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.
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