sleazebucket, banal, corny, heavy handed....lol i might have to agree with that, i still find it a fun watch, you have to go into it knowing, roper/furley is gonna throw in a lame gay innuendo, there s gonna be a lot of leering, plots revolving around misunderstandings and everyone is hot to get it on. its stupid and ridiculous but thats part of its charm. like Kiss (im guessing, never listening to them)
I look for heavy-handed, outrageous, and absurdity. You know why the actors shouted at each other on 70s sitcoms, right? They were taped in front of live audiences where they had to shout or talk loud. Not only that, many of them were stage actors where the same had to be done. If you meant that the scripts called for the actors to argue a lot, well, so what? That's what people do in life.
Again, the times were changing, and we were nearing the (supposedly) more conservative 80s. There were monumental complaints about "jiggle", meaning bra-less women bouncing around, and that was aimed squarely at Three's Company. So, that's why they ultimately replaced both Sommers and Harrison with Priscilla Barnes. People wanted someone intelligent who wouldn't take Jack's crap. But, then, what was Janet there for? Well, the American standard of beauty at the time was still skinny blue-eyed blonds, so I guess poor Joyce DeWitt still didn't satisfy. Priscilla Barnes didn't do anything for me as far as looks are concerned.
It's been awhile since I watched the DVDs too, but I think you're right about her being a secretary. Chrissy Snow was dumb, but she wasn't stupid, and her father was a minister. The Harrison character was Cindy Snow, Chrissy's cousin. And, remember, the show was set in Santa Barbara, California, a section of Los Angeles.
Norman Fell was priceless when he did one of his lame jabs at Jack or his wife and looked straight into the camera with that stupid grin. That's the whole key to the show every week, what kind of misunderstanding would happen? It's just like what Gilligan would to do foil the castaways attempt at getting rescued, or what Archie and Mike, or for that matter, Maude and Arthur would argue about. Especially frustrated Stanley Roper's wife! Exactly! Not all comedy has to be insightful and mature. But, if that's what you want, there's plenty of that too. The cool thing about TV in the 60s and 70s is that there was something for everyone.
I'll check out the book. As for negotiations, when you're on $30K and no profit participation and you go in with $150K + 10% as your starting point...that's not really a starting point is it? If I was the producers I wouldn't have thought that was reasonable as a starting point either. Regardless, with favoured nation clauses, it would've meant everyone else would have had to have received an increase. It was never going to happen.
I watched Three's Company at least semi-regularly the first season or two it was on. At the time I thought it was funny enough, but now I can see that it was pretty silly, but I still find it at least somewhat entertaining. I agree, Ritter was brilliant. the show likely would have been unwatchable without him.
I watched this a lot when I was a kid, and then saw it again many years later and was surprised at how well it held up. Sure, the gay jokes are inappropriate, but comedy is not always PC, right or wrong. Ritter was definitely the star of the show; his physical comedy was legendary. I thought losing the Ropers were far more detrimental to the show's overall quality than losing Suzanne Somers, IMO. Don Knotts did as good a job as could be expected in replacing the Ropers, but it wasn't the same.
Nope - she and her husband blew it with negotiations. She would have been better off banding together with DeWitt and Ritter to push for part of the back end. DeWitt says she suggested this approach, but Somers and Hamel decided to go it alone. Yep - couldn’t agree more. I couldn’t stand what they did to the Chrissy character, going from mildly ditzy to practically mentally disabled, and with the platinum blonde hair and heavy makeup. The Furley character and the later Chrissy characterization were too cartoonish even for this show.
Now that I am working from home...local Ch 11 is showing a bunch of old shows daily and Fantasy Island is one of them. As a kid I thought it was great but wow what a bad show. I have it on sometimes while working. They aren't showing the Love Boat though so can't compare
Interesting. I didn't know DeWitt suggested that. I was thinking, about their approach and wondered if they considered doing it as a team, all three together, as that would've made more sense.
yeah not a fan of the hair, or the now so dim she can't operate a phone. Joyce went from the sensible bob to the Liza Minella. this was the year they brought Ann Wedgeworth in to spice things up, i think they were phasing out chrissy then
Timely! Adam The Woo's guide to Three's Company filming locations in and around Los Angeles just posted a few days ago. Warning: He's a super TV nerd, so he's going to go into a lot of detail about seemingly trivial aspects of the locations. Still, he does interesting work.
I didn't watch it back in the day but I sometimes do now. Not as bad as I remember it. I would rather watch Three's Company than Friends.
I can only watch “Three’s Company” in small doses due to the repetitious nature of the plots. Friends has long term storylines with character development that allows it to be easier watched in larger doses.
Guessing he meant Santa Monica, which is where the show was set and where the opening credits for the first five seasons were taped.
