Buzz Dixon wrote:

However...THE DICK VAN DYKE show was probably the single greatest influencer in my career choice. In the show Dick Van Dyke had a job writing TV with funny co-workers AND he was married to a hot brunette. Even as I kid I knew that was the career for me!

What used to bug me about that otherwise great show was that Rob Petrie was head writer for a top TV show yet they portrayed him as a middle class guy making an average living. Mel Brooks was the junior writer on Your Show of Shows and was pulling down $2000 a week at a time when that was a hefty chunk of a year's salary for many people. I guess it made Rob more "relateable".