Man About the House

The one thing the Brits know about television is knowing when to stop. This show did more with 39 episodes (& one movie) than Three's Company did with 172 episodes. While it does leave you wanting for more, I'd rather have a few excellent shows than dozens of mediocre or downright horrible ones. Hollywood should take a lesson here.

Richard was a likable bloke and the girls were cute and charming. The Ropers were much funnier than their American counterparts. I liked the fact that they dismissed the whole "Robin is gay" thing almost immediately.

If you've never seen this show, you owe to yourself to check it out.

Now the series is 30 years old but it is still funny. I saw it when I was a child and I can still recall the laughters at home. It was the first British tv series thet topped the tv rankings in Spain. And even now, people remember it. Two different situations: upstairs the 3 flat mates, and downstairs the landlord and his wife. The scripts were terrific: both situations fixed perfectly. And what about the actors? all of them were absolutely brilliant, specially my dear Mrs Roper. Oh, yes. Americans made a "remake" that was OK when they copied word by word the original episodes. When they had to create new scripts it became awful and boring. By the way, I always recommend to see any show in its original version, but I must confess that Spanish dubbed version is as good as the original one.

I found the first four episodes of MAN ABOUT THE HOUSE, and I'm scouring eBay and Amazon for more! This show is pretty damn funny. I never liked the American version, and now I know why. The acting in this is far superior! Richard O'Sullivan is funny without resorting to inane slapstick -- ok, there's a bit of it, but the British do it so much better (as evidenced by Benny Hill). Sally Thomsett is cute without being dumb, and shows her wit time and time again. And Paula Wilcox combines sexy, smart, and sassy like no one I've ever seen. You won't find a more talented trio.

Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy are the -- dare I say -- threesome's perfect foils. Not the lecherous landlords of the American version, but naughty and enjoyable.

Would love to see this on TV on this side of the pond. As it is, I'll have to buy PAL and have it converted to NTSC. A small price to pay for superior, saucy, sexy fun!

I have such fond memories of watching this show. I would love to see it again. Yes, it was copied by Three's Company but the two shows diverged quite a bit after awhile. What I liked best about it was the sexual chemistry between Robin Tripp and Chrissy (the smart one). They were always bantering and teasing and arguing but you knew underneath there was something there. I was always waiting for the dumb blonde (Jo) to get out of the way so they could get more romantic. I wish I could remember how the series ended. I think they got together but maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. I do remember the series Robin's Nest and it was kinda cute but there was no chemistry without Chrissy. In the American series, Chrissy was the dumb blonde, Janet the smart one but neither one had any real romantic relationship with John Ritter's character. I think people here have been too harsh about Ritter. He was all slapstick its true, but that was an art in itself! Different kind of humour. I prefer the British series as it was more subtle and clever, but I also enjoyed the American version. Although it really lasted at least two years too long!!

I absolutely love old British TV series, and especially in the sit-com department they beat all other countries. I remember this particular series quite well even though I haven't seen it in a long time, luckily it's now available on VHS/DVD so I'll be buying it soon. Nothing beats that atmospheric shot-on-videotape look most British TV shows had in the '70s, when filmed indoors. Richard Sullivan is great as the guy the two girls find in their bathroom, and the two actresses are also both excellent. Terrific stuff. The series had two spin-offs; "George & Mildred" (about the landlord and his wife) and "Robin's Nest" (Sullivan's character minus the girls). Those who think the American version "Three's Company" is better only need to look at the amount of episodes it had, and suddenly it's not so funny anymore. I think the fact that "Three's Company" was filled with more characters and ran for a whopping 172 episodes compared to the original's small cast and 39 episodes says it all. Overdoing it kills any show, and the Brits always knew quantity is not the same as quality.