Dick Van Dyke's brother Jerry makes a guest-appearance on this episode of MTM. This actor is somewhat of an enigma. He wasn't on tv that much,(compared to his brother) but for some reason,whenever Jerry Van Dyke was cast on a TV show of any sort,he invariably played a part of a socially-inept,slow-witted,stuttering,
bumbling goofball that was in a jam of some sort.
This character/plot idea wouldn't be bad,but the slow-witted/stuttering part of the act is always overdone and overplayed until it gets annoying and old-which is a shame. I have noticed this dynamic in several of the small parts JVD has played-in over the many years,so this show episode is just another 'one of many' examples.
This makes me wonder,what was the real deal with Jerry Van Dyke? Was he cast in silly roles because he was likely to be stuck in his brother's shadow no matter what acting roles he did,anyway?
Was JVD simply less committed to acting,and did he treat acting more as a hobby than brother Dick Van Dyke did?
Was JVD actually a bit slow-witted? Did JVD stutter in real-life? Did DVD get JVD all of his jobs,ie was JVD a nepotistic Hollywood 'charity-case'?
I honestly have no idea,folks.
JVD is an enigma to me.
This MTM episode just isn't very-good. It is overdone in the wrong spots and I didn't think it was very funny.
This isn't the worst MTM episode by any means,but it isn't particularly good or memorable either. 7/10.