"Oh, Rob!" - Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie
The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season One DVD Review
By Caroline Lagarde
The Dick Van Dyke Show is a stylish, sophisticated sitcom that has just the right mix of nostalgia and timeless appeal to make this DVD set a treasure for old fans and a delightful discovery for new ones. The show follows the life of Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), a comedy writer who lives in suburban New Rochelle, New York with his beautiful wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and cute son Ritchie (Larry Mathews). Rob is the head writer of The Alan Brady Show, a weekly variety series starring the egotistical Alan Brady (Carl Reiner, who, incidentally, is heard but never seen throughout the first season). Rob's co-workers are jokester Buddy Sorrell and man-hungry Sally Rogers (played to perfection by veteran vaudeville performers Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie). Making their lives more difficult is Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), the producer of the show. Mel also happens to be Alan's brother-in-law, a fact that, along with Mel's bald head, provides Buddy with endless material for jokes. Dentist Jerry Helper and his wife Millie (Jerry Paris and Ann Morgan Guilbert) round out the cast of characters as the Petries' best friends and next-door neighbors.
Although it would eventually win fifteen Emmy Awards during its five-year run, The Dick Van Dyke Show almost didn't happen. Conceived by Carl Reiner as a vehicle for himself, the show was loosely based on Reiner's experience as a writer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. The pilot episode, "The Head of the Family," was originally broadcast on July 19, 1960, with Reiner in the lead. The pilot was a flop, ironically because Reiner was miscast as himself! Producer Sheldon Leonard recast the show, and the first episode premiered on October 3, 1961, with Dick Van Dyke (who beat out Johnny Carson) in the lead role.
The episodes in the first season are consistently funny and creative. They are good because they are believable, and they are believable because of the excellent writing and the multi-talented cast. Rather than relying on outrageous plot lines for laughs, the show's humor is derived from the interaction of the characters and their responses to events.
At the heart of the show is the marriage of Rob and Laura. Although they sleep in twin beds, there is no doubt that there is a physical attraction between these two. The real-life chemistry between the two actors (Van Dyke and Moore admit to having crushes on each other) made the relationship between Rob and Laura believable. In fact, their relationship was so believable that it endured even after the show left the air. When creators were developing The Mary Tyler Moore Show, they envisioned the character of Mary Richards as a divorcée. The idea was quickly abandoned because network executives were concerned that viewers would think she had divorced Dick Van Dyke!
There was no chance that Laura would divorce Rob, though. In "My Blonde-Haired Brunette," one of the funniest episodes of the season, Laura becomes convinced that Rob is no longer attracted to her. He prefers sleeping late to having an early breakfast with her, and he wears grungy, holey clothes around the house. To put the spark back in their marriage, she takes Millie's advice and dyes her hair blonde. She ends up looking like Harpo Marx and hurries to dye her hair back before Rob sees her. The sight of a crying Laura with her hair half blonde and half brunette is hilarious, and it illustrates the lengths that Laura will go to in order to keep Rob interested.
Wisecracking Buddy and Sally are Rob's family away from home. They can always be counted on to come up with a smart remark for any situation, and the two play off of each other with impeccable timing. Rob goes to them with problems that arise at home, and these problems often find their way into The Alan Brady Show. In "The Curious Thing About Women," they write an exaggerated sketch based on Laura's habit of opening Rob's letters. In the sketch, the wife, who happens to be named Laura, opens a package addressed to her husband, and an inflatable boat pops out. When an unsuspecting Laura watches the show with Millie and Jerry, she is mortified. She adamantly denies that she would do such a thing, but then a mysterious package arrives at the Petrie household. In a case of life imitating art, Laura, succumbing to temptation, opens the package and is greeted by an expanding inflatable boat that she is unable to hide before Rob gets home.
At home and at work, the characters have many opportunities to display their numerous talents. The Petries have dinner parties where the guests sing and dance for entertainment. Their jobs as comedy writers give Rob, Buddy, and Sally numerous opportunities to act out routines and test jokes that they are working on for the next week's show. Van Dyke, in particular, is a master of physical comedy, playing the klutz with inimitable grace. His comic genius is showcased in "Where Did I Come From?", a flashback episode that relives the time when Ritchie was born. Stealing many of his moves from Stan Laurel (who would later become his good friend), Van Dyke creates a nervous father-to-be who contrasts hilariously with his calm wife in the days before Ritchie's birth.
While there are a number of recognizable faces sprinkled throughout the episodes, the only credited guest star during the first season was Jerry Van Dyke, Dick's younger brother. In a two-part story that airs in the episodes "I Am My Brother's Keeper" and "The Sleeping Brother," Jerry Van Dyke, who later became famous for his role as Luther Van Dam on the sitcom Coach, plays Rob's bashful, sleepwalking brother, Stacey Petrie. Stacey wants to be on The Alan Brady Show, but he is so shy that he can only perform when he is asleep. Audio commentaries reveal that Jerry Van Dyke was a sleepwalker in real life, and these episodes were based on that fact. Other members of the Van Dyke family can be seen in "The Talented Neighborhood" where Dick Van Dyke's children, Barry and Christian, put in an appearance.
Another familiar face is Gavin MacLeod, who makes an appearance as a jewelry salesman in "Empress Carlotta's Necklace," an episode in which Rob buys Laura a necklace that he thinks is beautiful and she thinks is hideous. MacLeod would be reunited with Moore on The Mary Tyler Moore Show where he played news writer Murray Slaughter, and from there, he would go on to steer The Love Boat as Captain Merrill Stubing. Fans of M*A*S*H will recognize Jamie Farr in several episodes where he has a small role as a delivery boy. Prolific character actor Allan Melvin, who played Corporal Henshaw on The Phil Silvers Show, appears as the army buddy that Rob can't remember in "Harrison B. Harding of Camp Crowder, MO." Melvin would continue his military career as Sergeant Charley Hacker on Gomer Pyle. He also played Barney Hefner, Archie's pal from work on All in the Family and Sam the butcher, Alice's boyfriend on The Brady Bunch.
The first season was almost the last one for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Although Reiner won an Emmy for comedy writing for the first season, poor ratings nearly caused the show to be cancelled. Thankfully, it was saved from cancellation due to pressure from the show's sponsor, Proctor and Gamble, and it remained at the top of the ratings until it left the air in 1966.
The thirty episodes in this set are divided onto five DVDs, each of which is housed in a slim keepcase. The front of each case has a different black and white photo of the various cast members. Episode titles are listed on the back of each case, along with a one-line description of the show, the show's writer, director, film date, and original airdate. Chapter stops are listed inside the case.
The cases slide into a sturdy slipcase that is creatively designed to look like an old-fashioned television set. The front of the case features the screen of the television, which is a lenticular image of the famous title sequence of the show. Move the box back and forth, and you'll see Rob walk into the living room and trip over the ottoman. Interestingly enough, all of the episodes in this set have the original opening sequence that features photographs of the cast members rather than the ottoman sequence that is depicted on the box. The back of the box is designed to look like the back of the television, complete with vent holes and electrical plug.
The menus in this set are easy to navigate. Each show on the disc is listed, along with a play all option and a special features section. Selecting a show brings up another menu that allows the user to skip among chapters. There is also an option to see the extras that pertain to the selected episode.
