“Is so and so still alive?” they usually ask while watching any non-animated t.v. show or movie. We watch a lot of The Andy Griffith Show and Leave it to Beaver, so it’s a usually a valid question. But when she asked, “Is Rob Petrie still alive?” I had to laugh (cause, really, we’ve covered all of this before).
“Umm, Rob Petrie is not a real person, remember?”
“What?!” like I had blown her mind.
“Rob Petrie is not a real person,” I repeated. “What’s the name of the show?”
“The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
“Yeah, and Dick Van Dyke is a real person. He’s pretending to be Robert Petrie on t.v. And he also pretends to be Bert in Mary Poppins. That’s called acting, remember?”
“Oh yeah. And is Dick Van Dyke married to Laura Petrie?”
“Uh, no. Her name is Mary Tyler Moore…she is pretending to be Laura Petrie. But, no, Dick Van Dyke is not married to Mary Tyler Moore.”
“Oh my gosh! He isn’t?! Then how did they have Richie?!”
