Dick Van Dyke: I'm Retiring

Dick Van Dyke says he plans to retire from television after this season of Diagnosis Murder.

"It's time for me to go to pasture," Van Dyke told AP Radio with a chuckle. "Tastes have changed. Television's going, as far as I'm concerned, downhill, and I'm an anachronism."

It's been nearly 40 years since the debut of the hugely successful The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which the actor played television writer Rob Petrie. The show ran from 1961 to 1966. His latest show, the CBS detective drama Diagnosis Murder, began airing in 1993.

Looking ahead at his 75th birthday, in December, Van Dyke noted that he's only two months younger than Johnny Carson, who retired years ago. "I'm going to follow his lead," he said.

Van Dyke was in Washington to help honor The Dick Van Dyke Show's creator, Carl Reiner, who was awarded the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain prize for American humor.

Van Dyke said he won't miss acting. He's hooked on computer animation, and jokingly calls himself The Steven Spielberg of Malibu.

As for television, "what tickles me is I'm on my third generation now," he says. "I was out walking yesterday and little kids would recognize me, and I thought, 'Gosh, their grandparents watched the Van Dyke show.'"