Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! I couldn’t let this month pass without honoring another sitcom that celebrated a big anniversary. Premiering on October 3, 1961, The Dick Van Dyke Show has spent the last 65 years as one of the sitcom’s most impressive offerings. I’ve written a lot about it before — and may share thoughts on it again in the future — so I won’t take up too much space reiterating how important it is, the finest sitcom of the 1960s. It evolved the genre’s understanding of character-driven comedy via writing that was more detail-oriented and rooted in true-to-life humanity than the era’s norm, all thanks to higher comedic and narrative standards born out of creator Carl Reiner’s own semi-autobiographical premise.

This week, I wanted to briefly shout my love for this series by presenting another cool memento. It’s a copy of the table draft for one of my favorite episodes from the series’ fourth season, “Pink Pills And Purple Parents.” This is the flashback entry where Laura first meets Rob’s folks. It’s a tour de force for Mary Tyler Moore, who took the brilliant words on the page — by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson — and brought them to hysterical life. The episode originally aired on November 25, 1964, but was filmed on October 20 of that year. This draft comes from the start of that production week, and I share it here for your private, educational, and non-commercial interest, in tribute to this classic, influential, masterwork situation comedy.

Come back next week for another Wildcard! And stay tuned Tuesday for more Happy Endings!