Three's Company: Up in the Air

Yep, it's the same dress Mindy wore.

Three's Company: Up in the Air
ABC
May 4, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B

Shelley Zellman wrote this episode that is/was many people's favorite, including John Ritter's.  I probably would've given it a B+ or even A- at the time, and I do still find it one of the best episodes of the season, but some of the "wow" has worn off over time.  As I discussed on another blog, this is a very late adaptation of a Man About the House episode, at a time when 3'sC had drifted away from Americanizing its predecessor.  With its show-stopping dance number by Ritter, it's very different from "I Won't Dance," and yet I find the episodes equally good.

Janet is invited to a formal party by her rich crush, David Winthrop (Greg Brady himself, Barry Williams, who's sort of cast against type but does a fine job here).  He tells her to bring a date, so she chooses Jack, who's scared to fly to David's island.  Larry gives Jack a bottle of tranquilizers, and Jack takes one or two, despite Terri's discouragement.  When the tranqs combine with a drink called The Rocket, Jack starts dancing all over the place, much to the studio audience's appreciation.  Arguably, the sequence goes on too long for plausibility, but it's entertaining the whole time.  I'm less comfortable with Janet's role in the episode, since she spends most of it unhappy, and when she has a chance to kiss David, the camera cuts away.  And Terri's hardly in the episode at all.  Note, I don't know if Jack's "maid to order" is a reference to the recent Cindy episode or just a random pun, but his "Is this your first time on The Love Boat line?" remains great.

Paul Marin, who plays Mr. Peabody, would be Mr. Phillips on Ellen.