Three's Company: Friends and Lovers

Three's Company: Friends and Lovers
ABC
September 18, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B

Burditt, Ross, and West wrote this series finale, which morphs into Three's a Crowd at the end.  At least this time, Janet is given some more attention, although we still don't see much of Phillip.  And Terri's plan to move to Hawaii would drop out of syndication.  Still, it's easy to believe that the emotions were real (DeWitt was on the verge of tears for many reasons), and there are some good moments.  I never cared for Robin's Nest, but I like Cadorette as Vicky, and Mandan is always fun.  I enjoyed 3'saC at the time but haven't seen it since I think the late '80s.  Of course I would've liked Company to keep going, but I was mostly OK with it ending like this.  I might've felt differently had I known that Crowd would last only one season, but maybe not.  Note that Jack is too old-fashioned to live with someone non-platonically, but Terri convinces him he shouldn't lose Vicky.  And when he's nervous about his first night with Vicky in their apartment over the restaurant (now no longer just one room), she knows how to put him at his ease.

Henry Sutton, who was Mr. Graves on Bosom Buddies, plays the Minister.  Robert Clotworthy returns in the role of Phillip's relative Tony Williams.

Three's Company in its final season ranges from C to B+, but about half of the episodes earn B-, and that is the average.  So I don't think it ever jumped the shark, although it never topped the first season.

Three's Company: Cupid Works Overtime

Meet-cute and spin-off launcher.

Three's Company: Cupid Works Overtime
ABC
May 15, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Show creators Michael "Mickey" Ross and Bernie West co-wrote this episode with George Burditt.  (Don Nicholl died in the summer of '80, another reason Season Five was dramatic behind the scenes.)  I like how they acknowledge that Jack and Janet have a history in the apartment, as when she says they had a lot of fun there and he says, "Ain't dat the truth?"  However, it does bug me that less energy goes into establishing Janet's relationship, or even chemistry, with Phillip than went into some of her one-episode boyfriends.  I realize that the producers were eager to transition over to the sequel, and so the focus is mostly on Jack's relationship with Vicky Bradford (Cadorette), but I don't like seeing Janet short-changed like this, especially when her engagement should be a bigger deal.  This episode also introduces Robert Mandan as Vicky's father, James Bradford, and Mandan is basically in Chester Tate mode, without the lechery and deceit, i.e. he's pompous and he disapproves of his daughter's "low-class" boyfriend.

The version on DVD says to be continued next week, but it would in fact be the next Fall before this series wrapped up.

Three's Company: The Heiress

Three's Company: The Heiress
ABC
March 13, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B

So here's the thing about this Staretski & Rips story.  I think I missed it when it first aired, because when Janet got engaged on the following episode, I had no idea who this guy was.  Not only that, but I went away to visit my relatives on an isolated commune for two months (whole other story), so I missed this episode in summer reruns.  (I also was shocked on my return by the rise in jingoism, but that's definitely another story.)  It wasn't till syndication I think that I saw the introduction of David Ruprecht as Phillip Dawson.

As I noted earlier, a vase again stands for Janet's virginity, this time a vase she inherits from a regular customer.  (And it's decorated with a dragon, which Jack gives Janet an offstage Freudian interpretation of!)  There are a few lines where Jack says Phillip is after only one thing, and he fervently does not want her to give it up to Phillip.  Hardcore J/J shippers would say that Jack is jealous, but it is possible that he's just convinced that the vase is valuable and Phillip is scheming.  Phillip and Janet make up offscreen and in the tag are going on a date.  And so we enter the homestretch of the series.

Fran Ryan's second role on the show is as the late man's wife Grace.  Robert Clotworthy, who was Clete in the ABC After School Special "The Skating Rink" and Private Welch on M*A*S*H, makes his first of two appearances as Tony Williams, who is Phillip's cousin I think.  (Grandson to the dead man, while Phillip is the nephew.)  Twyla Littleton, who was Cheryl on Bosom Buddies, is Ann here.  Lawyer Ian Abercrombie would be Leo on Who's the Boss?

Three's Company: Forget Me Not

Three's Company: Forget Me Not
ABC
February 28, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This may be the ultimate in the "Jack scared of Janet" episodes.  Written by Burditt, Grossman, and Mirkin, it has Janet finally buying a car.  (I guess aerobics pays better than I thought.)  Jack, encouraged by Larry, gives a lift to new neighbor Barbara Howard (Taaffe O'Connell in her last of three 3'sC roles).  Unfortunately, he gets in an accident after dropping off Barbara.  He gets a mild concussion but Janet's car is totaled.  She repeatedly says she'll kill him, so he fakes amnesia.  I don't know how expects to get away with this, but Jack doesn't always plan well.  In the end, Barbara helps reveal the truth and Janet's revenge is limited to making Jack wash her replacement car.

Michael Ensign, who was Major Cass on M*A*S*H, is the Doctor here.  Sheila Rogers appears for the last time as Terri's nurse friend Marge Andrews.

Three's Company: Jack Takes Off

Three's Company: Jack Takes Off
ABC
February 21, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B-

David Mirkin wrote this story where Jack meets an attractive red-haired art instructor, Arlene Price (Sondra Currie, in her third and final 3'sC role), and ends up posing nude for her class.  As when Raj posed on What's Happening!! we don't see much.  Incidentally, no one mentions the nude-modeling Jack may or may not have done for a magazine years ago.

Britt Leach has his third and final 3'sC role, as Frank the Bartender.

Three's Company: Jack's Tattoo

Three's Company: Jack's Tattoo
ABC
January 31, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This episode, which if I recall correctly was a mashing up of two stories, was written by Prudence Fraser and Robert Sternin, later of Who's the Boss? and The Nanny; Al Gordon, who had written six third season episodes; and Ron Bloomberg, who didn't write for any of my other shows.  As with Carol on The Bob Newhart Show and Ruth on Bosom Buddies, Jack wants a tattoo removed from his butt, but it's not one from his wild youth.  His Navy pals are causing problems again, but this time they're unseen by the viewer and we just find out after the fact that they took him out and got him drunk and tattooed.  Janet thinks Jack is getting a vasectomy, while Mr. Furley thinks Jack wants a sex change, and he even believes that Jack gives birth!

William Cort, who previously played Mr. Sneef, is Dr. Porter here.  Linda Hoy, who's Nurse Brown, would be Vivian on Who's the Boss?  Walter Mondale's daughter Eleanor plays one of the interns.

Three's Company: Look What I Found

Three's Company: Look What I Found
ABC
January 24, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B-

David Mirkin's reworking of Season One's "No Children, No Pets" isn't bad.  It lacks a great overheard conversation like the one of Jack and Chrissy in the kitchen with the puppy, but it does have four kittens, one of whom Mr. Furley quickly becomes fond of.  (It's not unlike Ruth and the kitten on Bosom Buddies, where a character who's lonelier than they'd like to admit is able to expression affection with a new pet.)  The eight-year-old girl named Muffit is played by nine-year-old Kaleena Kiff, who had recently costarred as Patti with Tony Randall on Love, Sidney.

Three's Company: Baby, It's Cold Inside

Three's Company: Baby, It's Cold Inside
ABC
January 17, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Dowling & Krinski's second of two 3'sC stories borrows a plot from one of Mr. Furley's favorite TV shows, The Brady Bunch.  However, it's not his or Jack's fault that they get locked in Mr. Angelino's freezer.  A Crook (Joe George, who was Angry Man #1 on The Bob Newhart Show and had previously played a Chauffeur and a Waiter on 3'sC) breaks into the restaurant and, after robbing them, locks them in the freezer.  The girls worry about Jack, until Larry says he thinks Jack went on his date with Francesca (unshown, nor is the again mentioned Greedy Gretchen).  Jack and Ralph bond, with Ralph telling anecdotes and admitting he'd like to have had a son like Jack.  So Jack admits he likes girls, which Ralph later decides means that Jack was becoming delusional from the cold.

Police Officer Frank Schuller would be Charles on Who's the Boss?

Three's Company: Itching for Trouble

Three's Company: Itching for Trouble
ABC
January 10, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Chet Dowling and Sandy Krinski co-wrote this and the next episode.  Here, Jack meets up with his old high school crush Robyn, who's married Francis "Moose" Kirk (Don Sparks, who previously played Bob).  Francis is very jealous and has told Robyn he wants to talk to Jack about her.  Unfortunately, they, and Mr. Furley, get poison oak.  There are some nice performances but making Francis so potentially violent, threatening to kill Robyn's supposed lover, takes some of the lightness out of the farce.  Note that when Francis asks Jack if he remembers Robyn Baxter, Jack replies, "Wasn't he the guy who played on Mork & Mindy?"  (Williams and Ritter were fairly good friends in the '70s.)

Three's Company: Janet Shapes Up

Three's Company: Janet Shapes Up
ABC
January 3, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Staretski & Rips wrote this story where Janet gets a part-time job as an aerobics instructor.  (That exercise craze was still relatively new enough that Mr. Furley hadn't heard of it before.)  Her attractive new boss, Tina (Victoria Carroll, who was Mel's regular girlfriend Marie on Alice), hits on Jack and even, as she admits to Janet later, blackmails him into dating her so that Janet can keep her job.  (It's implied pretty strongly that she's having sex with Jack, while the show is usually vaguer about Jack's sex life.)  I can sort of see Jack going along with this, even though he's not that interested in Tina, but I do have issues with Janet's behavior in this episode.

• Janet not only takes this part-time job when she's been manager at the flower shop for so long but quits the flower shop when they refuse to give her another raise, after three years.
• Not only that, she quits before she goes and tells Tina, who offers her a full-time job.  (Tina is already seeing Jack at this point.)
• She does not quit when she finds out Tina has blackmailed Jack, but just threatens to quit if Tina doesn't stop seeing Jack, which Tina has already decided to do anyway because her beefcake boyfriend is back in town.

I could see Janet earlier getting swept up in the excitement of a possible dance career and maybe quitting the flower shop over that, but come on?  An aerobics instructor?  That can't pay as much as a shop manager.  Also, she should've been appalled at her boss doing something so unethical.  Fourth-season or earlier Janet wouldn't have acted the way she does in this episode.

Doug Shanklin, who's Ron, would be Fireman #2 on Who's the Boss?  Jacque Lynn Colton, who was Bernice before, is the Plump Lady here.

Three's Company: The Charming Stranger

Three's Company: The Charming Stranger
ABC
December 20, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Grossman & Burditt episode is more famous these days as the one where Ritter briefly flashed his crotch.  Since this was the lowest-rated episode of the series, and since not everyone had VCRs at the time, I don't think anyone noticed for almost twenty years.  The plot itself is a better handling of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" from earlier in '83, as Jack and then the girls suspect that the title character, a mysterious Brit, is an international thief.  I could've done with less of Janet and Terri fighting over him, but there are some good moments, like the reaction to the opening of the trunk.  Jack has a phone conversation with Larry, but Kline does not appear.

Three's Company: Now You See It, Now You Don't

Three's Company: Now You See It, Now You Don't
ABC
December 13, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B-

David Mirkin wrote this story about Jack dating a rich girl and being upset when he loses $15,000 at a charity casino event, unaware that it's just play money.  Not only do Janet and Terri wear French maid's uniforms, but Larry shows up in the fabulous tux pictured here.  Note that Jack says his birthday is on the 17th, and then he considers betting 9.  This doesn't match up to Jack's birthday (if the Loni Anderson episode counts), but Ritter was born on September 17th.

Glen Ash, who was Sgt. Maxwell on M*A*S*H, has his second 3'sC role, as a nameless Man.  Beverly Dixon played Woman #1 on Mork & Mindy, is Evelyn here, and would be a Bickering Wife on Roseanne.

Three's Company: The Odd Couples

Three's Company: The Odd Couples
ABC
December 6, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Marlen, Ryder, and Staretski, all presumably male (well, I suppose C.C. Ryder could be either and, yes, it sounds like a pen name), wrote the story and Guylas and Zellman, both female, wrote the teleplay to this episode that has some delightful farce and some unfortunate consent issues.  Terri is up for a promotion but she doesn't like the way Dr. Malcolm Kenderson looks at her.  Jack suggests she tell the doctor that she's married, but this snowballs into a lie where she's married to Jack and they have two houseguests who don't speak English.  Malcolm and his wife Gail come over for dinner, and things get pretty crazy, especially since she can speak French and "Pierre and Fifi" (Larry and Janet) can't.  And of course Jack's date shows up, too.

Both Kendersons feel like they're out of a soap-opera parody, and indeed John Reilly would be the similarly unreal Mitchell on Who's the Boss? the next Fall, while Judith-Marie Bergan memorably played Marilyn McCallam, the alcoholic wife of Eunice's Congressman lover on Soap.  Here, they bring out the best in the regular cast.

However, in a story about Terri fearing sexual harassment, with justification it turns out, it feels really off to have Larry happily going into Jack's bedroom with Janet, despite her faux-French protests, and even worse is Jack forcing kisses on not only his "love-depriving wife" Terri but Janet.  It's played for laughs and isn't as creepy as it sounds, but, yeah, it's a little creepy.

Three's Company: Like Father, Like Son

Three's Company: Like Father, Like Son
ABC
November 29, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Staretski & Rips episode belatedly introduces Jack Tripper, Sr. (Dick Shawn, who had played himself on That Girl).  Ignoring the continuity errors, like that somehow Janet has never met him before, even though she's met Jack's mother, and of course the existence of Lee Tripper, there are some nice moments here.  Shawn and Ritter work well together, whether doing a silly folk song full of raspberries or having a more serious moment.  And I like how Jack's dad knows how to manipulate Mr. Angelino, who's yet again trying to change Jack's lease.  Not a great episode, but the best in the past few weeks.

Tom Lancaster returns as Jack's kitchen help Dan.  Fran Ryan's first of two 3'sC roles is the customer named Hilda.

Three's Company: Grandma Jack

Three's Company: Grandma Jack
ABC
November 22, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
C

Mike Weinberger wrote the teleplay based on a story by Garry Ferrier and Aubrey Tadman, who co-wrote a couple late Welcome Back, Kotter episodes.  And Bob Priest and Michael Ross took over directing duty from Dave Powers for some reason.  So I'm not sure who's to blame for this episode being more implausible and creepy than funny.  For one thing, how the heck did Jack plan to cash a check made out to "Grandma Tripper"?  And for another, couldn't he have resisted hitting on his blonde competitor while in drag?  Verdict: it's better when Larry is drag than when Jack is, because Kline actually tries to present a character, while Ritter is just doing shtick.  That said, I do like the idea of menthol cough drops in the cookies and am just glad Terri didn't have Ex-Lax in her purse.

Three's Company: Hearing Is Believing

Three's Company: Hearing Is Believing
ABC
November 8, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This is the first of two 3'sC stories written by Neal Marlens, who would go on to be a creator of Ellen.  The significance is that that '90s sitcom would be thematically conflicted, not unlike this episode and this season.  In a way, this is the old "overhearing is believing" set-up of so many episodes.  In this case, Janet thinks that Jack's new girlfriend, a sex therapist, is a prostitute.  Janet is particularly upset because her father (Macon McCalman for the last time) will be visiting.  And no one understands why she's upset.

The thing is, it doesn't work.  Even at 15, I watched in disbelief as Janet misread aloud the business card, "Dr. Doreen McMillan, the rapist!"  It's not funny enough to get past the implausibility.  However, watching this now, I'm struck by the fact that Jack is again dating a sophisticated blonde career-woman, one who intimidates him sexually.  (This may or may not be foreshadowing to his first night with Vicki, although there I think he's nervous because he's in love and wants everything to be perfect.)  It would've been much more interesting if they dumped the whole Janet-misunderstanding and concentrated on Jack's relationship with Doreen.  But then I was a lot more into exploring the Barbara-the-archaeologist relationship than the misunderstanding about her mother.

Brad Blaisdell returns as Mike the Bartender.

Three's Company: Alias Jack Tripper

Three's Company: Alias Jack Tripper
ABC
November 1, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Although I'm bothered by one aspect here, there are definitely some funny moments in this Mark Tuttle story where Janet wants to fix Jack up with another of her old friends, this time Agnes Platt (Rita Wilson).  Jack doesn't want to break his date with Sharon (Lana Clarkson, who'd be Nanette on Who's the Boss? the next Fall), whom he has asked out 19 times in two weeks.  So he convinces Larry to pretend to be him.  (It's not like Larry hasn't before.)  Larry and Agnes hit it off, but of course Janet and Terri want to see the happy couple together.

The early part, where Jack and Larry are convinced Agnes is a "dog," bugged me then and bugs me now, with these two men in their 30s acting about as maturely as Greg Brady's friends did in the Phil Packer episode.  Once we get past that though, we get Larry adopting Jack's wardrobe, mannerisms, and catchphrases.  (Kline has since said he loved playing Ritter.)  We also get the scene at the end, where things come to a farcical head and everyone, including a couple of customers, wants to slap Jack.

Note that Janet tells Larry that "the phone routine" hasn't worked in five years.  As with Jack's reply to Janet's "Jack, how could you be so stupid?" on the ATM episode-- "Janet, you've known me for seven years"-- there's definitely a sense of history with these characters here in the final season.

Three's Company: Out on a Limb

Three's Company: Out on a Limb
ABC
October 25, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
C+

David Mirkin wrote this story where Larry dictates a rude letter to a food critic whom Jack thinks is going to give him a bad review, although it of course turns out that the review is positive.  Luckily, Janet is in sensible mode and she types (faster than Chrissy ever did by the way) a gracious thank-you letter.  But Jack doesn't know this, so he ropes Terri into a scheme where she has to use her feminine wiles on a spinsterish secretary, while Jack climbs a ledge three stories up.  Again, I'm biased, but Janet is a lot sexier than Terri, so sexy she frightens the critic.

Tom Lancaster, who previously was a Soda Jerk and a Guy in the Regal Beagle, plays Dan the kitchen help for the first of two times, all of this uncredited, even though he has a couple lines here.  Gary Grubbs, who was Lt. Geyer on M*A*S*H, plays Harry.

Three's Company: The Money Machine

Three's Company: The Money Machine
ABC
October 18, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I don't like the way Anne Throw Mama from the Train Ramsey's hostile-looking ugliness is used for humor, but otherwise Mike Weinberger's story about Jack accidentally getting $1000 from an ATM is of interest, both romantic and pop-historical.  Of the latter, besides the then timely mention of "an automatic cash machine" (or whatever they called it), I remember being sad when they replaced the couch, scene of so many shenanigans, if less sad than I was at how bland and Yuppie the Brady interior decorating got between 1981 and '88 (more about that when we get to A Very Brady Christmas).  As for romance, Jack (and every other man in the episode except Mr. Furley) ogles Terri in her bikini, and Jack enjoys putting suntan lotion on her; yet it's Janet who pretends to be married to Jack when they want their old couch, where he's hidden the money, back.

Three's Company: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Three's Company: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
ABC
October 4, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B+

I don't have an easy explanation for this.  I mean, the last B+ I gave to a Three's Company episode was "Larry Loves Janet," which was back in the Chrissy era.  And this is a combination of two previous Lana episodes, although admittedly they are ones I gave B's: "A-Camping We Will Go" and "Black Letter Day."  It should feel stale but it doesn't.  In fact, I remember enjoying it very much at the time and it is certainly one of the most farcical episodes in the series, although in a different form because this is the Terri era.

Two writers who have absolutely no other IMDB credits came up with Larry reading a magazine quiz about whether someone would want to have an affair with his/her opposite-sex roommate, as opposed to Lana reading an advice column where the roommates are already involved.  Larry suggests Jack take the interested girl to his boss's cabin in the woods, but Jack accidentally invites both, and this time we're not getting any extra people, just the four of them.  (Larry goes along to help distract "the other girl," and it soon becomes clear he's hoping he'll get the roommate who's not interested in Jack.)  The girls go along with the trip because it sounds like fun and they think Jack needs to relax.

The cabin is much larger than Larry's boss's previous cabin, and we also get a "lake" set, both used to good effect for physical humor.  The sets give the farce a different, more open-air feel than usual.  And it's fun to see the four characters interact.

As in the previous episode, Jack has his morality but he's certainly tempted, especially, it appears, by Janet.  More time is spent on him figuring out how to let her down gently than Terri, and whether he'll be able to resist, this episode's symbolism being a burning match in Jack's hand.  Larry remains the devil on his shoulder, or his Eddie Haskell if you prefer.  We're teased with the possibility of what would've happened if either girl had filled out the quiz.  (One of Terri's elderly patients did, and Larry has a classic reaction.)  Of course we find out the truth early on, and of course both girls are shocked by the idea that Jack got them up there to find out.  This may well be the ultimate in the tease of the series' premise, with Jack believing it would ruin everything to be involved with one of the girls, but nonetheless kinda sorta wanting to ruin it.  And note the blurring of love and sex in the title.

By the time this aired, I was reconciled to Terri and I do think she's used well here, from the way she reacts to the guys falling in the lake to what she sees in the flames of the fire.  But it was Janet that I rooted for, against all common sense.