Three’s Company – Season Five
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B-
Three’s Company had lost The Ropers to The
Ropers spin-off and did not let them return when the show bombed (though
they returned in a show below), then they lost Ann Wedgeworth as Lana in the
middle of last season, and though they picked up Don Knotts as Mr. Furley, they
were about to lose Suzanne Somers. This
would be her last full season, later reduced to telephone calls to fulfill her
contract. This 1980 – 81 Season still
had its moments in all the chaos, which still had its moments as it was tying
up loose ends. The episodes in this set
are as follows:
1) Upstairs,
Downstairs, Downstairs
2) …and
justice for Jack (with Jan Sterling and Ellen Travolta)
3) A
Hundred Dollars A What? (with Elaine Giftos)
4) Downhill
Chaser (with Kate Murtagh)
5) A
Crowded Romance
6) Room At
The Bottom
7) Chrissy’s
Cousin
8) Jack To
The Rescue
9) The
Not-So-Great-Imposter
10) Jack’s Other Mother
11) Make Room For Daddy
12) Jack’s Secret
13) Father of the Bride (with
Jeffrey Tambor)
14) Furley vs. Furley
15) In Like Larry
16) Teacher’s Pet
17) And Baby Makes Four
18) Night Of The Ropers
19) Double Trouble
20) Dying To Meet You
21) The Case Of The Missing Blonde
22) Honest Jack Tripper
The shows have some laughs, but the return of The Ropers
for a show only went so far and it is obvious the series was loosing its primal
energy. The producers still knew how to
get beautiful women into each show, but the teleplays began to suffer and
Jenilee Harrison did not get the full chance to develop before she was also
gone. However, it is interesting, even
when it does not work and it was a good run while it lasted. They had two seasons left.
The 1.33 X 1 full frame image is once again from the NTSC
analog videotape the show was shot on and the DVD’s MPEG-2 decoding shows its
limits as much as all the other shows from this period of time would. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also good
enough, with all the jokes still clear enough, though fidelity is slightly
improved from earlier seasons. Extras
do not include any commentary tracks this time, but we do get extras on DVD 4,
including Best Of Season Five segments on Jack, Janet, Cindy, Larry and
Furley. There are also two featurettes,
interviewing behind the scenes forces (over 9.5 minutes) in Of Farce &
Censors, the other (just over 9 minutes) with Jenilee Harrison. She played Chrissy’s cousin Cindy who was
also blonde and not always as “logical” as one would hope. The show tried to be too logical and started
to develop a formula that said the counterculture was ending and the show was
in for some strange changes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
