carry a scene, and -- or whomever.

You know, he had great respect for other actors.

-That does it.

-Not quite, Sheriff.

-Barney -- -Please, Andy!

Now, men, there are a few things... -Barney Fife soon emerged as the funniest character on television.

-Now here at the Rock, we have two basic rules!

Memorize them so that you can say them in your sleep.

The first rule is... Obey all rules!

[ Laughter ] Secondly, do not write on the walls, as it takes a lot of work to erase writing off of walls!

-Don brought all these emotions that Barney felt.

He brought them into himself, and then he would go into his mind, and then I could see it in his eyes.

I could see his eyes turn into Barney Fife.

[ Jazz playing ] [ Laughter ] [ Laughter ] -If you look at, you know, Don's work, I mean, he's just such a wonderful, cuddly guy.

You want to know this person.

I mean, you would love him to be the sheriff in your town, because he's never going to hurt anybody, obviously.

[ Country music playing ] -Don Knotts was the first of several key additions to "The Andy Griffith Show."

The 13th episode added Floyd, the barber.

Later, Gomer Pyle.

-Howdy, Gomer.

-Hi, Andy!

What'll it be?

Regular or high test?

-Neither one, Gomer.

I'm going to get this put on the patrol car.

-You want that put on your car?

-Mm-hmm.

-Sure ain't going to help the looks of it none.

[ Laughter ] -Uh, it don't go on the outside, Gomer.

It goes on the motor.

-Gomer was -- Everybody thought he was stupid, but he really wasn't.

He just wanted to see the goodness in everybody.

-Me, I don't do no engine work.

Just gas and oil, water and air.

-Yeah, I -- -Water and air is free.

We don't make no charge for it.

-I'd never acted before in my life, and so I remember, Andy announced to the crew and to all the cast, he said, "Now, listen," he said, "Everybody here," he says, "This here is Jim Nabors."

And said, "This is his first time to do this.

He doesn't know what he's doing, so all you help him out as much as you can."

And they did, and they were absolutely wonderful.

-Any questions?

-Yeah, I got one little bitty one.

-In the first episodes, Griffith played the sheriff broadly.

The drawl is thick.

The grin, constant.

-We got one road down there by the lake that ain't even marked.

-As the talent pool around him grew, Griffith realized he was better off playing the straight man, a stable center in a town of quirky characters.

It was a master stroke that would keep the show fresh for years.

-Ernest T.?

-I hear you.

-Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to get Charlene and Dud married by a preacher.

-Tomorrow being Sunday, the preacher will be by.

-Good, then we'll have 'em married by a preacher tomorrow.

-Tomorrow.

Yeah, that gives me 24 hours to court her!

-Now, you just hold on!

-24 hours!

I still got a chance!

Hee hee!

Ha ha!

Hee hee!

Whoo-hoo!

Yippity!

Ha ha!

Whoo-hoo!

[ Continues giggling ] -If you ask me, this Ernest T. Bass is a strange and weird character.

-Just plain ornery is what he is.

-I think he's a nut!

[ Laughter ] -The characters in Mayberry were real people from our neck of the woods.

We didn't try to make them cartoons or anything.

And I think that was due a lot to Andy.

-We never wanted to make a lie out of the characters.

So anything that made the characters seem... wrong or going in the wrong direction for that particular story we were telling, we'd throw that out.

-I enjoyed being on "The Andy Griffith Show" because it wasn't an obvious comedy.

This was real life, in a different world that a lot of people in America don't understand, and can't relate to, but they love to watch it.

And I think Andy knew that.

He was -- This was a brilliant man.

-That Wally -- when it comes to motors, he's sure got a green thumb.

-Unlike Lucy or Jackie, Andy hated the idea of a studio audience.

To him, live audiences created pressure for a steady stream of one-liners, preventing subtle character development.

So "The Andy Griffith Show" was shot like a movie, with no audience, giving the cast and writers much greater freedom.

-Why do they leave a boy like that in charge?

-Well, it's just a part-time job.

He's saving up money for college.

Studying to be a doctor.

[ Laughter ] -And so Don and I can do these little quiet scenes, or me and Ronnie or me and Aunt Bee, or Floyd the barber.

Any of us, we can do these long, little nice scenes without having to go for a joke.

-Pa?

-Mm?

-She sure is pretty, ain't she?

-She sure is.

-Night, Pa. -Night.

♪♪ -He got away!

-Working without an audience also made it easier to create the illusion that Mayberry was a real place.

Viewers saw the town streets, got inside the shops.

Even the accents seemed right.

-We used to laugh a lot, because I talk like Gomer, you know, and Andy had a real Southern drawl, and Don was from West Virginia, and he had an accent, and we couldn't figure out where Aunt Bee was from.

"Ahn-dee!"

We said, "where is she from?"

[ Laughing ] But, no, it was -- No, he was very true to our area, Andy was, and he really worked hard to keep it that way.

-I noticed the other day on the opening of "The Griffith Show," where Ronnie and I are walking down to the fishing hole, at some point -- I think it's after he throws the rock -- I look at him, and I go, "Whew," like that.

[ Theme music plays ] -"The Andy Griffith Show."

Starring Andy Griffith.

-That was my father.

My father did that.

"Whew."

So I do my father.

-The success of "The Andy Griffith Show" fueled a surge in rural sitcoms.

Including "Green Acres," "Petticoat Junction," and "The Beverly Hillbillies."

The shows were popular, but Griffith points to an important difference.

-We want them to laugh with us, not at us.

That's why we were different from those other shows.

-Despite the major trend toward rural sitcoms, one urban comedy did make a mark in the early 1960s -- perhaps the most innovative show of the period.

[ Theme music playing ] -"The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Starring Dick Van Dyke.

-Despite the title, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was actually the creation of Carl Reiner.

After a long run on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows," Reiner found himself out of work in 1959.

He went to the beach that summer and did something no one had done before -- wrote 13 full episodes of a new sitcom.

Then Reiner made one major mistake.

He cast himself as the lead.

-Richard, come, sit over here.

Sit here, and you'll see how Daddy writes "The Alan Sturdy Show."

-Do you need them to help you, Daddy?

-Well, no, I don't.

-The pilot wasn't picked up.

The whole concept might have ended right there.

But producer Sheldon Leonard saw the brilliance of the scripts and persuaded Reiner to let someone else play the lead.

But who?

Dick Van Dyke grew up watching Laurel and Hardy movies.

Inspired to perform, he appeared on local TV shows, summer variety programs, and was eventually signed by CBS in 1956.

[ Wind howling ] The problem was that no one was quite sure how to showcase Van Dyke's talents.

They tried game shows...

Even gave him a spot on the CBS morning news show with Walter Cronkite.

-I didn't like it.

I realized it wasn't for me.

There was one point where they let Cronkite go from that and gave him another assignment.

And it came out in the paper that I had fired him.

[ Laughing ] And Walter Cronkite called me up and said, "Dick, what did I do?"

And I said, "Walter, I don't have any clout around here!

I'm a kid!

I can't fire you!"

He thought I had fired him.

[ Theme music plays ] -By 1963, Van Dyke landed on Broadway in "Bye Bye Birdie."

When Carl Reiner saw the musical, he realized he had found the perfect lead for his new sitcom.

-I was funny on the "Van Dyke Show" because of Carl Reiner, who is a great, great comedy writer.

-But casting the lead was just the first hurdle.

After adding comedy veterans Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, Reiner was stumped in his attempt to fill the role of Laura.

He interviewed more than 60 actresses.

None seemed right.

The answer finally came from co-producer Danny Thomas, who had wanted to hire a certain unknown to play his daughter but turned her down for a most unusual reason.

-I had auditioned for Danny.

He came over to me and said, "Mary, I want you to know that the reason you got -- you didn't get the job is not because you're not a good actress.

It's because you have a very funny nose, and no one would believe you're my daughter."

-Danny Thomas remembered the nose.

But he couldn't remember who the actress was, except that she had three names.

The hunt was on for the mysterious girl with three names.

Finally, they located Mary Tyler Moore.

-And they called me in.

I almost didn't go.

Because I had lost out on, I guess three roles in the last two weeks.

I just didn't get them.

And I was feeling very sorry for myself and was having a cup of coffee with a girlfriend, and she said, "Well, that's ridiculous.

You just put that cup down and get in the car and go over and interview for this!"

"The Dick Van Dyke Show."

And I did.

-Hi, honey -- -Who's there?

-Just an average housewife who needs kissing desperately.

-Mary Tyler Moore wasn't like earlier TV moms.

Her character was alluring, even provocative.

-Where's Rich?

-Where's Rich?

Is that all you've got to say?

-Well, what did you expect?

-Well, I don't know.

How about, "why the big sexy hello?"

Of "did you smash a fender?"

Or "how much did the dress cost?"

-Well, I'll try all three.

Why the, did you, and how much?

-Well, because I love you, I didn't, and $12.95.

-Oh, wonderful.

Where is Rich?

-He's in the bathtub.

Why?

-Well, I didn't want him popping in on us suddenly.

-Oh?

What did you have in mind?

-Well... [ Laughter ] I want to be alone with you just a minute.

-Well, darling, how romantic!

-Do you know something?

You've been seeing too many Italian movies.

♪♪ -"The Dick Van Dyke Show" was not an instant hit.

Scheduled against powerhouse Perry Como, the ratings were dismal.

But the show gradually picked up steam, especially as Reiner began to take advantage of his cast's unique talents.

-Rob Petrie wasn't supposed to have been a klutz [Laughing] in the beginning.

Carl knew I loved to do the physical stuff.

And he wrote that in.

Or he would just say, "Dick does five minutes here," and let me come up with something.

-[ About to sneeze ] Huh...huh... -Oh, here, Rob.

-Huh...I can't use that, it's monogrammed!

Oh, boy.

I can't blow on your family crest!

Hah -- -No, no, don't -- -Oh, I'm sorry, Jerry.

Huh -- oh, there's -- I can't -- Ah-- ah-- No!

Ah-- ah-- Ah-- Ah-- agh!

[ Laughter ] Ah-- ah-- Huh?

Ah!

Ah, ah!

Ah-- ah-- Ah-choo!

Very, very good.

Listen to this... -A seasoned vaudeville comedian, Morey Amsterdam wrote many of his own jokes -- often on the spot.

-When we did the "Van Dyke show," there were a lot of times we were stuck for jokes and lines and things like that, and Morey would say, "I'll find a better line.

Don't say that.

I'll find a better line."

And he'd come up with not one -- three or four.

Pick -- you know, pick which one you liked best.

-Okay, good, good, and maybe we can get him to do some money jokes, like, "he's so rich that..." -He's so rich that he's even got a solid gold bathtub, and when he gets out, he leaves a 14-karat ring.

-Ah, nah, this guy is too rich to take a bath.

-Too rich to take a bath?

-I mean, a regular bath.

He takes milk baths, that's it, milk baths.

Oh, I got it, he ties a cow to the ceiling and takes a shower!

[ Laughter ] -Look, don't worry, we'll get some good jokes later.

-Well, you didn't say you wanted good jokes.

-Look... -When the series began, Mary Tyler Moore had a minor role.

She was a rookie in a cast of veterans.

But as her comic talents began to blossom, Reiner expanded her character.

-She just got it so quickly.

I'm still fascinated by how fast she grew on that show.

-Carl could see that I had some -- if not ability, an appreciation for humor.

-That's it!

That's exactly it!

-What's it?

-You just [Voice shaking] don't understand!

-Oh, boy.

-And I got to cry.

And I prepared very well.

I copied everything that Nanette Fabray ever did in a crying scene.

And she was the master.

-[ Clears throat ] Honey?

Honey, you mean you've been saving this to buy me an XKGJFK400?

-I wanted to buy you an important present.

-An impor-- Well, honey, honey, it's a wonderful thought, but it's a little bit crazy.

Where did you ever get an idea like that?

-From my mother.

-Your mother?

-She saved for years, and then, on their 25th wedding anniversary, she bought my father a big, important present.

-Well, what did she get him?

-His own room.

[ Laughter ] -"The Dick Van Dyke Show" was a distinctive mix of sophistication and slapstick, well-rounded character comedy, peppered with glib one-liners and the occasional song-and-dance routine.

It was a delicate balance, always held together by creator Carl Reiner.

-He's a genius, he's a brilliant man.

I'd had a crush on him when I used to watch him on the Sid Caesar shows.

He was so handsome to me, and so debonair.

And yet he was a buffoon when he wanted to be.

He was -- He was just great.

-His great talent was hearing your speech patterns and your tempo, and the way you spoke, and he wrote it so that you didn't have to do anything with the line.

It was written the way that actor spoke.

He did it for Mary, for Morey.

He had Morey's rapid-fire -- And it was so easy!

That's great writing.

-I think two things are very funny.

What's funnier than that?

-An itch.

-A tooth itch?

[ Laughter ] -No, no.

Alan gets this itch right in the middle of his back, and he can't scratch it.

-Hey, yeah, that could be good.

Say -- Say that he's a concert pianist, right in the middle of a recital, he gets that itch right between his shoulder blades.

-Do it, Rob, do it, do it.

[ Playing classical music ] ♪♪ [ Laughing ] ♪♪ -After "The Dick Van Dyke Show" left the air in 1966, sitcoms began a gradual transition to a new era.

The innocence would be replaced by relevance.

This second wave would take the sitcom in a whole new direction.

A few pioneers, like Mary Tyler Moore, would ride the new wave.

But most were happy to step aside.

They had made their mark, established the sitcom form.

-I mean, after all, it's, it's men like you that made America great.

-He felt that, when you did it spontaneously, it was very right and very funny, and I think he was correct, you know.

It worked.

-If you come from your own heart, if you come from really where you are, it's the truth.

If you try to figure out what people want, it almost never works.

-Pete Dooley's truck splashed mud all over Miss Fletcher.

And I seen Viola McConker sneak out by our barn and have a dip of snuff.

-It came down to all of us wanted our town to be that way.

And it -- it was that way.

-Alright.

I, uh... [ Laughter and applause ] ...believe that finishes the game, Mr. Petrie.

-I mean, it's wonderful to help someone else get a laugh.

But it's God's own gift to get one yourself.

-We ended up with a group of five people who just went like that the first day.

And we worked like a team and had such fun.

It's like singing in a quartet.

Or playing in a quartet.

When it all works, it's just great fun.

-Ow!

Ow!

-Yeah, yeah!

-Take it!

-Mm!

Mm!

-Don't tell me that isn't funny, boy.

That is a miracle!

With the itch!

With the itch!

-We were all having a wonderful time and saying, "Please let this go on," because we loved it.

♪♪ -They loved it.

And we still love them... ...the pioneers of television.

♪♪ -Bring up 3,000 -- [ Crashing ] Hey!

What do you mean there?

What are you doing?

Oh, my -- [ Laughter ] Get that out of here!

Do you hear me?

Get that thing out of here!

[ Laughter and screams ] [ Laughter and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪