My buddy Tom Brevoort sent me a question that a number of other folks sent me…
Your post today about the best and worst episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show immediately made me wonder the obvious question: if you'd rank "The Twizzle" about ten spots from the bottom, what do you consider to be the worst episode of the series?
I'm not sure I'd say "worst" so much as "weakest" because I don't really dislike any of them. Even the weakest episodes have moments when it's fun to watch that wonderful cast doing what they do. But if I had to list the nine weakest episodes in my opinion at this moment, I think they'd be — in no particular order — "The Bad Old Days," "You Ought to Be in Pictures," "Viva Petrie," "Uncle George," "The Square Triangle," "Happy Birthday and Too Many More," "The Lady and the Babysitter," "Like a Sister" and "The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer."
I don't care for most of the episodes that are about jealousy, especially ones where Rob or Laura thinks the other would be happier with someone else. The Petrie marriage always seemed so ideal that it couldn't be shaken by something as trivial and contrived as someone at work flirting with Rob or an old boy friend of Laura's showing up. I'm not saying there can't be jealousy in a marriage; just that in this show about this marriage, that kind of problem pops up out of nowhere and then it gets resolved ten minutes later by one or both suddenly remembering that they love each other.