Um é Pouco, Dois é Bom e Três é Demais

My all-time favorite TV show. They sure don't make 'em like this anymore. John Ritter is priceless in his classic role of Jack Tripper, the clumsy, good-hearted ladies man who aspires to become the world's greatest chef. Joyce DeWitt is cute as ever as the level-headed, sexy and intelligent florist. The rest of the cast, particularly Suzanne Somers and Don Knotts, were all memroable and great as well. Every episode is worth watching, but the best seasons were 1979-80, 1981-82, and 1982-83.

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.

This series is simple, slapstick humor, with no real seriousness to it. The perfect show if you just want to lay back and have a few laughs. Great actors, especially actor John Ritter, and funny story lines. I saw some interesting trivia at endedtvseries.com Terri is under looked though. Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes)-Terri is the roommate who comes along to replace Cindy, after her character decides to leave and attend UCLA. Also blond like her two predecessors, this is where the similarities stop, as Terri is a registered nurse, hardworking, dedicated to her job and intelligent. Although she and Jack do have a rather unfortunate first meeting, they do warm up to each other after a short while.

For those who don't remember when sitcoms were the ones that made you laugh out loud one minute and then laugh crying the next and to keep you guessing what Jack Tripper was up to next,then this was the show to watch.....During its run on ABC-TV from 1977-1984,Three's Company was the best American sitcom ever to grace the airwaves. Hands down. John Ritter to me was the all-time Macdaddy that kept it real. His portrayal of stumble-prone Jack was ingenious not to mention hilariously funny. Jack always knew what to do(or so it seems)when it came to the ladies especially dealing with his roommates Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow and even the upstairs neighbors The Ropers who was on Jack's every move.

Out of his other roommates only Joyce DeWitt's character Janet Wood,who was a stunning brunette beauty who was reasonable and sweet and reliable was Ritter's ONLY long-standing roommate throughout the shows' entire run. However,during and probably the best,and frankly the early years of the show(during the first four seasons),Suzanne Somers was the center of attention as ditzy,and sometimes not very bright Chrissy Snow,the lovable blonde. Somers became an overnight success during her four seasons on the show becoming a hottie for every junior high school boy in America who idolized her on their bedroom walls. Somers left the show in 1981 which was then in the top ten.

Also during the first four seasons of the show was the constant feuding and sometimes hilarious quarrels between the kids' landlord neighbors The Ropers. Actor Norman Fell was a comic genius(usually he'll played cops and detectives on other shows but here was a departure from that)here when he played Stanley Roper and Audra Lindley who was his wife Helen Roper who was bugged Stanley every time he did something. In 1981,The Ropers got their own sitcom show which didn't last very long.

During the shows' fourth season,Jenilee Harrison had a short stint as Chrissy's cousin Cindy Snow,who was another ditzy,not so bright,clumsy blonde. After Harrison's departure from the show,former "Dallas" star Priscilla Barnes tied things up as registered nurse Terri Alden,who was not like Chrissy or Cindy but this blonde had style and wasn't clumsy or ditzy and very bright. Also during that season,Don Knotts(aka Deputy Fife on Andy Griffith) filled in the gap as the "bachelor at large",Ralph Furley. Richard Kline starred as the lovable stud Larry who was a used car salesmen and swinger extraordinaire who was always getting Jack blind dates. In was here that Knotts and Ritter kept the show in the Top 10 for the next five seasons including Emmy nominations for Best Actor.

In all Three's Company was a laugh-a-minute riot and nothing more. The only element was the serious relationship of the roommates. They always had a understanding of each other and loved each other very much who would not let anyone get in the way of a friendship. However,it was always would not be that way.

The final episode of Three's Company in 1984,saw the departure of Jack Tripper as he finds that his bachelor days are finally over by finding the girl of his dreams,and eventually going down the aisle to get married on the show,leaving his two beautiful roommates behind. The show however,had a spin-off on this which featured Jack Tripper adjusting to the conditions of being married with his new wife and his new surroundings as a loyal and faithful husband.

However,this show is based on the 1960's British sitcom "A Man About The House".

Kudos to John Ritter,Joyce DeWitt,especially for their talents and bringing the laughs. You rock! Catch the re-runs on Nick at Nite.

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.