Murderous Fun

Dick Van Dyke is beaming this morning on the Van Nuys set of his CBS series “Diagnosis Murder.” The lighthearted mystery just finished as the top-rated CBS series during Super Bowl week, placing No. 16 in total viewers. The week before it also had cracked the Top 20. Not bad for a series that skews to an over-50 audience and airs Thursdays opposite NBC’s top-rated comedy “Seinfeld.”

“CBS keeps referring to us as the little engine that could,” says Van Dyke.

Now in its fifth season, “Diagnosis Murder” began as a spinoff from a “Jake and the Fatman” episode in which Van Dyke’s crime-solving Dr. Mark Sloan helped the Fatman on a case. Van Dyke resurrected the role for three CBS movies, then launched it as a series in the fall of 1993.

“Diagnosis” also stars Van Dyke’s son Barry as Steve, Dr. Sloan’s policeman son and partner in crime-solving; Victoria Rowell as pathologist Amanda Bentley, and Charlie Schlatter as Dr. Jesse Travis.

Just as with “Murder, She Wrote,” the series has had great success with clever guest casting. Mike Connors appeared as Mannix; Barbara Bain reprised her “Mission: Impossible” role and a recent installment featured actors from the movie and TV versions of “MASH.” On the Feb. 26 episode, Regis Philbin will accidentally murder a character played by his talk-show partner Kathie Lee Gifford.

The multi-Emmy Award-winning Van Dyke, 72, is best known for the brilliant 1961-66 CBS comedy series “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as well as for the movie musicals “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” He won a Tony Award in 1961 for “Bye Bye Birdie.”

Question: Do you realize that “Diagnosis Murder” has been on the air five seasons--the exact duration of “The Dick Van Dyke Show”?

Answer: It’s just amazing. I would have been the last person to predict it. I think we offer an alternative kind of programming. We skew to an older audience, and advertisers don’t like older demographics. Still, the audience is there.

The fact is that Angela Lansbury, Andy Griffith, Carroll O’Connor--all of their shows are gone. So I’m about the only guy left.

We don’t do a lot of violence. We don’t do a lot of sex. It’s a show the family can watch, and that’s an option a lot of people go for. We are not really a medical show; we’re not “ER.” We’re not really a murder mystery like “Columbo” was. We are much lighter than that. I think our strength is in the fact that it is light.

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Q: Despite the fact the series is doing so well, it’s virtually ignored in the media.

A: We don’t get much attention at all. I have kind of appreciated the fact that nobody has hyped us or promoted us or pushed us. We kind of let the audience discover us on our own, and I think that’s a pleasant change from having things just pushed down your throat morning, noon and night from the media. I think we’re just there.

The encouraging thing is [that] more and more young people are watching and we have more women [viewers]. They are the ones who do the shopping.

I get a lot of fan mail. I get letters from my own contemporaries--people my age--from their children and now their children. I am on my third generation. I keep getting mail from children who are 3, 4 and 5 years old who are just discovering “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” I think that has contributed to my longevity.

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Q: It must be fun to work with Barry on the show.

A: Originally that was my whole reason to be doing it. I said, “I’m too old to be doing an hour,” but the opportunity to work with Barry was what pushed me into it. I’m so glad I did because it’s been a joy. I had one of my daughters, Stacey, who sings well, come on and do a Christmas show. Both of Barry’s two sons have been on twice.

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Q: What makes Dr. Sloan so much fun to play?

A: Well, one of the things I get a kick out of is that I never expected to be playing this kind of a role--to be playing a doctor. I’m so surprised that I ended up doing this. He really is just Rob Petrie in his dotage.

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Q: Do you think TV executives pay more attention to ratings and demographics these days than they did in the ‘60s when “The Dick Van Dyke Show” was on?

A: I think so. In those days, the ratings system was just beginning and, of course, there were no demographic studies. I don’t think network executives look up from the numbers very much any more. When I came to CBS in the day of [chairman] Bill Paley, they put on the air what they liked, what they believed in. They used their instincts and the seat of their pants a little bit, and they gave a show a whole season at least. They didn’t put on two or three episodes and look at the ratings and then take it off. They knew that habit viewing was very important and they stuck with a show they believed in. I think they are making a mistake by not doing that today.

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Q: “The Dick Van Dyke Show” was still a top show when the series left the airwaves in 1966. And now Jerry Seinfeld is ending his series while it’s still the No. 1-rated comedy. Do you think he’s making the right decision?

A: I think he’s absolutely right. You begin to get a little stale. You begin to repeat yourself. Sometimes shows become a caricature of themselves. He’s throwing away a fortune in doing it, but I think he’s using good judgment.

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Q: So what’s your diagnosis on “Murder”? How long do you think it will continue?

A: I have no idea. We don’t know if we are going to be on next year or not, demographics being what they are today. Of course, [CBS president] Les Moonves and CBS take a different view about the older audience. They believe that they should be reached more, which is why we are on.

“Diagnosis Murder” will be preempted this week by the Olympics; it returns to the CBS lineup Feb. 26 at 9 p.m. Repeats air weekdays at 1 p.m. and at 9 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays on the Family Channel.