Actors: Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam
Directors: John Rich, Robert Butler, Sheldon Leonard
Number of discs: 3
Rated: Unrated
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Release Date: April 9, 2013
Run Time: 750 minutes
Season: 5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars
There is just something about classic 60’s television. I actually miss it quite a bit. Today when you turn on the television it is all reality TV shows and trash. I really love escaping into the world when in order to be on television you needed to have talent. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore are two of the funniest people in the business. Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam are also fantastic compliments to the two leads. The humor is very funny and clean family fun. It is also very timeless. It has been over 50 years since this show aired and I still laugh out loud many times during each episode. Image Entertainment is the leader of bringing these great shows to Blu-ray with great shows like “The Twilight Zone”. This is not the first rodeo on Blu-ray for “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. Image released the complete series last year. This is the first time though that the individual seasons are being released. If you are a fan of this show this release is a must have! Relive the classics again!
Official Premise: Trip into the living room of comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) along with his lovely wife, Laura (Mary Tyler Moore), wisecracking co-workers and nutty neighbors. Winner of 15 Emmy Awards, this groundbreaking series is consistently ranked among the top TV comedies of all-time and renowned for its top-notch cast and stellar writing. Now enjoy the first season’s entire 30 episodes (air 1961-1962), each digitally remastered to its original full-length version. Get ready to laugh out loud with such classics as Rob and Laura balancing a career-building cocktail party with caring for a sickly son in the series’ first episode, The Sick Boy and the Sitter; then in My Blonde-Haired Brunette and insecure Laura disastrously dyes her hair; and Rob’s shy brother (Jerry Van Dyke) is a sleepwalking Jekyll and Hyde in the hilarious two-parter I am My Brother’s Keeper/The Sleeping Brother.
Image Entertainment does nothing of short of delivering “The Dick Van Dyke Show” looking better than it ever has on Blu-ray. The 1960’s black-and-white television show looks honestly stunning on high definition. For the Blu-ray, Image delivered each episode’s 1080p transfer with new scans from the camera negatives. You can tell that there is a lot of love for a show like this. Also for a show that is over 50 years old, you could have easily fooled me. There is no issue at all with the DTS-HD MA 1.0 audio track. The show doesn’t really need much in order for it to succeed well. The track is perfect for the show’s dialogue, the music and laugh-track.
The special features are very impressive for this release (and mirror last year’s complete series release). There is audio commentaries track with Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke on the following episodes 19: “Where Did I Come From?” and episode 29: “The Sleeping Brother”. I love the chemistry between both of these guys and they are a riot. I would have loved to see them cover each episode but that is not practical. There is the Original Series Pilot Episode, “Head of the Family”, which is a riot. There are interviews with various members of the cast and directors from the show. There are Emmy Award Telecast Clips Honoring “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and also Original Commercials with the Cast and Network Promos. Lastly there are Photo Galleries for the 16 out of the 30 episodes. Can’t wait for the the rest of the seasons being released. Keep them coming Image Entertainment!
Can’t wait to get this. In my opinion “The Dick Van Dyke Show” is one of the 10 greatest series of all time!