'The Dick Van Dyke Show' was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. A comedy show that was actually *about* comedy, this series brilliantly combined slapstick, low banter, high wit and sophisticated cultural references. Three episodes addressed the changing nature of race relations in America during the early 1960s.
Oddly and regrettably, while many other (vastly inferior) sitcoms of later vintage engendered 'reunion' episodes, for many years Dick Van Dyke refused all offers to take one more trip across the ottoman as Rob Petrie of New Rochelle. It was not until several members of the supporting cast had died that Van Dyke finally agreed to do this reunion special.
The good news is: it was worth the wait! 'The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited' does full justice to the original classic series. Annoyingly, the special is introduced by Ray Romano, an actor I don't care about who stars in a series I don't watch. But I recognise the realities of modern television; the producers of this special were eager to bring in a current 'name' actor as insurance for all these old-time names. (Anybody whose stardom peaked more than five years ago is a has-been for today's amnesiac audience.)
The show opens in that familiar New Rochelle living room ... but the person living here now is Richie Petrie, all grown up and still played by the same untalented (former) child actor who was the biggest drawback to the original series. After this painful opening scene, we cut to Rob and Laura Petrie, who must be the only couple who moved *to* Manhattan to retire. Rob is now dabbling in computer animation. (In real life, Van Dyke is a talented caricaturist: here, we see a pointless piece of animation in which a badly-animated cartoon Dick Van Dyke dances alongside a video clip of the real one. The impressive dancing of the real Van Dyke - still supple at nearly 80 - merely emphasises the crudeness of the animation.)
Rob's wife Laura teaches ballet classes in their Manhattan home, but yearns to open her own dance studio. We briefly see several little girls in leotards and tights, one of whom addresses Laura as 'grandma' even though Richie Petrie looks like he never had sex with anybody. Along comes a voice from the past: Rob's old boss Alan Brady, who wants to pay him and Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) a lot of money to write his eulogy so that Brady can hear it while he's still alive.
The dialogue cleverly establishes that Buddy Sorrell, Mel Cooley and the Petries' neighbour Jerry Helper are all dead (the actors who played them are now deceased). Laura is still friends with her former neighbour Millie Helper, who is now dating Rob's somnambulist brother Stacy. (Dick Van Dyke's real brother Jerry played Rob's brother Stacy in a few episodes of the original series, but here he seems to be reprising his annoying character Luther from 'Coach'.) The perennial spinster Sally Rogers is now in a dull boring marriage with Herman Glimcher, the mama's boy she dated back in the early 1960s (and played by the same boring actor, minus his hair). Sadly, no mention whatever is made of Buddy Sorrell's wife Pickles.
The real delight of this reunion special is the barrage of clips from the original show, although I wish the clips had been selected with more emphasis on comedy rather than music. It's a shame that there isn't even a brief clip of Van Dyke and Henry Calvin doing their Laurel & Hardy routine in the episode 'The Sam Pomerantz Scandals'. One clip included here may baffle viewers unfamiliar with the original show. In that classic series, Rob's boss Alan Brady was played by Carl Reiner, but he made his arrival gradually. Brady was only an offstage presence in the early episodes, making his first few appearances with his back to the camera and his face concealed. During the transition period before Alan Brady's face was shown, Reiner occasionally guest-starred in other roles in this series. This reunion special includes a long clip from the episode 'October Eve', featuring Reiner as eccentric portrait artist Serge Carpetna. Reiner is very funny in this role, but -- since Reiner as Carpetna looks exactly like Reiner as Brady -- modern viewers may wonder why Alan Brady is speaking with a European accent. (By the way, I savoured Reiner's guest appearance as Alan Brady on an episode of 'Mad About You'.)
'The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited' should have been done ten years sooner, but it's a pleasure to be reunited with these beloved characters one more time. Mary Tyler Moore is still trim, and clearly delighted to show off her lithe figure in dance clothes. Despite a few minor flaws and some odd production decisions, I'll rate this delightful special 10 points out of 10.
