TITLE: THREE'S COMPANY - CAPTURING THE LAUGHTER: JACK'S FAVORITES

Info:

DVD Release Date: January 30, 2007 (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Color
MSRP: $9.98
Number of Discs: 1
Number of Episodes: 5
Running Time: 125 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 25 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English; No Subtitles; Closed Captioned.
Special Features: John Ritter: Working with a Master (approx. 25 minutes)

Introduction:

Jack Tripper is among the best sitcom characters of all-time and now he has his own DVD set! Now Anchor Bay Entertainment will release five classic Three's Company episodes that will be 'capturing the laughter' of Jack Tripper on DVD. These five episodes are among John Ritter's personal favorite episodes and are all laugh-out-loud funny.

Episodes Included / Notable Guest Stars:

The five episodes on this set are: #84 “Downhill Chaser,” where Jack tries to pretend to be a champion skier to impress a girl; #119 “Urban Plowboy,” where Larry is in some sort of trouble and uses Jack’s name and the angry man hunts down Jack at Cindy’s aunt’s farm; #166 “Baby, It’s Cold Inside,” is a touching episode between Jack and Mr. Furley as they are trapped inside a restaurant freezer; #127 “Up in the Air,” is the classic episode where Jack goes on an island and goes crazy; and #172 “Cupid Works Overtime,” is the one where Jack meets his love--Vicky Bradford.

Guest stars include Barry Williams, David Ruprecht, Mary Cadorette, and Robert Mandan.

Packaging:

The packaging is a simple but effective single case. The front of the case features three small Jack Tripper photos in small circles surrounding a huge circle with his face. The color scheme is sky blue. Three’s Company Capturing the Laughter: Jack’s Favorites is written on the front. The back of the case has two cast photos of the trip (Jack, Janet, Chrissy -- although there are no Chrissy episodes on this set), along with a photo of Jack hugging Chrissy.

The disc itself is in the same style as the packaging--sky blue, and the same art from the front of the case. Again, it is simple but nice.

Menu Design and Navigation:

Now to the menu navigation--it is very similar in style to the season sets. The full theme song (from the seasons 6-8 years) is playing in the background. Moreover, different rotating images in little circles of Jack are in the background. The options on the menu screen are: “Play All,” “Episodes” and “Extras.” When you select episodes, you will go to an episode index screen where you can choose what episode you want. When you choose an episode, you get a decent episode synopsis, about a paragraph or so in length, and a screenshot from the episode. Then you hit play and the episode plays in its full-unedited form just like how it aired on ABC. Each episode is about 25:05 minutes long, counting the opening and closing credits. There are no chapter stops, just like the season sets, though they have a chapter break after the opening credits, so you can skip over the theme anytime. Still no chapter breaks where the commercials would be. Therefore, it is very hard to find a scene you want to watch in particular.

Video and Audio Quality:

All five of these episodes have been released on their respective seasons’ DVD sets, so it is the same quality as those. Moreover, if you have not bought all the seasons, I’ll be simple and say both the audio and video have no problems and are great. All the episodes are unedited and in the 25:05 minute range, as I previously stated.

Here are the runtime for each episode on this set:

“Downhill Chaser” (25:04)
“Urban Plowboy” (25:05)
“Baby, It’s Cold Inside” (25:06)
“Up in the Air” (25:06)
“Cupid Works Overtime” (25:08)

It is strange why “Baby, It’s Cold Inside” is listed before “Up in the Air,” as “Up in the Air” is from season six and “Baby, It’s Cold Inside” is a season eight episode.

Special Features:

Compilation sets usually do not have extras, but this one does! It is not a new extra, but still good enough. The season eight DVD had this extra, but that is OK. Anchor Bay pays tribute to John Ritter, with a nice 25:18 feature called “John Ritter: Working with a Master.” It starts with a nice title sequence that is like a rock-style Three’s Company theme. Nancy Morgan Ritter and director Dave Powers are together discussing John. A nice clip montage of John with some of the guest stars is included, with guests Joanna Kerns, Jordan Charney, Loni Anderson, Anne Schedeen, John Larroquette, Keene Curtis, Jeffrey Tambor, James Cromwell, Rita Wilson, and Barry Williams. Each guest star they show they show list of three credits of their other works. Then Nancy and Dave talk about John’s choreography from the classic sixth season episode “Up in the Air.” Then they show the full clip of the dance he did on that episode. Then they talk about John and the Emmy win in 1984. They also show the full clip and his full acceptance speech. I always wanted to see the full thing! Finally, they show the last scene of Three’s Company where the trio leave the apartment.

Final Comments:

Anchor Bay has released all eight seasons on DVD, so now we can expect these compilation sets. Warner Bros. has done the same with Friends…they are trying to get more money or get casual fans to get a taste of the show on DVD. However, I will not rest until we get both spin-offs, The Ropers and Three’s a Crowd on DVD, too. I need everyone emailing Anchor Bay and DLT. Tell Anchor Bay to get the rights from DLT and release both spin-offs on DVD. Their email is TVonDVD@anchorbayent.com. In addition, tell DLT to sell the spin-offs to a DVD company. Their e-mail is 3sco@dlentertainment.

This set is well done and all the episodes are unedited (which they should be since they were on the season sets) and in great quality. My only complaint was why Up in the Air was not listed before Baby, It’s Cold Inside. All fans should buy this set because it had all classic episodes and fans who don’t have the season sets yet, buy this first to get a little taste before you start buying. In addition, if you have never watched the show…this is a good way to start I think. We will not rest until everything Three’s Company is released, so e-mail them about The Ropers and Three’s a Crowd! John Ritter is deeply missed and kudos to Anchor Bay for releasing a Jack Tripper set. Long live Jack Tripper! Lordy, Lordy, Lordy!

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)

Video Quality: 5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 1/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 01/19/07

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