Way back when, I watched the first few episodes of WandaVision and really enjoyed the pastiche of early sitcoms. The black and white cuteness, canned laughter, and surprisingly funny moments. I was curious to know whether it was just Wanda’s take on the genre that I liked or if the genuine article was just as good, so I sought out the first series of The Dick Van Dyke Show - available on Amazon Prime/FreeVee in the UK.

I loved it, but I don’t know why it took me quite a long time to get back to it. I’ve only just finished watching the fifth series this month (although granted there are 30+ episodes a series!), just before the Olympics kicked off, and it’s all just made me so happy. The series is wonderful, warm and funny with an ensemble feel despite DVD being the obvious star.

The heart of the show is the relationship between Rob and Laura, the husband and wife that are so artfully copied in WandaVision. I love Laura because she holds her own, she doesn’t let Rob get away with things, and even though she is a housewife, that’s not all she is. I’m assuming Laura’s character was pushing the envelope a little in the 60s when this aired, but surely not as much as the character of Sally Rogers, played by Rose Marie.

Sally is a comedy writer along with Rob, and their friend Buddy, and she is a hoot! She takes no nonsense, she’s wildly open about her search for a decent man and she takes no encouragement to break out into song. In later series’, Sally gets to guest star on another comedy show and that just feels groundbreaking even watching it from 60 years later!

I thought the show would entertain for a bit but eventually get a bit dull, or at least feel dated, but it didn’t. Okay, sometimes the episodes that were bulked out with songs and dances felt like filler, but the talent of the cast made them watchable. And it wasn’t until the very final episode that there was anything like a clip show. Instead, the episodes are stacked with misunderstandings, and the neighbour friends who cause chaos, and holidays gone wrong, and extended family coming to visit and the constant terror of the star of the show Rob writes for, Alan Brady (played by such a young Carl Reiner that it took me ages to realise it’s the guy from Ocean’s Eleven!)

It was all in there, and all fantastic, and at such an early and groundbreaking stage in sitcom history. Incredible.