Dick Van Dyke Show Season One - Part I

Sally is a Girl*
Where have you been Fassbinder? *
Sally and Lab Technician*

These are all “Poor Sally is having a doomed love affair” episodes. When it was time for a Rose Marie “star turn”, it’s too bad the writers didn’t give her different and better storylines.

I am my brother’s keeper*
The sleeping brother*

Both episodes highlight Jerry Van Dyke - cast as Rob’s brother Stacy. Nothing in either episode makes up for the fact that I don’t like Jerry Van Dyke.

Washington vs. The Bunny*
Laura and Rob fight over Rob missing Richie’s play for business reasons. A padded, low energy episode - notable for several things. First, we get Six dull minutes of Jesse white and van dyke sitting in an airplane talking, setting up and wrapping up the situation. Secondly, a funny 3 minute dream sequence with Rob being controlled by Puppet-master Laura. Third, an excellent, heartfelt, two minute ending between Laura and Rob. There’s a good five minutes – but the rest is filler, especially the Jesse White sequence.

Father of the Week*
A word a Day*

Dick Van Dyke plays “Sitcom dad” in these two boring episodes. “A word a Day” has Richie in trouble for saying a bad word. Low on laughs, long on angst. People assert Liberal Carl Reiner was cleverly subverting strictures against Foul language, but so what? It’s still boring. In “father of the week” Van Dyke gets in front of Richie’s firt grade class and explains his job. That’s five funny minutes out of 25. It should be recognized that Larry Matthews was only 6 years old in Season one, and he's cute. But that's a low bar. Find a six-year old who's not cute. 

Sick Boy and the Sitter*
This was the first episode produced. Standard sitcom plot: Laura is an overly –protective mother who imagines Richie is sick and doesn’t want to go to the party,. Very bland. No Alan Brady, no Millie or Jerry. Few laughs. The only excitement ? A six minute performance by Sally, Buddy, and Rob. Sally sings, Buddy tells jokes and plays his Cello, Rob does physical comedy. MTM just watches.

The twizzle*
Quite rightly considered one of the worst episodes. The goal didn't seem to be laughs, but showcasing the guest star, Broadway singer Jerry Lanning. Who was Mr. Lanning? Well, he was a sort of Tab Hunter/Elvis Presley knockoff. He sings for almost six minutes and is the center of the attention for the rest. The songs and singing are unremarkable. Too bad we didn’t get six minutes of Van Dyke and MTM singing. Did the Executive Producer have Lanning under contract?

Sol and the Sponsor*

Punch thy Neighbor*

Standard Sitcom plots +  bad guest starts  = tedium.  In Sol and the Sponsor – vulgar Army buddy Sol drops in to visit Rob and spoils an important dinner.  Reiner assumes we’ll  root for

good ol' Sol, except Sol’s not funny - he’s obnoxious.  Even worse, he’s played by terminally annoying and cartoonish Marty Ingels.  Punch they Neighbor is a Jerry episode.  Here, Jerry mercilessly kids Rob about his bad TV show. There’s far too much unfunny “Kidding”, and Jerry Paris doesn’t improve the material. Jerry Helper comes off as a complete jerk and his friendship with Rob (as usual) seems unconvincing.  These two have zero “Bromance” chemistry.