In anticipation of the release of “The Dick Van Dyke Show: Classic Mary Tyler Moore Episodes” on DVD and Blu-Ray from Image Entertainment. In Stores today! Dick Van Dyke’s series is back with the complete third season of his iconic series. Van Dyke is as funny as ever, playing Rob Petrie, an average suburban dad who lives with his independent and fierce wife Laura, and their young son Richie. During the day, he works as a comedy writer for “The Alan Brady Show,” the most popular sketch comedy show on television. He doles out comedy and scripts for the celebrity with his writing staff and best friends, Buddy and Sally, two sarcastic and hilarious sidekicks with their own quirks that make Rob’s life difficult but fun.
For season three, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” doesn’t just switch things up, but it dares to challenge the social norms of the sixties. And it does so daringly, and with a tongue in cheek that audiences could appreciate. In the first episode “That’s My Boy??,” Rob and Laura host a party and Rob is asked to tell the story of the time they brought Richie home from the hospital. Incidentally enough, Rob and Laura are convinced they’ve brought home the wrong child, and go about finding a way to prove it. They discover that another family, The Peters’ had given birth to a child in the next room and oddly enough their babies were switched. Upon inviting the Peters’ to their home, the viewing audience is surprised to find out that they are in fact an African American family.
For us, it’s a mild surprise, but consider the context of the show, during a time where the civil rights movement shook America, and our perception of society was forever changed. Not only did this reveal act as a joke for the show, but it also helped change our perception of society. Now African Americans were middle class and having babies in the same hospitals as The Petries, a middle class well off nuclear family. It’s a great way to rattle audiences without bringing the series down around Van Dyke. In “All About Eavesdropping,” the Petries accidentally hear a conversation between their neighbors Jerry and Millie, while “Too Many Stars” has Rob playing the favoritism game when he has to direct the PTA variety show and decide between Laura or a talented dancer for the lead.
“My Husband is the Best One” involves Laura intruding in a magazine interview, prompting Rob to garner most of the credit for the series. “The Return of Edwin Carp” involves Rob’s struggles to pay homage to radio comedians and his battles to grab the comedian Edwin Carp, and in one of the better episodes “Teacher’s Petrie” centers on Laura’s creative writing class and her very flirtatious teacher. That’s only a few of the really good episodes in what is a banner season. The Exclusive to Blu-Ray features include a clip of Mary Tyler Moore on the Danny Kaye Show, taking part in a very politically incorrect segment where they act out sitcoms from other cultures. It’s painful, but still funny.
There’s a tribute to Carl Reiner from the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences. Finally, most of the features are from the DVD Version, including production stills, audio commentaries for various episodes, interviews with the cast and crew, and “The Danny Thomas Show,” with Morey Amsterdam playing Buddy Sorrell. There are also various promo spots from TV and Cable Networks, featuring Dick Van Dyke himself.