MovieChat Forums > The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (2004) Discussion > Was Anyone Else Disappointed?

Was Anyone Else Disappointed?

posted 20 years ago by dryginmartini
21 replies | jump to latest

I'm not sure if my comments are considered to contain SPOILERS (but I don't think I can spoil anything for anyone with this show)...

Was anyone else disappointed in this show? I got the impression from how the show was initially hyped up that it was claimed to be a better "reunion" style show than most out there. It just didn't seem that the effort of the original shows was put into this show.

I thought they missed a great chance to write an episode that really had the same style of the original show...and instead of the dumb eulogy angle, they could have gotten back together to do an Alan Brady show revisited thing - to me, that would have been more upbeat and had more room for their old-style humor than the whole way they discussed whether to do the eulogy or not.

I absolutely love the series, so maybe I'm just overly critical of anything that doesn't come close... I dunno.

[–] Ripshin 20 years ago

The special is TERRIBLE. I have purchased all of the DVD sets of "DVD," and watched them twice....but this "reunion" is simply awful. And, I know that "Trivia" claim that original set furniture was used is completely false, as I spoke to somebody who worked the production design.

What character is MTM playing??? A Prozac'd Mary Richards??? She sure isn't Laura Petrie. I guess it would be too much to expect some of the old perkiness, but she doesn't need to alter the character completely, to be politically correct.

[–] ohioriver 20 years ago

It wasn't that bad. I kind of enjoyed it. Are you having a bad hair day?

[–] Ripshin 20 years ago

Not sure what my hair has to do with an extremely poorly produced "reunion." It was indeed that bad - check with any of the dozen or so professional reviewers who even bothered to comment prior to its airing. And, I'm one of the most loyal DVD fans around. I make my judgments based on twenty years of experience in the entertainment industry.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jpgr_ca 19 years ago

At last, I watched this show on a tape over the Easter season. Yes, I was disappointed. It seemed ironic that the one who must have organized it all was the one whose lacklustre script let everyone down. I grew up watching reruns of DVD and the least-funny episode was more entertaining than this.

"Stupid Marge tell ME to shut up."

[–] road_runner_outsmarts_the_coyote 19 years ago

I was glad that Dick Van Dyke finally got rid of that mustache!

[–] NancySpungen01 18 years ago

It wasn't just you. It was a bad reunion special. It acted as though it couldn't make up it's mind if it wanted to have the actors come in and be the same old characters (as started doing in the beginning) or if wanted to be a clip show (like they did in the middle) or if just wanted to have Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke talk about being Rob and Laura and making jokes about how different comedy was then (the end). Worst of all, the eulogy issue was a shaky way to reunite Rob with Alan in the first place (who asks for their eulogies in advance? who would ask a COMEDY writer to writer to do the eulogy when they're supposed be heartfelt and sad? Why would Alan ask Rob if he hadn't spoken to him in 30 or 40 years and didn't even know he had moved?) but in the end, the eulogy is not even resolved. At least I don't think so. We never see Rob writing it or delivering the eulogy. Oh and it was sad the way they tried to include Richie and the old house in the reunion special. So, Richie inherits their old house. Gee, most kids move away from home, not the parents. It's also funny how they still have the same phone number from like 1960 and never changed it or anything. lol. Why did they show the clip from when dude who played Alan guest starred as a painter? That was too weird, especially after they had just showed all those other clips of him being Alan with Laura. The reunion should have been done much better.

[–] fgeorge_76 18 years ago

Guys, it was a REUNION SHOW! Very hard to recapture the magic the old series had. It was a good attempt, but people change and the actors changed. They wanted a way to keep everybody still alive in the mix and honor the dead. A good attempt . . . I've seen reunion shows worse than this or just try to use old jokes from older episodes. Get Smart Again was a collection of old jokes; when James Doohan guest-stared on TNG as Scotty they used the old 'drunk' joke from one of the TOS episodes. It was a one time deal to reflect, rather than recapture. You can't recapture great magic, but you can create something to honor it.

[–] ultratvfan 18 years ago

Morey Amsterdam (Buddy Sorell), Richard Deacon(Mel) and, and Jerry (Paris(next door neighbor Jerry Helper) were clearly missed, especially Morey Amsterdam and his great jokes.

[–] Maserati7777 18 years ago

I liked, it's better to do it now then to wait for Dick van Dyke or Carl Reiner to die then do it. Stars die suddenly everyday, well not everyday but a lot. John Ritter, Steve Irwin, Bob Denver, and Don Knotts.

Do I CAUSE YOUR DEATH? Just like you caused Erin's?
Maserati7777

[–] Ripshin 17 years ago

The point is....it didn't "honor" the show, it insulted it. Bad script, bad acting, bad set design, bad everything. The original is a TV gem - this was a debacle beyond belief. A "reunion show" is not impervious to criticism, just by its nature of being one.

[–] paulmoshay 17 years ago

Better to have it than not... kind of true it wasn't Laura Petrie today she even tried to present... more a recent Mary Richards to MTM herself. Wasn't an embarassment completely but no spark even given the limited objectives...

[–] jfhester 17 years ago

Was the show bad? Absolutely. Was it nice to see the remaining cast members back together again? Absolutely.

Yes, the writing was terrible and the show just wasn't funny (it's been 3 years since I've seen it, but I do remember that), but it was certainly interesting to see what has happened to these characters nearly 40 years after we last saw them.

Despite it's flaws, it's nice to think that somewhere out in the netherworld of TV land, the Petries are still together, Alan Brady is living in comfortable retirement (possibly poised for a comeback), and the house in New Rochelle is back in the Petrie family.

We also have to remember that it is JUST a TV show...no matter how bad it was, no lives were lost because of bad writing.

Having made those points, however, I do think it's silly when reunion shows have the characters "move on" in one way or another. In this case, more specifically, having the Petries living in Manhattan instead of the familiar house in New Rochelle. Yes, you may be thinking, "Well, in real life, people move on and life changes". True, but this isn't real life. One of the things people like about favorite TV shows is a comfortable familiarity with the characters and settings - that's why we watch them again and again over the years. That's a minor point, however.

[–] operabuff67 15 years ago

Part of the problem was that they waited way too long to do it - too many of
the cast members had died. Also, some things made no sense. For example, what was the point of having Sally married if we didn't get to know her husband? He
just walked into the back room and never came out. And Ritchie? All he did was
answer a phone?? I would have liked to have at least met his wife and kids. Also, some people don't age well, and Rose Marie is, unfortunately, one of them. Maybe it was just me, but I thought that she seemed to be struggling with her lines. Sally's razor-sharp wit seemed to be dull, and it was not fun to watch. Remember Dagmar, the statuesque blonde from the 50's and 60's? She was
still popular when she retired. Whatever Became Of did an article on her. When
asked why she retired when she was still popular, she replied, "I'd rather have them say "Whatever happened to Dagmar?", then "Look what happened to Dagmar!""
Wise woman! Rose Marie should have done ths same.

[–] TCall2004 14 years ago

Sally's husband, Herman Glimcher, appeared on and was mentioned on several of the old DVD shows.

He was a mama's boy....I can't believe Sally settled for him. Was she that desperate not to end her life as a single woman????

[–] TCall2004 14 years ago

They should have allowed fans of the show to remember it as it was...when it went out on top all those years ago.

Sally disappointed me. The plucky gal I admired in the end settled for a man she not only didn't love but she OBVIOUSLY didn't even respect. I guess Herman's mama finally died and he needed a stand-in for her.

Millie and Rob's brother....NOT a believable couple.

And, yes, how many times were they going to remind us that Buddy, Mel and Jerry had passed on?

WHY no mention of Buddy's wife, Pickles? Good question.

They made the same mistake with Mary Tyler Moore's and Valerie Harper's characters from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", too. THAT was a disaster.

They can't leave well enough alone.

[–] TCall2004 14 years ago

Mary Tyler Moore has had some serious health issues over the past couple of decades.

She almost lost her eyesight as a result of diabetes, which she has had all of her life.

She played con artist/murderer/mama from hell Sante Kimes in a TV movie a couple of years ago and she was terrific!

[–] Ripshin 14 years ago

The Kimes movie was in 2001. Since then, Moore has lost about 70% of her eyesight.

Judy Davis did a 2006 TV version of the Kimes story, as well.

Neither was filmed in the US.

[–] jfhester 10 years ago

I realize I'm jumping into this discussion long after the fact, but I do remember watching this show when it originally aired, and there were some definite mixed feelings. Humor-wise, it was a real disappointment. The original Dick Van Dyke show is still one of the funniest shows of all time, and it can still make me laugh out loud when I see it. This show, however, was almost laugh-free.

That being said, I do think there was some value in getting all of the remaining cast members back together one more time, probably the last time. Despite the bad script and lack of laughs, it was great to see Rob, Laura, Sally, and the rest of the cast again. It was interesting to see whatever became of the Petries and the people around them, even if it wasn't what I would have expected.

It would still be nice to see the surviving actors together again, although perhaps for a clip show this time.

[–] jf_moran49 8 years ago

Actually, The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited was the second reunion special of The Dick Van Dyke Show. In 1994, CBS aired a more traditional clips special such as you mentioned, titled The Dick Van Dyke Show Remembered.

So now that it's been "remembered" and "revisited," let's let the sitcom rest, and just enjoy the best of the original (1961-66) filmed episodes, whether digitally streamed, on home video, or in broadcast syndication.

As regards some of the other comments here, the original series was filmed before a studio audience, not with a laugh track, with but two exceptions--"The Bad Old Days" episode, #28 from the first season, which relied upon sped-up, filmed inserts during a dream sequence, which made shooting in front of an audience impractical; and "Happy Birthday and Too Many More," episode #19 from the third season, the one filmed the week of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, when it was correctly assumed no audience would be in the mood for laughter so soon after such a tragic event.

Also, I find most of Morey Amsterdam's ("Buddy Sorrell's") vaudeville jokes (as with old vaudeville jokes in general) to be dated and unfunny. Even the insults between "Buddy" and "Mel Cooley" (Richard Deacon) are rather juvenile and become tiresome after one has heard them a few times. I thought "Buddy" one of the most dispensable characters in the series, and was always more fond of the domestic humor and interaction between "Rob & Laura Petrie" and their neighbors "Jerry & Milly Helper," particularly "Millie" (Ann Morgan Guilbert). I do enjoy Rose Marie as "Sally Rogers," supposedly based, at least in part, on one of Sid Caesar's only female comedy writers (and later comic actress), Selma Diamond.

I always felt rather sorry for "Mel Cooley," who was the producer of "The Alan Brady Show" as well brother in-law of the show's star (shades of Jack Benny's brother in-law/producer Hilliard Marks), and generally seemed a pretty nice guy. It was bad enough he was always belittled by the egomaniacal "Brady," without having to also endure the low-brow insults of the obnoxious "Buddy" to boot.

And as for the Revisited special, not the worst reunion episode I've ever watched, just not the best either. Those honors might go to the two Father Knows Best reunion films (The Father Knows Best Reunion, and Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas) as well Still the Beaver (reunion of Leave it to Beaver) and Return to Mayberry (The Andy Griffith Show reunion film).

[–] SindyLan 7 years ago

I guess I'm really late to the party,
I've never seen the reunion episode so I have no opinion on it.

But I'm here because last week I watched a color version special of the original show, mixed up babys and blabber mouth about Alan's wig, they were great, the color was near perfect, I could not believe how funny that show was and still is,
that show made me laugh, the sit-coms today make me cringe.

but I was wondering if they would have more specials, or is it going to be a weekly show, maybe on USA, although the special was on CBS, does anyone know? if you're still out there.