Long Night's Journey Into Day

10 Stars.

The Dick Van Dyke Show did a few scary episodes, and this one is tops. It's kind of like a lost classic, coming at the end of the series. Relatable if you've ever been home all ALONE with unexplained noises?

Rob and Jerry go away on a fishing trip , leaving Laura and Millie with whoever or whatever is outside the house in the middle of the night? I agree with the last reviewer; Ann Morgan Guilbert should have had a larger role on the show, like the way Ethel was to Lucy. She was hilarious and the two made a super team.

Their machine-gun dialogue is tops, both unable to sleep and staying awake all night due to strange stuff and a phone call -- with NOBODY on the other end? Also a line about taking a shower, obviously lifted from PSYCHO. It would have been a hoot had Hitch made a gag appearance, and back in the day I was rooting for something like that!

Bottom line, everything that could go wrong goes wrong, and it has some jittery and goofy moments. Wait for the ending.

Directed by Jerry Paris who kind of lets Mary and Ann do their thing. Their expressions are priceless.

SEASON 5 EPISODE 30 remastered dvd box set. First set released 2004, re-released 2016. 5 dvds each.

Rob, Ritchie and the Helpers are going on a fishing trip and Laura is staying home since she has a cold. During this time home alone, Laura's imagination takes hold and she starts imagining all sorts of bad things.

A bit later, Millie arrives. She hated camping and decided to come back and spend the weekend with Laura. Not surprisingly, Laura is terrified when Millie walks into the house. Now the two stay together...and are terrified together!

Even later, Rob is planning on returning home early. He's apparently caught Laura's cold and is leaving Ritchie with Jerry and his kids. But what will happen when Rob enters a house with two very scared ladies?

Dick Van Dyke and Jerry Paris are barely in the episode and it gives Mary Tyler Moore and Ann Morgan Guilbert a chance to star in an episode. And, fortunately, the two women are hilarious. It's nice to see the cast make so much from a simple setting and situation. Well worth seeing.

Ann Morgan Guilbert gets a chance to shine in what is essentially a two-hander. We've seen the comic brilliance of Mary Tyler Moore several times throughout the run of the show, but Millie is the star here, alternating between straight man and razor-sharp comic.

My opinion: the scenes with Rob almost detract from the comedic brilliance of the two women. (If they could have found a reasonable way to get Sally into this episode and have it just the "girls"...I think I might plotz!)

The premise might not stand up to contemporary standards --helpless female in distress. But who can't relate to being alone in a drafty house for the first time ? I can say I still get freaked out when my partner is away, so its not so far-fetched a premise.

"Ok???? Ok!!!!"

"You hit me again I'll let you have it!"

A stroke of magnificence near the end of an iconic run.