Three's Company: An Affair to Forget

Three's Company: An Affair to Forget
ABC
November 30, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Janet's best friend from high school, Randy Buckley (Giftos, who previously was Chrissy's best friend from high school), visits from New York in order to shoot a commercial.  She and Jack start dating, but he doesn't know about her husband, Alan (John McCook, who previously was Doug Cooper).  Another misunderstanding develops when Jack thinks that Janet is seeing a married man.  It turns out that Alan is also a cheater, so Jack tells his roommates that the couple deserve each other.

Jack Scalici, who's Randy's Assistant, was Scavenger 1 on The Bob Newhart Show.  This is the first of three 3'sC stories by Mike Weinberger, who had done one for Welcome Back, Kotter.  It's also the 900th of my shows to air on ABC, and the 100th directed by Dave Powers.

Three's Company: A Hundred Dollars a What?

Three's Company: A Hundred Dollars a What?
ABC
November 18, 1980
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This George Burditt episode is probably more famous for what went on behind the scenes than for what happened onscreen.  It would be the final full appearance of Somers as Chrissy Snow, although this wasn't known at the time.  It was, however, tense during filming and I suppose there's a slight undercurrent of this although everyone acted (both performed and behaved) like professionals.  The trio are noticeably less physically affectionate with each other if you compare, for instance, the ending of the "Secret Admirer" episode to this one.  But as a twelve-year-old long-time viewer, I certainly didn't pick up on any of this.  I was probably more surprised by the raciness of the story, with Chrissy's old friend Darlene (Elaine Giftos, who had been Jerry's controlling girlfriend Cynthia on The Bob Newhart Show and who would be Janet's old friend Randy later) visiting and turning out to be a call girl.  (Not watching much of Barney Miller, I usually didn't see prostitutes on sitcoms for more than a moment or two.)

Note that I think Jack's hometown of San Diego had been mentioned before, and Chrissy's of Fresno definitely had.  It does seem odd that Jack's mother hasn't met Janet and Chrissy yet, or even heard about Jack living with them, but it will turn out later this season that Janet's parents (back in Indiana) haven't heard of her living arrangement either.  Both of Chrissy's parents having visited, her father repeatedly, is more unusual.  But then Chrissy seems closer to her family, as subsequent events would prove.

Mickey Deems makes his second of five 3'sC appearances, as Gambel.

The Bob Newhart Show: Anything Happen While I Was Gone?

The Bob Newhart Show: Anything Happen While I Was Gone?
CBS
November 25, 1972
Sitcom
DVD
B

This first of six BNS stories by Martin Cohan is the first to really feel like the characters are falling into place, particularly Emily, who is able to blend in as one of the boys when both Bob and Jerry skip Jerry's bachelor party.  While Bob and Emily were vacationing in Mexico (Emily bought flight insurance but she did go, so she's made progress with that fear), Jerry got involved in a whirlwind romance with Cynthia Fremont (27-year-old Elaine Giftos, who seems to have specialized in these poised but essentially unlikable roles, see Three's Company).  They're soon engaged but Bob thinks Cynthia is too controlling.  (Bob calls her a back-buster, presumably a euphemism.)  Carol doesn't like her either, which might lend support to Jerry/Carol shippers, except that we see that Cynthia is condescending to Carol, reason enough.  Howard/Carol shippers should note that when Carol jokes that she's cranky when she gets her eight hours of sleep, Howard is very intrigued and puts his arm behind her shoulders on the couch.