Roseanne: We Gather Together

Roseanne: We Gather Together
ABC
November 21, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Danny Jacobson wrote this Thanksgiving episode, which juggles a lot of guest stars:

• Ned Beatty as Ed Conner gets more to do than most of the guest stars, from flirting with Crystal to arguing with Dan.
• Stephen Dorff makes his last appearance as Jimmy Meltrigger; they didn't really do much with his character, even less than they did with Chip.
• Luke Edwards makes his last appearance as Lonnie Anderson, with less to do than that; I can't remember if there's a Lonnie #3.
• J.J. Johnston, who's Jay Bryant here, had played a nameless man on The Bob Newhart Show and a Helicopter Pilot on M*A*S*H.
• Estelle Parsons as Roseanne's mother Beverly fights more with Jackie this time, especially about Jackie becoming a cop.
• John Randolph makes his last appearance as Roseanne's dad Al, the character soon killed off (I forget what season).
• Ann Wedgeworth, still looking good years after Three's Company, makes her only appearance as Dan's divorced mother Audrey, much later replaced by Debbie Reynolds!

I would've gone with a B-, but the various threads do come together in the end, and Goodman particularly impressed me, not just with Beatty, but with Barr.  (His "I've got a crush on you" shows why this character is so lovable.)  Also, replaying the Jackie & Beverly argument with just Dan's face during the closing credits is inspired, a fresh perspective on the scene.

Three's Company: A Black Letter Day

Three's Company: A Black Letter Day
ABC
December 11, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Baser & Weiskopf script, based on a story by a writer with only one other credit, takes a not very original idea (The Brady Bunch had done a variation on it and 3'sC would plagiarize itself during the Teri era) and makes it funny.  Lana reads "Dear Abby" and thinks that Jack is having an affair with Janet or Chrissy, so she tells each of them and then they suspect the other.  Larry adds to the confusion of course.  This is one of the episodes of that time (the one with the racetrack winnings is another) where Janet and Chrissy imitate each other when they argue.  It also has one of my favorite pairs of their outfits, the red & black and white & red suggesting that they are two sides of one coin.  (Plus I just like those color combinations anyway.)  The scene with Jack faking suicide and their reactions is particularly good, and I like the running gag about the letter from the Siamese twin.  Not quite a classic episode, but a lot of nice moments.

Note that this was the last Lana episode to air and I guess we can assume that Jack never corrected her assumption and so she moved out.  We'll see Wedgeworth a decade later, as Dan's mom on Roseanne.

Three's Company: The Love Barge

Three's Company: The Love Barge
ABC
November 27, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Richmond & Perret episode has the burden of Lana continuing to make unwanted advances to Jack, while Mr. Furley makes unwanted advances to her.  But I do like the competition between the girls to be guest on the cruise ship Jack gets a chef's job on, especially Chrissy's Groucho/Harpo impression.

Three's Company: The Loan Shark

Three's Company: The Loan Shark
ABC
November 20, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Mark Tuttle episode has some things I like about it, like that Janet, who in an earlier episode had said her father was half Italian, understands some of the language, and of course that Mr. Furley wears that crazy chef's outfit.  But it's kind of hard to get past that Chrissy keeps getting Jack into serious trouble without suffering any consequences herself.  It reminds me of the "Why don't the other castaways kill Gilligan?" question.  And speaking of Gilligan's Island, the title character, Bernie Bustamente, is played by Harold J. Stone, who was Dubov on GI, as well as Gabe Kotter's father.  Mickey Morton, who plays Floyd, also has a Gilligan credit, as a Native.

Three's Company: A-Camping We Will Go

Three's Company: A-Camping We Will Go
ABC
November 6, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Baser & Weiskopf episode has some great visual humor, from Jack's struggles with the hammock to Mr. Furley's safari look, and some nice verbal humor, such as Chrissy's line "Our lift left" and the jingles.  It has the main cast of six playing off each other well, with the addition of Larry's actress girlfriend Laura (Louise Williams, who would return as Chloe Brown).  I would like to give it a B+ or an A-, but there is the whole thing that various characters are making unwanted advances to other characters.  Mr. Furley pursues Lana, who pursues Jack, who gropes the girls in the pup tent.  I know this is part of farce but it does make me uncomfortable, especially when the audience applauds Mr. Furley's trick to make Lana keep her promise to be his "snugglebunny."  So, yeah, a B feels right.

Three's Company: The Life Saver

Three's Company: The Life Saver
ABC
October 23, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Although Chrissy has some cute moments in this episode, like her synopsis of the book Concerto of Love, it's hard for me to get past the basic premise of a man lying to Jack and not getting his comeuppance for it.  Also, I don't like how Mr. Furley is relatively mean in his early episodes.  And if Lana's kisses get to Jack so much, why does he keep running away from her?  This is the first of two 3'sC scripts by George Atkins, who did write some of the Rocky & Bullwinkle episodes I reviewed long ago.

Three's Company: Jack the Ripper

Three's Company: Jack the Ripper
ABC
October 9, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Richmond & Perret story, both Jack and Mr. Furley are having trouble asserting themselves, including (in Jack's case) with Dean Travers (William Pierson).  So on Janet's advice, they both see Dr. Prescott, well played by 29-year-old Joel Brooks with unbuttoned shirt, chains, and a nifty parody of the more dubious therapy of the decade.  I prefer the other Dr. Prescott episode, since I never like to see Jack yelling at the girls for no reason, but this episode does have the two patients barking at each other, as well as Chrissy's dumb blonde act at least being funny (I cracked up at the running joke about the bill for paint in Mr. Furley's mailbox), and a nice little chat between the girls and Lana, including about Lana's three ex-husbands.  Also we find out Janet has a brother who seems to be close in age.

Three's Company: Snow Job

Three's Company: Snow Job
ABC
October 2, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Chrissy again fails to get a raise at work, so this time she decides to sell cosmetics.  Meanwhile, Larry wants to have a poker game, which ends up as strip poker in Mr. Furley's tackily redecorated apartment.  Note that it's implied that Larry will score with both blondes he brings to the game and takes up, wrapped in just towels, to his apartment.  Also, I think this is the first episode where Janet imitates Chrissy's laugh-snort, although Jack has before.

Paul Avery, who plays Neil, would be Dr. Carlton on Soap.  John Miranda, who's Bill here, would have a couple roles on Mork & Mindy.  Melanie Vincz, who would soon play Kathy on M & M (but not the Kathy who pretended to be pregnant by Mork), here plays Sylvia for the first of two times, although I suspect that the Sylvia of '82 is not the same character.  And Taaffe O'Connell plays Lulu, her first of three 3'sC characters.

Three's Company: The New Landlord

Three's Company: The New Landlord
ABC
September 25, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Fifty-five-year-old Don Knotts joins the cast as the title character, Ralph Furley, whose brother Bart bought the apartment building from Mr. Roper.  On the one hand, it's nice to see Knotts, who at the time I probably knew as much for Disney movies as I did for Barney Fife, but on the other even at the time the Jack-Lana-Furley "triangle" bothered me.  She loathes Ralph, while Jack is very uncomfortable with her pursuing him.  Still, Furley does have some interesting outfits in his debut, and the scene in the pub of him hitting on the girls is kind of funny.

Note that the garage sale signs say that it's Sunday the 31st, and the girls' outfits suggest this is summer.  Bizarrely, there was no Sunday the 31st in 1979.  And since Mr. Furley confirms that tomorrow is the 1st, I'm going to guess Chrissy made the signs and it's actually Saturday, June 30th.

Paul Ainsley returns as Jim the Bartender and gets to react to Furley's drink order.  This is the first of thirteen 3'sC episodes written by Michael S. Baser and Kim Weiskopf (both male).  This episode has noticeably different credits and not just to include Knotts.  Lana is shown tripping Tripper, while Larry accidentally gets into a bumper car with a long-haired man.

Three's Company: Love Thy Neighbor

Three's Company: Love Thy Neighbor
ABC
September 18, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

In Mark Tuttle's first of eleven 3'sC stories, 45-year-old Ann Wedgeworth, who immediately goes into the opening credits (Kline had finally achieved that the previous week), makes her debut as multiple divorcee Lana Shields, her first of nine appearances in the role.  Jack thinks the girls have bought him a present to celebrate the third anniversary of their living together.  (Does this mean Season One actually takes place in the Fall of '76?)  So he fills in for a couple nights at Larry's escort job to make some money, but Lana doesn't just want a dinner companion.  In the tag scene, sometimes left out in syndication, Lana turns out to have moved into the apartment building.  I'm going to assume that she signed the lease with Mr. Furley's brother, since Ralph hasn't yet shown up and it'll be clear later that he hasn't met Lana.