AllMovie

The third season of The Dick Van Dyke Show opens with one of the series' funniest and most celebrated episodes. In flashback, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) recalls the day that he and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) brought their newborn son Ritchie home from the hospital. A series of bizarre incidents, coupled with the ditzy behavior of the OB-GYN nurse, convince Rob that he has the wrong baby, and that a couple named Peters have unwittingly gone home with the Petrie infant. Despite Laura's protests, Rob invites Mr. and Mrs. Peters to his home to reveal the dire news -- only to get the surprise of his life, not to mention the lives of every viewer who watched this episode when it first aired on September 25, 1963. (Not only was the punch line one of the best-kept secrets in TV history, it was astonishingly timely, given the momentous sociopolitical events of the previous summer!)