Dick Van Dyke Show Season 4 - Part V

One Hundred Terrible Hours - ***
Rob recalls the time he broke the record as a sleepless disc-jockey  and then met Alan Brady.

This is one of those Dick Van Dyke Show episodes that doesn't have that many jokes,  but is still memorable, due to the situation and talent of the two leads.  Being a sleep-deprived DJ allows Van Dyke to engage in mucho funny physical comedy.  

Show of Hands  *
Rob and Laura have to go to an inter-racial awards show with gloves on, since their hands have been accidently dyed black.

Oy vey! I don't know what's worse:

• The boring setup
• Laura/Rob stupidly getting  black dye on the hands;
• Laura/Rob stupidly failing to get the black dye off their hands; 
• Trying to hide their "black hands" from the inter-racial audience;  or
• Rob trivalizing racial differences in a long-winded SERIOUS speech.  

Wait, its ALL bad. This dated episode manages to be offensive AND boring.  Don't blame MTM and Van Dyke for this mess. Blame Carl Reiner. 

Never Bathe on Saturday ***
While on their second honeymoon, Laura gets her toe stuck in a hotel bathtub faucet and Rob can't get through the locked bathroom door to free her.

One of  the shows highest rated episodes. (IMDB ranks it number 10).  I enjoyed it, but could have done without the constant setups/flashbacks  "And so, Rob did...."  Like "100 terrible hours"  this one relies on the situation and MTM's comedic timing and Van Dyke's physical ability for most of the laughs. 

Baby Fat ***1/2

Alan Brady wants Rob to secretly add jokes and "improve" a script by famous Broadway playwright Harper Worthington Yates (Tennesse Williams) 

Highlight:  Richard Erdman (Hoffy from Stalag 17) shows up a Broadway dress designer!

Well-written, fast paced episode.  Excellent performance by Erdman and Strother Martin.  Once again, Reiner proves he can be funny, if he's given good lines, and gets suppport.  And this episode doesn't rely solely on Van Dyke and MTM's charm and physical comedy, but gives them funny lines too.  This is one of the better scripts. 

Br-room Br-room  **1/2

Rob buys a motorcyle over Laura's objections. 

Hightlight:  Rob gets on his motorcycle and  childishly pretends to be riding. 

This one is a tough one to rate. Van Dyke is quite good at playing a Walter Mitty type character, and MTM is quite good as the wife who doesn't want him to get injured.  There's also a humorous "Roadside cafe" scene where Rob meets a motorcycle gang and  get arrested.  The problem is too much of the episode is just Laura & Rob  having the same argument over and over.  Too much repetition to be rated higher. 

There's no sale like Wholesale ** 1/2

Buddy always claims "I could've gotten it for you wholesale"  so he helps Rob to buy Laura a fur coat for a  discount. 

Better than expected.  My heart sank when I read the story outline, Oh God another Buddy episode.  But the writing on this one is quite good, and Buddy is also good, since he has good line, and a relatively small part.  The only negative is the use of Italian furriers.  1960s NYC fur dealers were primarily Jewish, and if there were any Italians, that fact was kept well hidden.  Why label the shady characters as Italian?  The Show never shied from casting explicitly Jewish characters.