Brunette Janet Wood, who works in a flower shop, and blonde Chrissy Snow, a guileless secretary, find Jack Tripper asleep in their bathtub full of water the morning after a going-away party for their ex-roommate Eleanor Garvey-Phillips. The two girls, who lack culinary skills, decide to share the apartment and expenses with Jack when they learn he is studying to be a gourmet chef who is staying at the YMCA and has no place to stay. However, first they must find a way to overcome objections from their landlord, Stanley Roper and his wife Helen, a romantically dysfunctional couple who live downstairs. Stanley refuses to allow males and females to live together unmarried, so Janet comes up with an idea that leads the Ropers to believe that Jack is gay, thus allowing him to live with the girls.

This pilot episode is based on the pilot episode "Three's a Crowd!" from the British series Man About the House, written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke.

While Jack is moving in to share the apartment with Janet and Chrissy, Chrissy's mother calls and informs Chrissy that she will be there in moments. Chrissy, whose father is a minister, panics at the news that her mother is coming. To keep the situation under control, Chrissy asks Janet to take Jack to the Regal Beagle, the neighborhood pub, and keep him there until Mrs. Snow leaves. As the evening progresses, Chrissy's mother decides to spend the night, creating a dilemma for a tired Jack. Meanwhile, Mrs. Roper figures out that Jack isn't gay. But promises to keep this secret from Mr. Roper.

This episode is based on the episode of the same name from Man About the House.

When Mrs. Roper accuses Mr. Roper of showing his visiting niece Karen a boring time, Mr. Roper--feeling comfortable with Jack's supposed homosexuality--decides to introduce Karen to Jack. Meanwhile, Jack is involved in organizing a birthday celebration for Janet, so when Mr. Roper suggests to Jack that he would like Jack to take his niece out, Jack refuses, saying he couldn't leave Janet on her birthday. When Mr. Roper leaves, Jack also admits to Janet and Chrissy that he can imagine what any niece of Mr. Roper's would look like, convinced that she would be unattractive as well. But when Mr. Roper brings Karen to meet Jack, he is surprised to find she is beautiful. Jack then asks Karen out and tells Janet and Chrissy that they will be back in time for the party. However, Jack does not show up at the appointed time, making Janet and Chrissy angry--leading them to realize that they are actually jealous.

Jack wants to adopt a puppy but Janet and Chrissy remind him that Mr. Roper does not allow pets on the premises. While the trio tries to hide the puppy from Mr. Roper, Jack fails in attempts to give the little pooch away. Chrissy gets an idea when Mrs. Roper mentions that her husband will forget their approaching 20th wedding anniversary.

First appearance of Richard Kline as the trio's neighbor and Jack's best friend Larry Dallas. Also, this episode is based on the episode of the same name from Man About the House.

While the trio takes a break from weekend chores at the Regal Beagle; Jeff, a large chap, approaches their table to make a rude play for Chrissy. His size intimidates Jack, and the situation becomes more embarrassing for him when the Ropers drop in and Mr. Roper, ill-tempered from a toothache, puts Jeff in his place. But Jack feels he may have acted cowardly by avoiding a fight.

This episode is based on the episode "Colour Me Yellow" from Man About the House.

The trio, believing a burglar has stolen their rent money, frantically try to avoid Mr. Roper until they can replace it. After Jack and Janet find their apartment door unlocked and the cash missing, Chrissy arrives and insists that she left the envelope containing the rent money on a shelf. Jack then calls the police; and while the trio worries about trying to get a loan, Mrs. Roper convinces her husband to invite them out to dinner. Mr. Roper tells the trio that he stopped by to do a repair, and collected the money to pay the rent (but forgot to leave a receipt).

This episode is based on the episode of the same name from Man About the House. Also, this episode marks the first appearance of Dean Travers (William Pierson), the often-uptight dean of Jack's cooking school.

A conflict over lack of privacy comes to a head after Janet brings home a date, and Jack and Chrissy have to cool their heels at the Regal Beagle. While at the Regal Beagle (where the Ropers also are spending the evening), Jack makes a date with a beautiful girl, Veronica. Later, Janet becomes furious when Jack and Chrissy choose an inopportune moment to barge into the apartment where she is entertaining her date, Alex. Later, the trio agrees to an "unbreakable rule" on taking turns privately using the apartment for dates. Jack soon regrets this rule when Veronica calls to change their date night.

While Janet and Chrissy are both employed, Jack has a problem finding work to fit around his school hours. Jack's principles are at stake when he is hired as a male model and learns he is to pose nude for a magazine centerfold, so he quits. Jack then sells encyclopedias as an alternative. He makes mistakes on the form when trying to sell to Mr. Roper, so he quits and gets a job as a waiter at a pizza parlor. John Fiedler and Sally Kirkland guest star.

First episode taped at CBS Television City, where the show would be produced for the next 5 seasons.

When the manager of the flower shop where Janet works resigns, Jack and Chrissy convince Janet that she should put herself in line for the position. But the owner of the shop has other ideas, and hires a woman named Chloe for the manager's position, whose only qualification is her figure. Janet decides to fight fire with fire, and announces that she's going to have breast implants. Although Jack and Chrissy try to talk Janet out of it; the only person who gets through to her is Chloe, who visits to explain that she's resigning the job because the only thing the boss is interested in is her body, and she wishes she was more like Janet, whom Chloe admires for her competence.

Chrissy and Janet go to San Diego for the weekend, leaving Jack alone. Jack throws a big, noisy party. When Mr. Roper comes upstairs to complain, Jack and one of his female guests entice him in to join the revelry. The next morning the girls return to find the apartment in shambles and Jack in bed with someone. That someone turns out to be Mr. Roper, who is mortified to find himself in Jack's bed. Although Jack knows that the only explanation is that both he and Mr. Roper must have passed out from having too much to drink, Mr. Roper cannot remember a thing and is afraid of the implication of himself being in Jack's bed. It takes Celise, a woman who was at the party, to give them the real story, but not before Jack confessed to the distraught Mr. Roper that he is not really gay. Mr. Roper does not believe Jack, but appreciates Jack 'lying' to make him feel better.

Jack and Janet feel compelled to inform Chrissy that Lloyd Cross (Dick Sargent), a mature, sophisticated man she is dating, happens to be married. Janet had confronted Jack about being jealous of Lloyd, who is dining at the apartment with Chrissy, when they run into the Ropers at the Regal Beagle. Mrs. Roper reveals that she knows Lloyd's wife, which sends Jack and Janet rushing back to the apartment to break up Chrissy's romance. To convince Chrissy that he is telling the truth, Jack takes Chrissy to meet Lloyd's wife (Joyce Bulifant).

The trio decides to celebrate Christmas at home because they have not been invited to any parties--not even by their neighbors, the Stevens, who hosts a big party every Christmas. After finding this out, the Ropers invite the trio downstairs for their own party, and they accept; but shortly after, the Stevens call to reconfirm their invitation to the party, which must have gotten lost in the mail. Jack and Janet want to go; but Chrissy, honoring the Ropers' invitation, makes them go to their party instead. The evening is spent listening to Mr. Roper sing silly songs, until finally the trio is able to excuse themselves. They go to the Stevens' party, where they unexpectedly run into the Ropers, who found out that they received a belated invitation as well. Turns out that Mr. Roper had spent the evening trying to bore the trio into leaving so he and Mrs. Roper could go to the party.

Jack and Chrissy agree to take over Janet's babysitting job for a night. To their dismay, they are met with a crying baby, no TV, and a locked liquor cabinet. To make matters worse, the mother goes into labor with her second baby that evening, and her husband faints, so both are hospitalized, stranding Jack and Chrissy overnight. When Janet stops by in the morning to check on them, the baby's grandmother arrives at the house a moment later, putting Janet to work on morning preparations for the child, allowing Jack and Chrissy to slip out.

Chrissy's new boyfriend, an aspiring filmmaker, gets her interested in making movies and her parents send her a 8mm movie camera. Larry wants to use Chrissy's projector to screen a porno film he purchased for $50 from a stranger, which Jack and Mr. Roper want to view. When Chrissy, Janet and Mrs. Roper arrive at the apartment to see what they think is Chrissy's movie, it turns out that Larry has been conned into buying a Woody Woodpecker cartoon.

The flower shop is understaffed, so Janet hires unemployed Jack to work there. Their friendship is put to the test when Jack's relaxed, jokey attitude clashes with Janet's more hard-nosed work ethic, a clash that carries over into their home life. When Janet's boss Mr. Compton discovers that Janet missed an order for a wedding, Jack - to make amends with Janet - pretends that it was his fault that the flowers were not delivered. Mr. Compton fires Jack, but his friendship with Janet is mended and he is pleased to no longer be bossed around by her.

Mrs. Roper orders flowers and chocolates to be delivered to her at their apartment from 'a secret admirer'. She wants to make Mr. Roper jealous by making it seem like another man is attempting to woo her. He finds out from the delivery boy that she sent them to herself. Mr. Roper gives a bunch of flowers to his wife, which she is initially pleased with. However, she finds out from the card in them that he stole them from a grave.

Larry brags to Jack that he never gives his dates his real name. When a woman named Sandra phones Larry, asking for 'Jack Tripper,' Larry hangs up. Sandra arrives at the apartment, where she tells Janet and Chrissy that she is pregnant by Jack. After Chrissy and Janet confront him, Jack assumes it was his girlfriend Linda who came to the apartment, so he proposes to her - which she accepts. Jack is puzzled when Janet and Chrissy react badly to him bringing Linda to the apartment and informing them of their engagement. Larry confesses that he used Jack's name when he was with Sandra. Jack is pleased when Linda decides against marrying him. Sandra phones the Reagle Beagle looking for 'Jack'. Larry answers, and Sandra tells him that she was mistaken in regard to being pregnant, and that her father is going to confront him. The father arrives at the apartment while Mr. Roper is fixing a window, and angrily chases him around the room, assuming he is 'Jack'.

The trio sacrifices a weekend to clean the Ropers' garden, after he threatens to raise their rent if they do not. They find some attractive weeds, some of which Mrs. Roper uses in her plant which she enters in a flower-arranging contest sponsored by her flower arranging class. Larry comes to the apartment and says that the leaves they have are from cannabis plants. They call the Ropers, who are at the contest. Mr. Roper deliberately damages Mrs. Roper's plant that is about to be judged in order to prevent it being examined. This infuriates Mrs. Roper. She becomes even more furious when her teacher comes around for the judging and informs her that the weeds were not marijuana weeds after all. Janet confirms that, then says that some of the other leaves that they have are cannabis.

Chrissy's father Reverend Snow (Peter Mark Richman) visits. Chrissy has not told him that Eleanor has moved out or mentioned Jack. Chrissy and Janet pretend that they are the apartment's only residents and he is not told who Jack is. Chrissy accidentally reveals that Jack lives there, so Janet pretends he is her husband. When Jack says they married at the city hall, Rev. Snow insists on marrying them in a religious service in the apartment on that day. Chrissy tells her father the truth about their living situation, to which he angrily demands she move back home. He changes his mind when he realizes how much Jack and Janet care about his daughter.

Jack and Chrissy take turns sucking up to Janet, who acquired a pair of tickets to a Frank Sinatra concert which she is not going to attend. The trio is also entrusted to take care of a parakeet that Mr. Roper bought as a gift for his wife. Jack unintentionally sits on the box that contains the bird. After frantically thinking of ways to get out of the jam, the trio gives Mrs. Roper the Sinatra tickets, claiming they were the gift from Mr. Roper--much to his surprise. Chrissy then says that she let the parakeet out of the box to fly around the bathroom.

Chrissy decides to be more assertive at work after being passed over for a promotion. Her assertiveness lands her the position of secretary for J.C. Braddock, but Jack and Janet fear that J.C. is only interested in Chrissy's physical attributes, especially since Chrissy is to accompany Braddock on a trip to Las Vegas. What they do not know is that J.C. Braddock is actually a woman.

Not allowing any wild parties after last year's party got out of control, Mr. Roper plays such a dirty trick on the trio (he fakes a cancellation of the party by posting a sign in the lot) that his wife walks out on him.

Mr. Roper is repairing their bathroom sink's clogged drain pipe, which leads to the main drain pipe connecting to the bathroom sink of the trio's. While repairing the sink, Mr. Roper inadvertently hears a conversation coming from the trio's bathroom, which includes Chrissy saying she "wants to get rid of it." Misinterpreting this, Mr. Roper believes Chrissy is pregnant and wants an abortion, when actually she wants to get rid of a wart on her hand.

When Janet is terrified by a mouse in their bedroom, Jack takes advantage of the situation by offering to move in with Chrissy until the rodent is captured.

Chrissy inadvertently eats the pie that Jack entered in a statewide baking competition and then tries to substitute a ringer from the bakery. At the competition; Jack, out of honesty, reveals to Dean Travers about the incident, which leads to chaos that results in a free-for-all pie fight.

Mrs. Roper and the trio mistakenly believe that Mr. Roper is having an affair. However, the supposed "other woman" is actually a real estate agent (Ruta Lee), who had been working with Mr. Roper to sell the building and find a new home in Cheviot Hills.

Fed up with the girls not doing their share and helping out at the apartment, Jack angrily leaves and becomes a live-in cook for Larry's boss (Jordan Charney) and his promiscuous wife (Cynthia Harris).

Guest-starring: John Larroquette as an unnamed police officer; Jordan Charney as Larry's boss.

Jack wants to raise money to buy a gift for Janet and Chrissy; so he takes Larry's place as a male escort and winds up with Lana Shields, an overly amorous older woman who falls hard for Jack.

Ralph Furley, the new landlord, gets off on the wrong foot with the trio when he introduces himself to Janet and Chrissy at the Regal Beagle, who mistakenly think he's making a rude play on them. The situation only worsens when the trio accidentally sells his furniture, thinking it was the Ropers' old furniture. Mr. Furley then gives the trio 24 hours to get out, until he meets (and falls for) Lana, who convinces him to let Jack and the girls stay.

Lana reads a letter in a Dear Abby column that mentions a man living with two girls and who is having an affair with one of them. She mentions this to Chrissy and Janet, which leads each to think the other is having an affair with Jack, which causes friction between them. When Jack finds out, he decides to teach the girls a lesson by faking a suicide attempt, but the girls eventually figure out that the letter was not about them.

Reverend Snow (Chrissy's father, Peter Mark Richman) has been given the opportunity to take over a church in Santa Monica. Chrissy is unaware of this when she sees him with another woman in an ice cream parlor and jumps to the conclusion that her father is having an affair. The woman, Mrs. Claremont (Patricia Barry), is among the members of the selection committee who will decide whether to accept Reverend Snow into the church, but she does not approve of Chrissy's living arrangements. Because of this, Reverend Snow is passed on by Mrs. Claremont, but not before he straightens out the situation for Chrissy.

Chrissy and Janet's efforts to get Jack into prime physical condition succeed beyond their wildest expectations when their voluptuous gym instructor Shirley (Tori Lysdahl) falls for him--much to the anger of her unnecessarily overprotective, musclebound, gym owner brother (Steve Sandor).

Mr. Furley attempts to convert Jack from his supposed homosexuality to heterosexuality, and Jack may have to face eviction from the apartment as a result.

A trouble-making 12-year-old boy named Billy, claiming to be homeless, wins the girls' sympathy and moves into the apartment, causing problems for Jack after he escapes from his foster home due to his foster parents making him do chores before going outside to play.
Guest Stars: Shane Sinutko as Billy Todson and Joe George as Chauffeur.

Jack's first day behind the grill at a diner heats up hilariously when his attractive boss (Ellen Travolta) tries to spice up her life by making an unwelcome play on him. After Jack confronts her about this, she fires him. Janet then encourages Jack to sue his love-starved boss for sexual harassment.

Darlene (Elaine Giftos), a high school friend of Chrissy's, is in town for a visit. When Jack meets her, he invites her to his family's home in San Diego with him for his mother's birthday. However, Jack discovers Darlene is a high-priced call girl, who has invited an unwitting Chrissy to work with her as a "hostess" at a convention.

Jack tries to back out of a ski trip with Larry and Janet until he meets a cute snow bunny named Inga (Laurette Spang). He impresses her with tales of his (non-existent) skiing prowess. All seems well until Inga challenges Jack to ski the "Flying Dutchman" run (a very challenging, and therefore dangerous, hill) at her parents' ski lodge.

Jack and Larry congratulate each other on their fantastic new girlfriends, nicknamed "Twinkie" and "Bunny," respectively. However, Janet discovers through a flower shop delivery that "Twinkie" and "Bunny" are the same girl (Rebecca Holden). A chance discovery of Larry and "Twinkie" together in front of a department store window (where Jack is currently employed as a mechanical mannequin) creates a brief love triangle between the three until it is revealed that "Twinkie/Bunny" has three other boyfriends on the side.

Jack resigns his job at a hamburger joint and applies for a position as a chef at Lucien's, an exclusive French restaurant. Unfortunately; Jack's skills, along with Dean Travers' recommendation, only succeeds in landing him a job as a busboy. Ashamed, Jack can't bring himself to tell his friends the truth; especially when they all show up at the restaurant one night, expecting to find Jack in his supposed job as chef.

Chrissy's trip to Fresno has left the trio short on the rent for the month. Jack, Janet, Larry, and Mr. Furley all maneuver to fill the "third roommate" spot with their respective choices. However, Chrissy's eager cousin Cindy Snow (Jenilee Harrison), using a somewhat clever process of elimination of the other would-be roomies, moves in after a rather clumsy introduction.

Janet learns that Cindy's boss Mr. Hadley (Rod Colbin) is asking for favors above and beyond the call of duty. Enter Jack, who decides to take matters into his own hands by showing up at Cindy's office to confront Hadley, which ultimately gets Cindy fired. However, Jack realizes the cruel deed he's done and returns to the office to apologize, but has second thoughts when Jack sneaks into Hadley's office and catches him making a play on one of his other secretaries. Realizing he got caught, Hadley shows up at the apartment, apologizes to Cindy, and begs her to take her job back with the promise of a raise and no more outside duties. But Cindy refuses, convinced she can get a better job with a more respectable boss.

Jack inadvertently assumes the identity of David Miller, a renowned chef whose culinary reputation gets Jack hired by Mr. Angelino (Jordan Charney). However, Miller's other reputation as a gambler and philanderer catches up to Jack on his first night on the job.

Jack befriends an elderly woman, Gladys Moore (Amzie Strickland), who comes to regard Jack as a surrogate "son." Gladys' doting nature soon proves rather troublesome when she begins to meddle in Jack's love life.

Jack plays cupid to his current girlfriend's widowed father (Keene Curtis), but his arrows misfire when the love-starved older man makes Janet his target.

A wealthy man, Winston Cromwell III (Jeffrey Tambor), persistently tries to convince Cindy to marry him, despite her repeated refusals. Cromwell then attempts to win over Jack and Janet by giving them lavish gifts. Despite his very tempting offers, they decide to help Cindy rid herself of Cromwell once and for all.

After a fight with Janet and Cindy, Jack stays in Larry's apartment while Larry moves downstairs to live with the girls. Jack soon misses his roommates, while Larry unsuccessfully tries to develop an intimate relationship with the girls.

Cindy breaks up with her boyfriend, a fashion photographer named Doug (John McCook), after he chronically criticizes her supposedly unfit facial features for modeling. Later at the apartment, Cindy talks with a friend on the phone about borrowing some maternity clothing for the waitress at the Regal Beagle, who is pregnant. Overhearing this telephone conversation, coupled with the grudge Cindy is holding on Doug for betraying her, Jack and Janet mistakenly believe Doug had gotten Cindy pregnant and abandoned her. After an unsuccessful confrontation with Doug over this matter, Jack decides to make an honest woman of Cindy and proposes to her--before the whole situation is cleared up.

A surprise visit by the bickering Ropers turns into a romantic triangle when the lusty Mrs. Roper seeks solace from Jack and Janet and winds up in the arms of Mr. Furley.

As Cindy packs up for UCLA and Janet looks for a new roommate, Jack is preparing for Cindy's farewell party when he is called in to Angelino's restaurant for a spur-of-the-moment cooking job. After cutting his finger, Jack goes to the hospital and is attended to by nurse Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes), who bruises Jack's ego with a tetanus shot in the buttocks. After an angry and embarrassed Jack leaves; Janet meets Terri and, after she finds out Terri is looking for an apartment, Janet gives her the offer to move in, which she accepts. When Terri reveals this to Jack by surprising him with her appearance in the apartment later that day, he is appalled. Later, when Jack is preparing food for Cindy's party, Terri tries to get on his good side by flrting with him, then apologizing when she is told by Mr. Furley that he is gay, but only makes things worse. To retaliate, and wanting Terri out desperately, Jack and Larry devise a plan to humiliate her during Cindy's party. After nearly driving Terri to tears with hurtful pranks; Jack realizes he has made a horrible mistake, apologizes, and tells her she can move in.

Jack breaks a date with Janet to coach a nervous Larry, who's hoping to romance Terri with smooth conversation.

Janet buys a blonde wig to wear in an attempt to boost her confidence. However, the wig causes Janet to develop an ego trip that alienates her friendships, as well as spoiling an opportunity to develop a relationship with a nice new neighbor who moved into the building.

Janet falls for a rich young man (special guest star Barry Williams) who invites her (and a date) to a stuffy, formal party on a small island. Jack agrees to be Janet's date; but after taking an invigorating drink called "The Rocket" (not long after taking a double-dose of a tranquilizer, against Terri's warnings, to calm his fear of flying), he becomes the life of the party, embarrassing Janet and causing a chaotic disaster.

Legendary sitcom actress Lucille Ball hosts a one-hour retrospective looking back at the previous six seasons of the series. Part one includes Jack's arrival in the apartment and how the roommates have adapted to one another. Part two highlights John Ritter's physical comedy and how the show's comedy relies on the classic sitcom misunderstanding. Ritter also makes a brief appearance with Ball.

Larry arranges a blind date for Jack--with a jewel thief (Tori Lysdahl) who mistakes him for a fence.

In the series finale, Janet is upset because she cannot have a church wedding, but Jack convinces her to have it at the apartment. Meanwhile, Jack thinks Vicky wants a job far away (due to her being misrepresented by her father), so he encourages her to take it. Vicky does not really care about the job and thinks Jack does not love her, thinking Jack encouraged her to take the job just to get rid of her. They initially break up, but Vicky interrupts Janet's wedding to tell Jack she still loves him and they realize they had a misunderstanding. They make up just before Janet tries to get them back together.

During the wedding, Jack stands in for Janet's father to give her away to Philip, since neither of her parents were present. After Vicky catches the bridal bouquet, everyone heads downstairs for the reception hosted by Mr. Furley. Jack and Vicky lag behind; and especially since Vicky caught the bouquet, Jack sees this as an opening for him to propose to her. However, Vicky declines, explaining that her parents' failed marriage and fighting have scared her from marriage to anyone, though she still loves Jack. Instead, Vicky suggests that she and Jack live together; but Jack wants something more, which leads to a second breakup.

When Terri sees Jack sulking outside Mr. Furley's door, she reminds Jack of his love for Vicky and that she is worth another chance, which reassures Jack into reconsidering living with Vicky. Fast-forward to one week later, after Janet's honeymoon. Larry is helping Jack and the girls pack for their move. Jack informs Mr. Furley that he will be moving into a one-bedroom apartment with a woman, indicating to Mr. Furley that he is no longer supposedly gay. Terri announces she will be moving to Hawaii to continue her career as a nurse, caring for sick natives. Janet, of course, goes home to her new husband.

As they leave, the trio says goodbye to each other--and to the apartment (as indicated by the three of them taking one final look inside before stepping out the door). Later, Jack and Vicky are settling into their new apartment, which is upstairs above Jack's Bistro. They have a toast and Vicky invites a nervous Jack to bed. To calm him down, she says she is nervous as well. Just as they start to kiss, Vicky's father barges into the room, announcing that he has bought the restaurant from Mr. Angelino and he becomes Jack and Vicky's new landlord.