Three's Company

Three's Company

Three's Company

Category: Sitcom

Created By: Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, and Bernie West

Stars: John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers (1977—1981), Jenilee Harrison (1980–1982), Priscilla Barnes (1981—1984), Norman Fell (1977—1979), Audra Lindley (1977-1979), Richard Kline (1979-1984), Don Knotts (1979—1984), and Ann Wedgeworth (1979)

Number of Seasons: 8

Number of Episodes: 172 (plus 2 episodes of The Ropers aired in syndication as Three's Company

Original Channel: ABC

Original Run: March 15, 1977 to September 18, 1984

Related Shows: Man About the House, The Ropers, Three's a Crowd

Three's Company is an American sitcom that ran from 1977 to 1984 on ABC. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House.

Three's Company

Description

This show is about three roommates who live above the landlord in a small motel-style apartment building. This sounds normal but not in this case. The roommates are two girls and one guy. Originally the three were Jack, Janet, and Chrissy.

Janet and Chrissy are having trouble paying rent and look for a third roommate. Well their roommate Elenor gets married and puts Janet and Chrissy in a spot. Jack shows up. Actually Jack was at the apartment for the wedding reception. Well he crashes the party. The girls find him passed out in the tub. The girls feel he's a good candidate and so they invite him to live with them. Okay two girls and one guy. That's already asking for trouble. I'm not saying that there are other possibilities.

You have heard of lesbians haven't you? There's also no stopping "visitors". Okay that could be a direction to look at.

Jack wants to stay with the girls (not a surprise) but the landlord would not allow a hetro man to live with the girls. The three "kids" come up with a plan. Jack has to pretend to be gay when necessary .... Oh and he needs to behave.  Jack pretends contiued to act gay when Ralph Furley became the new landlord in 1979.  In the last episode of the series Jack is moving out and moving in with his girlfriend.  He has to deal with Mr. Furley.  Jack says about being with a girl that he was "trying something new."  He told Mr. Furley that all the years living next to Mr. Furley, "something was bound to rub off" which Mr. Furley takes as a sign that he "cured" Jack.

The plan works but Jack almost messed up many times throughout the series.

Later in the shows airing Chrissy moves out and other girls get to become part of the group.

The show is set neat the beach in Santa Monica, California. The sets included the main apartment where the three roomates lived, the landlord's apartment, the upstairs apartment of Larry, the womanizing neighbor, and the pub/restaurant where the characters of the show sometimes hung out at, The Regal Beagle. In later seasons we see less of The Regal Beagle and we see a lot of Jack's Bistro (which used to be Angelino's, where Jack worked as a chef until Mr. Angelino agreed to sell the restaurant to Jack. Did I mention.... Jack went to cooking school and passed with flying colors. He was a great chef and cooked for the roomates and others all the time.

Three's Company: Running Jokes and Gags

The show used many running jokes and gags such as:

Mr. Roper breaking the fourth wall: Norman Fell would turn to the camera and grin after making a joke, usually at Mrs. Roper's expense. Jack's perceived homosexuality: Mr. Roper and Mr. Furley would make remarks such as "Tippy-toes" or "Tinkerbell" or calling him a fairy and bending their wrist and shaking a pretend bell.

Cindy slamming the door into someone (usually Jack)

Lana chasing after Jack (that being the only reason she ever came over), only to be chased in turn by Mr. Furley

Characters


Primary Characters


Jack Tripper, Entire Run, A clumsy culinary student (later chef, then restaurant owner), Navy veteran, and swinging bachelor, John Ritter

Janet Wood, Entire Run, Born in Speedway, Indiana, Janet is a down-to-earth brunette who worked at the "Arcade Florist.", Joyce DeWitt

Christmas "Chrissy" Snow, 1977–1981, A ditzy blonde secretary. Her real name is Christmas despite not being born on Christmas Day, Suzanne Somers

Stanley Roper, 1977–1979A hard-nosed landlord, Norman Fell

Helen Roper, 1977–1979A love-starved landlady, Audra Lindley

Larry Dallas (full name Dalliapoulos), Entire Run, A womanizing neighbor and used car salesman. He is Jack's best friend, Richard Kline

Ralph Furley, 1979–1984, A goofy, flamboyantly dressed landlord who believes he's a ladies man, Don Knotts

Lana Shields, 1979, The wealthy, older woman neighbor who had the hots for Jack, Ann Wedgeworth

Cindy Snow, 1980–1982, Chrissy's somewhat clumsy cousin, a secretary and later veterinary student at UCLA, Jenilee Harrison

Terri Alden, 1981–1984, Born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Terri is an intelligent blonde nurse, unlucky in love, Priscilla Barnes


Three's Company

Recurring Characters

Jim, Bartender at The Regal Beagle, Paul Ainsley Mike, Bartender at The Regal Beagle, Brad Blaisdell Dean Travers, Dean at Jack's cooking school, William Pierson Reverend Luther Snow, Chrissy's father, Peter Mark Richman Frank Angelino, Jack's short-tempered boss, Jordan Charney Felipé Gomez, Jack's jealous co-worker at Angelino's, Gino Conforti

Notable Appearances

Jeffrey Tambor guest starred 3 different times, as 3 different characters, and also was a part of The Ropers cast.

Lucille Ball was such a huge fan of the show that she hosted a retrospective during the series' run. Future Oscar-nominee James Cromwell made an appearance in a Season 2 episode as a police detective


Three's Company

Changes

In 1979 the Ropers moved to a house and a series was made called The Ropers.

Three's Company had many cast changes over the years for a variety reasons. The first of these changes took place in the spring of 1979 with the relocating of the Ropers to their own TV series (The Ropers), which would revolve around Jack, Janet, and Chrissy's former landlords (and their neighbors) moving into the suburbs after Stanley had sold the apartment building. Two changes took place in the fall of 1979, at the beginning of the fourth season. The first would be the addition of Lana, an older woman whose main purpose was chasing Jack around the apartment building. She had the hots for him but Jack just wanted her to leave him alone. Lana would vanish without any explanation before the season was half over (it was explained on the E! True Hollywood Story that the character was written out because the writers were not sure what to do with her, or how they could keep having Jack avoid her). The other new addition that fall was the trio's new landlord Ralph Furley (his brother Bart owned the building). Ralph fancied himself as a ladies man but really had no luck with women. He would be as popular with viewers as the Ropers had been and would last until the end of the series.

Season five (1980–1981) would mark the beginning of contract re-negotiations and would thus spark friction on the set in 1980 when, after demands for a heavily increased salary (from $30,000 per episode to $150,000 per episode, plus 10% of the show's profits) were not met, Suzanne Somers went on strike and was absent for several taping days. Eventually, co-stars Joyce DeWitt and John Ritter refused to work with her because of this, but, unwilling to fire the actress for fears her absence would cause ratings to decline, the producers of the series retained Somers, who was still under contract, to appear in just the one-minute tag scene of select episodes. According to scripts, she had returned to her hometown of Fresno to care for her sick mother, and in the tag scene she would be seen on the telephone talking to one of the roommates (usually Janet) who would recount that episode's adventures to her. In the story, Chrissy's place in the apartment was taken by her cute but clumsy cousin, Cindy (Jenilee Harrison). Somers' scenes were taped on separate days from the show's regular taping; she did not appear on set with any of the show's other actors. This arrangement continued for one season, but after her contract expired, it was not renewed and she disappeared from the series. However, Somers was still credited despite being kicked off the show.

Three's Company Cast Changes continued

Jenilee Harrison did not work out as a good substitute for the Chrissy character/roommate. She was Cindy, a vetranaranary . She was beautiful but she wasn't Chrissy. The producers thought Harrison was too young for the sex jokes that made Three's Company magical. Another character was introduced. Terri Alden, played by Priscilla Barnes, became the new second female roommate. She was a smart nurse. Barnes was easy for the production staff to deal with. She remained close friends with many members of the cast and crew long after the series ended. Somers patched things up with most of the actors years after the series ended.  She also made up with others including John Ritter.  Somers was supposed to appear on Ritter's show 8 Simple Rules before Ritter died.  Joyce DeWitt still refuses to talk to Somers. 

In season eight of Three's Company (1983-1984) Janet married art dealer Phillip Dawson (David Ruprecht); Terri moved to Hawaii for a job; and Jack moved out to live with his new girlfriend, Vicky Bradford.  The show changed to Three's a Crowd.  The new show concentrated on Jack's adventures as he settled down.

Three's Company


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