The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited

Over the years, TV show reunions have varied in quality. "The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited" actually comes out quite well. In this one, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) are retired and living in Manhattan when Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) summons Rob and Sally (Rose Marie) to write a eulogy for him before he dies. So arises the question: how do you write a eulogy for someone like Alan Brady? The characters themselves haven't changed a bit in the nearly 40 years since the original series. Rob is still tense, Laura is still fiery, and Alan is still a jerk. Sally is now married to Herman Glimscher (Bill Idelson), and neighbor Millie Helper (Ann Morgan Guilbert) is dating Rob's brother Stacy (Jerry Van Dyke). A good thing that the reunion did is not try to replace the deceased cast members (Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon, Jerry Paris); I think that we can agree that no one throws out hilarious insults like Morey Amsterdam.

So, this reunion isn't bad at all. However, couldn't they have found someone other than Ray Romano to host it? Oh well, it's pretty good otherwise. Still, I would have liked to have heard Buddy make just one more comment about Cooley's bald head.

Did not know this was EVER done, a DVD Show reunion. Saw it 2014. Enjoyed and laughed. I have only ever seen the original show in reruns and didn't understand the show until I was an adult. Something's just did not make sense. First, Sally Rodgers was one of TV's first femmenistsj I would have believed that Sally and Herman were living together. But Married? After the seventies even Sally would have not settled for Herman in marriage. Live together perhaps but not marriage. One would think that Laura would have had her own studio (outside the home) long before, say twenty years. Given that Alan Brady hasn't talked to Rob in thirty years and Rob a successful TV writer would have invested in his wonderful wife's dream years before. Ann Gilbert always a hoot, should have had more banter. With anyone! This reunion could have been done in 1984 and 2004! Perhaps better relationships and timing amongst actors. Everyone loves Raymond? No, we don't. But he's more tolerable than some, Dennis Miller.

I finally watched it with mixed feelings. The only parts I found funny were the "clips" from the classic show. The laughter from the "present" felt forced and after a while the applause got a little annoying. It was really nice to see the cast-why was Ray Romano there?-but the storyline could've been done so much better! It lacked the spark and genius that made the show so successful from 1961-1966.

I hate reunion shows of old TV shows. They always stink, but at least this one has a lot less stink than most of the others. It's not a bad film and it does reunite SOME of the original cast around a reasonably believable plot (the dead ones, thankfully, were not brought back). It also isn't so maudlin like many reunion shows. But, it also isn't all that wonderful and if you don't see it you aren't missing much. I loved the original show (except, of course, for episodes where they put on musical variety shows), but felt pretty tepid about this--the film isn't really necessary nor is it offensive. Now, believe it or not, this is a VERY positive review, because compared to other reunion shows I have seen, this is Hamlet-quality. For a nauseatingly bad reunion show, try the Beverly Hillbilly reunion. Or for a rotten time, but not quite as traumatic, try the Leave it to Beaver or Andy Griffith Show reunions. Now they ARE truly bad.

This was probably one of the best reunions of a 60s sitcom in the last ten years or so. Instead of having an hour of reminisces, Carl Reiner decided to write a good 45-minute storyline of the Petries in 2004. Some, in fact, a lot of this story-line works: Alan Brady is not dying, but wants Sally and Rob to write his eulogy so he can have the chance to rewrite it. Laura now has a small dance studio at home, and Sally is finally married to the guy she was always going out with.

Yet, there are some parts of the reunion show that doesn't make sense: Why did Rob stop writing? Didn't he write a book? Also Millie and Stacey's little "date" is strange, but funny. Yet, despite these few flaws, The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited still retains some of that old "magic," mostly because Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and Carl Reiner stepped right back into the shoes of their old characters. Unfortunately, though, Mary Tyler Moore's performance is a bit stale and rushed, almost as if she forgot how to make a comedy show. Larry Matthews' appearance is quick, strange, and we really don't learn what he's doing forty years later.

And why did Ray Ramano host this? What does he have to do with Dick Van Dyke? His scenes are even stranger than some of the weirdest parts of this reunion.

Finally, the clippings of the old show also make this reunion. When the new footage starts going a bit stale, they add in footage of the "good 'ole days" when these people were younger and funnier. Yet, all in all, this was a pretty good reunion, and I recommend it to every fan of The Dick Van Dyke Show to watch.