When it came to deciding what to write about for my first blog post, I struggled. There are so many movies, shows, vintage recipes, what-have-you I could have tackled for this inaugural piece. It only took several hours of watching ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ to realize, why not write about this? I watch the show several times every week and since I started it many years ago, it’s easily become one of my favorite shows of all-time. It’s just one of those sitcoms that can turn a bad day into a great day. Not many others can do that—at least for me.
Nonetheless, here are five of my favorite episodes, a little about each, and why I love that particular episode. Plus, a little bonus recipe somewhere in the fold.
The Curious Thing About Women (S1E16)
Director: John Rich
Writers: Carl Reiner and Frank Tarloff
Air Date: January 10th, 1962
This episode begins like most Dick Van Dyke Show episodes: at home. Rob enters the kitchen to have breakfast before he heads off to work, and shortly thereafter Laura enters holding the mail. Rob asks what’s for him and Laura tells him he’s received a letter from his cousin. Well, to Rob’s amusement the letter’s already been opened and Laura has read the entire thing. It gets to the point where Rob doesn’t even need to read the letter himself because Laura’s able to recite every last bit of it to him.
Naturally, this little bit doesn’t go unnoticed in the comedy-writing brain of Rob Petrie. When he gets to work later that morning, he tells Buddy and Sally what happened, and the three of them decide to write a sketch about the incident for ‘The Alan Brady Show.’ However, in the sketch it’s not just one little piece of mail that Laura opens . . . it’s a giant inflatable boat from the war surplus store—an idea that came to Rob because he had recently ordered one to go fishing.
Well, time passes and eventually Laura sees the skit on TV. The character has her name, her likeness, and does everything she did that morning. Laura gets upset because now she thinks all her friends and neighbors will think she’s kooky.
Hint: they do.
So, this makes Laura decide to stop opening Rob’s mail . . . until one day when a big package addressed to Rob arrives. I won’t say anymore, but for those who’ve seen this episode, the ending is gold.
This is one of those television episodes that never fails to pick me up. It’s hysterical throughout, even in moments where it could have lagged. Plus, it makes me wonder if this idea came to Carl Reiner or Frank Tarloff because something like this happened in one of their lives. Even if it didn’t, I’m going to pretend it did because where else would an idea like this sprout from? I know a lot of my writing comes from experiences even if the story isn’t anything like my own life; bits and pieces of what I write are always relevant to something personal to me. I’m sure most writers are the same, at least in some capacity.
Anyways, if you’ve never seen ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and want to watch one random episode to get a feel for the style of the show, start here. It’s in the first season and it’ll have you laughing your pants off. Literally. Mine are on the floor.
My Husband is Not a Drunk (S2E6)
Director: Alan Rafkin
Writer: Carl Reiner
Air Date: October 31st, 1962
In this episode, one of Rob’s old army buddies stops by for a dinner party; however, unlike most guests, this one (played by guest star Charles Aidman) has a unique talent. He’s a hypnotist. Naturally, all the guests at the party want to be hypnotized, so Glen (Aidman) does just that. He gets Millie to think Jerry is Rock Hudson, Laura to impersonate Abraham Lincoln, and Jerry to lecture about how much he loves himself. Lastly, he tries to hypnotize Buddy into acting drunk every time he hears a bell, but it doesn’t work . . . at least not on Buddy. While in the kitchen getting a drink for his son, Ritchie, Rob picks up the post-hypnotic suggestion and becomes resoundingly inebriated every time he hears a bell ring. But he has no idea . . . and neither does anyone else, at least not for awhile.
The next day, Rob goes to work still under the post-hypnotic suggestion. Hilarity ensues when a phone won’t stop ringing and one of The Alan Brady Show’s sponsors stops in to chat with Rob. I don’t want to go into too much detail because I could easily write up a thousand words about that scene, but I will say this: very few actors can act as ridiculously drunk as Dick Van Dyke.
It’s like his body is made of jell-o because he just wobbles around effortlessly. His legs are almost independent from his body with the fluidity of their motion. Add in the somewhat slurred speech and the constant state of delirium, and you have a drunken comedy masterclass.
This episode sort of makes me want to get hypnotized, but with my luck, my post-hypnotic suggestion would be something like, “Every time you hear a dog bark, you violently crave a spam jell-o mold and you won’t be satisfied until you consume one.” So, I’ll have to pass.
It May Look Like a Walnut (S2E20)
Director: Jerry Paris
Writer: Carl Reiner
Air Date: February 6th, 1963
While lying in bed, Rob and Laura finish watching a sci-fi movie on television—well, Rob finishes it. Laura hides under the covers because she’s too frightened to see how the picture ends. The movie deals with a race of aliens called ‘Twilo-ites,’ led by Kolak (who apparently looks like Danny Thomas), who come to earth to get us to stop invading their area, aka space. However, there’s one thing about these human-like aliens that stands out: they only eat walnuts. Well, that, and they have two extra eyes hiding underneath the hair on the backs of their heads. You know, nothing too crazy. Okay, they also don’t have thumbs, drink water to breathe, and apparently lack imagination. That’s it, though, I swear.
After being teased by Rob several times after the film, Laura tells Rob when he wakes up all he’ll have from now on are walnuts. Well, when Rob wakes up, peculiar things start happening all around him.
For starters, the living room floor is covered in walnuts, Laura’s drinking her morning glass of ‘fresh air,’ and Ritchie says he had a “nice bowl of hot walnuts” for breakfast. Then, when Rob gets to the office, Buddy’s snacking on walnuts and Sally claims to have met Kolak the day he came to earth to visit the UN. Also, neither have a sense of humor. All these events start getting on Rob’s nerves because he thinks this charade is all just a joke Laura concocted, but now it’s gone too far to where it’s scaring him.
This is arguably the best episode of ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and such an easy one to love. Carl Reiner created an absurd, yet priceless science fiction story that probably would have fared well on the show it was mimicking. You know, that one sci-fi series everyone still loves to this day? Yeah, that one. While they may not have had Rod Serling on as a guest star, they did manage to get Danny Thomas who was still in the midst of his own television series, ‘The Danny Thomas Show,’ which was in its tenth season.
This is just one of those television episodes I could watch every single day and never tire of. I catch something new each time, while finding myself full of mirth afterward. Plus, Van Dyke does his Boris Karloff impression at the beginning and it might even be better than Boris himself. Okay, that’s a stretch, but you get it.
All About Eavesdropping (S3E5)
Director: Stanley Z. Cherry
Writer: Carl Reiner, Sheldon Keller, Howard Merrill
Air Date: October 23rd, 1963
This one begins with Rob and Laura getting ready to visit Jerry and Millie next door for a little dinner party. While waiting on Laura, Rob trips over one of Ritchie’s toys, which turns out to be an “interplanetary intercom,” which is basically just an early version of a walkie talkie. Rob picks it up and sets it on the table, wherein he starts to hear Jerry and Millie talking about Laura’s special recipe for “Avocado and Peanut Butter Dip.” Laura enters the room and hears Jerry diss the dish, so now she becomes fully invested in the accidental eavesdropping with her husband. At this point, Millie also speaks ill of the dip and claims Laura may have intentionally left out an ingredient (mustard), so she can forever say she makes the best version of the dip. Millie goes on to mention that Laura also once gave her the design for a dress and left off a sleeve. Then, Jerry says Rob’s no Albert Schweitzer, which Rob takes probably a little too much offense to. After all, he’s not a theologist, philosopher, or physician. And yes, I had to Google who Albert Schweitzer was.
After Jerry and Millie walk away from the intercom, Rob and Laura turn their end off, and debate whether they should go to the party or not. They end up going, but make sure not to enjoy themselves in any capacity, while also making back-handed comments toward the Helpers (Jerry and Millie).
By the episode’s end, Rob and Laura let Jerry and Millie know what they heard via the connection between their sons’ toys. Everyone apologizes and becomes friends again.
So, when I originally posted on Twitter that I had figured out my first blog post, I knew I had to make the recipe from this episode because of how absurd it is. Peanut butter and avocado dip? What in the world? After doing some research, I only found one recipe for this potential abomination. It calls for:
· 1 avocado (mashed)
· 1 tbs creamy peanut butter
· ¼ tsp yellow mustard
· Dash of cayenne
· 1 tsp honey
· Juice of 1 lemon
· Salt & pepper to taste
After mixing everything together, the result looked a little like vomit. The green and brown did not mix pleasantly (see picture). My wife and I used potato chips or as they’re called in the show, “potato poopies” to be the vessel for this potential nightmare.
Well, somehow, it wasn’t awful. We initially couldn’t tell if it was good or bad, or even sweet or savory. We each took a few more dips into the mixture and got more each time to try and figure out the flavor, and honestly it just tasted like avocado and peanut butter. Every other element fell to the wayside. It got to the point where I think I started to like it, or would at least slather it on top of a burger. I don’t know, guys. I’m just as surprised as you. It really wasn’t that bad. Hopefully, the next TV show-inspired recipe I make at least tastes as bad as it sounds. Wait . . .
The Ghost of A. Chantz (S4E2)
Director: Jerry Paris
Writer: Carl Reiner, Bill Perskey, Sam Denoff
Air Date: September 30th, 1964
Last, but not least is this ghostly adventure of an episode. It starts with Alan Brady sending the writing staff of ‘The Alan Brady Show’ to a resort in the mountains to work on a new show idea. However, he apparently forgot to make reservations for anyone outside of himself and the show’s producer, Mel Cooley. This leads to Rob, Laura, Buddy, and Sally staying in an allegedly haunted cabin near the lake because it’s the only thing the resort’s proprietor could find available.
When the group first moves into the room, it seems beautiful and unlikely to be haunted. Naturally, this is when things start to take a turn for the worse. First, a fire in the fireplace starts unexpectedly. Next, when Rob and Buddy lay on the pull-out couch to go to sleep and Rob turns off the light, it turns back on almost immediately. Every time he turns it off, it turns back on. Then, the front door of the cabin opens on its own, the wooden chair starts randomly rocking, and Laura sees a man with a mustache in the mirror of her and Sally’s bedroom.
Things only get more and more eerie, and hilarious, from here on out. I’d love to tell you every little incident that occurs, but for those who haven’t seen the episode or those who haven’t seen it in a long time, I’d love for your next watch to be fresh-ish.
All in all, none of what the group experienced was actually caused by a ghost—it was all just a joke by Alan and Mel, with footage of everyone freaking out to be used in their new show, ‘Sneaky Camera’—a play on the long-running show, ‘Candid Camera.’
This is such a fun episode that I watched it twice just for this blog post. And, guess what, I may go watch it again now.