Three's Company: The Best of Three's Company

Three's Company: The Best of Three's Company
ABC
May 18, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

It's funny, I remember very little about the last season of Mork & Mindy but I can pretty clearly remember this clip show.  Maybe it's the difference in the level of syndication, or maybe I did miss some of Mork with the hiatuses and all.  Anyway, it was a big deal to get a comedy icon like Lucille Ball to host a clip show for a series that the critics then hated.  The clips selected range from classic (like Jack waking up with Mr. Roper) to OK.  But it is a clip show and there's only so much you can do with that, especially at an hour's length.  Also, in '82, it was great to see the early episodes again, which you couldn't other than when they'd air in syndication, while now, after watching six seasons on DVD (and having seen the episodes many times over the years anyway), it's not such a big deal.  Note that this couldn't have aired at the end of the previous season, because the behind the scenes drama had not yet quieted down.

Besides the people I've tagged, the following appear in clips: Paul Ainsley (Jim the Bartender), Frank Aletter (Mr. Latham), Leon Askin (Mr. Hoffmeier), Michael Bell (as Michael the dance instructor, not as the guru), Jordan Charney (as Mr. Layton rather than as Mr. Angelino), Gina Conforti (Felipe), Cynthia Harris (Mrs. Layton), Sally Kemp (Mrs. Latham), Shell Kepler (Didi), Jillian Kesner (the Sister who beats up "David Miller"), Heather Lowe (Brenda), Tori Lysdahl (Shirley), William Pierson (Dean Travers), Irene Tedrow (Martha), and Isabelle Wolfe (Waitress).  I think I would've included Loni Anderson and more recognizable guest stars, but maybe they didn't want to take too much attention away from the main cast.

Three's Company in its sixth season ranges from two C-s to three Bs, averaging just barely over the B- side of the C+/B- border.  As at the time, it took me awhile to warm up to the Terri character, and I don't think the writers quite knew what to do with her at first, or with Cindy as a drop-in friend.  As I recall, in Season Seven I was reconciled to Terri but not as invested in the show as I was a few years earlier.  (And this clip show would've confirmed my belief that the series was better in the Chrissy days.)  That said, I kept watching to the end (and even beyond, with Three's a Crowd).

Three's Company: Janet Wigs Out

Three's Company: Janet Wigs Out
ABC
April 6, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Budd Grossman wrote this story that was DeWitt's least favorite.  Janet buys and starts constantly wearing a blonde wig, resulting in an extreme personality change.  She's rude to Mr. Furley and Cindy (Harrison in her last appearance), and she alienates the cute and nice new neighbor she's started dating.  Interestingly, Larry is both turned on and scared of "the new Janet."  I can see why DeWitt didn't want to do this episode (she was in tears), but it's at least as entertaining as most of the episodes of the season, and the "wistwatch" thing with Cindy is funny, though her exit is painful.  Mr. Furley's outfits are as eye-popping as ever, and we get to see Jack do the "chest hair and chains" look at the end, when he perms his (head) hair to make a point to Janet.

Brad Blaisdell returns as Mike the Bartender.

Three's Company: Urban Plowboy

Three's Company: Urban Plowboy
ABC
February 9, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Staretski & Rips story is one of the highlights of the sixth season, and indeed of the Terri era.  Yes, it's a little predictable, e.g. Larry using Jack's name with a girl again, but it's fun to see it all play out.  Larry dates the aforementioned girl and pisses off her fiance, Wally (Herman Poppe, who would be an MP on M*A*S*H later in the year).  So Jack agrees to visit the farm of Cindy's Aunt Becky (45-year-old Sue Ann Langdon, who has a lot of other credits but none on my TV shows, although she did make memorable appearances as Miss Burnhart in both Zapped movies).  Becky ends up having chemistry with Ralph (in another of his classic outfits), despite his inability to kill a chicken.  (Knotts trying to hypnotize the chicken is unforgettable.)  They're later discovered in the hay together.  As a young teen, I always wished they'd bring Becky back as a regular girlfriend for Ralph, but it was not to be.

Meanwhile, there's one of the more impressive sets of the series, a barn, both exterior and interior, with a hay loft and pens and various nooks and crannies.  There are live animals (not just the chickens, but a piglet and cattle).  And there's the ensemble doing fine work together, including Jack and Larry bungling the pattycake game from the Road to... movies.  Note that Jack seems particularly interested in Janet's butt this episode, I mean more than usual.  (I'm not being prurient.  It will actually be a plot point in an episode later this season.)

Three's Company: Maid to Order

Three's Company: Maid to Order
ABC
January 26, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Laura Levine wrote this story that contains the following:

• Janet and Terri going to a lecture on "sex," in the sense of sexism;
• Cindy becoming the trio's maid, despite this being a recipe for disaster;
• Larry having Jack hold on to $250 in cash, so Larry can save up to buy his mother a TV (I guess he's afraid he'll take it out if he puts it in the bank);
• Cindy finding the money in Jack's room, when he claims to be broke (Angelino's is closed for remodeling and Jack apparently can't find fill-in work);
• Cindy giving the money to Janet and Terri, who call Jack a liar;
• The girls going down to the Regal Beagle to confront Larry, who denies it because he doesn't want to reimburse a customer or deal with the customer's hulking brother;
• The girls proving, despite living in a suburb of LA, their ignorance about the Lakers (e.g. they think Reggie Jackson is on the team);
• Cindy refusing to leave when Jack asks her to when a girlfriend drops by unexpectedly, since Cindy isn't done cleaning;
• Cindy finding the money again and hiding it somewhere safer;
• Chaos and confusion and nice ensemble work, including Ritter and Kline crawling under a mattress;
• Cindy having to pay more in damages than she earns.

Jennifer Shaw, with darker hair than when she played Veronica five years earlier (the one that Jack asked if she'd like to swing on a star), is Rita here.

Three's Company: The Matchbreakers

Three's Company: The Matchbreakers
ABC
January 12, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the second of two 3'sC stories written by Bryan Joseph.  (In '77 he adapted a Man About the House episode into "Alone Together.")  Sophisticated Marsha Whitewood (Ruta Lee, who had been Mr. Roper's real estate agent when he sold the building) starts dating Mr. Furley after he tells her he owns the building.  The trio worry that she's a gold-digger, which indirectly leads to Larry dressing up as "Mrs. Furley," the ex-wife.  He does more with drag than Jack did in "Jack on the Lam," although I'm unclear where he got the wardrobe and wig that quickly.  (From a girlfriend?  That must've been an interesting conversation.)  And Lee gives a good performance.

Note that Mr. Furley worries that he's not macho enough and then, thanks to the trio, that he's too macho.  Machismo, as we saw on Bosom Buddies the previous week, was viewed ambiguously at that time.  (In a different way than now I mean, when the term is used less often for one thing.)

Three's Company: Macho Man

Three's Company: Macho Man
ABC
December 15, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C-

Things wrong with this story by John Boni (who also wrote the great "Larry Loves Janet"):

1. The feeling of de ja vu, with Jack failing to protect a blonde roommate at the Beagle from a masher (but this time Terri uses self-defense), as well as Jack accidentally hitting a cop, with the charges dropped because the cop is embarrassed at the idea of someone like Jack ("a little pipsqueak" in this case, a supposed homosexual before) "beating him up."
2. As with Bosom Buddies, playing on early '80s racist stereotypes for the jail scene, again with a black guy as the toughest prisoner, only it's worse here, because even though there are more cellmates and more ethnicities represented, Jack intimidates them all when they hear he beat up a big cop, rather than with Buddies playing with the stereotypes a little.
3. Janet enjoying the whistles of the cellmates.
4. Cindy showing up at the police station merely so she can hit the cop with a door.
5. Mr. Furley disappearing from the police station without explanation.

What I liked:

1. Mr. Furley is kind of funny, especially when he's panicking.
2. His outfit.
3. That Terri can stand up for herself, even if it's used for plot purposes to make Jack feel emasculated and then he has to overcompensate later.

Kenneth White, who plays Officer Bellows, was Corporal Denning on M*A*S*H and a Marine Recruiter on Welcome Back, Kotter, while Rod Gist was Chalk on M*A*S*H and is Big Eddie here.  Sheldon Feldner, who's Sgt. O'Grady, had a recurring role on the last season of Soap as Deputy Perkins.  Brad Blaisdell returns as Mike the Bartender.

Three's Company: Eyewitness Blues

Three's Company: Eyewitness Blues
ABC
November 24, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Baser & Weiskopf story finally manages to use Cindy's clumsiness for good.  Janet's flower shop is robbed while Jack is there.  They're not eyewitnesses per se, since the man wore a mask, which they don't see him take off as he leaves, although the audience does.  Jack lets the police talk him into making the press think he saw the face of the robber (Alan McRae, who was Corporal Nessen on M*A*S*H, Airman McFarland on Mork & Mindy, and Phil on this show, although the mustache makes him less recognizable).  This slightly resembles a Diff'rent Strokes episode, although Arnold actually did see the criminal.  Anyway, a plainclothes detective is assigned to the apartment in case the robber shows up.  But the cop has the same tattoo on the back of his hand as the thief.  (When Mr. Furley hears that Jack was in the Navy, he seems surprised, although he knew about Jack's Navy buddy BJ.  It's just a set-up for a "fairy boat" joke.)  So Jack and Janet, who seem to be undergoing more stressful situations since Terri moved in, team up to knock the guy out.

Meanwhile, Cindy fixes Terri up with a seemingly great guy, although it's never explained why, as Janet wonders, Cindy isn't going out with him herself.  We never see him or hear anything further about the blind date, but when the robber shows up, Terri assumes it's her date.  It takes Cindy coming in typically exuberantly and hitting the robber with the door to save the day.

Three's Company: Some of That Jazz

Three's Company: Some of That Jazz
ABC
November 3, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Staretski & Rips story asks us to believe that Janet would consider quitting her job as manager of the flower shop, which Jack says she worked four years to get, in order to pursue a career in dance, on the advice of her instructor,
Michael (Michael Bell, who was also Chrissy's guru).  Still, it does have the scene that makes all the J/J shippers sigh, where Jack asks Janet to dance when she's upset about Michael's sleaziness.  Terri still seems to be trying to find her place in the apartment and in the series, and it feels weird to hear that she and Janet are already best friends.

Three's Company: Professor Jack

Three's Company: Professor Jack
ABC
October 27, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+


Laura Levine, who wrote four Bob Newhart Show episodes, offers her first of two for Three's Company, and it doesn't quite work.  Considering that there are not one but two major misunderstandings, I expect more of a pay-off than middle-aged men getting paint and Chinese food dumped on them.

Janet has a new boss (maybe Mr. Compton sold the flower shop in the last couple years), Tom Latham (Frank Aletter, who'd been Major Stoner on M*A*S*H and Daniel Turner on What's Happening!!).  Mr. Latham wants his wife (Sally Kemp, who earlier in the year played Mrs. Landis on Bosom Buddies) to learn cooking from Jack, so Janet sets it up.  Terri jumps to the wrong conclusion and thinks Jack is offering "love lessons."  Meanwhile, her boss, Dr. Anderson (Paul Kent, who previously played Alvin Morrell), wants her help in finding an apartment for his niece.  Jack and Janet assume Dr. Anderson is going to have a "love nest" for Terri.  Cindy drops by a couple times, for a change hitting Janet rather than Jack with the front door.

Three's Company: Jack Bares All

Three's Company: Jack Bares All
ABC
October 6, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C-

This is the first one-hour episode of the series, as well as the introduction of Priscilla Barnes as Terri Alden.  As such, it's a shame that Staretski & Rips couldn't do a better job of writing.  Yes, some blame goes to Powers's direction and Barnes's performance, but they're doing the best they can with what they were given.  And I did try to watch this episode objectively (including with director commentary) but these are the issues that remain:

• Terri is an unsympathetic character for most of the episode.  My issue is not really with the scene where she initially annoys Jack, since he's being unsympathetic there, while she's trying to act as a professional, albeit a somewhat snarky professional.  It's actually worse when Terri tries to make up with Jack and further offends him, and here is a good example of the subpar writing.  Even though Janet must've (or should've) told her that it's a platonic living arrangement, Terri acts seductively when she goes into the kitchen.  (Powers says on the commentary that he wanted a Marilyn Monroe style.)  And then, very un-Marilyn, she teases Jack about cooking, saying real men don't.  Now, wouldn't Janet have told her that Jack is a chef?  Beyond that, wouldn't it have come up that Jack is in the ER because he's a chef?  (Not to mention he's wearing an apron and Felipe is also dressed for the kitchen.)  And then when Furley tells Terri that Jack is gay, Terri makes things even worse by apologizing, trying to act tolerant but questioning why he'd have served in the Navy.  OK, it's 1981, but that doesn't make this good character development, or good plot progression.
• Jack is also, as I said, unsympathetic through part of the episode.  He's more justified than Terri, but he did ask Janet to find a roommate while he was busy.  Instead of either insisting on not living with Terri, or trying to communicate with her, he lets Larry talk him into a scheme of vengeance that's a lot more spiteful, and less funny, than what the two of them did at Eleanor's party.
• Larry is unsympathetic through most of the episode.  As he was the previous year, he's trying to move a girlfriend in, this time Didi (Shell Kepler, who'd previously played Larry's girlfriend Luanne, who he also lied to about his profession).  As I asked then, what is the point of this, when we know Larry's relationships are short-term?  And then he seems very taken with Terri (a crush that would continue), but he nonetheless wants her out and Didi in.  So he comes up with the scheme and persists in it, even though everyone onstage (and in the studio audience) is appalled.
• Janet is relatively sympathetic, although it's wrong of her to try to gloss over Jack's anger at Terri.
• Cindy is OK, although it gets annoying that she keeps saying both that she's only going to be ten minutes away (at UCLA, studying to be a veterinarian) and that she'll miss everyone but will visit often (at one point coming back just to say that and to hit Jack with a door).
• Other than his homophobic comments, Mr. Furley is fine this episode.  He is, perhaps willfully, blind to hints at the party that Jack is straight (as in Terri's impersonation of Jack, and Janet's of Larry), but it's not for the first time.
• Felipe is annoying, but that's usually a given.  (Mr. Angelino has decided to give Jack "one more chance.")

So what's to like?  Well, Ritter's dead-on impression of Knotts (and Knotts's reaction) for one.  Also, while I don't think the moment is earned, the way that Jack and Terri make up would pass for sweet on a better episode.  And there are some ensemble moments that are good, like the adding-words-for-a-sentence game.  But this is not how I wanted the sixth season kicked off thirty-five years ago or now.

Bobby F. Ellerbee had played Don on What's Happening!! and his role as Dr. Cooper is, as far as I can recall, the first speaking one for a black actor on 3'sC.  Although she's not credited, Sheila Rogers, who'd previously played Punkin Randall's mother, here first appears in the role of Desk Nurse Marge Andrews.

Three's Company: Honest Jack Tripper

Another classic Furley outfit.

Three's Company: Honest Jack Tripper
ABC
May 19, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Mark Tuttle episode has a feeling of de ja vu about it.  For one thing, Jack's new girlfriend Lisa Page is played by Anne Schedeen, who previously was Jack's sort of steady girlfriend Linda.  For another, it's about Jack being caught in a lie and then deciding to be brutally honest, which if it hasn't yet happened on this series, certainly has happened on enough series.  Predictably, Jack reverts to lying when it's a matter of sparing Furley's feelings.  It's not a bad episode, but it's not much to end the season on.  (If we don't count the failed pilots, this is the 100th episode.  It is at least DeWitt's 100th, she having missed an episode with, ironically, Schedeen.)

Shell Kepler, who plays Luanne, would return at the beginning of the next season as a different girlfriend of Larry's, Didi.

Three's Company in Season Five ranges from D+ to B, although oddly with no C's.  Unlike its peers of '80-'81, there's no fence-sitting; it gets a clear B- average.  So the replacement of Somers with Harrison hasn't harmed the show.  Yes, occasionally the series is awful this year, but it's not Jenilee's fault.  Generally, things are pretty good.  Season Six would have another major cast change, the final one for the series.  At the time, Terri Alden was my least favorite of the three blonde roommates, but we'll see how I feel about her now.

Three's Company: The Case of the Missing Blonde

Three's Company: The Case of the Missing Blonde
ABC
May 12, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Baser & Weiskopf story doesn't necessarily offer the earliest example of hysterical!Janet but it certainly is a good early case.  By hysterical, I don't mean funny.  I mean, well, see the picture.  Cindy isn't home when Jack and Janet get home from the movies after midnight.  Janet has only to see a heel broken off a shoe to start imagining that Cindy has been kidnapped.  Every clue after that supports her theory, but she starts panicking early on.  And in the tag, she has a sign-out sheet so the roommates will be able to keep track of each other.  Janet has always been the motherly one, but here we can see that she is definitely not always the sensible one.  It's hard to picture the Janet of the first season or two freaking out like this.  Worrying sure, but not edging into madness.  And of course, as Janet herself says later, it's just a big misunderstanding, since Cindy was with her visiting father (Alan Manson, who had previously played Mike the Cop) and had left a note on the back of the phone bill that ended up in Jack's pocket.

Robert Reisel, who was Mr. Miller on The Bob Newhart Show, plays the Motel Clerk.  Brad Blaisdell returns as Mike the Bartender and again impacts the plot somewhat, by seeing Cindy crying as she gets into a car with an older man wearing a hearing aid.

Three's Company: Dying to Meet You

Three's Company: Dying to Meet You
ABC
May 5, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

Budd Grossman wrote this story that starts out pretty standard.  Jack meets a pretty girl with a jealous boyfriend, and Larry makes the situation worse.  Even her defying the boyfriend, by saying she could kiss Jack if she wanted to, is to be expected.  But then Larry comes up with a scheme for Jack to fake his death, and things get very silly and funny.  The regular cast does good ensemble work (Harrison having settled in now), but special shout-out to guest Terry Kiser in his first of two 3'sC roles, Max the deadpan boyfriend.  When he quotes Cindy's "God forgot to wind it," re Jack's heart (yes, sadly ironic given Ritter's death a couple decades later), the delivery is just right.  And this is another episode where I really enjoy Larry.  Yes, he gets Jack into trouble but he does his best to get him out, and the car-salesman spiel for the coffin is solid.

Brad Blaisdell makes his first of ten appearances as Mike the Bartender and impacts the plot by telling Max where Jack lives.  This is sort of the 100th episode of the series, but only if you count the two rejected pilots.

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.

Three's Company: Night of the Ropers

Three's Company: Night of the Ropers
ABC
March 17, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

This George Burditt story brings the Ropers back on their 25th wedding anniversary.  (Which I'm sure doesn't match up to previous episodes with their anniversaries.)  Mrs. Roper is upset that Mr. Roper didn't want to do anything to celebrate, so she wants to stay with the "kids."  Janet advises her to make Mr. Roper jealous, and Helen soon has an opportunity when she stays in Mr. Furley's apartment while he's supposed to be away for the weekend.  He comes back early and of course Mr. Roper finds them innocently in bed together.  Jack tracks Mr. Roper down to the Regal Beagle and convinces him to make up with Mrs. Roper.  But she overhears Stanley saying he expects her to apologize.  So she gets back into bed with Mr. Furley.  And the two landlords end up fighting, which makes her happy.  And then the Ropers go to bed together, which Stanley is ambivalent about.  (He seems to like how she's necking with him, but he resents being tricked.)

Cindy is introduced as Chrissy's cousin but of course the biggest cast change for the purposes of this episode is the addition of Don Knotts, and it's fun to see him play off of Lindley and Fell.  The funniest part is probably Fell's "You know what, you know why, you know why what, you know what why," delivered twice.  I suppose objectively, this is really a B- or C+ episode, but it's so nice to see the Ropers again (in fact, in some ways nicer than it was to see them when they were regulars), that my enjoyment level is B.

Three's Company: And Baby Makes Four

Three's Company: And Baby Makes Four
ABC
March 10, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Staretski & Rips story is one of the better ones for Cindy.  She's dating a high-fashion photographer, Doug Cooper (John McCook, who'd return the next year as Alan), who criticizes her appearance.  She's happy with herself and tells him to buzz off.  (The audience is audibly on her side.)  Then when she complains to sympathetic Regal Beagle waitress Kelly (Frances Lee McCain, who had played Janet on The Bob Newhart Show), Kelly confides that she's pregnant.  I like that Cindy sympathizes with Kelly and helps her find maternity clothes.

Of course, this leads to the farcical situation of Jack and Janet thinking Cindy's pregnant.  There are misunderstandings that spin off of that, with Mr. Furley (who receives two black eyes) first thinking that Jack is dating Doug, and then later that Larry is proposing to Jack.  Cindy is very surprised when Jack proposes to her, but Janet talks her into it.  Cindy has a great line when Jack, who meets Kelly, tries to rescind his proposal and says, "You're not already pregnant": "Talk about lazy!"

I was wrong before about Cindy only being mentioned in one phone tag.  Actually, Janet tries to explain to Chrissy what's been happening this episode.  It's the last appearance of Somers on the show, with the exception of the Lucille-Ball-hosted tribute.

Three's Company: Teacher's Pet

Three's Company: Teacher's Pet
ABC
March 3, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Mark Tuttle story is somewhat predictable but, unlike M*A*S*H that week, it adds a couple of unexpected twists.  Dean Travers (William Pierson in his last appearance) hires Jack to teach a cooking class at the college.  Janet at the last minute decides to be a student (I guess it's drop-in enrollment), and Travers's attractive niece, Betty Jean, attends, too.  Jack flirts with her but refuses her offer to "earn an A" by throwing herself at him.  Janet walks in on her kissing him and of course thinks Jack started it.  And Betty Jean tells her uncle that Jack insisted she kiss him to pass the class.  It's up to Larry to show that "BJ" isn't as innocent as she seems.  The relative surprises are how the exchange between Larry and Betty Jean plays out (and we learn that Larry is not the great lover he claims to be), and how Cindy has to relay messages between Jack and Janet as they all stand there, another example of how Harrison's tendency to overact can work when put to good use.

This is the 100th John Ritter program I've reviewed.

Three's Company: In Like Larry

Three's Company: In Like Larry
ABC
February 24, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I have some trouble with the premise of this Staretski & Rips story.  Larry manipulates a quarrel between Jack and the girls for his own purposes, apparently to seduce Cindy, even though he's never particularly shown interest in her to this point.  And no one suspects him.  Also, Jack is the only one to point out that Furley might get suspicious.  In fact, the best moment in the episode is when Furley thinks Jack and Larry (both in their sleepwear) were going to go to bed together, but the way Janet handles it, by pretending to be shocked by what he's thinking, feels a bit feeble.

Three's Company: Furley vs. Furley

Three's Company: Furley vs. Furley
ABC
February 17, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

We get to meet Ralph Furley's often spoken of brother Bart (Hamilton Camp) in this Baser & Weiskopf story and he turns out to be just as awful as Ralph said.  When the trio call him to ask him to give his brother more money for repairs, he instead fires Ralph.  When Jack tries to get Ralph's job back, Bart instead gives it to Jack.  Meanwhile, the kids reluctantly take Ralph in, since he regards them as his best and only friends.  (Plus he doesn't have any money.)

Biographical notes on the Furley family:

• Their mother is still alive and Bart is rude to her, too.
• It's unclear who's older, although Knotts was a decade older than Camp and looks it.
• As kids, Bart stole Ralph's Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, implying among other things that the age difference would be much less than ten years.
• Here and in the episode with Jack's brother, it's implied that Ralph and Bart don't have any other brothers, but I don't know if they have sisters.
• In an early episode, Ralph told Bart off on the phone, including insults of his wife, kids, and "mangy dog," none of whom are mentioned here, although if I recall correctly we'll meet Ralph's niece and nephew in future episodes.
• Bart used to be claustrophobic, till he bought a building with an elevator in it.
• Ralph knows all sorts of health and safety codes that Bart has violated, but he won't tell the authorities if Bart cooperates.

Also note that despite all they do for him, Ralph doesn't seem to mind that Bart will be raising the rent on the trio.

Three's Company: Father of the Bride

Three's Company: Father of the Bride
ABC
February 10, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Thirty-six-year-old Jeffrey Tambor, who was a regular on The Ropers, makes his first of three 3'sC appearances, here as Winston Cromwell III.  I know a lot of people think he's hilarious, but I find his annoying characters, well, annoying.  (Not just on Three's Company but also on Who's the Boss?  And, no, I've never seen Transparent.)  This is his most tolerable episode, mostly because Cindy holds to her principles and self-respect, Jack has his "pure but plowed" speech, and the wedding dresses are lovely.  (Better than what Jan and Marcia wore the previous week to be honest.)  And, OK, Tambor is sort of funny here, like the way his top hat wobbles on his head.  Note that this has probably the only phone call where Chrissy talks about Cindy.

Mickey Deems's middle of five 3'sC roles is the Singing Telegram Man, who serenades Jack with "You Made Me Love You."