There are 32 splendiferous episodes on tap in this fourth-season DVD set (all "uncut", as originally aired in 1964-1965).  Some of the many funny-bone-tickling episodes that await you in Season #4 include: "The Ghost Of A. Chantz", "4-And-A-Half", "Pink Pills And Purple Parents", "The Impractical Joke", "The Case Of The Pillow", and the hilarious "Never Bathe On Saturday", which features a distressed Laura Petrie getting her toe stuck in the bathtub (and also features one of my all-time favorite Rob-isms: "Don't toy with me, you saucy wench!").  LOL! 

The five-disc Season #4 DVD boxed set comes handsomely-boxed in comparable eye-appealing packaging to that of the previous boxed entries in the series from Image.  The outer box looks like an old '60s television set, with a 3-D "motion" type insert card placed inside the "TV" on the box.  Season 4's slipcase picture shows Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) struggling with the inflatable fishing boat that's contained in a package she "accidentally" opens in "The Curious Thing About Women" (which is an episode from Season 1).

Individual slim-type ("ThinPak") cases house each of the set's five discs (with each disc displaying attractive disc art).  Ample episode information is provided on the cover of each separate case (ep. numbers, air dates, film dates, synopsis, and chapter selections).  Very nice cover art photos grace each of the five individual cases. The discs are "Region Free" (Region "Zero").

VIDEO ..... Like the Van Dyke season sets before it, Season 4 boasts of A-1, Grade-A type digital transfers.  These black-and-white programs never looked so fine. You'll still run into an occasional bit of dirt and/or grainy image, but overall these shows look terrific on DVD! Very good detail is the result of the re-mastering and clean-up that was undertaken here, with objects (and people) exhibiting a sharpness that you'll never see on any VHS release of this TV series.  These shows are a joy to watch on DVD, again and again.

AUDIO ..... Sound comes through clean and clear via each disc's quite acceptable 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack.

MENUS ..... An easy-to-navigate menu system is employed here.  The Main Menu allows access to any of that disc's six (or seven) different episodes, with separate sub-menus offered for each program.  Each sub-menu shows that program's Chapter Selection, plus an "Extras" area, which will take you to any applicable "Bonus" features for the episode in question.  A "Play All" feature is also included from the Main Menu. Unfortunately (for many people), no subtitles or captions of any kind have been included here (or on any of the other Van Dyke Show sets issued by Image).

BONUS FEATURES .............................  

>> Two episodes have audio commentary tracks by Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner ("Baby Fat" and "Never Bathe On Saturday").  "Baby Fat" has two separate commentaries, in fact -- one by Dick and Carl; and another track done by writer Garry Marshall. 

>> The complete, uncut CBS-TV documentary "The Dick Van Dyke Show Remembered" (from 1994). Many clips from this same program are used throughout the different boxed sets that Image has released.  But here you can see the whole documentary all at once.  Darn good program too. Running time -- 46:35.

>> A clip from TV-Land's animated program, "The Alan Brady Show" (length: 1:15).

>> Cast Photos and "Proofs", taken by actor Roddy McDowall (length: 0:48).

>> Clip from the "DVD Exclusive Awards" (2003), where Image's boxed set of "The Dick Van Dyke Show Season One" took home the award for "Best Overall DVD for a TV Program". This clips lasts 3:13, and features Dick Van Dyke and disc producer Paul Brownstein accepting the award. Dick provides some funny ad-libbed comments during this entertaining video clip.

>> Dick sings the "Dick Van Dyke Show Theme Song" at The Hollywood Bowl (in August 2001).  Mary Tyler Moore also appears in this video clip, which lasts 2:26.  Dick (and the other singers who join him to belt out this cute tune) sound pretty dang good too!  -- BTW: If you've got the Season Three Image boxed set of "The Dick Van Dyke Show", you can hear Dick (solo) singing this very same ditty at the end of one of the Commentary Tracks for a third-season episode.

>> Clip from "Diagnosis Murder", in which Dr. Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) encounters "Rob Petrie".  This inventive 35-second clip features "Rob" as a disc jockey in the episode "One Hundred Terrible Hours" as "Dr. Sloan" passes by him in the hallway.  Clever way of putting both Sloan and Petrie in the scene at the same time.

>> Photo Galleries for 29 of the 32 episodes.

>> One Emmy Awards clip (length: 2:58).

>> Two "Tune In To Part 2 Next Week" Network Promos (integrated into the episodes themselves).

>> 4-Page Booklet about the 4th season of the show. This mini-booklet also contains photos, trivia, and a bio on Morey Amsterdam.

EASTER EGGS ..... There are six total "Eggs" to be found amongst these 5 discs (one per disc, except Disc #5, which has two).  Like the third-season DVD-on-DVD set, all of these Easter Eggs contain short "Nick At Nite" ads featuring "spokesman" Dick Van Dyke. You can find them in the "Chapter" sub-menus, by "Left-Clicking" on a chapter title (usually the "Opening Titles" chapter, but not always). If there's an "Egg" there, the cursor will move to the upper-right corner of the screen, highlighting the picture (drawing) of series star Dick Van Dyke.  Pressing "Play" or "Enter" at this point will access the ads.

Image Entertainment has a perfect 1.000 Batting Average with these Dick Van Dyke Show boxed sets.  Each set has been darn near perfect ... with nice, abundant bonus features included, terrific picture quality, full-length unedited episodes, and classy packaging.  Hard to ask for more.

This episode list reflects the order in which the programs are presented within this DVD collection (with one minor exception -- four of the seven eps. on Disc #2 are laid out slightly out of order on the disc). The episodes are arranged in sequence by "Production Date" (the date of filming the show), which does not always necessarily match the "Air Date" chronology.

The original CBS-TV "Air Dates" are listed in parenthesis:

---------------------------------------------------

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW -- SEASON #4 (1964-1965):

96. My Mother Can Beat Up My Father (First Aired: 9/23/1964)
97. The Ghost Of A. Chantz (9/30/1964)
98. The Lady And The Baby Sitter (10/7/1964)
99. A Vigilante Ripped My Sports Coat (10/14/1964)
100. The Man From 'Emperor' (10/21/1964)
101. Romance, Roses And Rye Bread (10/28/1964)
102. 4-And-A-Half (11/4/1964) **
103. The Alan Brady Show Goes To Jail (11/11/1964) **
104. Three Letters From One Wife (11/18/1964)
105. It Wouldn't Hurt Them To Give Us A Raise (12/2/1964)
106. Pink Pills And Purple Parents (11/25/1964)
107. The Death Of The Party (12/9/1964)
108. Stretch Petrie vs. Kid Schenk (12/30/1964)
109. The Impractical Joke (1/13/1965)
110. Brother, Can You Spare $2500? (1/6/1965)
111. Stacey Petrie - Part 1 (1/20/1965) **
112. Stacey Petrie - Part 2 (1/27/1965) **
113. The Redcoats Are Coming (2/10/1965)
114. Boy #1, Boy #2 (2/3/1965)
115. The Case Of The Pillow (2/17/1965)
116. Young Man With A Shoehorn (2/24/1965)
117. Girls Will Be Boys (3/3/1965)
118. Bupkis (3/10/1965)
119. Your Home Sweet Home Is My Home (3/17/1965)
120. Anthony Stone (3/24/1965)
121. Never Bathe On Saturday (3/31/1965)
122. One Hundred Terrible Hours (5/5/1965)
123. Show Of Hands (4/14/1965)
124. Baby Fat (4/21/1965)
125. Br-rooom, Br-rooom (5/12/1965)
126. There's No Sale Like Wholesale (5/26/1965)
127. A Farewell To Writing (9/22/1965)

** = Two-Part Episode

---------------------------------------------------------------

Season number four of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" yields yet another highly-worthwhile assortment of humorous entries in the series, spread across the five remastered Digital Discs from Image Entertainment.

One of the standouts being "Never Bathe On Saturday", which finds Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) getting stuck in a hotel bathtub!  How did she manage that, you ask?  You've never seen this very funny episode?  Then pop in Disc #4 and find out what the deal is!  :)

Another Mary Tyler Moore high spot (in a season full of high spots) in this boxed set is the episode "Pink Pills And Purple Parents", which has Laura Petrie acting very strangely when meeting Rob's parents for the first time (via one of the many flashbacks that were utilized during the series). MTM, once more, is a riot in this episode.

By the way, that episode I just mentioned above ("Pink Pills And Purple Parents") is mis-titled on the DVD (on both the packaging and the on-screen menus). For some reason, the makers of these discs seem to think the episode is called "Pink Pills FOR Purple PATIENTS". But that is not the correct title for this very funny episode.

Any buyers of this DVD set are in for the royal "Dick Van Dyke Show" treatment, via this extravagant and well-put-together 5-Disc set from Image Entertainment, Inc. .... As-good-as-new video quality is what you'll find here. These 1960s shows look better than ever before! With only an occasional blemish here and there.  Plus: There's a wide variety of bonus materials packed into this set --- commentary tracks for two programs, a feature-length documentary, photo galleries, and lots of other goodies too!

Some Dick Van Dyke Show Trivia and Fun Factoids ....................

>> Alan Brady's middle name is "Lester".

>> Ritchie Petrie's middle name is a rather unusual moniker -- "Rosebud".

>> Rob Petrie's middle name is "Simpson".

>> Buddy Sorrell's real first name is "Maurice".

>> Buddy's wife's maiden name is "Conway". And her real first name is "Fiona". But we know her much better as "Pickles". :-)

>> Next-door neighbor Millie's maiden name is "Krumbermacher".

>> Laura Petrie's maiden name changed from "Meeker" to "Meehan" during the course of the series.  This was due to the fact that Mary Tyler Moore had recently divorced her then-husband, Richard Meeker, and was uncomfortable about retaining the name "Meeker" for her character's maiden name after the break-up.

>> Occasionally, the show's brain-trust would just leave in a "blooper" or a small gaffe by the cast. You'll be able to see one such noteworthy (and quite funny) example of this in the "Bupkis" episode (which is in this set), when Rob is supposed to leaf through a telephone book BEFORE dialing the number for radio station "WIFE" ("The station most people are *married* to!").  Instead, Rob goes directly to the phone, dials the number, THEN glances at the phone book.  This is followed by a sly grin from Dick Van Dyke.  He knew at that point he messed up the order of the scene...but he did it will such fluidity that it almost seemed to be correct. Thus, they just left this goof-up in the final version of the show.