"Joanie Busts Out"



This might've worked in a farcical way if it were set a year later, when Joanie is eighteen, but the plot of her almost nude modeling, combined with that unfortunate title, makes things a bit creepy.  That said, I liked the Three's-Company-ish bit with her parents eavesdropping in the kitchen and then coming back in, and some other moments.  So C+.

Notes:
  • We get the debut of Joanie's infamous "poodle perm" in this episode, and Chachi (who has very late '70s hair himself) even comments on it.
  • And, yes, Chachi is leering and creepy, and why is a 16-or-17-year-old boy working at a modeling agency, especially one with nude modeling?
  • I feel like Richie did go to Chicago "on his own" before he was 19, although I guess it depends on what counts.  For instance, he did go with the whole glee club but not his parents when he was 17.  (One of the times he was 17.)
  • "Runaround Sue" is on the soundtrack, and the Dion song actually came out in September 1961, so kudos on the non-anachronism. 
  • Taaffe O'Connell, Carol here, would return the next year as Ingrid.  She was a regular on Blansky's Beauties and would appear on Laverne & Shirley, Three's Company, and many other shows.
  • G.W. Bailey, who plays the photographer Jack Whitman, was just about to begin his run on M*A*S*H as Rizzo.

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