Three's Company: And Justice for Jack

Three's Company: And Justice for Jack
ABC
November 11, 1980
Sitcom
DVD
C-

This George Burditt story is a mess and I would've given it a D+, but I bumped it up for a great Furley outfit that understandably makes a judge say she can't believe her eyes.  Jack gets a job working in a diner for Mrs. Marconi (Ellen Travolta).  She keeps grabbing and pinching him.  He tells Janet, who suggests he complain to his boss, but Mrs. Marconi fires him.  Then Janet thinks Jack should sue for sexual harassment.  The show could make a truly feminist point that harassment is just as awful when it happens to men, but everyone (including at times Janet) seems amused and/or titillated by his case, and then the judge blames the victim for dressing provocatively.  This could still make a point, that male victims are humiliated equally, although sometimes in different ways, but then in the tag Jack jokes about harassing his new boss's daughter.  I guess we can be glad that 3'sC didn't do more "very special episodes" because they're even worse at it than Mork & Mindy.

David Tress, who plays Virgil, previously was a Desk Sergeant.  Steven Anderson, who's Higgins, played a Young Man on The Bob Newhart Show.  But the most notable cast note is that Suzanne Somers was absent that week and the script had to be revised.  Chrissy is visiting her parents for "a couple days," so I guess this could fit into the timeline after the next episode, though since this is set in June, perhaps she visited them again in the Fall.

Diff'rent Strokes: Retrospective

Diff'rent Strokes: Retrospective
NBC
December 29, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
C-

A one-hour retrospective?  I can see that after seven seasons, but after seven episodes?  And we get flashbacks to more than one scene of each of those seven episodes, with the family, together for 56 days and about to celebrate Christmas, reminiscing in the frame sequences written by Gilligan's Island veteran Budd Grossman and Brady Bunch vets Howard Leeds (writer of one episode but producer of all) and Ben Starr (three Brady scripts).  Riley and Travolta are re-tagged since their cameos are long enough.

Welcome Back, Kotter: Frog Day Afternoon

Welcome Back, Kotter: Frog Day Afternoon
ABC
November 25, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Barret & Bloom story has a bit of in-joky casting, Dena Dietrich as Ilona Garland the Biology teacher.  In addition to her roles as the sisters of Helen Roper and Dorothy Petrillo, she's probably most recognizable as Mother Nature in a series of Chiffon butter commercials.  (And the slogan "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" pops up on various sitcoms of the day, including What's Happening!!)

Ms. Garland threatens to flunk Arnold if he won't dissect a frog.  He manages to convince everyone that it's braver to stand up for his beliefs than to kill an animal.  I feel like Epstein is getting a bit Flanderized at this point (his "excuse note" for the frogs that Arnold wants to free falls flat), but this is still one of the better episodes of the last season.  Note that Mr. Woodman, who was fleeing Miss Fishbeck a couple seasons ago, seems quite taken with Ms. Garland.

John Travolta is absent (along with Kaplan, Shortridge, Fleischer, and Harcum) but sister Ellen shows up in her last appearance as Horshack's mother.

Diff'rent Strokes: The Social Worker

Diff'rent Strokes: The Social Worker
NBC
November 10, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Ellen Travolta plays the title character, Ms. Aimsley, who believes that black children belong in black families.  Arnold overhears Mr. Drummond repeating this to Mrs. Garrett and he thinks it's Mr. D's opinion.  At least for a change, there's a reason for a character not talking out the misunderstanding.  (I'm looking at you Soap, as well as of course Three's Company.)  Arnold is 8 and he hasn't known his adoptive father that long.  This episode is about as corny as the pilot, but it does have the advantage of, one, Willis not being the one wet blanket, and two, ten-year-old Coleman already starting to come into his own as perhaps the best preteen comic on late '70s TV.  (You can see Travolta a couple times almost break character in her amusement at his delivery.)

Budd Grossman had written four Gilligan's Island episodes and one for That Girl, while this is his first of two for DS.  Plato is absent, but we learn that she goes to boarding school and comes home on weekends.

What's Happening!!: Nothing Personal

What's Happening!!: Nothing Personal
ABC
October 20, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B

Shirley applies for a job as secretary and gets hired as a token.  She tries to prove herself but ends up quitting.  Hemphill does a nice job with this Eisenstock & Mintz story, as forthright as always, but more understanding of others' viewpoints than in the past.

Earl Billings returns as Rob.  Ellen Travolta plays Lily, a very different role from Arnold Horshack's mother.  Barbara Mallory, who plays Helen, would be Cindy Smith in Rescue from Gilligan's Island.  Charles Siebert, who's Mr. Ramsey, is best known for Trapper John, M.D. but would show up on a couple of my Match Game episodes.  Mabel King is absent.

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Deprogramming of Arnold Horshack

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Deprogramming of Arnold Horshack
ABC
October 13, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only WBK episode Michael Barrie wrote this with his frequent partner Jim Mulholland and it's the first in the popular late '70s ABC motif of satires of the Moonies.  (For all you young 'uns out there, here is a quick history: http://nostalgiacentral.com/pop-culture/fads/moonies/.)  It differs from the presentations on What's Happening!!, Three's Company, and Soap in that we never actually see the cult leader or any other followers.  The focus is more on the cult's effect on Arnold, his friends, and his family.  (Ellen Travolta returns, still with no scenes with her brother.)  Things to look for to compare and contrast on the aforementioned, upcoming programs:

• The cult outfit is a brightly colored sheet-like robe, here yellow.
• The most vulnerable member of the group of regular characters is selected.
• The recruit quotes profound-sounding but meaningless sayings of the leader.
• The friends must remind the recruit how much they love him or her.

Note that Epstein makes another Beatles reference, "Nowhere Man," and I suspect Hegyes was a fan.  Also, Julie claims she joined a hippie commune for three days as a teenager in Nebraska, but they kicked her out for doing her nails.

Welcome Back, Kotter: There Goes Number 5

Welcome Back, Kotter: There Goes Number 5
ABC
February 3, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The Rannows wrote this back-door pilot for Horshack, which explains Arnold's disappearance.  It's not bad as these things go and I remember enjoying it at the time, probably because I liked getting a look at Horshack's home life.  He's the oldest of four and his friendship with youngest sister Doris (Andrea McArdle, around the time she was a success as Little Orphan Annie onstage) is sweet.  Watching the episode now, I can't really see how it could've been strong enough for a series of its own, but an occasional visit back to the household would've been interesting within the WBK run.  The title refers to the death of his fifth stepfather, Mr. O'Hara the cab-driver.  (In the first season, it was Horshack's father who drove a cab, but maybe he referred to Mr. O'Hara as his father.)

Carrie Wasserman, who carried (sorry for the pun) the After School Special "Dear Lovey Hart," plays Arnold's friend Goldie, while Elyssa Davalos, who was her friend Linda in that plays Arnold's sister Judy.  Producer James Komack appears as Uncle Harry Orshack (with that spelling).  Ellen Travolta, John's thirty-six-year-old sister, appears as Arnold's mother.  (She was still a few years away from playing Scott Baio's mother on three different series.)  Strassman and White are both absent.