"The Dick Van Dyke Show Season 5" -- A Personal Review

Another DvDS oddity (although not officially a major "gaffe") ...........

In Season One's "Harrison B. Harding" episode -- When Rob asks Harrison "You know Laura?", Harrison responds with "Indeed I do...you don't forget a girl like Laura, do you?".

This comment makes it fairly obvious that Harrison and Laura had met while at Camp Crowder, Missouri.

OK.....So, then, what do you think the odds are that Rob and Laura would both be completely in the dark as to who Mr. Harding is? It seems likely that at least one of the two would recall meeting Harrison.

A Van Dyke Show episode entitled "Harrison B. Harding Meets Sam Pomerantz" would have been rather interesting, huh? This ep. would feature Allan Melvin meeting himself, since Allan played both parts. They'd have to do that split-screen thing that Bewitched always did when Samantha and Serena were supposedly in the same room together. A trick also employed on every episode of "The Patty Duke Show". Not to mention "Jeannie" and her evil sister, both played by the fetching Barbara Eden.

Barbara, by-the-by, we'll get to see swaying her lovely torso in a second-season episode of Andy Griffith (Episode #48, "The Manicurist"). I'm confident that Paramount will issue a S.2 boxed set after S.1 sales go through the roof.

"The Manicurist" episode features some rather racy dialogue (considering the era) from Andrew Taylor, as he addresses manicurist Eden ...........

"Nature's been very good to you. In fact, I can't recall when nature has spent so much time on any one person."

"A Van Dyke Show episode entitled "Harrison B. Harding Meets Sam Pomerantz" would have been rather interesting, huh? This ep. would feature Allan Melvin meeting himself"

And in the tag scene, Marty Ingels barges in and shouts, "You're an imposter!" Marty could say, "I'm the real one because I'm the only Sol/Sam who appeared in a non-flashback episode!"

Maybe Rob's memory is so bad that he started transplanting Harrison Harding's face on Sol everytime he did a flashback! (Don't ask me how to shoehorn Henry Calvin into all this!)

It's funny, huh .... you can watch an episode a hundred times and not notice something -- and then (in viewing #101) something pops out at you. Like that observation about Laura having obviously met Harrison B. Harding.


Another --->

But was it Harrison's "Pre-diet" bloated face? Or his post-Crowder face, which was 57 pounds lighter?

HARRISON -- "I lost 57 pounds since then."
EVELYN -- "All from his face."

Count me as another under 35-er with all five sets.

I'm 32 now and really discovered the show in college when it ran on Nick at Nite. To a 19 year old, Mary Tyler Moore was unmissable!

I was taking my time with these but my wife found Season 4 and 5 at Costco and brought them home a week after I got Season 3! it's gonna take a while to get through.

As Gavin MacLeod said to Rob in "Empress Carlotta's Necklace" -- "You have good taste sir!"

Another oddity of Rob Petrie's life to consider.

In "The Night The Roof Fell In," Richie needs to get disciplined for breaking a bottle of shaving lotion and we see him sampling a jar of shaving cream as he emerges with his face covered in it.

Yet a few episodes later in the same season, in "Gesundheit, Darling" we find that Rob owns not one but two electric razors!

Is Rob so indecisive on whether he prefers blade to electric?

My question is, which caucasian played the better hispanic character, was it Bernie Kopell in "Remember the Alimony" or Joby Baker in "Viva Petrie"? Of course the king of the 60s-70s when it comes to multi-ethnic interpretation is still Vito Scotti!

Since I'm working through Season 5 now, here's a couple more little observations (and you can now mark me down as another under-35'er with all 5 seasons ):

In "The Great Petrie Fortune", Uncle Hezekiah really must have been loaded; for his song and dance routine there's multiple camera angles seamlessly edited together! Not an easy feat for a home recording back then. Also, one of the stock holdings read off earlier on is for "Calvada Cardboard".

At the end of "Viva Petrie", I caught an interesting writing credit: John Whedon. I thought to myself "There's just no way...", but yes: it turns out that he's Joss Whedon's grandfather.

Here's one for "You're Under Arrest": what's the probability that of all the license plates in New York state, all four of the variations by one number in a plate (they say the last number in the plate was either 3, 6, 8, or 9) would be in New Rochelle?

Here's one for ya ............

In Season Two's "I'm No Henry Walden", Rob makes an odd declaration to Laura: "They don't allow you on Park Avenue in a rented tux".

Huh? You mean to say that if Rob *had* tried to enter the Walden party in a rented tuxedo, the "Tux Police" would have whipped out their badges and escorted Mr. Petrie (Petroff ) off the premises? I somehow doubt that. Of course, there's no possible way anyone could have KNOWN he had on a "rented" tux in the first place.

LOL.

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Also ....... In the same "Henry Walden" episode, Mel comes bursting into the writer's office, brimming over with excitement because Henry Walden is in his office to see Rob.

Now, can you tell me WHY Mel would be THAT excited about having a poet/writer in the office when (obviously) as producer of a popular TV variety show starring Alan Brady, Mel has met dozens of famous movie & TV stars?

This highly-excited reaction by Mel to meeting this poet doesn't quite "fit", IMO.

"Nothing goes over worse at a formal dinner than the smell of sweaty bunny fur."

Hey Van Dyke Show fans ......

There's another "oddity" or "mini-flub" (of sorts) -- in the episode "The Masterpiece". More of a "common sense gaffe" I think.

Can anyone guess what it is? (Near beginning of show just after the auction ends. I had never before thought about this obvious gaffe, until re-watching this ep. today.)

Good luck.

Winner receives two free "ARTANIS" paintings, plus an original "NATHANIEL GOOD" piece of artwork (worth about US$1.99).

I need to rewatch that one sometime, but in the meantime ponder this: In "The Brave And The Backache" Rob can only stand up straight and not bend down. So the real question is, how did he drive himself home if he couldn't bend down to sit in the car? (Even if he took the train he'd still need to drive home from the station, plus he still had to get to the psychiatrist's!)

Good point, Eric. LOL.

A *possible* explanation is that Dr. Phil Nevins gave Rob a lift. But that would still beg the question, how was Rob transported in such a stiff posture? Was he stuffed through Phil's back-seat windows, with his feet extending out one window and his head out the other? Or: possibly Phil strapped Rob to the roof of his 1961 Ford sedan, as one would transport the family Christmas tree.

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The answer to my "Masterpiece" riddle is actually quite simple (although, as I said, I'd never thought of it till tonight either).

Hint: If this hunk of "common sense" had been employed for this episode, it would have negated the whole rest of the program. So, obviously, this logic could not be implemented here.

Just to keep the "feeling" of TDVDS fresh and ever-present .... Let me toss out another Brain-Busting Van Dyke inquiry:

>> What is the name of the substitute dentist that Rob goes to see when he breaks a tooth on his "soft chicken sandwich" in the episode "A Man's Teeth Are Not His Own"?

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Plus, the ARTANIS still awaits the person answering my "Masterpiece" question from earlier.

Ouch, I can only remember that the sub dentist plays violin music in the office. I can't remember his name!

But really David, how can you keep talking about the DVD show when there's war and famine and pestilence going on?

The substitute dentist's name is Dr. Barthoven. Not sure if that's exactly how it's spelled, but there it is.

Also, re: the Super Ultra Deluxe Ottoman Collection, didn't the official site say awhile back that if you buy the sets separately, you can just get the Ottoman and the extra extras when they come out for a cheaper price than it would be if you bought everything at once?

LOL! Yeah, I see your point.
I've never seen the word "pestilence" spelled out before me before. Wonder why? You spelled it correctly too. It's just not a word that normally comes up in casual conversation it seems.

I've always kind of wondered about another part of that "Teeth" episode. ... Rob breaks a tooth, and is IMMEDIATELY in agonizing pain. I don't know if this is entirely accurate or realistic. From my experience, it is not. I've broken teeth before, and not once did it hurt so bad I was writhing in agony. In fact, it didn't hurt at all immediately. You've got to let it rot to the nerve to induce Rob's type of agony. (I think.)

Anyway -- the doc's name is "Dr. Barthoffen". (I'm unable to "spell-check" the doctor's name, because he's not listed in any credits, because he never actually appears in the episode in question.)

"More water? Is this a kid or a camel?"

Jeffrey beat me by 1 minute. Good man, Jeff!

I check DVDonDVD.com occasionally, but the site is never updated (past June 2004). So I don't know what the status of the "Ottoman Collection" is as of now. *shrugs*

To continue the "Leave no tiny DvDS gaffe or mini-mistake left unturned" policy ..........

>> In "Father Of The Week", right at the very beginning, Laura comes into the room asking Ritchie "What is this?". Ritchie answers "A dirt bomb" before even looking at what Laura/Mom had in her hand.

>> In "The Ghost Of A. Chantz" the same "scream" by Laura is utilized twice in the same scene. -- Once right after Laura sees the "ghost" in the bedroom mirror; and then again the exact SAME scream is used when the camera cuts to Rob & Buddy in the other room.

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I guess my "Masterpiece" inquiry shall forever remain unanswered. Oh, well. Such is life.

I may not be remembering the Masterpiece episode correctly, but as I recall they were bidding against someone. So, of course, the logical thing to do would be to simply sell the accidentally acquired artwork to them.

Perhaps you should set up dvpondvdondvd.com to aggregate all this information.

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Bingo, Ryan! Exactly correct!
You recalled the ep. perfectly.

Simple solution really. Simply have Rob go to the other person (who bid as high as $170 before Rob accidentally bid 180 clams) after the auction and sell the "Artanis" to that other bidder. Rob might be out the $10 difference, but that's certainly better than being stuck for $180. And: maybe the other bidder would have been willing to pay the whole $180.

But, quite obviously, if Carl Reiner had done this "logical" thing in this episode, we'd have had only an 8-minute program (approx.). It would have ruined the last two-thirds of the script.

Good job, Ryan. You can name your prize for answering correctly -- as long as it costs me NOTHING!

Now -- Can you tell me what gaffe Jerry Helper makes in the episode "A Nice, Friendly Game Of Cards"? (A lapse in logic I would call it.)

And -- Did we here with the Van Dyke Police already discuss the gaffe in "The Two Faces Of Rob"? -- Because there's a good one in that show that I'll bet virtually nobody has ever caught.

Is this the Ed Platt episode? I just watched it yesterday and it was full of laugh out loud moments. In fact, I was laughing so much I missed the gaffe you mentioned.

I'll have to rewatch this next time I'm on the treadmill and see what it is. I'm guessing it had something to do with the scene where Jerry & Rob are in the kitchen after Richie has narced his dad out.

Steve

No, that's not what I'm thinking of. It's at the card table, during a poker hand. Jerry does something extremely stupid, that a poker player would never do in a million years.

(I also recently took note of the fact that some of the DVD-On-DVD discs won't allow on-the-fly audio-track switching, to toggle to the occasional commentary track. But some discs will allow this. I doubt it's just *my* Player. Anybody else notice this mini-annoyance?)

I'm not a poker player so my ignorance will show. I assume it has to do with the fact Jerry announces he is breaking up his queens to go for a straight (or something like that).


Given TV's big loss last Sunday, it was appropriate that I watched "The Pen is Mightier than the Mouth" this evening. It features late night talk show host "Stevie Parsons" (an obvious sound-a-like reference). The character also paid homage to Mr. Paar by using the take-off catchphrase "I rib you not".

Steve

Yes. Exactly correct. WHY would anybody playing poker announce to the whole table such a thing? LOL! (Of course, in the episode, it was NEEDED to further the plot. So we'll have to forgive Jerry's obvious brain cramp. )




Hey -- I'd never thought of that before (the "Carson"/"Parsons" connection). And I hadn't realized that the "I rib you not" line was a Paar take-off either.

Interestingly, though, I'd always kinda wondered WHY the audience laughs at just the moment of that line (which isn't really funny; but now that I know it's a "Paar parody", the laughter makes sense).

Steve -- For those two excellent observations, you are definitely now on the DVD-On-DVD "first team".

I think the Vince Waldron book on the DVD show has noted that when "Stevie Parsons" first appears his character is more a take-off of Paar, but when he appears again (played by a different actor) in Season 5's "Dear Sally Rogers" his mannerisms are said to be more like Carson's.

I have that excellent Waldron book -- but I must've not remembered those specific parts about the "Parsons" thing. I've always wondered why they didn't use the same actor for both of the "Parsons" episodes. (Perhaps the first Parsons, played by Dick Patterson, wasn't available for the "Dear Sally Rogers" episode in Season 5.)

The second Parsons, btw, was Richard Schaal, who went on to guest star on the Mary Tyler Moore Show many times. Schaal played several parts, in fact, on the MTM Show, including a boyfriend of Mary's in Season One, as well as "Chuckles The Clown" (who, of course, was killed by a rogue elephant in one of the funniest MTM eps. ever during Season #6).

Isn't it ironic that the DVD show would use two actors to play a character named "Stevie Parsons" but they used Lennie Weinrib to first play "Jackie Brewster" who then in his second appearance turned into "Danny Brewster"?

Of course if he'd kept his name then in his second appearance in "Sam Pomerantz Scandals", Mel should have first reacted to seeing him by saying, "Say, isn't your name Jackie Brew-Brew?"

I'm clearly in a punchy mood tonight, but that's what happens after coming off a 12 hour work day!

Yes, indeedy!

Then Brew-Brew could slip right back into his funny "FBI" routine again ........

"The FBI. That's you! ... Fat, Bald, and Ignorant!"