165: Weirdest Episode Ever: Dick Van Dyke vs. Space Aliens

“It May Look Like a Walnut” (February 6, 1963)

It’s not the first “weird” episode that a sitcom ever did, but it’s probably the most famous: the second-season installment of The Dick Van Dyke Show where it departed from the usual formula and became a sci-fi B-movie. It turns out to be a dream, of course, but you actually aren’t sure until the final moments, and it’s still one of the stranger sequences you’ll ever see on a mainstream sitcom.

This episode is not all that gay but it is the first of two pitches for our next Patreon-exclusive show. Should we do a whole ten-episode season of the weirdest episodes ever? We will be putting it up to vote after next week’s episode, the other choice, is live.

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Stuff to listen to:

Listen to the mini-episode about the Dick Van Dyke Show's debatable semen joke — and watch the scene here.

Stuff to watch:

Head of the Family, the failed Dick Van Dyke pilot
The Tiny Toons parody of Dick Van Dyke (with Elmyra Tyler Moore) Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited My Sister Eileen

Stuff to read:

Robert David Sullivan’s essay on this Dick Van Dyke Show episode

Episode artwork by Ian O’Phelan.