Christmas Review number two

Day two of my Christmas TV/movie reviews. Tonight, I'm watching the Three's Company Christmas episode, simply titled "Three's Christmas".

Jack, Janet, and Chrissy exchange gifts on Christmas morning, leading to Jack wearing one pale blue sock and one argyle sock (each one half of a pair each given to him by Janet and Chrissy). As gifts are exchanged, we learn that Chrissy is a nickname for Christmas, making her full name Christmas Snow. The trio decide to throw a Christmas party, only to discover all their friends are already invited to a different party, but they're not.

Meanwhile, the trio's landlords, Helen and Stanley Roper, come home prematurely from a Christmas weekend at her brother's house, as he and Stanley don't get along. As Mrs. Roper notes, "they keep hitting each other." Not wanting to settle into a non-celebratory Christmas, Mrs Roper invites Jack, Janet and Chrissy to a get-together at their place, which the group reluctantly accepts. As soon as Mrs. Roper leaves, Jack gets a phone call; they're invited to the big Christmas party after all! Chrissy makes the group attend the Ropers' party as promised, Jack and Janet figuring to bow out early for the other party.

The group arrives to find themselves the only guests at the Ropers' party, a pink plastic table-top Christmas tree awaiting them ("It doubles as an air freshener," says Mrs. Roper). Lame card tricks, single fingers of scotch, and tons of bad singing by Mr. Roper abound as the evening progresses. When Mr. Roper tries to get everyone to dance as he (poorly) plays reveille on a trumpet, Jack, Janet, and Chrissy finally find their excuse to leave for the other party.

Mrs. Roper is furious that Stanley has ruined another celebration for her, but it's revealed he had ulterior motives. A phone call earlier in the evening wasn't Helen's brother as he claimed; it turns out they were also invited to the big Christmas party as well, and Stanley had been trying to get rid of the trio so they could attend.

In the end, a fun time is had by all, with the group having to carry Mr. Roper home for Helen ("Just leave him under the tree, I'll unwrap him in the morning.")

…

Tonight is the first time in quite a while that I've watched this episode. As best as I can remember, it was before Christmas 2013 when I last watched this episode. This time around, the show was having trouble keeping my attention. When I was younger, I was a big fan of Three's Company, when the show ran in syndication. I didn't watch it again for years until a few years ago, when the show was released on DVD. It's joined Gilligan's Island as a show I loved when I was a kid, but don't quite hold up before my adult eyes. That's not to say these shows are bad, but that they don't bring quite the same pleasure as when I was a kid. Back them, the pleasure I derived from the show was from John Ritter's great physical comedy in the role of Jack Tripper.

That said, the episode does have some funny moments: Jack thinking about whale-gutting in the Arctic and what he'd rather do than go to the Ropers' party; Chrissy's phone call to her boyfriend, a commercial actor ("the star of Armpit Theater"); Mr. Roper and his horn ("Everybody dance!").

If you're a Three's Company fan, I'd recommend it, but you've probably seen it already. If not, you can skip this one and not miss much.