You take a horny but lovable guy who tends to fall down a lot (Jack), shack him up with two attractive women (Janet and Chrissy) under the conceit that he is gay so as not to make the landlord think any hanky-panky is going on (even though there never is any going down anyway) and you pretty much have Three’s Company in a nutshell.

By the show’s fifth season, when many shows get stuck in a creative rut, Three’s Company was blessed with a gift from the TV Gods. Suzanne Sommers, arguably the program's biggest draw, was demanding a few more zeros on the end of her paycheck ... and so rather than pay her, she was slowly written out of the show. Wait. That’s not a good thing for the show, is it? Now all they have left is that mugging Janet chick, and I never could stand her. At least Chrissy showed hints of a decent delivery, but Janet? Terrible.

Okay. New take, here. By the show’s fifth season, when many shows get stuck in a creative rut, Larry, Jack's friend, was temporarily blessed with a gift from the TV Gods. The show, left with a Suzanne Sommers-sized void, scrambled to fill the hole with the closest available character while Chrissy was “visiting her parents.”

Enter Larry.

As a temporary fix, bleached blond hair was traded for rampant chest hair until some sort of agreement could be reached. No agreement was ever made and Sommers, fulfilling the remainder of her contract, literally phoned in her performance. Many an episode ended with Chrissy giving the old gang a ring on the telephone to catch up with that week’s wacky events. Not the most subtle way to ease her out of the show, but at least they didn’t kill her in a car crash and replace her with Sandy Duncan. (Valerie’s Family, indeed.) So, while the writers tried their best to make this new trio work, it was only inevitable that a female replacement for Chrissy was not far behind.

Enter Cindy. Cindy Snow. Chrissy’s cousin. She had the bubble-headedness of Chrissy, the clumsiness of Jack and the poor mugging abilities of Janet.

Yeah, she got annoying fast.

You know, when I popped in the first disc of this set, it dawned on me that it had been ages since I last saw an episode of Three’s Company. Then it dawned on me how damned much I watched this show when I was younger -- yet it still seemed unfamiliar to me. I guess it’s an odd phenomenon with sitcoms and childhood. With some notable exceptions, it’s hard to cite what any specific episode was about yet you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you were constantly watched the stinkin’ program. It happens with Bewitched. It happens with Kate and Allie. And it happens with Three’s Company. Weird.

Anyway, the fifth season features that “romp at an amusement park” opening, which I certainly DID remember, however it oddly now resembles more of a parody of funshiny sitcom opening titles than an actual, honest to Ried title sequence. Everyone is just so gosh darned happy and having such a great ole time, skipping along to the Three’s Company theme. Man. You can just hear the smiles. Ugh. White BREAD.

On a different note, and I’d like to think this isn’t just Dead Comic’s Remorse Syndrome, what really stands out for me in these episodes is John Ritter. That guy was always giving his all. Sometimes you could see the sweat pouring down his face to sell the latest sight gag. He was no Keaton (Buster, not Michael…), but physical comedy ain’t easy and each episode he gave everything he had, despite the obvious set ups and situations in which we found Jack Tripper. It’s Ritter's conviction that made me take a harder look at this frothy situation comedy. Underneath all the sitcom conventions, there was some nice little farce action going on here. Not every episode was by any means a winner, but once in a while the whole farce structure reallyworked for them. The “Oh, aren’t we being naughty?” winks get more and more dated as time goes on, especially since no one was actually having sex on this show, but (and I’m mildly ashamed to admit it) there are some solid laughs to be had scattered about this fifth season.

I know. I know. I checked my temperature and I’m fine. I still don’t know why anyone would be compelled to actually buy this set, but I surprisingly didn’t find it to be a colossal waste of my time. Heck, I had some good fun with it. Besides… MR. FURLEY! You can’t disrespect The Furley.

That’s as positive as it’s going to get for a while now, folks. I gotta’ find something to take a dump on, stat.

How's It Look, Smart Guy?
I’m sure this is the best the show has ever looked, even compared to when it first aired, but it’s still not all that spectacular. It was an early 1980s situation comedy filmed in video, so one really can’t ask for all that much. I guess in that respect it’s fine. I noticed some artifacting every now and then but I highly doubt anyone was hoping to use this series to show off his or her new plasma screen anyway.

How's It Sound, Ya Bum?
Nothing out of the ordinary done with the sound here, just some cleaning up. Housekeeping, really. That said, it’s all clean. No hissing or distortions detected by my mildly tinnitus-ridden ears.

You Think I Just Wanted The Movie, Pal?
We get a 10-minute featurette that explores the farce-like quality of the show called Of Farce And Censors. I’m still shaking my head over the fact that they got heat over attempted mentions to the toilet. Censors just couldn’t let that one go for a loooong time, could they?

Also, a 10-minute interview with Jenilee (Cindy Snow) Harrison is included for your viewing pleasure. She comes across as very grateful for the experience and yet she seems to gloss over the fact that her character was given the ol’ heave-ho after one season. Like all 80s actresses, her hair is much better now. Rest easy.

Five montages showcasing clips of five characters clock in at about eight minutes each. If you watched all 22 episodes already, there’s really no need to compress them in 40 minutes or anything, is there?

Bring Us On Home, Brother
I don’t know. Suddenly I’m spent. Recap, recap, recap. Silly show, John Ritter was funnier than I remembered, Janet and Cindy annoy me, Recap, recap, recap. Is there anyone in the free world dying to own all seasons of Three’s Company on DVD, and if there is should we let them live? (Editor's Note: Me!)

Recap, recap, recap. Don’t disrespect the Furley.