Dick Van Dyke Show - Season 4 - IV

Young man with a Shoehorn - **
Plot: Buddy and Rob invest in a shoe store and have to deal with salesman who's rude to Laura and Millie

Best Buddy Insult: I knew it the minute I saw a guy with a head like a light bulb, it was bound to light up

Another filler episode. The snarky Jewish shoe salesman (the wonderful Milton Frome) is a delight. but he's only onscreen for about 6 minutes. The rest of episode is dreary and very forgettable. Low point? Buddy/Rob try to sell shoes in a tired, very routine, comedy bit. Also bringing down the average: Lou Jacobi playing his standard "Lovable Guy" . This guy always reminds me of an cloying, overly sweet bit of cotton candy. Oh, and there's lot of Mille.

My Two showoffs and Me **
Rob thinks having a reporter watching himself, Buddy, Sally in action will be a disaster, and yep, boy is Rob right.

This episode shows up two common flaws of the show.

• The meat of the episode, the actual funny part (Sally/Buddy showboating for the writer) is only 6 minutes. The remaining 19 minutes is a long setup and a long last act. A modern comedy would oncentrate on the funny part, and shorten everything else. I've seen this same pattern in many episodes. No doubt it was due to churning out 31 episodes a year. The attitude seems to have been: "we've put enough comedy in this one, its good enough - lets move on".
• Morey Amsterdam's lack of acting ability - when he's annoyed and shouting at Rob, its not in a comic way, its too real. You need to be a good comic actor to be funny/angry and Amsterdam isn't.

Girls will Be Boys *
When Ritche is beaten up by a girl. Rob and Laurie must decide to let him fight back or stand by the rule of "Never hit a girl"

Best Buddy one-liner: Gee, when I was a little kid there was one girl who beat me up all the time. Really, who? My mother.

Ugh, a Ritche episode. Usually, this would be zero stars, but I give it a one * due to the Guest star: British actor Bernard Fox, who's quite amusing as Pricillia's father. Further, Rob/Laura get most of the screentime, not Ritchie. The situation is extremely dated, as the Petrie's over-the-top obsession with "Don't hit a girl -ever" doesn't exist today, assuming it ever did. If 40 years ago a girl tried to beat me up, my parents would've had the common-sense reaction:. Defend yourself. They wouldn't have thought twice about it.

Anothy Stone **
Rob and Buddy uncover a shocking secret about Sally's rich boyfriend and must decide whether to tell her.

Rob's Best Line: Buddy, we have no right to pry into Sally's private business. It's just not right.
Besides, Laura's pumping her right now.

Another "A Sally love affair gone wrong", but better than usual. Faint praise indeed. The first 15 minutes are about Laura/Buddy/Rob trying to find out more Anthony Stone. And then we find out why Sally has been so closed-mouth: He's an undertaker. Its only at the end that Sally is told the 2nd uncovered secret: Stone is alredy married. Sally takes it with good humor. We get very few scenes between Stone and Sally. Thank God.

Bupkis - ** 1/2
Rob gets upset when hears one of his old songs on the radio. It seems he may have given away all his rights

Highlight: The weather song. Nighttime, daytime, summertime, wintertime, it's always time for the weather. Weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather, weather. Nighttime, daytime, summertime, wintertime.

I'm ambivalent about this one. Gave it two-and-a-half stars but was thinking about two. An uneven episode full of good and bad. The story idea is good, Rob has given away his rights to an old song, now a hit, to his old co-writer "Jazz Potter". Did "Jazz" trick him? If so, should Rob sue? We get a good setup, and some good interaction between Rob/Laura and Buddy/Sally over what to do. "Butkis" itself is suitably absurd and comically bad. And there's a hilarious satrical "Weather song" at the start.

But, the casting is terrible. The actor playing "Jazz" is incredibly annoying. I mean memorably, incedibly, fingernails on a chalk-board. annoying. And Garrett Morris isn't funny. Couldn't they have found a FUNNY black actor?

Further, the whole thing is padded out. Examples? Twice Rob gives us a long explaination as to what the word "Bupkis" means. In another scene, Rob beats around the bush for two minutes before telling Laura, he gave away the rights. Further, we get too much Ritchie. The scene in the Music business office isn't funny. And Jazz/Rob sing several unfunny songs. Bottom line: There are some good jokes, but we needed more of them.

Your Home Sweet Home is my Home - *
Rob tells his new accountant the story of how he and Laura found their new house.

Boring Millie-Jerry filler episode about the two families buying their houses in Westchester. Low on laughs. Padded out with the usual "Let me tell you the story why I..." setups/flashbacks. The only funny scene comes when the real estate agent (Stanley Adams) shows the Pretrie's the basement and tries to ignore the enormous Rock. Again, Jerry Paris is very bland, and Millie can get annoying fast.

Dick Van Dyke Show Season 4 - III

The Redcoats - **

Plot: Rob agrees to let a popular British singing duo hide-out at his home. But he's sworn to secrecy and fears touching off a Beatlemania-like fan frenzy.

A missed opportunity. Its a funny situation but the comic pontential is wasted by some very dull substandard writing, lots of padding, and a sluggish plot. We get too many screaming girls, and too much of "Chad and Jeremy" - who are only midly amusing. You need more than a comic situation and good comedic actors, you need funny jokes too. I was hitting the FF button on this one.

Stacey Petrie Part I and Part II *
Rob's Brother Stacey  shows up and is nervous about meeting  a new girl Julie.  In part II, Stacey tells Julie about the author of her love letters from "Jim,"  while his new nightclub's success lies in the balance.

Two badly written episodes designed to highlight Jerry Van Dyke - Dick's real life brother. Extremely dull.  I was never a fan of Jerry Van Dyke, and he's the star of these two episodes. Rob and Laura take a backseat.  Lowlights? Herman and Jerry stage an extremely long, unfunny "Fight",  Sally teaches Jerry how to romance a girl, Jerry opens his heart to "rich girl" Julie.  I could name more.  Summary: Hard Pass.  

Boy No.  1 and Boy No. 2 *
Millie and Laura become two terrible stage-mothers when Rob agrees to hire sons Ritchie and Freddie for a commercial directed by Mel Cooley.

Best Buddy insult:  Your hats not on wrong, your head is on backwards.

Other than some Buddy one-liners, there's only one funny moment,  Mel comes in the office wearing sunglasses and a "Director's hat". Otherwise, this was pure torture.  Standard Sitcom plot, Ritchie,  way too much Millie, and Laura acting way out of character as an interfering stage mother.  IMDB voters rate it the 11th worst episode. 

Brother, can you spare $2,500  *

When Rob loses the show's script in Grand Central Station, a Hobo finds it, and holds it for ransom. 

Best Mel Insult:  Y'know the problem with Buddy? One day he's here...and the next day he's here. 

Dull story + mediocre jokes + unfunny guest stars =  tedious sitcom.  Totally paint-by-the-numbers. Even worse, one-note johnny Herbie Faye shows up as the "funny" lost and found attendent.  The story is unbelievable and could only exist in 60s sitcom land.  Why would Rob take the only copy of the script home with him?  And the bum is witty and generous. And looks good in a suit. 

The Impractical Joke - **

After Buddy plays a practical joke on Rob, he expects Rob to launch a counter-attack. But the longer Rob waits, the more paranoid Buddy becomes.

Good lord, this did not age well. Its a standard 1960s sitcom trope: someone plays a practical joke and then the victim gets his revenge.  Cue Laughter.  Here's its Buddy and Rob.  Problems:

• Buddy's practical joke (which takes the first 10 minutes) isn't funny or believable.  It depends on Rob being a complete idiot.  
• The ending revenge Joke by Rob is predictable and unfunny.  You can only laugh if you imagine Buddy is a complete idiot.  
• Buddy's "funny friend" (Lennie Weinrib) isn't funny.  He's obnoxious.  And weird looking.
• Morey Amsterdam isn't much of an actor.  Paranoid Buddy is pretty much like Regular Buddy.

This episode had me looking at my watch.  Was it really only 25 minutes? It seemed like 45. 

The Case of the Pillow -  *

Rob cries fowl when he takes a shady salesman to court for selling Laura smelly feather pillows.

Another standard 60s sitcom plot. Our main lead takes someone to court and thinks he's Perry Mason, while the gruff no-nonsense judge tries to set him straight.  Here the judge is played by Ed Bergley, who does well as anyone can with such a stock character.  Probably 15 minutes takes place in the courtroom,  10 minutes outside of it. 

Otherwise, there's not much to say. Alvy Moore (Mr. Kimball) does nothing funny and I was shocked at how many times the characters say: "Wow, this pillow smells" - cue laughtrack.  The writers really phoned this one in.  A lazy unfunny script with a few courtroom jokes - none of them original.  

DIck van Dyke Show - Season 4 - Part II

 The Alan Brady Show Goes to Jail- **1/2

Plot: Rob, Laura, Sally, Mel and Buddy visit Lyle in Prison and put on a show

Episode Highlight:  Rob and Laura sing a duet:  "I've got your number"

I gave this 2 1/2 stars because the last 10 minutes is very good.  The rest isn't.  A follow-on to  the previous episode "4 1/2".  In the first 15 minutes,  we get Don Rickles playing  "Lyle" the schlub character and Rob mistakenly put behind bars.  Its all pretty tedious.  However, the episode recovers in the last act,  as they get on stage and start performing.  Amsterdam tells jokes and plays the Cello,  Sally sings a torch song, and Rob/Laura sing/dance. You have to wonder why Carl Reiner didn't give MTM/Van Dyke more musical numbers. Maybe it was the expensive song rights.  

Three Letters from One Wife. ***
When Rob convinces a reluctant Alan Brady to do a highbrow documentary, Millie helps out by writing fan letters.  Except, the letters arrive before the show airs.  

This synopsis exagggerates Millie role in the episode. Its really about  Mel and Rob's interactions with Alan Brady.

 Its an extremely well-written episode, with Reiner - for once - dong a good job as the insecure, egotistical Brady.  No doubt because Reiner is playing a comic character in a realistic manner and not trying to BE FUNNY.  Van Dyke hits it out of the park as he tries to tell Brady the truth and not get fired.  And the Mel-Alan Brady interaction, due to the writing, is  funnier than ususal. The only letdown is - as usual - Millie. She's supposed to be the  good-hearted but "Wacky Neighbor" who almost gets Rob fired - but comes off as a cartoon character.   And Ann Morgan Guilbert was always better in small doses. 

Pink Pills and Purple Parents - *** 

Rob recalls when Laura took a tranquilizer prescribed for Millie before meeting Rob's parents for the first time, with disastrous results.

MTM is simply fantastic in this one, as she plays a "drunk" Laura at a dinner party for Rob's Parents.  There's a lot of physical comedy by both Rob and MTM and its great. Tom Tully (cf: Caine Mutiny) , of all people, shows up at Rob's dad.  His mother is played by 75 y/o Isabel Randolph! Both are very good.  The dinner party is book-ended (aka padded out) by scenes with Rob, Sally, and Buddy and can be skipped. 

Note: This show is typical of 60s TV, where Valium/tranquilizers are treated as food for comedy. Most people knew nothing about them, and were naive about the damage they could do.  In the case, Millie has a whole bottle of pills, and Laura takes 2-3 instead of just one. Even worse, she has wine too.  But the show treats it all as a harmless joke. 

It Wouldn't Hurt Them to Give Us a Raise -  **

Sally and Buddy go on strike. Rob, speaking on their behalf for raises, gets a bewildering introduction to Alan's convoluted corporate structure.must figure out how to handle it. 

Best Buddy Insult:   Not Bad for a self-taught incompetent

This is better than I expected.  First, the great Roger Carmel shows up and does a funny 5 Minute segment as Alan Brady's accountant. And there's a very good scene with MTM and Van Dyke as they figure out  how to keep Buddy/Sally happy.  But after that (the 16 minute mark) its all downhill  as the episode drags along to its predictable conclusion. Rob decides to quit if Sally/Buddy don't get a raise, etc.  Yawn. 

The Death of the Party -  **1/2

Rob struggles to hide the severe symptoms of a flu virus at a family party for Laura's relatives rather than admit she was right against him golfing earlier that morning in damp conditions.

Highlight:  A sick Rob tries to play Charades

Not much to say about this one.  Van Dyke and MTM are very good and the episode highlights their excellent chemistry.  The story isn't much. Its basically Rob trying to hide he's ill while helping Laura throw her party.  Pleasant but forgettable. 

Stretch Petrie vs. Kid Schnek-  **

Neil Schenk, a manipulative old pal of Rob's, shows up to milk him for repayment of a favor done long ago.

Typical Jack Carter one-liners: "80 percent of the money is spent by women," Carter observed  "The other 20% is spent by men--on women!"  And: "If you like to spend your vacation in out-of-the-way places where few people go, let your wife read the map,"

Filler episode with a standard Sitcom plot.  Jack Carter guest stars. 

Like Don Rickles, Carter was a successful night-club comedian who constantly appeared on TV shows and Late Nite talk in the 60s and 70s.  Also, like Rickles, he wasn't much of a comedic actor, with little range.  Here, he's given plenty of jokes, but the brash one-liners wear thin fast.  

Carter's problem, and it was a factor in his lack of relative success,  is his agressiveness isn't tempered by much charm or likablity. And the "old friendship" between him and Dick van Dyke is completely unbelievable.  IMDB voters give this an astoundingly  low  6.7 rating, making it the 7th least favorite episode.  Its not that bad, but its not that good either. 

Dick Van Dyke Show - Season 4

My Mother Can Beat Up My Father - ***1/2
Plot: When Laura beats up a barrom drunk, Rob feels his manhood is under assault. A hilarious, well written episode, that gives us lots of interaction between Laura and Rob and some good physical comedy.

The Ghost of A. Chantz **1/2
Rob, Laura, Buddy and Sally spend the night in a seemingly haunted cabin. A well regarded episode (IMDB 9.0 rating ), I was bored by the endless, corny, "I'm so scared" reaction shots. Plus, there's a lot of Buddy/Sally in this one. And that's never a good thing. But it has its moments. 

The Lady and the Babysitter. *
A HS student developes a crush on Laura and she and Rob help him find a gril his own age. Good God, we've seen this sitcom plot recycled in endless TV shows. Even worse, the guest star (Eddie Hodges) is mediocre and so is the writing. 

A Vigilante Ripped My Sports Coat.  *

After a fight, Jerry and Rob aren't speaking to each other . Laura tries to patch things up with a dinnner invitation but instead makes things worse. 

One weakness of the Dick Van Dyke show was the supporting cast.  Their range was limited, and they rarely improved the material.  And Millie and Jerry weren't funny (Jerry Paris in particular). Unfortunately, this is Millie/jerry episode and its snoozeville . As for the plot: both Rob and Jerry act incredibly stupid.  I don't know what's more absurd,  Jerry childishly going to destroy his neighbor's crabgrass without permission, or Rob's over-the-top self-righteous oppposition.  I love Lucy did this fighting neighbors thing first - and much better.

The Man from Emperor - *

 Drew Patton (Hugh Heffner) offers Rob a job at Emperor (Playboy) magazine and shows him the advantages of the "Emperor Lifestyle" to Laura's disapproval.

In the mid-60s Playboy magazine was much more classy and circumspect than it latter became and Heffner was often on TV, selling his "Playboy" philosophy. Stay single boys and live the high life. Today, we know the real Heffner was  a complete slimeball and  his "philosophy" a fraud.  

Accordingly, its rather creepy to see how positive  the episode portrays the sleazy Drew.  And the situation is incredibly dated. I usually give old TV shows/Movies a generous pass on their old timey values and mores but today we live in such a different world, its impossible to see "Playboy" in a postive light.  Other demerits? The guest star is a bore, and the writing is dull. 

Romance, Roses and Rye Bread -  ZERO

When Bert, the jocular Deli man, expesses his love, Sally must figure out how to handle it. 

The guest star - Sid Melton - is simply awful. Even worse, we get another standard "Sally's love affair gone wrong" story. Rose Marie was incredibly talented, but the writers never seemed to use her talents properly.  They just gave her this sorta crap. The Worst Season 4 episode so far.

4 1/2 -  **

Rob relays the story of how he befriended Lyle - man who tried to rob them in a stuck elevator

Best Budddy Joke:  Mel, while we're up there [in prison], maybe we can get your hair out of solitary.

For once, I can't complain about the Guest star quality because its Don Rickles. The king of insult comics used to guest star a lot in the 1960s before launching numerous failed 70s sitcoms in the 1970s. Sometimes he was good (cf: Get Smart), sometimes he wasn't.  It all depended on the script. 

Here he's given the ridiculous role of a likable but incompetent stick-up artist . (Why would anyone rob someone in an office elevator in broad daylight?)  Rickle's doesn't really fit the part. His comedy was based on being brash, energetic, and insulting. But he's not terrible in the role. Its the script that lets him down.  Once the elevator stops, we trudge along to the end with all the standard sitcom tropes and jokes.  A meh episode.  

Top 25 Star Trek episodes (orignal series)

 

1. All our yesterdays
2. Amok Time
3. Arena
4. Balance of Terror
5. Bread and Circuses
6. Corbanite maneuver 
7. City on the edge of Forever
8. Devil in the Dark
9. Elanne of Troyius
10. Doomsday machine 
11. Errand of Mercy
12. Galileo Seven
13. Journey to Babel
14. Menagerie
15. Mirror, Mirror
16. Obsession 
17. Patterns of Force
18. Piece of the Action
19. Space Seed
20. Spectre of the gun
21. Tholian web
22. Tomorrow is yesterday
23. Troubles with Tribbles
24. Where no man has gone before
25. Ulimate Computer