“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.
Stuff to listen to: