Product Description

Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 11/15/2005

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7348 in DVD
• Brand: Anchor
• Released on: 2005-11-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 550 minutes

Amazon.com
Ah, the simple pleasure of flagrant sexual innuendo! Three's Company, a 1970s sitcom about a guy pretending to be gay so his prudish landlord will let him live with two female roommates, became a top-rated show thanks to jokes and allusions that seem startling explicit even now. Such nudge-nudge wink-wink ribaldry would never have made it on the air were it not for star John Ritter, whose charisma was demonstrated most clearly in the show's rocky fifth season. Ritter's co-star Suzanne Somers, her ego swollen from sex symbol celebrity, demanded more money than her co-stars and swiftly got axed (though she still appears in the opening credits for the rest of the season). Her replacement Jenilee Harrison never developed the same chemistry with the other two actors, yet the show maintained its high ratings--proving how much the show rode on Ritter's shoulders (though one positive side effect of Somers' departure is that co-star Joyce DeWitt got more to do, as she was a fine comedienne in her own right).

Three's Company was the most farcical show on American television, taking silly scenarios--for example, Jack Tripper (Ritter) finds himself obliged to cook three different dinners in three apartments; or, in order to date his landlord's sexy niece, Jack pretends to have a twin brother named Austin--and pushing them until getting in and out of a room became a fight with the laws of physics. When Chrissy's cousin Cindy (Harrison) joined the cast, her character's clumsiness multiplied the slapstick (one particularly elaborate bit traps Jack in an ironing board). The cocktail of physical mayhem and an endless parade of tight-fitting short-shorts and skimpy nighties (19-year-old Harrison, a former professional cheerleader, was the season's main eye-candy) could have felt lewd and sleazy (imagine, with a shudder, if upstairs neighbor Richard Kline had been the show's star)--but somehow, no matter how craven or lecherous Jack behaved, Ritter remained likable and even inexplicably innocent. Three's Company's scripts weren't always comic gold--over the 22 episodes in this season, sexual misunderstandings pile up like bodies in a WWII movie--but Ritter dependably squeezed out laughs without ever seeming desperate. His relaxed persona, combined with sharp comic timing, made him one of the most enduring television personalities of all time. This box set also features interviews with the producers and with Harrison; nothing surprising gets said, but Harrison--after some ill-advised face-lifts and collagen injections--looks like a frightening caricature of Angelina Jolie. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

An unusual sort of season...
The laughs continue with Season 5, in which Suzanne Somers' Chrissy is replaced by Jenilee Harrison as her cousin Cindy. While much smarter than Chrissy, Cindy proves to be a klutz, frequently tripping, knocking things over and running into people...usually Jack, who was the main source of physical comedy to this point.

Although Somers still appears in the opening credits, she only appears in small segments at the end of episodes, where she is supposedly at her parents' home, calling her old friends. This was, supposedly, because Somers had walked off the set upset over her salary, and was no longer on speaking terms with the cast. (In fact, Somers came to the studio to record her end of the telephone conversations early in the day, before either John Ritter or Joyce DeWitt, so she would not have to interact with them. The scenes were later edited to appear as if the characters were together.)

While providing some sense of continuity, the calls are rather ridiculous...even for Chrissy, who had always been portrayed as ditzy and dumb. Her end of the conversation is always so exasperating that Jack or Janet are shown rolling their eyes and putting down the phone in frustration. Instead of showing a connection with their old friend, it seems more like writers felt a need to keep showing Somers in some fashion, yet were venting their frustrations toward her with over-the-top, superfluous scenes.

While Cindy is no Chrissy Snow, Harrison still give it her all.
Season five of Three's Company while remains consistantly funny, it is also the year that is known as the last season that Suzanne Somers appeared in, and then, in only two full episodes.

In year five, Three's Company was sold into syndication making a ton of money for the producers, and its three stars in terms of residuals if Somers and her husband had looked in the long term; but Somers and her husband tried to re-negotiate while the show was in full production for more money. Somers started to miss work, conveniently blaming it on a back injury she sustained. So entered Cindy Snow, played by Jennilee Harrison.

With all due respect, Harrison was not an experienced actress, much less an experienced comedic actress. Unlike Priscilla Barnes, whom the producers had ample time to find, Harrison was a last minute replacement that the producers had to scrambled to find with pratically just days on their hands. Furthermore, while Teri Alden was a completely original character, Harrison was stuck with a character whose purpose was use up the scripts that was already written with Chrissy in mind. You have to admit that Harrison was faced with a bunch of hurdles while on the show.

While I sympathize with Harrison, I still have to admit, she is no Chrissy Snow or Suzanne Somers, although she did made a good effort and showed that another blonde roommate other than Chrissy is possible for the show. After Suzanne Somers left, something did went out with the show that it never could quite replace. Ironically, Harrison would have some her best moments in Season Six, particularly in the episode "Maid to Order", where the storylines were actually written with her character in mind.

In any case, season five still managed to generate a lot of laughs in episodes such as "And Justice For Jack", "Downhill Chaser", "The Case of the Missing Blonde", "Dying to Meet You", "Father of the Bride", and Somer's last full show: "A Hundred Dollars a What". But still I wouldn't say that this year deserve a five stars rating, which is another problem I have with people who review on Amazon.com...they give out five star ratings like Halloween candy.

As for the DvD cover, it is misleading to show Suzanne on the cover, but perhaps, it is done contractually....during the entire season of Seasn Five, Suzanne is still billed as the star while Harrison got relegated to "guest-starring" status. No doubt her image will probably be on one of the discs.

Stop the Jenilee bashing!
Ok, stop the Jenilee bashing! Yes, we were all disappointed when Suzanne left, but that's no reason to take it out on Jenilee. Jenilee Harrison actually got better as the season progressed. She was particularly funning in 'Janet's Secret', 'Father of the Bride' and 'Double Trouble'. I was disappointed when she eventually left the show. Besides, this season has some of the funniest episodes, even though some people refuse to admit it. And yes, Jenilee does deserve to be on this cover. So buy season 5 asap and watch Cindy 'knock Jack off his feet with a door'!

I'm also interested in watching those tag scenes with Suzanne, which seemed to have been edited out for syndication.

This is also a season where Joyce and Don do some of their best work on the show.