I heard Dick Van Dyke say once how much he enjoyed physical comedy, (as he displays in the opening of the show) and loved doing it whenever he could . Is anything funnier than how he was walking around, going down on his knees (trying to avoid being punched or after being punched ) in the boxing ring in the episode "Body and Sol"? BTW, Penny Marshall's brother, Peter, is featured in this episode as the referee in the ring. He wrote a few of the DVD(Dick Van Dyke) episodes. Look how long Rob Reiner must of known his future brother-in-law.
In the episode where the "Alan Brady Show" was searching for the most talented kid, Dick Van Dyke's real son Barry was featured holding a violin while sitting on the couch in the writer's office waiting to audition. And I believe his daughter was this episode too as one of the children who goes into Rob's bedroom w/ Richie. ( "I want to see the tiger's face !" )Also, the smallest boy in that scene was Stanley Livingston who later went on to play "Ernie Douglas" on "My Three Sons".
In the episode "The Masterpiece", the auctioneer, played by Alan Reed, stars who was the voice of Fred Flintstone. Does anyone notice how in the opening of the show, Rob shakes Buddy's hand twice? I never thought Jerry Matthews was that good of a kid actor-but in the episode with the baby ducks he did one of his BESTacting jobs !

Wow... at first I thought it was just that I'd seen the awesome chemistry of the characters and actors on the Dick Van Dyke Show, but this casting was really awful. Thank God they ending up with the dream team cast they did!

Wow. The kid in the "Richie" role is the most contemptable hell-spawn that could ever be even hypothetically conceived in the mortal realm. If Fran Drescher's vocal cords gave birth to an industrial belt sander's baby, it would grow up admiring that kid's capacity for abrasiveness. Reiner was bland, the mother was robotic. This cast just didn't inspire any sympathy or relatibility. The final product was a gem, even a standard. I cannot see how this show was picked up on the strength of this pilot. It seems like it would strike anyone as totally without redemption, even with pages of notes.

I don't think this is as bad as people's reviews would lead someone to believe. I think it's primary problem is miscasting. The eventual outcome of this pilot- The Dick Van Dyke Show was better cast.