The setting for “Three’s Company”
People can be challenged when they have to build interpersonal relationship and when the are put into a situation that isn’t necessarily a comfortable one. This “situational” comedy became one of the inspirations for the developers of an American sitcom classic Three’s Company. The name game of “Three’s a Crowd” to setting up how one guy and two girls could make “three’s company” was the foundation for many laughs in the class 70s sitcom.
Three’s Company first appeared on ABC on March 15, 1977. The show was based on a popular British sitcom called “Man about the House”. The plot of the Three’s Company was created based on the story of three individuals (one man and two ladies) who lived in the same apartment. The interaction and weaknesses of the three main characters, Chrissy (Suzanne Sommers), Jack (John Ritter) and Janet (Joyce DeWitt) coupled with the dysfunctional marriage of their land lord (Don Knotts) provided fertile fodder for humorous story plots.
Their landlords, the Ropers were so popular that they eventually spun off into their own success sitcom the Ropers. The Roper’s didn’t approve of two single girls and one single man living together. They were told Jack was homosexual even though they soon suspected he wasn’t but didn’t do anything about it. They were very strict and had a long list of policies for them to continue living in Apartment 201 in Santa Monica. Eventually Suzanne Sommers left the show and her character was replaced by Chrissy’s Cousin, Cindy Show (played by Jenilee Harrison). Cindy was later replaced by Terri Alden (Played by Priscilla Barnes)
Classic quotes from the series
Chrissy: Just do what I do.
Jack: And what will you be doing?
Chrissy: Duh! The same thing you’re doing, only first.
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Mr. Roper: I came up to shampoo the rug.
Chrissy: Why? Does it have dandruff?
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Larry: I just wanted to know if you wanted to spend an evening with a beautiful, young lady.
Jack: No thanks, pal. I’d rather spend an evening with Janet.
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Chrissy: You know Jack did the right thing. Fighting is uncivilized. You know if women ran the world there’d be none of these stupid wars.
Mr. Roper: Yeah, all the countries would nag each other to death.
A rich cast of secondary and recurring characters help to fill out the setting of Three’s Company and include a love starved older neighbor who loves Jack. A playboy neighbor and used car salesman Larry. The bartenders at the local watering hole which is first Jim then Mike in later seasons.
More than 170 episodes were created until the show’s ending on September 18, 1984. The show ends with Terry deciding to move to Hawaii, Janet gets married to start her new life and Jack gets back with his long time girl friend Vickie but she doesn’t want to marry him.