I have noticed that many wonderful TV shows have rough starts...early episodes where the characters behave in ways they never would have behaved in later shows. One example is "Punch Thy Neighbor" on "The Dick Van Dyke Show". It's dark and mean-spirited...something I cannot imagine in anything other than an early episode.
When the show begins, Rob and Laura are watching the Alan Brady show with their neighbors, Millie and Jerry. After the show is over, Jerry begins saying that it was a rotten episode. But he doesn't say it once or twice but again and again. The next day, Jerry's kid tells the Petries that the show was rotten and the milkman, who also didn't see the show, says he heard from Jerry that the show was rotten! At this point, Jerry's 'practical joke' isn't funny at all...and he's gone way too far. What's next? A punch in the nose!
As I said above, this is a pretty mean-spirited episode and having Jerry acting so nasty seemed WAY out of character. As a result, I was not impressed with this one.
By the way, in the scene where Rob accidentally hits Laura in the nose, if you watch Dick Van Dyke's hand didn't even come close to his co-star's face....not even close.