The writing team of Persky and Denoff, who did SO much to raise the level of comedic writing in the van Dyke series, demonstrate their UPS and DOWNS during the first Three shows of Season 4-- all three of which they wrote.
"My Mother Can Beat Up...." is funny in an outrageous way--- indeed the show developed from the fact that actor/dancer/comedian Paul Gilbert could do a spectacular Judo flip-- the highpoint of the episode---but the show relies TOO HEAVILY on slapstick and physical antics, in my opinion. Too cartoon-y.
"CARTOON-Y" is also the downfall of "Ghost of A Chantz", the second episode, which is just-plain LABORED and trite in is humor. Although it's good to have an occasional change-of-pace in the series, this is is NOT what made the series so uniquely funny.
BUT Persky and Denoff save the day with "The Lady and the Babysitter---beautifully written and brilliantly performed, with the customary wit, humor, split-second timing, nuance--- AND, in this case, poignancy-- that distinguished the DVD show at its absolute pinnacle.
Only Rob, Laura, Richie and guest star Eddie Hodges are featured (plus a few extras in the library scene)--- so there's no office scenes with "The Gang"--much as I love them. What REALLY makes this show exceptional is the REAL-LIFE "Resonance" (if I may) that MILLIONS of young, teenage boys in the early '60's felt towards Mary Tyler Moore...and here it is, being played out right on the TV screen--- in all the frustrating, "frutile", maddening, hormone-infused puppy love that Eddie's character is experiencing.
Again, it's FLAWLESSLY done--- with the car repair scene in the garage perhaps the highlight of the show (and the brief chocolate cake scene--- actually just a "throw-away" exchange----is delightful, and beautifully integrated into the action).
Another IMDB contributor (whose comments here include an airing of his/her politically-correct reservations about the series) bemoans the fact that the plot of "Lady/Baby-Sitter" has been used many times before--- and, indeed, I'm sure the basic storyline extends all the way back to Greek Antiquity or earlier. But WHO CARES? ---especially when it's done as well as it is here. LR
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