It May Look Like a Walnut

It May Look Like a Walnut is the 20th episode in season 2 of the TV series The Dick Van Dyke Show that aired February 6, 1963. The episode was ranked #15 in TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes of All Time 1997 list. It moved up to #13 in TV Guide's revised 2009 list.

Synopsis
Rob enjoys a scary sci-fi movie on TV while Laura cowers under the bed covers so as to not see or hear it. When the show ends, Rob further tortures Laura by telling the tale of Kolak, a visitor from the planet Twilo who resembles Danny Thomas and deploys walnuts to steal Earthlings' thumbs and imaginations. Rob awakes in the morning to a living room strewn with walnuts and Laura preparing scrambled walnuts for Rob's breakfast. Everyone at the office is acting as if Kolak really existed. Is Rob dreaming or is Laura having her revenge?

Main

 * Dick Van Dyke - Rob Petrie
 * Rose Marie - Sally Rogers
 * Morey Amsterdam - Buddy Sorrell
 * Larry Mathews - Ritchie Petrie
 * Mary Tyler Moore - Laura Petrie

Recurring

 * Richard Deacon - Mel Cooley
 * Carl Reiner - Alan Brady

Guest

 * Danny Thomas - Kolak

Production
The concept for the episode was a parody of The Twilight Zone. As writer Carl Reiner noted, it was his own version, "with several hundred walnuts". Additional inspiration for the episode came from other science fiction of the day, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The episode was filmed January 15, 1963.

Release
"It May Look Like a Walnut" aired on February 6, 1963 as episode 51.

Reception
The episode was ranked #15 in TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes of All Time 1997 list. It moved up to #13 in TV Guide's revised 2009 list.

In 2021, a clip from this episode is also shown in the WandaVision episode "Previously On". Also in 2021, the first episode of Wandavision, "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience" is a tribute to sitcoms of the 1950s and early 1960s, especially The Dick Van Dyke Show, to the point that Wandavison's producers talked to Dick Van Dyke himself for his advice to keep the episode as authentic as possible.