Three's Company: Double Trouble

Three's Company: Double Trouble
ABC
March 24, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode co-written with Staretski & Rips is the only one by Mark Fink, who oddly enough did the much more serious Who's the Boss? three-part series closer.  Like the "Handcuffed" episode with Chrissy, this is thoroughly implausible but seems to embrace that, as with the overdone fog that appears and disappears as needed.  Bart Furley's daughter Veronica (Robin G. Eisenman, who was Penny on Mork & Mindy and Miss Graham on Bosom Buddies) is visiting Uncle Ralph, who turns out to be just about the only character on the show (well, other than Mrs. Roper I guess) who doesn't feel protective about female relatives.  So Jack pretends to be his identical twin brother Austin, from Texas, and Ralph is happy to have Austin romance Veronica.  Not only does Mr. Furley believe in Austin, but he continues to believe in him when he throws a little party for both brothers, and even after, now thoroughly drunk, he goes in to Jack's room to scold Austin for hitting Jack.  The studio audience just seems to go with the absurdity, and the home audience does, too.  Note that Bart Furley is 48, which would seem to indicate he's the younger brother.