For a show as popular as "Three's Company" was at the time, you would have thought there would be bigger-named guest stars on the series. Then again, the writing wasn't exactly the best in Hollywood at the time, so maybe a big name just didn't need to appear on the series. If your career was booming already, being on "Three's Company" wasn't going to boost it higher than it already was I suppose. Of course, it could have just been the producers didn't want to take attention away from the cast, or the producers just weren't willing to spend the money to get big names. My guess it was more the latter. I get the feeling with Don Taffner and Ted Bergmann that it wasn't easy working for them. They definitely were in it for the money and didn't care about much else it seemed, so trying to bring in big names to the show would have hurt their bottom line. They were cheap and it was their way or the highway.

For a show as popular as "Three's Company" was at the time, you would have thought there would be bigger-named guest stars on the series. Then again, the writing wasn't exactly the best in Hollywood at the time, so maybe a big name just didn't need to appear on the series. If your career was booming already, being on "Three's Company" wasn't going to boost it higher than it already was I suppose. Of course, it could have just been the producers didn't want to take attention away from the cast, or the producers just weren't willing to spend the money to get big names. My guess it was more the latter. I get the feeling with Don Taffner and Ted Bergmann that it wasn't easy working for them. They definitely were in it for the money and didn't care about much else it seemed, so trying to bring in big names to the show would have hurt their bottom line. They were cheap and it was their way or the highway.


Never realized that but you are right

They did get Lucille Ball for the Best of show but that's the only one I can think of . They had a few actors that would become big like John Larroquette and Jeffrey Tambor.

They did get Lucille Ball for the Best of show but that's the only one I can think of . They had a few actors that would become big like John Larroquette and Jeffrey Tambor.

Since the Lucille Ball episode is a best of I don't count it, and I don't really count the actors that became famous afterward. When you exclude those two categories there really weren't very many. I'm sure someone can dig up one or two big names. I think the biggest guest star who had a previous notable career was Dick Sargent, ha ha.

You would think Don Knotts could have arranged for Andy Griffith, Jim Nabors or Ron Howard to make a guest appearance. That could've been a lot of fun.

You would think Don Knotts could have arranged for Andy Griffith, Jim Nabors or Ron Howard to make a guest appearance. That could've been a lot of fun.

I'm just surprised the producers were willing to spend the money to get Don Knotts on the series. Then again I'm not surprised, because it would have cost less to retain Don Knotts than it would Norman Fell and Audra Lindley. It made financial sense for them to bring in THAT big name, ha ha.

(Yes I'm aware of Ann Wedgeworth but I'm sure she wasn't making as much as Norman or Audra and besides they dropped her quickly.)

But you're right, one would have thought having Don Knotts on the show would have resulted in more celebrity guest stars coming in. I'm sure Don had some famous friends in the business he could have asked. Then again, maybe he was just grateful to be on another hit show after leaving Andy Griffith and didn't want to rock the boat again this time.

It's always possible that Andy, Ron and/or Jim were asked to appear on the show but declined. Other big names may have been approached but declined for any number of reasons including salary demands, schedule conflicts, etc...

For diehard TV fans, there were occasional guests that were fairly wellknown, although granted not really "big-name." A good example is Don Porter, former star of Gidget:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WG7hV%2B9WL.jpg

Not surprised because the producers were notoriously cheap. I wonder how much they had to shell out to get Lucille Ball to do the Best Of show.

She wasnt famous then but Loni Anderson was in the 2nd season as was character actor James Cromwell from Babe Pig In The City, Eraser, Star Trek First Contact.

With the show having such a tremendous talent like John Ritter there was need for big guest stars to pull ratings.

Not surprised because the producers were notoriously cheap. I wonder how much they had to shell out to get Lucille Ball to do the Best Of show.

I have no idea, but I'm guessing she wasn't requiring a lot of money to appear simply for the fact that she was a big fan of John Ritter's work on the show (and also Robin Williams at the time). And she would sometimes make these types of appearances for the sake of someone whose talent she appreciated, or if it was something she enjoyed doing (like games). Before Carol Burnett had her own show and was still trying to establish her career, CBS gave Carol the opportunity to do a special but wanted her to find a couple big-name stars. Carol called Lucy because Lucy had once told her (after seeing Carol perform in a stage production and being very impressed), if you ever need my help feel free to call. According to Burnett, before she finished getting the question out of her mouth, Lucy said, "Yes. When do you need me?" I have a feeling John Ritter probably called Lucy about this special episode because she had made it fairly well known that she liked him. Lucy's retrospective of Three's Company was sort of reminiscent of one Henry Fonda did for All in the Family.

I have no idea, but I'm guessing she wasn't requiring a lot of money to appear simply for the fact that she was a big fan of John Ritter's work on the show (and also Robin Williams at the time). And she would sometimes make these types of appearances for the sake of someone whose talent she appreciated, or if it was something she enjoyed doing (like games). Before Carol Burnett had her own show and was still trying to establish her career, CBS gave Carol the opportunity to do a special but wanted her to find a couple big-name stars. Carol called Lucy because Lucy had once told her (after seeing Carol perform in a stage production and being very impressed), if you ever need my help feel free to call. According to Burnett, before she finished getting the question out of her mouth, Lucy said, "Yes. When do you need me?" I have a feeling John Ritter probably called Lucy about this special episode because she had made it fairly well known that she liked him. Lucy's retrospective of Three's Company was sort of reminiscent of one Henry Fonda did for All in the Family.

You're probably right. I just can't see the TC producers spending a lot of money on any special guest star no matter how famous they were. :lol:

Well except for season 8 where it took a dip in the ratings, the show was consistently in the top 20 shows that it didn't need a ratings stunt like other shows around the time Diff'rent Strokes for example had Nancy Reagan, Mr. T, Kareem-Abdul Jabar, Milton Berle, Muhammad Ali.

I noticed looking at the full episode list of Three's Company that although there really weren't big famous guest stars, they had in seasons 1-4 who were sitcom veteran character actors/actresses making appearances. But then it seems like Seasons 5-8 these actors/actresses quit appearing and I can't really identify any memorable names guesting in the later seasons, except for Barry Williams (Greg Brady). I had no idea he was ever a guest star on Three's Company. I never saw the episode. It's as if over time the quality of guest stars actually DECREASED.

I noticed looking at the full episode list of Three's Company that although there really weren't big famous guest stars, they had in seasons 1-4 who were sitcom veteran character actors/actresses making appearances. But then it seems like Seasons 5-8 these actors/actresses quit appearing and I can't really identify any memorable names guesting in the later seasons, except for Barry Williams (Greg Brady). I had no idea he was ever a guest star on Three's Company. I never saw the episode. It's as if over time the quality of guest stars actually DECREASED.



Barry Williams had kind of a small role in that episode that's why his appearance is not memorable

Most of the guest stars we know now to be famous---I think the only previously famous person was Dick Sargent, and maybe David Dukes who was known as Edith's rapist on AITF. Many of the others (like Loni Anderson and Anne Scheeden) are famous now but not then.

If anybody here is a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, then you will understand what a delight it is to watch "Ralph's Rival" for actor Reb Brown as Elmo. Brown was eventually in the horrible movie Space Mutiny in the 80s, made famous by MST3k.

If anybody here is a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, then you will understand what a delight it is to watch "Ralph's Rival" for actor Reb Brown as Elmo. Brown was eventually in the horrible movie Space Mutiny in the 80s, made famous by MST3k.

I'm a MST3K fan, but never really think of him in Space Mutiny when I watch that Three's Company ep, maybe it's because I grew up watching Reb Brown as Captain America, and Yor: The Hunter From The Future (a far more entertaining bad movie than Space Mutiny:) )

Most of the guest stars we know now to be famous---I think the only previously famous person was Dick Sargent, and maybe David Dukes who was known as Edith's rapist on AITF.

David Dukes is not even close to being famous. The rape scene from AITF is probably one of the most remembered but I seriously doubt that many people could tell you the name of the actor who played the rapist. David Dukes was a character actor with mostly minor roles until his appearance on AITF. There were many character actors that appeared on TC that may not have been household names but were very well established within the industry including:

J Pat O'Malley
Peter Mark Richman
Edward Andrews
George Petrie
Dick Shawn
Dennis Cole
Ruta Lee
Barbara Stuart
Parley Baer
Murray Matheson
Patricia Barry
John Fiedler
Bob Hastings
Harold J. Stone
Roger C. Carmel
Ian Abercrombie

The term "big name" is also very subjective, I think we can all agree that Lucille Ball definitely qualifies because even the most casual TV watchers should immediately recognize the name whereas most of the others mentioned in this thread including those I just named would fall under the "I've seen him/her somewhere before but can't quite place them" category. The fact is that most people recognize character actors by their face rather than their name even those that have been seen on TV for many years.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Loni Anderson.
Her appearance though on TC was a just a few months before WKRP premiered.
Today however, she would be one guest star almost everybody would recognize.

Sorry, I made a mistake, Loni Anderson was mentioned.

Barry Williams (Greg Brady) appeared in one of the more memorable episodes of TC. It was a late 6th season episode where Jack was both high on tranquilzers and something being put in his drink. He then started dancing all over the place at a party. BW played a guy Janet liked.

I feel the show didn't need big name stars it was fine the way was.

I feel the show didn't need big name stars it was fine the way was.
Yeah I mean can you imagine if someone like Mr. T were to pop up?

There was also Julie Piekarski, who was in the episode about Mr. Furley's nephew. J.P. was on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and "The Facts of Life."

There was also Julie Piekarski, who was in the episode about Mr. Furley's nephew. J.P. was on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and "The Facts of Life."
She wasn't a big name star.