Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company'

It is sobering to see that a show that exemplified the mindless, 70s sex revolution with it's, at the time, envelope pushing innuendo and double entendres, was fraught with deception, greed and betrayal behind the scenes.

The actors chosen to portray the various performers of "Three's Company" are very good, most notably the ones chosen to portray John Ritter/Jack Tripper and Joyce DeWitt/Janet Wood. The actress who played Suzanne Sommers/Chrissy Snow did a wonderful job playing the conflicted yet easily swayed by her husband star who ends up becoming a pariah of the set of the show after unreasonable contractual demands and skipping out on tapings. The performances of the network brass, show's producers, and Sommer's husband, Alan Hamel are excellent also. The supporting cast, the Roepers, Mr. Furley and Cyndi Snow, are also represented. Priscilla Barnes/Teri is merely an extra with no lines and Larry is nowhere to be found. It would be interesting to see how the rest of the cast and crew were affected by the contractual warfare that became very personal between Sommers and the producers. Joyce DeWitt took on a role as a producer of this film and narrates the film. Although this was not necessary, I suppose it lent a bit of authority since DeWitt was obviously there when all of these things were happening. But one wonders if this also could mean that the movie is slanted by representing DeWitt as the Saint who is just doing her job who gets wronged by Sommers, the Producers and Ritter who keeps plans of him getting a spinoff that doesn't include Janet from her. But the facts speak for themselves and one can see that this could all be very well true.

One can say that Sommers is painted in a bad light but it does evoke sympathy for her when she begins to wonder if she has gone too far and is killing her career but is easily sold on the idea by her slick talking husband who is an unsuccessful actor who's claim to fame are local supermarket commercials. Sommers quickness to believe this man is revealed when she talks about humiliating herself early in her career to help pay her son's hospital costs by dressing as a squirrel and passing out nuts and when she says that she wanted to become the next Farrah not Liberace in one of the films funnier (unintentionally lines). Ritter is portrayed as a nice guy who loses patience with Sommers antics but also as a passive, milquetoast who gives in too easily to the producers' offer of his own spinoff at the expense of the other cast members.

The bottom line is that what energy or magic the series had early on in it's run, was spoiled by the lack of appreciation for the actors by the producers, avarice of Sommers and "her people," Alan Hamel and the constant tinkering that was designed to spite Sommers. In the end, everyone seemed to lose and seems embittered by the whole experience. Ritter and Sommers did not seem to want part of this project and DeWitt seems to be gritting her teeth to this day in the segments where she narrates the goings on.

All in all, this is one of the more interesting, well made TV movies about a TV show because it deals with what made the show work and ultimately what ruined it, the best and worst of human nature.

I loved Three's Company when it was on, but this movie does not give it it a very good treatment. The whole movie comes off as very rushed with the series development and the first season all revealed within the first thirty minutes and then a segue straight into the Suzanne Somers travesty when her head became bigger than her chest. In fact, the movie has an eerie quality as if it was filmed by the crew from Sixty Minutes, but then, this is a ABC series being done by NBC. The pace was way too fast like a recreation from America's Most Wanted on steroids. The set didn't look very good; it looked like it was built as a high school set. In fact, it looked a lot better when it was recreated on that episode of "Eight Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter." They should have borrowed that set. And the background Seventies motif in the "real-world" was too awful. Did it really look like that back then ? Bret Anthony pulls off a fair John Ritter impression, but he just lacks the charm and panache of the original; there will never be another Ritter. The slapstick was just bad; Ritter does it better. Judy Taylor was a passable Suzanne, but then I never saw the fuss in Somers; I thought she was way over-rated. I loved Melanie Deanna Moore ! She is just too adorable and perfect for Joyce. Nice to see her in something else besides those glad commercials. I just didn't buy the young guy playing Don Knotts and couldn't believe they omitted Richard Kline entirely. I thought Company was best when it was around Kline, Ritter and Knotts and they dropped the tired husband and wife routines. There were brief parts with Priscilla Barnes, and my favorite roommate Jenilee Harrison is just barely given a scene. Some of the behind the scenes quotes I know were lifted from real life. Brian Dennehy looks and acts like the Skipper from Gilligan's Island corrupted by Hollywood; he just has one obnoxious producer scene too many. On a whole, I'd say the movie was fair, but I'm glad I watched it, but I do believe it could have been done much better.

I always enjoyed the TV series "Three's Company" and was familiar with some of the behind the scenes controversy about it and decided that I had to watch this TV movie when I heard it was coming out. Overall, I was not disappointed.

I don't think anyone could watch this movie without being astonished by the performances of Bret Anthony, Melanie Deanne Moore and Judy Tyler as John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers. They were completely convincing and believable in these parts. You could almost reshoot the series with these three and it would take a while to realize that it wasn't Ritter, DeWitt and Somers. Even the supporting cast (Gregg Brinkley, Barbara Gordon and Terence Kelly as Don Knotts, Audra Lindley and Norman Fell) slipped perfectly into their roles. The account of how the show fell apart as Somers and particularly her husband Alan Hamel decided to push the rest of the cast aside to make way for her stardom felt real, and there were even moments of sympathy for Somers as the definite impression is given that she never intended things to go this far - it was "her people" and her husband and not her. It's very entertaining.

Not perfect, mind you. I thought the whole thing had too much of a pro-Joyce DeWitt feel to it. She was always the innocent one getting hurt - first by Somers, then by Ritter as he hides the fact that the show is about to be cancelled and his character spun off. It would be interesting to see the story from Suzanne Somers' point of view. I also thought the movie jumped far too quickly through the first few years of the show for the sake of concentrating on the Somers controversy. Joyce DeWitt's (the real one) narrative was also completely unnecessary and added nothing of value, in my view.

But even with those criticisms I thought this was great entertainment for a Monday night couchfest. 8/10

I thought this TV movie was very well done. It was well directed, well written and the actors all did a great job. The story itself was pretty straightforward and predictable, but it was executed very well.

The emphasis of the story was obviously based around Suzanne Somers' contract disputes, but the story never focused on one area for too long. It was a well-balanced and enjoyable TV movie. Well cast and well shot, it was a truly enjoyable watch.

All the actors did a great job. Bret Anthony did a good job with John Ritter, even if he does look uncannily like a Kennedy. Melanie Moore was great as DeWitt, even if the voice wasn't quite there. Judy Tylor is one fine looking Somers, but she also showed great range in her performance. Gregg Brinkley seemed a little too young to play Don Knotts but he pulled off the voice and mannerisms perfectly. Brian Dennehy was great as usual in his "I appear in everything" character-actor role.

All in all, a surprisingly solid TV movie. Definately worth a viewing during the VH1 reruns.

7/10

The only problems (minor):

Suzanne Somers didn't start promoting the Thighmaster until the late 80's, this movie has you believe she started in the early 80's.

The clothing was pretty accurate for the main characters, but the network brass all wore suits that were nowhere near in-style during the 1970's. No crazy collars, no big, wide ties, no plaid, etc...

The sets weren't all that accurate when compared to the original show.

As everyone has said, no Larry.

I saw this 2 hour special last night on NBC and it was really good. The actors they used looked and even sounded exactly like them. It was the story, narrated by Joyce DeWitt(the original Janet)about what went on in the lives of John Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt during the seasons of filming Three's Company. Although it was a hit show, behind the scenes there was nothing but betrayal, jealousy, anger, greed and a race for stardom. Not to mention what happened when Suzanne Somer's greed took over her and what the company went through and also the struggles which kept John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt's relationship closer then ever. All of the actors did a great job especially the one who played Janet (that lady who does all of the Glad bags commercials with the funny voice. I finally got to see her do something else than those commercials and she was great). It's a great movie especially if you're a Three's Company fan!!