Three's Company

Three's Company
File:TCLogo2.jpg The title card of the last 2 seasons of Three's Company
Created by	Don Nicholl Michael Ross Bernie West
Starring	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 Don Knotts (1979-1984) Ann Wedgeworth (1979)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	172 (plus 2 episodes of The Ropers aired in syndication as Three's Company)
Production
Running time	23 minutes (per episode)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 15, 1977 – September 18, 1984
Related
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.

Description

Jack, Janet and Chrissy lived in apartment 201, directly above the landlord unit. Jack got a chance to move in when Chrissy Snow and Janet Wood were throwing a going away party for their roommate Eleanor, who has gotten married. The next morning they found Jack Tripper asleep in their tub, where he had fallen asleep the night before. Jack is studying to be a chef at a technical college and, as the girls don't know how to cook, they decide it would be a good idea for Jack to move in. In order to get permission to keep Jack as a roommate, Janet tells the landlord, Stanley Roper, that Jack is gay. Stanley's wife Helen figured out quickly (second episode, "And Mother Makes Four") that Jack is not gay, but keeps it from her husband. Her concerns lie more with her own lovelife with Stanley. Jack continued the charade when Ralph Furley became the new landlord in 1979. In the final episode, as Jack is moving out so that he can move in with his girlfriend he tells Ralph that he's "trying something new," insinuating that with all those years living next to Mr. Furley, "something was bound to rub off" which Mr. Furley takes as a sign that he "cured" Jack.

The show was set minutes from the beach in Santa Monica, California, and usually focused on four sets: the trio's apartment, the landlord's apartment, the upstairs apartment of Larry, the womanizing neighbor, and the neighborhood pub/restaurant called The Regal Beagle. In later seasons, The Beagle was seen less frequently, as Jack's Bistro became the setting for many scenes. The series revolved around sexual double entendres, misunderstandings and clumsiness/slapstick.

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 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

File:Ssommers2.jpg

Joyce DeWitt, John Ritter, and Suzanne Somers

Role	Years on Show	About	Actor or actress
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 typist. Her real name is Christmas despite not being born on Christmas Day.	Suzanne Somers
Stanley Roper	1977-1979	A hard-nosed landlord.	Norman Fell
Helen Roper	1977-1979	A 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.	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 ditzy, 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

Recurring characters

Role	About	Actor or actress
Jim	Bartender at The Regal Beagle	Paul Ainsley
Mike	Bartender at The Regal Beagle	Brad Blaisdell
Dean Travers	Dean at Jack 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.
• In 1982, TV's Greg Brady (Barry Williams), won a small part on the series, returning from absence to the Paramount lot. On an extraordinary set, Williams appeared as Janet's date while an "intoxicated" Ritter performed at his zaniest.
• 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

Cast changes

Three's Company had many cast changes over the years for many different 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 actually 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.

As Cindy, Jenilee Harrison was unable to fill the shoes of the original roommate on the series, the producers' explanation being that she was too young for the sex jokes. Their solution was another replacement, Terri Alden (played by Priscilla Barnes), a clever, sometimes sassy nurse who was introduced in the sixth season (1981-1982). She was the last of the series' three blondes. Unlike Suzanne Somers, Barnes was considered a cooperative professional who remained close friends with many members of the cast and crew long after the series ended. Somers would eventually make up with the majority of the actors including John Ritter (there had been plans for Somers to appear on Ritter's later hit show 8 Simple Rules prior to his death), but Joyce DeWitt still refuses to talk to her even after almost 30 years. Meanwhile, Cindy would remain on the show in season six with Terri, visiting in some episodes and would leave completely before season seven.

In season eight (1983-1984) Janet married Phillip Dawson; Terri moved to Hawaii for a job; and Jack moved out to live with his new girlfriend, Vicky Bradford--thus morphing the show into Three's a Crowd, the further adventures of Jack as he settles down.

Pilots

Three pilot episodes were shot for Three's Company, a rarity for American television. The show was recast several times at the instruction of ABC's Fred Silverman. The first pilot featured Ritter as "David", Valerie Curtin as "Jenny", and Suzanne Zenor as "Samantha", and the pilot looked more like the first episode of the actual show. The second pilot featured Ritter and DeWitt in as Jack and Janet, but Susan Lanier played Chrissy and the pilot looked more like the second episode of the actual show. The third pilot is the first episode with the famous theme song sung by Ray Charles (unrelated to the more famous R & B musician Ray Charles) and Julia Rinker. It was composed by Joe Raposo (perhaps most well-known for his composing for Sesame Street).

In an interview with The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation, Silverman said that Suzanne Somers barely made it as a member of the cast. "I was very involved in the casting of Suzanne Somers. We did three pilots", he recalls, "and the Chrissy character still wasn't right. We got to the day before we're starting the production of the series and we didn't have a Chrissy. I was so desperate, I took all the audition tapes and just kind of fast foward them. All of a sudden, they went by Suzanne Somers who I hadn't seen, but I recognized her from her appearance on the Tonight Show, I said 'back that up' and she was great. She's been passed on! And I said 'I don't understand. This girl could play that part, why was she been passed on?' and I couldn't get a straight answer. Anyway, we got her in that day and she was on the set tomorrow and she was terrific in that part. And that was an accident because she never should have gotten the part."

Broadcast history

• March 1977 - September 1977, Thursday 9:30 p.m.
• September 1977 - May 1984, Tuesday 9:00 p.m.
• May 1984 - September 1984, Tuesday 8:30 p.m.

Ratings

Three's Company premiered in the spring, in the middle of the season. Usually in the 1960s and 1970s, midseason television programs were cancelled after their original six-episode run in the spring. Network observers did not believe that Three's Company would go anywhere after its first six shows. They were proved wrong when it racked in record ratings, breaking barriers at the time as the highest-rated midseason show ever broadcast on network television. ABC gladly renewed the show for a formal television season, giving it a permanent primetime spot during the 1977-1978 year. Ratings continued to climb throughout the years. The very first episode, "A Man About the House", hit #28 overall. The first time a Company episode hit the #1 spot was the airing of "Will the Real Jack Tripper...", which aired February 14, 1978. The most watched Company episode aired on March 13, 1979, immediately preceding the series premiere of its spinoff, The Ropers. The episode, entitled "An Anniversary Surprise", centered around Stanley selling the apartment, and the Ropers moving out. It attracted a superb 38.4 rating (29 million households), making the episode one of the most watched telecasts ever. Here is how the show ranked overall in popularity throughout its seven-year run among all television programs:

1. Spring 1977: #11
2. 1977-1978: #3
3. 1978-1979: #2
4. 1979-1980: #2
5. 1980-1981: #8
6. 1981-1982: #4
7. 1982-1983: #6
8. 1983-1984: #31

Syndication

The show has been in local syndication since 1982 (ABC first aired repeats during daytime starting in the late 1970s) and the sales on the project realized more than $150,000,000 of which Thames took 12.5% ($19,000,000). It debuted on cable in 1992 on TBS and ran through 1999. Then Nick at Nite bought the show in 2000 and have a 7 year term with other Viacom networks such as TV Land and TNN.

In March of 2001, after being notified by a viewer, Nick at Nite quickly edited an episode where John Ritter's scrotum skin was briefly visible through the bottom of a pair of blue boxer shorts. The most famous quip about this issue was uttered by John Ritter, who told the New York Observer when they asked him about the controversy: "I've requested that [Nickelodeon] air both versions, edited and unedited, because sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't."

The show currently airs on TV Land.

Technical aspect

Three's Company was taped at two different places; The first, seventh and eighth seasons were taped at Metromedia Square while the second through sixth season were taped in studio 31 of CBS Television City. The cast would get the script on Monday, rehearse from Tuesday to Thursday and shoot on Friday. Each episode was shot twice in a row using two different audience. Three cameras were used, a technique created for I Love Lucy to give a stage-play feel.

The taping was done in sequence and there were rarely any retakes because the producers were pretty strict. Priscilla Barnes once said "Our bosses were very, very controlling. If my hair was too blond, I'd get called up in the office"

The opening credits where the trio are frolicking on a boardwalk and riding bumper-cars was shot at the Santa Monica Pier. They have since built a larger amusement park area adjacent to the pier, which wasn't there when the series was filmed

A later opening sequence that was shot after Suzanne Somers left the show featured the new threesome riding a zoo tram and looking at flamingos. Those sequences were filmed at the Los Angeles County Zoo in Griffith Park.

DVD releases

All eight seasons of Three's Company have been released on DVD in Region 1 by Warner Home Video and Anchor Bay Entertainment.

DVD name	Release date	Nbr ep.	Bonus features
Season 1	November 11 2003	6	None
Season 2	May 4 2004	25	Audio commentary; Best of Janet, Chrissy and the Ropers; Pilot episode; Tribute to John Ritter; Featurette; Gag reels; Trivia game.
Season 3	November 2 2004	22	Pilot Episode #2; Remembering John Ritter interview; Audio commentary; Original promo pieces with John Ritter; Richard Kline and Dave Powers interviews.
Season 4	May 3 2005	25	Nancy Morgan Ritter interview; Audio commentary; Interviews with Don Knotts, Richard Kline, and Ann Wedgeworth; Best of Jack, Janet, Chrissy, Larry, and Mr. Furley.
Season 5	November 15 2005	22	Jenilee Harrison interview; interviews with producers George Sunga & George Burditt and writer Kim Weiskopf; Best of Jack, Janet, Cindy, Larry, and Mr. Furley.
Season 6	March 7 2006	26	Lucille Ball presents The Best Of Three's Company; Laughs Around the World: Episode in Polish; Audio commentary from director Dave Powers on Jack Bares All.
Season 7	July 25 2006	22	Don Knotts: A Tribute; Parlez-Vous Three's Company?; Audio commentary from Richard Kline; Best of Jack, Janet, Terri, and Larry.
Season 8	October 3 2006	22	John Ritter: Working with the Master; Usted Habla Three's Company?; Bloopers from final 3 seasons; Best of Jack, Janet, Terri, Larry, and Mr. Furley.

External links

• Three's Company at IMDb
• The Official Site of Three's Company
• Three's Company on TVLand.com
• Jack's Bistro
• Three's Company Transcripts