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.