Info:
DVD Release Date: May 3, 2005 (Anchor Bay Home Entertainment)
Color
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 25
Running Time: 625 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 76 minutes
(not counting commentary)
Languages: English
Subtitles: Closed Captioned.
Special Features:
• Audio Commentary for "CHRISSY’S HOSPITALITY" with
Chris Mann, author of Come And Knock On Our Door
• Nancy Morgan Ritter Interview hosted by Joyce
DeWitt
• Don Knotts (Mr. Furley) & Richard Kline (Larry)
Interview
• Ann Wedgeworth Interview
• Casting Don Knotts
• Casting Suzanne Somers
• Best of Jack: Season 4
• Best of Chrissy: Season 4
• Best of Janet: Season 4
• Best of Larry: Season 4
• Best of Mr. Furley: Season 4
My Thoughts:
Three’s Company is knocking its way back to your DVD
player for the fourth time, in season four! Join Jack,
Janet, Chrissy, Larry and now Mr. Furley and Lana for
more zany adventures. Replacing the Ropers, who went
on to their own series, was huge, but Don Knotts as
Mr. Furley was a perfect fit. The 4th season stars
John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers, Richard
Kline, Ann Wedgeworth and Don Knotts. Head on over to
your local Regal Beagle and celebrate the fourth
season on DVD!
Join the gang at the Santa Monica Pier for fun for the
new opening and closing credits. There are some
memorable season four episodes such as, “Jack on the
Lam” where Jack thinks he is being chased by the FBI
and goes into drag, “The New Landlord” where Mr.
Furley moves in and is the new landlord, “Snow Job” is
where Chrissy sells cosmetic products at Larry’s strip
poker game, “A Camping We Will Go” is the one where
they go camping, “Chrissy’s Hospitality” is where
Chrissy bumps her head in the tub and is in the
hospital, “Handcuffed” is where Jack & Chrissy get
handcuffed, and “Jack’s Graduation” is where Jack
graduates from cooking school.
Some famous guests to visit the series this season
are: Dick O’Neill (“Jack on the Lam”) as Walter Nessle
the man who thought Jack really was a woman, Joel
Brooks (“Jack the Ripper” & “The Root of All Evil”) as
Dr. Prescott, Pat O’Malley (“Old Folks at Home) as the
old man who got on Jack’s nerves, Keene Curtis
(“Chrissy’s Hospitality”) as Chrissy’s doctor and
Joana Kerns (“The Love Lesson”) as Jack’s date who Mr.
Furley thought was a transvestite . Returning
characters include Peter Mark Richman (“The Reverend
Steps Out”) as Chrissy’s minister father and William
Pierson (“Jack the Ripper” & “Jack’s Graduation”)
returns as Dean Travers.
The packaging is nicely packaged in Digibook format,
just like seasons two & three. 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 green.
Season two was purple and season three was red, if you
all remember. Like the previous two sets, you have to
remove the case from the box. The box cover features a
nice cast photo of the trio, Mr. Furley, Larry and
Lana. The back of the box has information on the
series, set & special features and a photo of Jack on
the left and Chrissy & Janet on the right. The case
cover has a nice photo of the entire season four cast
lying down on skates. When you open the case, you will
be greeted with a photo of the trio in a beach
background (looks like season 3 photo) and a nice
message from Chris Mann, author of Come and Knock on
Our Door, and a good buddy of mine. He has surely
pleased all fans of this series with his dedication
and hard work. I’d like to accommodate him once more
on making these DVD sets perfect. His message
continues on the back of the case, as well. His
writing was on the case for the last two sets as well.
So expect something like that. A photo of the trio
from “Good Old Reliable Janet” episode is on the back
of the case, which oddly is a season three episode.
Mann’s message is a must read as he explains the show
very well. Inside there is a coupon with information
on how you save $10 with a mail-in rebate when you buy
any TWO seasons of Three’s Company on DVD.
The discs are in the case, of course, with disc one
containing episodes 1-6 and has a photo of Jack
(season 4) in a blue background, disc two features
episodes 7-12 and a photo of Janet (season four) in a
red background. Disc three has episodes 13-18 and a
photo of Chrissy (season four) in a purple background.
Finally, disc four has episodes 19-22 and the extras,
with a photo of Mr. Furley on the disc with an orange
background. Finally they used photos from the right
season on the discs. When you remove disc four from
the case, you can see a nice loving photo of the trio.
Now to the menu navigation it is very similar in
style to the last two sets. The season four theme song
is playing in the background, while you make your
choice. And rotating images in little circles of Jack,
Chrissy and the rest of the cast from season four are
in the background. The options on the menu screen are:
“Play All,” “Commentary” (disc two ONLY), “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 24:30-25:30 minutes
long, counting the opening and closing credits. When
you select “commentary” on disc two, you have the
ability to turn the commentary by Chris Mann for the
episode “Chrissy’s Hospitality” on or off. When you
select extras on disc four, you are at the extras
index where you can choose what extras you want to
view. I will get to the extras shortly. So get your
eyes ready to be stunned ONCE AGAIN! My one complaint
about this set continues to be that this set has no
scene selections or chapters. So, it is very hard to
find a scene you want to watch in particular.
Hopefully they add that feature in an upcoming set,
but they probably want to remain consistent and won’t.
The video and audio quality is very crisp and clear
for 1979-80. All the episodes are unedited and in the
24:30-25:30 minute ranges, as I previously stated.
Like seasons two and three, 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 four
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.
Now for the extras! The first piece of extra is
located on disc two actually. For seasons 2 and 3 all
of the extras were on disc four, so this is somewhat
unusual. The extra on this disc is audio commentary
by Chris Mann. He comments on the classic episode
“Chrissy’s Hospitality.” For the last two sets he
commented on one episode each, which was on disc four
the last two seasons, so this time they didn’t waste
space and included another version on disc four. So
this is a good move by Anchor Bay. Well, anyway, some
of the things that Chris talks about in this episode
are the cast changes, opening credits, and one of the
funniest scenes in the show’s history. That scene is
of course the scene with Jack & Chrissy fixing the
showerhead in the tub, while Mr. Furley overhears
something else. He mentions this episode is written
by Mark Tuttle, who joined the team this season. The
writing team of Michael S. Baser and Kim Weiskopf also
joined the team this season, as some of the older
writers either moved on or went to write for the
spin-off, The Ropers. He mentions the controversy of
Suzanne & Joyce in pantyhose’s. You’ll have to
listen to him yourself to see what happened. He also
mentions that both Joyce & Suzanne love this episode,
for different reasons. Chris is so well informed that
this is a much watch/listen for any fan. I won’t
spoil more of the things he said. You’ll have to see
for yourself!
The next extra is on disc four and runs 19:56 and is
titled “Nancy Morgan Ritter Interview.” It is
introduced by Joyce DeWitt, and Joyce gives a quick
history of the couple, how they met, their wedding,
and each of the three children’s birth. The interview
has a ton of cool rare photos of John & Nancy,
especially from their wedding day. Nancy talks about
John wanting to make people laugh and how he was a
goofball. She also mentions that John was very well
informed, having conversations with him were very
informative. Mainly she talks about John and how
funny he was and wanted to make people laugh. She
also mentions the friendship they had with Norman Fell
and his wife Karen. She was very sad that Norman left
the show for his own spin-off, but getting Don Knotts
was also good. The letting go of Suzanne Somers also
showed that Three’s Company was a business. This is a
very good interview. This set so far has two
must-sees.
Up next is the “Don Knotts & Richard Kline Interview.”
It runs 8:08 and they talk about how they got onto
the show, John, Joyce, and more. A clip from the Dave
Powers interview from the last set is shown talking
about Don Knotts and cue cards, you have to watch to
see what I mean. Richard & Don talk in detail about
the scene where they played drunk (the season six
episode “Paradise Lost”). They mention that was
probably the first time their characters had
interacted with each other. Other times they would
just say, “Hi Mr. Furley … Hi, Larry.” This is yet
another interesting interview.
The next bonus material is the “Ann Wedgeworth
Interview.” It runs about 9:11. It also has tons of
clips and brief separate interviews with Kim Weiskopf
(writer) and George Sunga (producer). Ann talks about
how great and funny John was, her storylines, and the
episodes “Love They Neighbor” (her first show), “The
New Landlord” (first show with Mr. Furley), and “A
Camping We Will Go” (her favorite and written by
Weiskopf). Sunga & Weiskiopf mention that they loved
Ann but they ran out of storylines for her. She was
great while she was there, but then they just didn’t
have room for her. Ann had a great time on the show
and has only good things to say. She even still looks
like she did from 1980!
Next up is the feature “Casting Don Knotts.” It runs
3:57 and features interviews with George Burditt
(producer), George Sunga (producer) and Kim Weiskopf
(writer). This basically tells us how Don Knotts came
about and how he was a perfect replacement for Norman
Fell. The next feature has the same people
interviewed and is titled “Casting Suzanne Somers.”
It runs 3:29. We find out how they came up with
Suzanne. They show some clips of Suzanne in a white
background, I guess auditioning? They mention the two
original Chrissy’s, including Susan Lanier.
The next five pieces are “Best of…” clips. “Best of
Jack Season Four” has clips of Jack from this season
and runs 6:41 “Best of Chrissy Season Four” has
clips of Chrissy from this season and runs over 7:15.
“Best of Janet Season Four” has clips of Janet from
this season and runs 6:37. “Best of Larry Season
Four” has clips of Larry from this season and runs
6:17. “Best of Mr. Furley Season Four” has clips of
Furley from this season and runs 6:17. These might be
unnecessary, but I did like the Janet one because they
had a shot of Joyce you’ll just have to see for
yourself that was very rare. It is right in the
beginning, so you can’t miss it.
Again I really enjoyed this set. Anchor Bay has done
a remarkable job the last three seasons. The special
features are high class and hopefully seasons 5-8 are
on the same par, if not better. We are now halfway
through our Three’s Company collection. Now we also
need both spin-offs on DVD. What could be a good sign
is that, there was supposed to be an interview with
Patricia McCormack (Ann from “The Ropers”) on this
set, but that was scratched. Could this mean that was
moved for an upcoming “The Ropers” set? I hope so!
Anchor Bay has already mentioned that season 5 of
Three’s Company is coming October 4. About 5 months
away. So for now, enjoy season four on DVD and start
saving up for season 5 & beyond and maybe even the
spin-offs!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.7/5
Audio Quality: 4.7/5
Special Features: 5/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 5/5
Overall: 4.8/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 04/29/05
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