Three's Company: Roper's Niece

Three's Company: Roper's Niece
ABC
March 31, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B

This, the first of 34 episodes written by George Burditt and the first of 18 by Paul Wayne (who'd written one for Welcome Back, Kotter), is the first one not based on a Man About the House episode, but then George figured out Jack's heterosexuality fairly soon and it became a non-issue, while it's vital to this plot that Stanley believe that Jack is gay, although he does worry that Jack may "still have some normalness in him."  Stanley's niece Karen (Christina Hart, who would return as I think Angelino's niece) is visiting from New York (she has no discernible accent) and Helen suggests that Stanley have Jack take her out.  It's Janet's birthday, so Jack uses that as an excuse, figuring that Karen will be homely since she's related to Mr. Roper.  She turns out to be a knockout and Stanley offers Jack $50 to take her out.  Janet and Chrissy, the former especially of course, are disappointed in Jack.  Then it turns out that he just wanted the $50 to get Janet's cameo out of hock.

The studio audience is again very vocal, particularly when Karen drops her dress to the floor and Jack's beer can symbolically spurts.  The episode is probably the first one where if you're looking for Jack/Janet shipping you can find it.  In the first two episodes, Jack ogles Chrissy and hardly seems to notice Janet.  Here he gives her a big birthday kiss (filmed in such a way that we can't actually see their mouths as he dips her) and he does something sweet for her.

Janet is a little overwhelmed by the kiss and later, when she and Chrissy are sitting forlornly by the cake, she asks, "Do you dig him?"  The '60s/'70s term had many meanings, from understand to like in a way just short of love.  (It could apply to concepts, too, like "I dig rock & roll music.")  I take it to mean, "Do you think he's cute and maybe sexy?", since Chrissy says that if Jack didn't live there, she wouldn't do anything with him, unless he asked her.  Janet does not answer her own question.  I think it's fair to say that at this point she and Chrissy have small crushes on Jack, while he, a little lust for Chrissy and a little flirtation with Janet aside, honestly doesn't think of them that way.

I'm not saying this was authorial intention, in the way that the Robin & Chrissy flirtation was woven into MAtH from the beginning, but it is something to think about while watching these very early episodes, when no one knew that Jack & Janet would be living together seven years later.