Speaking of The Dick Van Dyke Show: Those of you who know it mainly as a comic book will be excited to know that there was a TV show, as well, and that the entire first season is coming out on DVD. The set, which is set for release October 21, features 30 episodes: "The Sick Boy and the Sitter," "The Meershatz Pipe," "Jealousy," "Sally and the Lab Technician," "Washington vs. the Bunny," "Oh How We Met the Night That We Danced," "The Unwelcome Houseguest," "Harrison B. Harding of Camp Crowder MO," "My Blonde-Haired Brunette," "Forty-Four Tickets," "Tell or Not to Tell," "Sally Is a Girl," "Empress Carlotta's Necklace," "Buddy Can You Spare a Job?," "Who Owes Who What?," "Sol and the Sponsor," "The Curious Thing About Women," "Punch Thy Neighbor," "Where Did I Come From?," "The Boarder Incident," "A Word a Day," "The Talented Neighborhood," "Father of the Week," "The Twizzle," "One Angry Man," "Where You Been Fassbinder?," "The Bad Old Days," "I Am My Brother's Keeper," "The Sleeping Brother" and "The Return of Happy Spangler."
There are a few lesser episodes in there and a much lower batting average than they'd have in subsequent years. Most in the cast thought "The Twizzle" was the worst show they ever did with "The Bad Old Days" a close second. But I really liked some of these, especially "Oh How We Met the Night That We Danced," "Empress Carlotta's Necklace," "Buddy Can You Spare a Job?," "The Curious Thing About Women," "Where Did I Come From?" and "The Return of Happy Spangler." And as Winston Churchill once said, even poor Dick Van Dyke Show is better than no Dick Van Dyke Show at all.
You can pre-order the collection from Amazon (and give this site a tiny cut) by clicking here.
And don't close that wallet just yet. According to this report, the first collection of the SCTV shows will be coming out in January. In this case, they won't be starting with Season #1 but with the later, stronger shows. In this case, since some of the early SCTV programs were pretty weak (and light on the stars we associate with SCTV), I think this is a good idea.