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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4 Banner Episodes, Including The First Show! Plus The Pilot!, July 3, 2004
Image Entertainment has produced five single-disc "Best Of" volumes of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" for fans of this timeless 1960s situation comedy who might not want to dive head-first into the more costly full-season DVD boxed sets. Each one of these five separately-available DVDs contains four Van Dyke Show episodes. Now we all know that these type of "Best Of" dealies are not going to please everybody. Each fan has his or her own "favorites" list. However, in the case of "The Dick Van Dyke Show", it'd be hard to get a "bad apple", in my opinion. Nearly *all* of the 158 episodes during the program's 5-year duration on the air are "favorites" as far as I'm concerned. Overall, I think fans of the show should be pleased with the episodes that Image has selected from the Van Dyke Show archives for these five "Best Of" DVD-Video discs. This first volume has the following episodes ........... 1.) "The Sick Boy And The Sitter" (From Season 1 [Premiere Episode]; Air Date: 10/03/1961). 2.) "Big Max Calvada" (From Season 3; Air Date: 11/20/1963). 3.) "Coast-To-Coast Big Mouth" (From Season 5; Air Date: 09/15/1965). 4.) "Dear Sally Rogers" (From Season 5; Air Date: 02/23/1966). --------------------------- Picture quality is virtually perfect for all the above episodes, thanks to the great-looking Film-to-DVD transfers used by Image and Paul Brownstein Productions. There's even a batch of "Bonus" features on each of these "Best Of" volumes, making these value-priced discs even a better bargain! ..... Extra bonuses for Volume 1 include the complete "Pilot" episode for "The Dick Van Dyke Show", called "Head Of The Family" -- which stars Carl Reiner as Rob Petrie. There are also some interview clips with members of the cast and crew, plus a video clip (in color) from the 1966 Emmy Awards telecast. Plus: There's a text "bio" feature ("Meet The Cast"), along with a trivia game ("The Ottoman Tripper"). In addition, this disc contains a "Play All" option, for continuous playing of all four episodes back-to-back. More data about this DVD.............. DVD Region Code -- "Zero".
Subtitles -- None.
Aspect Ratio -- Full Frame (1.33:1).
Audio -- Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (English only).
Insert? -- Yes.
Packaging -- Keep Case. So, if you have a hankerin' to watch Rob & Laura and the rest of the gang from "The Dick Van Dyke Show", but don't want to invest in the full-season sets, then pick up one or two (or better yet, all five!) of these nicely-done discs featuring "The Best Of The Dick Van Dyke Show"!
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Includes the first episode and the classic "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth", August 5, 2005
When you think of all the situation comedies that combine comedy in the work place with the domestic humor of the home life, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" has to be considered the prototype. The show was created by Carl Reiner, who had honed his skills after nine seasons in the cast of "Your Show of Shows" and whatever else Sid Caesar want to do. Originally Reiner had intended to be the star of the show rather than a writer, and indeed there is a pilot episode in which he played Rob Petrie with Barbara Birton as Laura, Gary Morgan as Ritchie, and Morty Gunty and Sylvia Miles as Buddy and Sally. Of course, by the time the show aired on CBS it had Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Larry Mathews, Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie in the key roles, with Reiner showing up from time to time as Alan Brady, who had the show on which Rob, Buddy and Sally worked as comedy writers. "The Best of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show, Volume 1" offers up four episodes from the show's five year run, two of which are definitely in the must have category, which is why I end up rounding up when I split the difference on this DVD.
Episode 1, "The Sick Boy and the Sitter" (Written by Carl Reiner, First aired October 3, 1961) is the first episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show," The situation is quite simple. Rob wants to take Laura to a party at Alan Brady's penthouse apartment, but she wants to stay home and look after Ritchie, who is not feeling well. The important thing here is that by the end of the episode you have to love Mary Tyler Moore as much as Rob loves Laura. You have to be impressed that Reiner would start this series with an episode that is about something as ordinary and everyday as taking care of a sick kid.
Episode 71, "Big Max Calvada" (Written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, First aired on November 20, 1963) stars executive producer Sheldon Leonard, who directed the show's first episode, as the title character, a mobster who talks like he walked out of a Damon Runyon story. Big Max wants Rob, Buddy and Sally to write a comedy routine for his nephew, Kenny. The problem is that Kenny has not comedic talent whatsoever, which makes the gang worried about how Big Max is going to take the news that Kenny is a flop. There is also an in-joke with his last name since Calvada Productions owned "The Dick van Dyke Show." An okay episode, with Leonard stealing his scenes from the rest of the cast.
Episode 127, "Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth" (Written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, First aired September 15, 1965) is an absolute classic episode. Laura is on a game show and the talk gets her to admit that Alan Brady wears a toupee. Worried that Rob is going to be fired, Laura goes to Alan to try and apologize. This episode deservedly won the 1966 Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, helped by the hysterical confrontation between the apologetic Laura and the really angry Alan. Besides, Laura has a point about there being needy bald people who could use Alan's toupees.
Episode 147, "Dear Sally Rogers" (Written by Ronald Axe, First aired February 23, 1966) finds Sally on "The Stevie Parsons Show," a late night talk show, where he routine about desperately wanting a husband goes over really well. When letters start coming in Parsons wants to pick one and see what happens, and to Sally's surprise she gets a letter from a guy who could be the man of her dreams. Who could be the mystery man in Box 7030? Does the name Herman Glimscher ring a bell? For that matter, notice that the name "Stevie Parsons" used for the host of the faux-"Tonight Show" is a combination of the names of Steve Allen, Jack Parr and Johnny Carson, the three hosts of the real "Tonight Show" up to that point. No wonder this is a classic television situation comedy. An above average entry and one of my favorite Sally Rogers episodes.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you need a quick fix of comedy, June 15, 2006
I can't think of anything funnier than the Dick Van Dyke show. Of course, it would be better to own the complete boxed sets. But if you need a short blast of gully-busting laughs then you can't go wrong with this dvd.
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