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''Three's Company'' is a popular American Sitcom that ran from 1977 to 1984 on ABC . It is a Remake of the British sitcom '' Man About The House ''. DESCRIPTION Chrissy Snow and Janet Wood throw a going away party for their roommate Eleanor, and afterwards, they find Jack Tripper asleep in their tub, where he has fallen asleep after crashing their party. 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 . 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 Entendre s, misunderstandings and clumsiness/ Slapstick . Running jokes and gags The show used many running jokes and gags such as:
CHARACTERS Primary characters Recurring characters 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. 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 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 producer's 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. 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."[http://video.google.com/url?docid=6340043442144885060&esrc=sr10&ev=v&q=%22archive%2Bof%2Bamerican%2Btelevision%2Binterview%2Bwith%2Bfred%2Bsilverman%22&srcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D6340043442144885060&vidurl=%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D6340043442144885060%26q%3D%2522archive%2Bof%2Bamerican%2Btelevision%2Binterview%2Bwith%2Bfred%2Bsilverman%2522%26total%3D11%26start%3D0%26num%3D10%26so%3D2%26type%3Dsearch%26plindex%3D9&usg=AL29H22sZGWMa38skhmbhZulDidwaWCK1Q Fred Silverman video interview - part 7 (talks about Three's Company about 20 minutes after the beginning)] BROADCAST HISTORY
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: # Spring 1977 : #11 # 1977 - 1978 : #3 # 1978 - 1979 : #1 # 1979 - 1980 : #2 # 1980 - 1981 : #8 # 1981 - 1982 : #4 # 1982 - 1983 : #6 # 1983 - 1984 : #31 Syndication The show has been in local syndication since 1982 (ABC first aired repeats during daytime starting in the late 1970s) 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 . The show currently airs on TV Land . The US syndication sales on the project realized more than $150,000,000 of which Thames took 12.5% ($19,000,000) The US syndication profits 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" Barnes statement on controlling producers. 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 . Season Releases REFERENCED IN OTHER MEDIA
TRIVIA
Notable episodes
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