'Three's Company' debut that day in 1977

Review of March 15, 1977. ABC Comedies Happy days And Laverne & Shirley directed the evaluation diagrams. Crime Charlies Engel And Baretta And two -year -old top 10 ABC entries were also two film evenings. And the alphabet network was about to add two new long-term goals to its squad: sitcom Three's Company and the Dramedy family Eight is enoughwhich were premiered exactly 48 years ago that day.

Competitors CBS and NBC drove the TV market for family storytelling Care of Period pieces The Waltons And Small house in the prairie. Now ABC wanted to use the genre, only this time with the modern achievement of a loving family with eight children who deal with the realities of life at that time in Sacramento, California.

Both Three's Company And Eight is enough were immediate hits in their abbreviated first seasons, but it was it Three's Company That roared at the top of the charts. In the second season it took the third overall rank behind it Laverne & Shirley And Happy days.

Why the Hoopla?

At that time, television was hit in the Norman Lear era where comedies like Everything in the familyPresent MewPresent Good timesPresent The Jeffonsons And One day after the other At that time, taboo topics such as racism, anti -Semitism, homosexuality, exemption from women, abortion, infidelity, menopause, poverty and the Vietnam War. But Three's Company Was the first comedy with two single women (Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow and Joyce Dewitt as Janet Wood), who shared an apartment with a single man (John Ritter), whereby Ritter's Jack Tripper was giving to avoid it with the Stankischer Landlan Stanley Roper (Norman Fell). The success of the sitcom was heated by the sexual allusions and the slapstick humor for every situation, including Audra Lindley as a sexually frustrated wife of Stanley, Helen Roper.

In contrast to the Norman Lear entries, the comedy Three's Company Was not up to date. Each episode was a kind of comedy of mistakes with some misunderstandings until the line -up finally recognized the misjudgment and everyone was normal again. Falling point: Mr. Roper overheards on the trio and comes to the conclusion that Chrissy is pregnant when everything she spoke about was a wart on her finger.

Before Three's Company, John Ritter plays the recurring role of a friendly reverand Matthew Fordwick The Waltons.

“I remember the conversation that I had with John on the day he got the offer Three's Company«, Said Richard Thomas, who played the eldest son John Jr. (” John Boy “)) The Waltons. “He was not sure if he wanted to take the risk and I suggested that comedy would be a great transition from which the audience was used to seeing him as him. I told him to do it. “

John Ritter has unnecessarily mentioned that John Ritter made the right career decision.

There were also controversy behind the scenes Three's Company. In 1980, Suzanne Somers applied for a salary increase to meet the other male TV stars of the time, which meant to ask $ 150,000 per episode, compared to $ 30,000 per episode (plus a piece of the backend gain in the show). Instead of negotiating, the producers of Somers fired and she was not allowed to interact with the rest of the line -up. Her scenes were limited to unpleasant phone calls that were shot at the end of their last episodes.

In the middle of the fifth season was the character of Chrissy, first replaced by inexperienced Jenile Harrison as her cousin Chrissy Snow and then by Priscilla Barnes as the new roommate Terri Alden. But from a high quality view, the so -called “magic” was disappeared. Norman Fell and Audra Lindley also left one season before because of failed spinoff The roper And was replaced by Don Knotts as Ralph Furley, the new landlord.

Despite the changes in the occupation, Three's Company Stayed in the top 10 until the end of the seventh season. When the reviews became softer in the last eighth season, the John Ritter network sent off in Spinoff Three is a lotIn the now living Jack Tripper he lived with his new friend Mary Cadorette as Vicky when the couple dealt with Vicky's intrusive father James (Robert Mandan). It only took one season.

Forty -eight years later, Three's CompanyUndoubtedly, compared to the content shown in later decades is considered tame. In a way, the strange comment against Ritter Jack Tripper by Norman Fells Stanley Roper and Don Knott's Ralph Furley may be dated and cumbersome. But the humor behind it Three's Company Was seasoned with sexual allusions. And it is easy to see why Three's Company was such a monster hit.

Three's Company is now available to see Pluto TV.