Info:
DVD Release Date: November 15, 2005 (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Color/1980-81
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 22
Running Time: 550 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 59 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English; No
Subtitles; Closed Captioned.
Special Features:
• Jenilee Harrison Interview
• Of Farce and Censors: All-New Interviews with
Producers George Sunga, George Burditt and Writer Kim
Weiskopf
• Best of Jack: Season 5
• Best of Janet: Season 5
• Best of Cindy: Season 5
• Best of Larry: Season 5
• Best of Mr. Furley: Season 5
Introduction:
Testing uno, dos, tres, catorce… yes, Three’s Company
is back on DVD with season five! Join Jack, Janet,
Chrissy, Larry, Mr. Furley, and a new character—Cindy
for some fun farce! This is the season where Suzanne
Somers’ Chrissy Snow leaves the show but would appear
in a few phone tag scenes, so they brought in Jenilee
Harrison to play the role of third roommate Cindy
Show, Chrissy’s cousin. You for sure want to buy
this pivotal season on DVD!
The fifth season stars John Ritter as Jack Tripper,
Joyce DeWitt as Janet Wood, Suzanne Somers as Chrissy
Snow, Richard Kline as Larry Dallas, with Jenilee
Harrison as Cindy Snow and Don Knotts as Mr. Furley!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
This classic fifth season had it all. For a few
episodes it was ‘two’s company’ when Chrissy was away
and Jack & Janet carried the show. Those episodes
were “…And Justice for Jack,” “Downhill Chaser,” “A
Crowded Romance,” and “Room at the Bottom.” Without
Chrissy in those episodes, Janet’s character evolved a
lot and showed how much of a good physical comedian
Joyce DeWitt was as well. She worked great with John
Ritter. There were only two full episodes with
Chrissy this season, but they were both very good.
“Upstairs, Downstairs, Upstairs” and “A Hundred
Dollars a What?” were the episodes. After all that,
Jenilee Harrison’s character Cindy moves in, in the
episode “Chrissy’s Cousin.” All of those were pivotal
and episodes that changed Three’s Company
historically, but there were other great episodes as
well, including “Make Room for Daddy” in which Janet
takes out an older man, “Janet’s Secret” in which
Janet’s parents come for a visit, “In Like Larry” in
which Jack and Larry switch apartments, “Night of the
Ropers” has the hilarious Ropers coming back for one
last time, and “Double Trouble” in which Jack poses as
his own twin cousin Austin from Texas.
There were many familiar faces guest starring this
season as well. Ellen Travolta sexually harasses Jack
in “…And Justice for Jack,” Elaine Giftos is Chrissy’s
call girl friend in “A Hundred Dollars a What,” Gino
Conforti & Jordan Charney make their first appearances
as Felipe and Mr. Angelino in “The Not So Great
Imposter,” the late Keene Curtis as Janet’s older date
in “Make Room for Daddy,” Macon McCalman as Janet’s
father in “Janet’s Secret,” special guest star Jeffrey
Tambor wants to marry Cindy in “Father of the Bride,”
the late Hamilton Camp plays Bart Furley in “Furley
vs. Furley,” William Pierson returns for one last time
as Dean Travers in “Teacher’s Pet,” Norman Fell &
Audra Lindley reprise their roles as The Ropers in
“Night of the Ropers,” and Terry Kiser wants to kill
Jack in “Dying to Meet You.” Brad Blaisdell has a
recurring role as Mike, the bartender at the Regal
Beagle.
Packaging:
The packaging is nicely packaged in Digibook format,
just like seasons two through four. So when you open
the case, you flip to the next disc like you would
with a book. The color scheme for this season is a
pink type of color. Season two was purple, season
three was red, and season four was green if you all
remember. Like the previous three sets, you have to
remove the case from the box. The box cover features a
nice cast photo of the trio (Jack, Janet, and Chrissy
that is) in a nice pose. The back of the box has
information on the series, set & special features and
a photo of Jack holding Chrissy’s cheeks on the left
and Cindy & Janet on the right. The case cover this
time is the same as the box cover. The last three
sets had a different photo from the box cover. When
you open the case, you will be greeted with a nice
photo of Jenilee Harrison’s Cindy and a nice
message/synopsis from George Sunga, a producer on the
show. Unfortunately, the great Chris Mann was not
involved in this release and seems like he will not be
involved for seasons 6 through 8 either, which is very
unfortunate. Sunga’s message/synopsis continues on
the back of the case, as well. A photo of the Janet,
Jack, and Cindy sitting on the couch is on the back of
the case.
The discs are in the case, of course, with disc one
containing episodes 1-6 and has a photo of Jack
(season 8 it seems) in a blue background, disc two
features episodes 7-12 and a photo of Janet (season
three it seems) in a red background. Disc three has
episodes 13-18 and a photo of Chrissy (season four it
seems) in a purple background. Finally, disc four has
episodes 19-22 and the extras, with a photo of Cindy
on the disc with an orange background. When you remove
disc four from the case, you can see a nice loving
photo of the trio—but it is a season four shot.
Menu Design and Navigation:
Now to the menu navigation. It is very similar in
style to the last three sets. The season four & five
theme song is playing in the background. And rotating
images in little circles of Jack, Janet, Chrissy,
Larry and Mr. Furley from season five are in the
background. The options on the menu screen are: “Play
All,” “Extras” (disc four ONLY), and “Episodes.” 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 pretty 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. My one complaint about the Three’s Company
sets was that there were no chapters. They made a
little improvement for this season! They added a
chapter break after the opening credits, so you can
skip over the theme anytime. But still no chapter
breaks where the commercials would be. So, it is very
hard to find a scene you want to watch in particular.
Hopefully they build on what they did this season and
more chapter stops for the final three seasons.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video and audio quality is very crisp and clear
for 1980-81. All the episodes are unedited and in the
25:05 minute range, as I previously stated. Like
seasons two through four, there are some tag scenes
from a few episodes that have probably never been seen
since its original run, unless you are from an outside
country. This means all the Chrissy phone tags are on
this set, if anyone was wondering! Want to find them
fast? Here are the episodes where she appears at the
end for a phone scene: “Jack to the Rescue,” “Jack’s
Other Mother,” “Make Room for Daddy,” “Father of the
Bride,” “In Like Larry,” and “And Baby Makes Four.”
Chrissy talks to Janet in all of them except for “Make
Room for Daddy” in which she talks to Jack. All of
these episodes are on discs two and three. There is an
episode on disc one titled “Room at the Bottom” that
had a Chrissy phone scene, but it was not at the end
of the episode, it was in the middle of the episode.
Every single episode has the full season five theme
song. The video is very watchable and the audio is
very clear, even though it is in mono. It is the best
mono on a DVD set probably out there.
Special Features:
Are you ready for some bonus material fun? Anchor Bay
has always provided us with great extras! This season
has not as many extras but they are still worth
watching and interesting to see. All of the extras are
on disc four. The first extra is an interview with
Jenilee Harrison. It runs about 9:23 in length. She
goes in-depth on how she got the job. She said the
show made her career and she says she beat out other
actresses such as Heather Locklear, Heather Thomas and
Tracy Scoggins! She also talks about her departure
after the sixth season. This is a must watch.
Up next is the feature “Of Farce & Censors.” It runs
9:37 and has interviews with producers and writers Kim
Weiskopf, George Sunga and George Burditt. They talk
about the hilarious misunderstandings, the great farce
and how they adapted to writing it, and how the
censors played out. They talk about co-executive
producer Don Nicholl, too. Nicholl died in 1980, just
before the fifth season. This is yet another
interesting interview.
The next five pieces are “Best of…” clips. “Best of
Jack Season Five” has clips of Jack from this season
and runs 8:33; “Best of Janet Season Five” has clips
of Janet from this season and runs 8:04. “Best of
Cindy Season Five” has clips of Cindy from this season
and runs 6:32. “Best of Larry Season Five” has clips
of Larry from this season and runs 8:32. “Best of Mr.
Furley Season Five” has clips of Furley from this
season and runs 8:27. These might be unnecessary, but
it is nice to watch the best clips from the season in
one showing.
Final Comments:
Yet again Anchor Bay doesn’t disappoint! The set is
well done and sort of fixed the chapter issue, but
still needs work. The extras were good but the
quantity was down, the quality is still right up
there. All fans should buy this set and continue to
buy this series on DVD. Season 6 is slated for March
7, 2006, with seasons 7 and 8 following later in 2006.
Come on Anchor Bay, bring on the spin-offs, too, and
us fans will love you even more! Season 5 is a must
buy!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 3/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 11/03/2005.
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