DIck Van Dyke Season One - Part II

Meershtatz pipe*
Unwelcome Houseguest*
Talented Neighborhood*
Jealousy*

These are all forgettable, unfunny episodes with generic sitcom plots. The “Pipe” is a lowlight, with Rob being upset that Buddy got a pipe from Alan Brady and he didn’t. Childish-Silly-Not funny. In Unwelcome Houseguest Richie is incredibly annoying. He’s afraid of the dog, and thinks it’s a wolf. The writers were from NYC - and it shows.  Talented neighbor is full of annoying kids trying to get into showbiz. Jealousy is a badly executed MTM star turn episode. Laura is upset at Rob working “closely” with a movie star. Given MTM’s talents even this standard trope could have been good, except she’s given little to do. and the writing is paint-by-the-numbers.  It doesn't  help that MTM looks more like a movie star then the guest star.  

The Bad Old Days*

Plot?  Rob is upset when Richie calls him “Rob”, and Laura forces him to do household chores while giving him Cold cuts for dinner. Annoyed, Rob yearns for the “Good ol’ days” when fathers ruled the roost. 

Left-wing SJW’s cry over the episode’s “sexism”, so I was looking forward to it, and assumed  the low IMDB rating was politically driven.  Wrong.  It’s badly written and notable for the lack of good jokes. In fact there are few jokes of any kind! The best one?  Jerry asks Rob “Where’s your purse?” after seeing Rob wearing Laura’s apron.  That’s how bad it is. 

And we get a repetitive, slow-moving, 7 minute dream sequence, where 1890s Rob orders an overworked Laura around and Richie works in factory.   Seriously, this is the worst thing I've seen on the show.  I wasn't offended.  I just sat there and wondered how Reiner thought this was interesting or funny.  There's little physical comedy. And our characters don't react in a surrealist, goofy funny manner, as you'd expect from a comedy dream. 

The show ends with just woken Rob spouting off about how “These are the good ol’ days” and husbands should “treat their wives as equals and not like feudal kings”. 

The SJW’s get it exactly backwards.  The problem with the episode isn’t “sexism” - it’s that the show is an unfunny attack on “sexism”.  Reiner wanted to knockdown a straw-man labeled the “Good ol’ Days when Men were men” Maybe he saw “Life with Father” & thought that was reality.  It’s a strange idea for a sitcom. Anyway, this was his argument for 1960s liberalism and equality between the sexes.  Nothing wrong with that, he just forgot the jokes. 

Buddy can you spare a Job **
Boarder Incident **
Who owes who what? **

Standard sitcom stories with Buddy, made watchable by good execution. In Boarder Incident, while Pickles is away, Buddy moves in with the Petrie’s and annoys the hell out of them. Buddy, can you spare a job, has Buddy quitting the Brady show and then trying to get his job back. Notable for how real Mel’s dislike of Buddy is. Obnoxious, unlikable Lennie Weinrib shows up and is very unlikable and  obnoxious. Who owes who what? Has an even more generic plot, Buddy owes Rob $25 and Rob tries to remind him of it. In this one, in fact all three shows, I often predicted what was going to happen next and and even the punch-lines. Not a good sign.