Three's Company

Three's Company has held up so well over the years. I know it's not like it was on fifty years ago or anything like that. What I mean is that the story lines and problems for each episode are just as funny during each viewing.

The actors are amazing. Suzanne Somers, who was given way too much credit for her portrayal of Chrissy Snow, gives a good performance as the always ditzy blond. Joyce DeWitt, who wasn't given enough exposure to, keeps me laughing with her serious but not too serious character of Janet Wood. John Ritter, one of the funniest TV characters/actors I have ever watched, is probably the best thing about this show.

I'll admit that some of the episodes and problems they run into are stretched to the point where it becomes ridiculous only because they aren't funny. And while the audience keeps on cracking up, I find myself saying 'come on, get serious.'

The writers of Three's Company deserve a lot of praise and credit to. After all, they are who made this show what it is. I think that the writing is very creative with bits of hysterical comments thrown in at the most unexpected times or sequences. Everything that the crew put in and not so much the actors, are excellent.

One thing that is kind of wrong but good at the same time, was the change of landlords. The Ropers (Lindley and Fell) acted well together as the disgusted married couple. It goes a little too far to where the same joke or comment made by Mrs. Roper can be told and still be laughed at. The cancellation of The Ropers and the Ropers on Three's Company was a change that took some time to get used to. Fortunately, the humorous Don Knotts stepped in. All three of the landlords added a special something to the show that kept/keeps us laughing.

Everything from the tiniest mishaps to that groovy theme song, is what made this show stay on the air for so long. Not a huge amount of time, but long enough. Thanks to Nick at Nite, I have the opportunity to watch this hilarious show twice every night. The majority of the time, I will end up missing it but it's nice to know that an older show as good as this one can still be seen.

In the 1970's it was considered odd for a man to be sharing an apartment with two women. It was almost an invitation to be scrutinized by the public. Now many single guys share living arrangements with one or more girls. In the 1970's being gay was considered very odd or "queer". Now being gay may still put you in a minority, but it is commonplace. "Three's Company" which began its formidable run on ABC in 1977, brought to the forefront these taboo subjects.

A strange man whose name is Jack is found sleeping in the bathtub after a wild party the previous night in the girls' apartment. The girls want him out of their apartment until they find out that Jack (John Ritter) is a master cook, and since their cooking is lousy the girls Janet, (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy, (Suzanne Somers) ask Jack to live with them. They're working. He's unemployed but being their personal chef will pay his room and board.

Mr. and Mrs. Roper are the landlords of this beach front L.A. apartment complex. Stanley Roper (Norman Fell) is an old fashioned sot who is very much set in his ways. There is no way he would ever allow a man to share an apartment with two women, in his day and age and even this day and age until of course the girls tell him a fictitious story that Jack is 100% "gay".

Stanley's wife of many years Helen Roper (Audra Lindley) quickly discovers that Jack isn't really gay, and kids are only trying to fool her husband into allowing them to share the apartment. But Mrs. Roper couldn't care less. She's more concerned about the lack of action going on in her apartment with Stanley than Jack's possible hanky panky with the girls.

This great 1970's sitcom is carried by two important themes, the gay agenda, and mistaken identities. The first three years of the sitcom with Norman Fell and Audra Lindley the gay theme carried the show. When the Ropers left the show in 1980, and Don Knotts took over as the kids' landlord, mistaken identities dominated the plots. The comedy was based on the characters always overreacting and jumping to conclusions before they knew all the facts about a given situation. I liked Don Knotts as the bumbling bachelor Mr. Furley, but the early shows with Norman Fell and Audra Lindley as the long suffering Ropers were absolute classics.

"Three's Company" was not as good as some of television's best sitcoms plot-wise- namely, "The Honeymooners", "All in the Family" and "Seinfeld", but often times "Three's Company" was a lot funnier than these other three great shows. "Three's Company may not be one of TV's greatest sitcoms, but it was certainly a formidable one. Recently I saw the episode where Jack finds himself in bed with Mr. Roper, and I was balling with laughter, as though I had never seen this episode before.

"Three's Company" basically centers around two important verbal exchanges, the one between Mr. and Mrs. Roper and the one between Mr. Roper and Jack.

Mr. Roper will say something to Mrs. Roper like "What's all that banging upstairs in the middle of the night? It sounds like one of the kids is moving their bed." Helen Roper typically responds, "I only wish you would move our bed like that Stanley."

A typical dialogue between Mr. Roper and Jack:

Roper: "Jack. Helen wanted me to invite you and the girls over for Thanksgiving dinner tonight. You like turkey don't you?" Jack: "Well I like the drumstick. I don't care much for breasts." Roper: "Yeah I know. I've already figured sweeties like you out." Then Norman Fell as Stanley Roper turns to the camera and unleashes one of his goofy classic smiles.

John Ritter was the king of physical and slapstick comedy, beginning from the day his character Jack TRIPPER TRIPPED all over himself trying to leave the bathroom in Janet/Chrissy's apartment. And of course it is classic laugh out loud comedy every time Jack acts openly gay in front of Roper or Furley in order to stand by his cover story that he really is homosexual and needs to cohabitate with these two girls because (a) he can't share an apartment with men, and (b) his relationship with the girls is strictly platonic.

It was classic Ritter physical comedy every time his Jack Tripper character was caught by Roper- or later- Furley making a move on a girl, and he has to cover his hide by pretending to be openly gay and sometimes even sissy-like so he won't be evicted by his landlord. Then of course is the classic Mr. Roper line. "Helen. That guy up there, he better be gay or he's outta here. I'll throw him out on his ear." Roper often suspects Jack is not gay, but Ritter's Jack outwits him with his classic gay mannerisms. Jack eventually tells Mr. Roper he's straight and Roper thankfully doesn't believe it. Roper has so convinced himself that Jack is gay. Mr. Roper says "If you're straight, than I'm the King of Siam, and you're the queen."

"Three's Company was a great back in the day comedy." Norman Fell and Audra Lindley and of course John Ritter formed the unbreakable comic triangle which made the sitcom certainly one of the best of the 1970's, ending its strong run in 1984. "Three's Company" joined "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" to dominate ABC Tuesday nights the way "The Cosby Show", "Family Ties" and "Cheers" ran NBC Thursday nights in the 1980's.

From the first time I saw Three's Company, I developed a crush on John Ritter! If I were one of his roommates, I don't think I'd be able to keep my hands off of him! (Being a red-head myself, I'm happy that he married Amy. They were such a cute couple.)

When I heard that he was dead, I cried for days. :-( Part of me died, too! Immediately, I went to IMDb and read his entire biography. Then, I watched my Three's Company videos from start to finish. After awhile, I started to laugh again. Just watching him stumble as he charmed the ladies brought me out of my depression.

His handsome smile is a treasured memory to me!

Come and knock on this door, "Three's Company" has been waiting for you. Jack Tripper (John Ritter) is an everyman who has to feign homosexuality to live in an apartment in Santa Monica. He lives in the apartment with sly Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and ditsy Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers). Jack's supposed homosexuality often incurs the unpleasant-ness of sour landlord Stanley Roper (Norman Fell), whose wife Helen (Audra Lindley) always seems ready to leave him.

My favorite parts are always the dialog between Jack and Stanley. It sort of mirrors Buddy's comments about Cooley on "The Dick Van Dyke Show", what with Stanley's homophobia. Eventually, the Ropers got their own show and were replaced by Ralph Furley (Don Knotts), who would occasionally get himself into embarrassing situations.

"Three's Company" went through many changes over its run, but it never lost its timing. It's always a pleasure to catch the reruns on TVLand. Finally, I think that it's safe to say that John Ritter will truly be missed. He was always great on this show.

I remember watching this when I was about 4 or 5 and just loving the theme song then, but now I can really appreciate it for soooo many other things. How a guy like Jack Tripper can get into so many hilarious predicaments is beyond me, but John Ritter (RIP) pulled off the character perfectly. No one else could have taken his place. He just had so much energy and really got into it and took physical comedy to a new level, and that would make a scene even funnier than it should of been. And Larry, either landlord, Janet and any of the blondes just added to the hilarity. Can't wait till' season 3 is out on DVD. Give me three's company any day instead any of these pointless, thoughtless reality shows.