Robert 'Rob' Petrie

Rob Petrie is head writer for a New York variety show, living with his wife Laura and young son Ritchie in New Rochelle. He's affable, quick-witted, a bit accident-prone, and forever caught between the chaos of the writers' room and the small crises of suburban married life. He wants, mostly, for everyone around him to laugh.

Dick Van Dyke's physical comedy is the obvious pleasure, but what makes Rob last is his gentleness underneath the pratfalls: he's a husband who genuinely likes his wife, a boss who's kind to his staff, a comic engine that never needs cruelty to be funny.