Survey for Dick Van Dyke Show fans ..................................
What are your "Most Watched" Van Dyke Show episodes (via the 5 splendiferous Image Entertainment full-season boxed collections)?
My Top 20
"Most Re-visited Episodes" list would look like this (what about yours?)..................
1.) "All About Eavesdropping" (Season 2 boxed set).
2.) "Harrison B. Harding Of Camp Crowder, Mo." (S.1).
3.) "The Curious Thing About Women" (S.1).
4.) "My Husband Is A Check-Grabber" (S.2).
5.) "Empress Carlotta's Necklace" (S.1).
6.) "Don't Toy With Me, You Saucy Wench" (S.4) *
* = aka: "Never Bathe On Saturday"
7.) "A Nice, Friendly Game Of Cards" (S.3).
8.) "Punch Thy Neighbor" (S.1).
9.) "Ray Murdock's X-Ray" (S.2).
10.) "The Sick Boy And The Sitter" (S.1).
11.) "The Night The Roof Fell In" (S.2).
12.) "The Ghost Of A. Chantz" (S.4).
13.) "A Man's Teeth Are Not His Own" (S.2).
14.) "The Case Of The Pillow" (S.4).
15.) "The Two Faces Of Rob" (S.2).
16.) "Pink Pills And Purple Parents" (S.4).
17.) "That's My Boy??" (S.3).
18.) "The Impractical Joke" (S.4).
19.) "Coast-To-Coast Big Mouth" (S.5).
20.) "My Blonde-Haired Brunette" (S.1).
Overall Favorite Seasons -- S.2 and S.1. ... Although all 5 seasons are top-notch, as all Van Dyke Show fans can attest.
-----------------------------
Post-Script ...........
Something I thought of while recently watching the
"Vic Damone"/"Ric Vallone" episode --- during the entire course of the
Dick Van Dyke Show CBS-TV series, creator/writer/producer Carl Reiner (plus the other top execs, Danny Thomas and Sheldon Leonard) never once exploited the "showbiz" angle of the Van Dyke series. What I mean by that is -- Carl & Company never felt the urge to cave in to the "Lucy Show Syndrome", and therefore very seldom brought in major movie stars of the day as guest stars to play off of the rest of the cast.
The
"Let's get a big-name guest star on the show every week" scenario could have easily been done (and with a built-in "realism" as well, due to Robert Petrie working in show business on a popular variety show). From what I've read regarding the series, many big stars would drop by the show's soundstages to shoot the breeze. It seemed to be the "in" place to be in Hollywood. Well, at least one of the "in" places at any rate.
And I'm guessing that if he would have wanted to bow down to such ratings pressures, Mr. Reiner (et al) would have had no trouble at all garnering many major movie stars as guests on
TDVDS.
I'm very glad, however, that Reiner decided not to go the "Lucy Show" route for bigger ratings or for prestige value (or whatever) -- because relying on the great regular cast was a much better plan.
And I find it interesting, too, to note that even when
TDVDS did occasionally include a guest star to sing or dance on the fictional
"Alan Brady Show", you'll note that the guest actor was always of a somewhat lesser-known stature, with character names created for them -- such as the aforementioned "Ric Vallone" used instead of Vic Damone's real name. ... And "Jacques Savon", and "Tracy Rattigan", and "Paula Marshall".
I often wonder how good the show would have been if Carl Reiner
had decided to include huge-name guest stars each week (playing themselves), like on Lucille Ball's shows -- with people like John Wayne, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Sammy Davis, and Jerry Lewis popping in every week to make an
Alan Brady Show appearance.
I, for one, am just as content and satisfied with the likes of "Janie Layton", "Henry Walden", "Jim Darling", "Valerie Blake", "Max Calvada", "Randolph Eisenbauer", and "Harper Worthington Yates". Plus, of course, the first-rate regular cast members, who didn't need to play second banana to anybody, IMO.
Trivia -- As far as I can recall, other than the episode featuring some real-life old-time radio stars, the
only other time in the whole
Dick Van Dyke Show series that a really big-name star is mentioned as being a guest on the
Alan Brady Show is in the "Walnut" episode, when Danny Thomas is said to be the guest. But even there, when Danny Thomas
does pop up, he's not really playing himself -- but, instead, he's "Kolac" from the planet "Twilo".
In closing, let me just state ----
"I haven't had this many laughs since the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre!" 
Ritchie Petrie could have written a better blurb.
).............
