I was watching this episode on the DVD, and it appears something might have been cut. The jingle bells part with Buddy and Sally ends abruptly and the scene then cuts to Rob & Laura in the Santa suits preparing to sing their song. It appears like the tail end of the jingle bells scene may have been cut, the way the scene ends so abruptly. I'm not an expert on the episodes, perhaps nothing is cut and the episode was just made that way, but it looks fishy. If the end of that scene is cut, it amounts to probably just 10 or 15 seconds of missing footage. Those who also have this DVD, check it out and see what you think.

Lee,

I have felt for a long time that some of the episodes in the DVD set could be the syndicated versions and not the full, uncut episodes. I know of at least 3 more episodes that I think have odd looking edits, but I've been too lazy to sit down and document them! I don't care for the Christmas episode and never watch it, so I can't verify your beliefs. I have no reason to doubt you, though.

Just last night I watched "Jilting the Jilter" and again noticed that when the show comes out of the middle commercial break, it fades up with laughter and Freddie White in the middle of doing his act at a party at Rob and Laura's house. I would think that the original version would show Freddie's act from the beginning; possibly with an introduction from Rob. I'm just speculating about this and don't remember if I've ever seen a version that shows Freddie's act from the beginning.

Another example is in "My Two Showoffs and Me" when they're in the middle of trying to impress the writer, Rob says "I was talking to Noel Coward at that party", but I could have sworn that a bit earlier in that scene Rob bragged about being at a party with Noel Coward. That part of the scene is missing from the DVD. It seems like he wouldn't reference "That party" without previously mentioning that he was at a party with Noel Coward. Now, I have had some false memories with TV shows that I watched as a kid, so this could be another one. Or did that exist and has been cut out?

The third example is in the season 4 episode "Stacey Petrie - Part II". When Julie is waiting for Stacey to arrive at her apartment, she's talking with the butler. She said, "I think he has stood me up." The butler replies, "Don't feel badly Misss Julie" and then the picture cuts back to Julie with what sounds like the trailing end of audience laughter. The cut sounds like it was made mid-sentence and is an obviously bad edit. I don't know if it originally aired like this, but it seems too sloppy an edit for a CBS network show.

I must say that most of the episodes seem to be uncut, but when I watch these three it always irks me to think parts are cut out!

yea; if they are that irks me too! All this time I've been thinking they aren't cut.
Oh well; if they are (and I assume we're talking about the ones from IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT) the exellence of the DVDs more than makes up for the fact!!

(are you listening, CBS/PARAMOUNT? I hope so!)

Lee,

I have felt for a long time that some of the episodes in the DVD set could be the syndicated versions and not the full, uncut episodes. I know of at least 3 more episodes that I think have odd looking edits, but I've been too lazy to sit down and document them! I don't care for the Christmas episode and never watch it, so I can't verify your beliefs. I have no reason to doubt you, though.

Just last night I watched "Jilting the Jilter" and again noticed that when the show comes out of the middle commercial break, it fades up with laughter and Freddie White in the middle of doing his act at a party at Rob and Laura's house. I would think that the original version would show Freddie's act from the beginning; possibly with an introduction from Rob. I'm just speculating about this and don't remember if I've ever seen a version that shows Freddie's act from the beginning.

Another example is in "My Two Showoffs and Me" when they're in the middle of trying to impress the writer, Rob says "I was talking to Noel Coward at that party", but I could have sworn that a bit earlier in that scene Rob bragged about being at a party with Noel Coward. That part of the scene is missing from the DVD. It seems like he wouldn't reference "That party" without previously mentioning that he was at a party with Noel Coward. Now, I have had some false memories with TV shows that I watched as a kid, so this could be another one. Or did that exist and has been cut out?

The third example is in the season 4 episode "Stacey Petrie - Part II". When Julie is waiting for Stacey to arrive at her apartment, she's talking with the butler. She said, "I think he has stood me up." The butler replies, "Don't feel badly Misss Julie" and then the picture cuts back to Julie with what sounds like the trailing end of audience laughter. The cut sounds like it was made mid-sentence and is an obviously bad edit. I don't know if it originally aired like this, but it seems too sloppy an edit for a CBS network show.

I must say that most of the episodes seem to be uncut, but when I watch these three it always irks me to think parts are cut out!

The christmas episode isn't my favorite either, it's OK, I guess they wanted to do something different. The one part of the episode that's painful to watch is when Larry Matthews sings The Little Drummer Boy. Not that he does a bad job singing, but he looks uncomfortable during the performance. It's like he was thinking "I wish they wouldn't make me do this!" :lol:

Regarding the episodes on the DVD, I have seen a few others and some episodes time in at about 25:30 while some others are as short as about 24:20. I really haven't noticed anything in the shorter ones to indicate something might have been cut, I think the Dick Van Dyke Show is maybe just one of those shows with inconsistent running times. Even the closing credits vary in the episodes, some are longer than others. I guess I'll just go on the belief that the DVD episodes are uncut unless evidence to the contrary comes out. Paul Brownstein had a hand in the production of these DVD's, any time his name is associated with a DVD issue (Get Smart for example) you can usually rely on it being a quality product, so I'll give these the benefit of the doubt.