Product: Three's Company: Season One (1977)
Rating: 5.0
A Great DVD Caputring One Of The Greatest Sitcoms Ever
The 1970s' marked the rise of the sitcom. There were early signs of this in the 1960s' with shows like "The Nelsons" and "The Donna Reed Show". Shows like "All In The Family" were among the first hit sitcoms, But the sitcoom boom didn't really take off untila round 1974, when "Happy Days" and "Good Times" hit the air. These shows opened the door for a long line of sitcom hits - "The Jeffersons", "The Facts Of Life", "Barney Miller" and many others to name a few. Thrown into this barrage of sitcoms was "Three's Company". It turned out to be tv gold, garnering huge ratings and making star out of Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers and, of course, the late John Ritter."Three's Company" was first aired in 1977. Shows like the ones I just mentioned were in their peak period. But "Three's Company" was different from most. Its plotline was more risque:a man living in an apartment pretending to be gay in order to live with 3 lovely women, much to the dismay of the sexually problmeatic landlords, The Ropers (Norman Fell and Audra Lindley). But the show worked. For starters, the acting was great. The three stars had a full understanding of their charcters' characteristics. Plus, the show as well - written with many great oneliners.The release of this dvd was bittersweet, coming out about 11 weeks after the shocking and untimely death of John Ritter from heart failure. And anyon who thinks this was a way to cash in on Ritter's death is wrong because his dvd was scheduled for release long before his passing.The episodes here are hilarious. The first episode is the pilot, "Man About The House". This one gives a very good introduction to the characters; Chrissy, the sexy and stupid blonde who attracts all different kinds of men, Janet the plain but pretty girl who would kill to get a good man, and of course Jack, the bumbling skirtchaser who pretends he's gay to live with the two girl. Actually, at first he just wants to make it with Chrissy, but as the series goes on he grows to love Janet just as much.The other episodes are all good except for the one entitled "Roper's Niece". I just didn't like this one. But my favorites were "No Children, No Dogs" (featuring the first appearance of richard Kline's Larry) and "It's Only Money".Overall, a great dvd. With season 2 just released, I cn't wait for seasons and 4. However, seasons 5 - 8 I can wait for. During these years, Suzanne Somers was fired from the show and replaced with the flacid Terry played Priscilla Barnes. Jack started to become less attracted to the girls in the aprtment and focused more on his job. Pity it had to end that way. If they had kept Chrissy til the end, it could've lasted longer.