The BEST episodes of Eight is Enough season 3
Every episode of Eight is Enough season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Eight is Enough season 3!
The comedy-drama chronciled the lives of the Bradford family. Consisting of father Tom (a columnist for a Sacramento newspaper), mother Joan and their eight children: Mary, David, Joanie, Nancy, Elizabeth, Susan, Tommy and Nicholas. After Joan's death, Tom met teacher Abby, and they were married to make the family ten once more.
#1 - The Yearning Point
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/13/1978
Both Elizabeth and Tommy learn that there is no easy way to success. Elizabeth wants to go to an expensive college in Vermont with a good dance program but Tom can't afford the tuition. Nancy takes a correspondence course in hair styling. Abby discovers a dance scholarship. Elizabeth can compete for Elizabeth starts studying dance with a professional dance company. Tommy tries to earn some extra money.
#2 - Marriage and Other Flights of Fancy (2)
Season 3 - Episode 27 - Aired 5/9/1979
David and his traveling companion continue their cross-country trip and he gets involved in a hang-gliding competition and learns a few lessons about life.
#3 - Marriage and Other Flights of Fancy (1)
Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/9/1979
Tom finally realizes his dream of being a published author when a magazine prints his short story but finds it published in a man's magazine more famous for its "illustrations" than its literature. David and Janet announce their engagement but David leaves Janet and takes off on a cross-country trip when he gets cold feet. Elizabeth is paired with a real nerd for a make-believe marriage assignment at school.
#4 - The Graduates
Season 3 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/23/1979
Tom is proud when Elizabeth and Joannie are graduating the same week (Joannie from college and Elizabeth from high school). Joannie doesn't know what to do with her life after graduation. Tom is invited to give the commencement address at Elizabeth's High School graduation. Abby talks to the principal on Elizabeth's behalf after she is excluded from the graduation ceremony for taking part in a dangerous senior prank. Tommy is offered the perfect summer job as a lifeguard but has to cut his hair if he accepts the job.
#5 - The Final Days
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/7/1979
Abby and the children are frustrated when they are trying to study for finals and a youth-oriented article Tom wrote in his column runs into trouble with a senior citizen and inspires a picket line in their front yard. Elizabeth panics when she discovers she has to take an algebra final. Tommy puts a band together after hearing that the prom committee will pay $300 for a band.
#6 - Dads, Daughters, Different Drummers
Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 2/28/1979
Tom and Abby are surprised to learn that Nicholas is musically talented but Abby is upset when Tom gets him a drum set. Joannie falls for the local drama critic who gave her a good review. Tom thinks he is a phony and tries to break up their romance. An unemployed David decides to open his own construction business and the whole family pitches in to help him
#7 - The Better Part of Valour
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/21/1979
While substitute teaching at the high school, Abby refuses to pass the star basketball player, and troubles begin for Tommy. It's an awkward meeting when Tom meets Janet's parents. Tommy is pressured by the basketball player to get the answers to Abby's test. Tommy learns to stand up for what is right.
#8 - The Kid Who Came to Dinner
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/14/1979
Abby uses the family as subjects in a research project for school. Nicholas's new friend Bobby, runs away from his foster family because he wants to become part of the Bradford family. They decide to sail down the Sacramento river. Abby's friend and his wife begin to consider adopting Bobby. Tommy and Elizabeth debate the merits of cosmetic surgery
#9 - Best of Friends
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/7/1979
Tommy offers to marry a pregnant friend who was a girl, Lori, even though he's not the father of her baby. The Bradfords rally to support Tommy's taking of responsibility. Nicholas and Irving open a lemonade stand in front of the Bradford house but face stiff competition when a lavish lemonade stand is opened by the Cappleton sisters around the corner. David and Janet spend a night in the Bradford house when their apartment is sprayed for bugs.
#10 - Just the Ten of Us
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/31/1979
Nicholas tries to avoid a young lady who has a crush on him. Tired of saying goodnight to each other every night, David and Janet decide to live together. Tom is nominated for "Father of the Year", but his chance grows slim after David and Janet decide to become roommates.
#11 - Horror Story
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/24/1979
On a rainy night in Sacramento, the Bradford house is turned upside-down when the power goes out and leaves the Bradfords stuck at home with Nancy's blind date - a Norman Bates look-alike. Joannie is studying the film "Psycho" and the lights go out when her date shows up -- a look-alike for Tony Perkins. Tommy and Elizabeth think "Perkins" is an escaped convict. Tom is scheduled to participate in a debate on population control but he and Abby get stuck in an elevator when the power goes out. Nicholas and Irving play secret agent. Susan gets stuck.
#12 - Inlaws and Outlaws
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/17/1979
Abby's mother arrives for a visit and Abby is upset to learn that her parents are breaking up. Abby's father arrives shortly, and musical rooms become the name of the game. The girls want to move back home after their rent is raised but are afraid to tell Tom. Tom is picked up by the police after the kids rack up $170 worth of parking tickets on the station wagon
#13 - Mother's Rule
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/10/1979
In an effort to keep the remaining Bradfords at home, Tom repeals all curfews but Abby doubts his wisdom. Tom shows everyone that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. The girls learn that having their own apartment isn't as great as they thought it would be. Nicholas has a hard time adjusting to having his own room.
#14 - Moving Out
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/3/1979
Tired of Tom's strict rules, Nancy, Susan, and Joannie look for an apartment of their own because Tom has trouble accepting that his daughters are growing up. David buys a new truck and agrees to sell Tommy his van. Tom is upset when Abby loans the girls the money to get their own apartment.
#15 - Who's Crazy Here?
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/6/1978
Suffering from insomnia, Tom starts secretly seeing a psychologist, which leads Abby to believe that he may be having an affair.
#16 - Alone at Last
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/6/1978
Tired of not having time to themselves, Tom and Abby conspire to get rid of the kids so they can spend the weekend alone.They send the kids camping for the weekend. Susan brings a nine-year-old girl home from the day care center. Tommy gets a date with a popular girl at school.
#17 - You Won't Have Nicholas to Kick Around Anymore (2)
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/29/1978
In San Diego, Nicholas is taken in by Joe Simmons, an old con man, and a bum who was a friend of Sam's. He then performs his best scam trying to get Nicholas back to the Bradfords'. Believing that Nicholas is at a friend's house, the Bradfords' work on repairing Tommy and Nicholas room.
#18 - You Won't Have Nicholas to Kick Around Anymore (1)
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/29/1978
The Bradford children plan a party for Tom and Abby's anniversary and Nicholas feels left out. Tom and Abby unknowingly bid against each other for "A Christmas Line" tickets for their anniversary. Nicholas accidentally sets fire to his room, destroying the anniversary present Tommy had made for Tom and Abby. Feeling like the family doesn't want him around anymore, Nicholas runs away to find Sam in San Diego.
#19 - All the Vice-President's Men
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/22/1978
Abby's parents are flying in from Pasadena for Thanksgiving.Nicholas is surprised when the Vice-President accepts his invitation to Thanksgiving dinner with the Bradfords. He picks the Bradfords' as American's typical family. Tommy puts a deposit on a used car.
#20 - War Between the Bradfords
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/15/1978
The male Bradfords refuse to attend a speech that Abby was selected to give. War erupts between the Bradfords' men and woman when the woman feel they are not respected by the men. Nancy gets a job pumping gas in a sexy uniform in a local filling station.
#21 - Fast and Loose
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1978
David starts living dangerously after a close friend dies of a heart attack at a young age. The kids try to help and eventually David cleans up his act. Nicholas tries to help by offering David a kitten from a litter of a stray cat he has taken on. He soon discovers that the cat is pregnant.
#22 - The Hipbone's Connected to the Thighbone
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/1/1978
Susan, Nancy, and Elizabeth teach Tommy to drive; Mary moves out to study for her medical exams.
#23 - Cops and Toddlers
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/25/1978
Susan struggles to find the right career after she realizes she's not out to be a professional athlete. So she decides to try out to be a cop. Nancy opens a day care center at the Bradford house but soon discovers that's not good with kids. While she fails the written test for the cop job, Susan helps Nancy control the kids, who are running amok, and finds that she likes it enough to go back to school as an education major. Joannie makes David's girlfriend jealous when she practices lines from her new play in David's apartment.
#24 - The Flunked and the Funked
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/18/1978
Tom is chosen to teach a journalism class at the university and is impressed by one student who is working his way through college. Nicholas and Irving, who are making prank calls, receive their own from David and Tommy. Tom is disappointed when Nancy flunks out of college and decides to find a job, but she doesn't appreciate it when he pulls strings to get her back in. Tom finally helps her get a job interview.
#25 - Milk and Sympathy
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/11/1978
Nicholas has a crush on his teacher and buys her self-portrait at her yard sale, while the rest of the Bradfords' dream about how they would spend their millions after another painting is discovered underneath, and believed to be worth a fortune. Meanwhile, Tommy's chances with a popular girl are dashed when he contracts trench mouth.