Info:
DVD Release Date: October 3, 2006 (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Color/1983-84
MSRP: $29.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 21 (22 half-hours, series finale
is one-hour)
Running Time: 550 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 104
minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English; No
Subtitles; Closed Captioned.
Special Features:
* Disc 4: Bloopers (approx. 20 minutes)
* Disc 4: John Ritter: Working with a Master (approx.
25 minutes)
* Disc 4: Usted Habla Three’s Company? (approx. 2
minutes)
* Disc 4: Best of Jack: Season 8 (approx. 12 minutes)
* Disc 4: Best of Janet: Season 8 (approx. 12 minutes)
* Disc 4: Best of Terri: Season 8 (approx. 10 minutes)
* Disc 4: Best of Larry: Season 8 (approx. 11 minutes)
* Disc 4: Best of Mr. Furley: Season 8 (approx. 12
minutes)
Introduction:
Jack, Janet, Terri, Larry and Mr. Furley are all back
for one last time together on the eight and final
season of Three’s Company now available for the first
time on DVD from Anchor Bay Home Entertainment! In
this last season, Jack narrowly escapes marriage and
children at the start of the season but he finds
another woman in the closing episodes which he
proposes to. And just like the last two Three’s
Company DVDs, you can buy it for $10 less than the
previous sets!
The eight season stars John Ritter as Jack Tripper,
Joyce DeWitt as Janet Wood, Priscilla Barnes as Terri
Alden, Richard Kline as Larry Dallas and Don Knotts as
Mr. Furley!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
This unforgettable eight & final season had a bit of
everything. Some stand-out episodes include “Jack Be
Quick” where this woman wants to have children with
Jack, “Out on a Limb” where Jack tries to get a nasty
letter back before a food critic reads it, “Grandma
Jack” is the one where Jack dresses up as a granny to
enter a baking contest, “The Odd Couples” has Terri
being hit on by a doctor, “Baby, It’s Cold Inside” is
the one where Jack and Mr. Furley get caught in a
freezer, “Jack’s Tattoo” is the one where Jack’s has a
tattoo in a private area and wants it removed, “Cupid
Works Overtime” is the one where Jack meets Vicky, and
“Friends and Lovers” is the one-hour series finale
that sees Janet getting married and Jack moving in
with Vicky!
There were many familiar faces guest starring this
season as well. Jordan Charney as recurring character
Mr. Angelino, Joanna Kerns plays the woman who wants
to have children with Jack in “Jack Be Quick,” Rita
Wilson & Lana Clarkson in “Alias Jack Tripper,” Macon
McCalman is Janet’s father in “Hearing is Believing,”
veteran Parley Baer also guest stars in “Grandma
Jack,” Dick Shawn as Jack’s father in “Like Father,
Like Son,” Kaleena Kiff as little Muffit in “Look What
I Found,” Eleanor Mondale as Dr. Fairmont in “Jack’s
Tattoo,” David Ruprecht is Janet’s new boyfriend and
husband to be, and Mary Cadorette & Robert Mandan in
the last three episodes as Vicky and Mr. Bradford.
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 seven. 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
light blue. Season two was purple, season three was
red, season four was green, season five was light
pinkish, season six was yellow, and season seven was
orange if you all remember. Like the previous sets,
you have to remove the case from the box. The box
cover features a nice cast photo of Jack, Janet and
Terri in a nice pose. The back of the box has
information on the series, set & special features and
a photo of Jack, Janet, Teri and Larry. The case cover
has a nice snapshot of Jack, Janet, and Terri. When
you open the case, you will be greeted with nice
message/synopsis from George Sunga, a producer on the
show. Sunga’s message/synopsis continues on the back
of the case, as well. A photo of Jack, Janet, and
Terri is on the back of the case as well. Most of
these photos being used on the artwork are season 6
(the box art is really a photo from season 7).
The discs are in the case, of course, with disc one
containing episodes 1-6 and has a photo of Jack in a
blue background, disc two features episodes 7-12 and a
photo of Janet in a pink background. Disc three has
episodes 13-18 and a photo of Terri in a yellow
background. Finally, disc four has episodes 19-22 and
the extras, with a photo of Mr. Furley on the disc
with a light purple background. When you remove disc
four from the case, you can see a nice photo of Jack
and Felipe. None of these photos on this entire set
are from season eight at all, which is strange.
Menu Design and Navigation:
Now to the menu navigation--it is very similar in
style to the last six sets. The full season eight
theme song (same as season six & seven) is playing in
the background. And rotating images in little circles
of Jack, Janet, Terri, Mr. Furley, and Larry from
season eight are in the background. Each character
appears twice before the theme loops. The background
is mainly purple. The options on the menu screen are:
“Play All,” “Episodes” and “Extras” (disc four ONLY).
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 on this set and the
previous few sets, though. 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.
Video and Audio Quality:
Like season 7, the video is probably the best I’ve
seen. I always found seasons 7 and 8 always to be
clearer, even on TV. I guess it is because they moved
the set to another studio. All the episodes are
unedited and in the 25:05 minute range, as I
previously stated. Like seasons two through seven,
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. Every single
episode has the full season eight theme song (except
Cupid Works Overtime, which I believe had the short
theme originally).
The video is the best like I said and the audio is
very clear, even though it is in mono. It is the best
mono on a DVD set probably out there. Some interesting
tidbits: the message at the end of “Cupid Works
Overtime” is intact. It says “To Be Continued Next
Week.” I think Nick @ Nite and TV Land never showed
that, but if I recall TBS did. Also, for the series
finale at the end of the episode it has the Three’s
Company logo turning into the Three’s a Crowd logo,
with a message saying premiering next week. And for
you people wondering about “The Charming Stranger”
episode, in particular that infamous scene with Jack,
it is intact and not censored. TV Land zooms the
picture to Jack’s face, but the DVD doesn’t, which is
good because we want everything unedited.
Here are the runtime for each episode on this set:
Disc 1
“Jack Be Quick” (25:06)
“She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not” (25:06)
“The Money Machine” (25:05)
“Out on a Limb” (25:06)
“Alias Jack Tripper” (25:05)
“Hearing is Believing” (25:06)
Disc 2
“Grandma Jack” (25:05)
“Like Father, Like Son” (24:59)
“The Odd Couples” (25:05)
“Now You See It, Now You Don’t” (25:00)
“The Charming Stranger” (24:53)
“Janet Shapes Up” (25:05)
Disc 3
“Itching for Trouble” (25:06)
“Baby, It’s Cold Inside” (25:06)
“Look What I Found” (25:01)
“Jack’s Tattoo” (25:06)
“Jack Takes Off” (25:06)
“Forget Me Not” (25:07)
Disc 4
“The Heiress” (25:07)
“Cupid Works Overtime” (25:08)
“Friends and Lovers” (48:32)
Special Features:
The extras are good. No audio commentaries on this
set, but still the quality of the extras are decent.
Each special feature is on disc four. Anchor Bay has
added nice title sequence to each extra. It makes it
look so much professional! First, we have Bloopers.
They are all from season eight except one blooper is
from season seven. Remember on the last set Richard
Kline remembered how he punched the wall in the
kitchen at the Bistro and the painting on the other
side of the wall fell? Well, they have included that
blooper on this set! The full blooper package runs
19:56. I have a full VHS tape of season 8 bloopers; I
wish they included all of those. The bloopers are in
great quality on this DVD, though. Next, Anchor Bay
pays tribute to John Ritter, with a nice 25:18 feature
called “John Ritter: Working with a Master.” It starts
off 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.
The next extra is a little clip, titled “Usted Habla
Three’s Company: Even in Spanish, Janet is
Delightful.” This is a scene from “Out on a Limb”
where Janet comes in to the food critic’s office. It
runs 2:03. Janet’s voice is dubbed in Spanish, but
the food critic is talking in English. It is still
funny! Then we have best of clips for Jack (12:17),
Janet (11:38), Terri (9:41), Larry (10:55) and Mr.
Furley (11:52) from season 8. These clips are much
better than what we had before. First, we have longer
clips and second they have nice title sequences at the
start.
There is a sticker on the packaging saying “Includes
30-Year Reunion Special.” I don’t know what they mean
by that, because I couldn’t find that anywhere. Maybe
an Easter Egg? I doubt it. I will try and find out
what they mean, and edit it in here, if I find out.
Final Comments:
That’s a wrap! We now have all eight seasons of the
best sitcom ever on DVD! But 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. And
tell DLT to sell the
spin-offs to a DVD company. Their e-mail is:
3sco@dltentertainment.com.
This final season is well done and all the episodes
are unedited (which is all that really counts) and in
great quality. The video is the most impressive to me.
The extras were good, too, with improvements on the
title sequences for the extras. All fans should buy
this set because it had a lot of classic episodes and
so they can finish their collection. We will not rest
until everything Three’s Company is released, so
e-mail them about The Ropers and Three’s a Crowd! But
for now, season 8 is a must buy as Three’s Company
comes to a wrap and turns into Three’s a Crowd. Long
live Jack Tripper!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 3/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 09/27/06
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