View Full Version : Is Three's Company more of a 1970s show or an '80s show?


TMC
06-02-2023, 01:48 AM
Three's Company ran from 1977-84 and if you count the Three's a Crowd spin-off, through 1985. While I don't have the exact stats in front of me, I'm pretty safe to assume that more episodes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Three%27s_Company_episodes) originally aired in the '80s than the '70s.

Still, you suppose that you can argue that even so, the show had more of decisive "'70s feel" to it, especially when you get down to the décor (https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=APwXEdebwv2CBTKhG52VnS4Oxhygud_Dhw:1685684811332&q=three%27s+company+decor&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmxIej8aP_AhVYFVkFHfUGADoQ0pQJegQICBAB&biw=1600&bih=757&dpr=1) and the fashions (https://candyholladay.medium.com/threes-company-at-the-spa-d6b8eb5c7640).

BestTVever
06-02-2023, 05:55 AM
Its evenly split. Its so vintage 70s with dress, style, topics. But when the early 80s hit, its pure 80s.

Mr. Television
06-02-2023, 07:34 AM
70's

BestTVever
06-02-2023, 12:22 PM
I always wondered if The Ropers stuck around for all 8 seasons how Mrs Roper would have dressed. She was so vintage 70s with her hair and shawls. By 1980 on the Ropers the shawls were gone. I wonder how she would have dressed in late 1983 early 1984.

Fallon97
06-02-2023, 10:52 PM
I think of it as more 80s.

thejasoomian
06-03-2023, 12:52 PM
70's all the way for me, fashion, ideals, set designs, etc...

James28
06-28-2023, 11:36 PM
Another good reason to think of Three's Company as a '70s show rather than an '80s show (despite more of its episodes airing in the '80s) is because TC had better ratings in the '70s than in the '80s. (TC's annual Nielsen ranks during its run: #11, #3, #2, #2, #8, #4, #6, #33.)

Dude111
06-28-2023, 11:48 PM
Def 70s!!!!!

TMC
06-29-2023, 12:10 AM
I think of it as more 80s.

I guess that the early seasons with Chrissy and the Ropers is when it "feels" like a '70s show while the later years with Terri feels like an '80s show. And of course, it's within reason to feel that way since Chrissy was barely still on the show when the '80s rolled around.

It's commonly believed that there's something of a hangover from the prior decade (http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/1058838310.shtml) in the first few years of the new one. I've read that the '80s didn't really start to feel like (https://www.quora.com/When-did-the-80s-feel-like-the-80s-and-the-90s-to-the-90s-from-the-80s#:~:text=The%20early%2080s%20(1981%E2%80%9382,80s%20identity%20were%20fully%20formed.) "the '80s" (https://www.reddit.com/r/80s/comments/dvyqvm/when_did_the_80s_start_and_stop_culturally/) until around 1982-83 (http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/smf/1118639000.shtml).

And if you look at Priscilla Barnes and her hairstyles towards the very end of the series in 1983-84, she does unmistakably look like a woman (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sxsrf=APwXEdd9Mt-r-685lw7wPdX6Z3OwM4HYbA:1688012114666&q=1980s+women%27s+hairstyles&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHkuKTz-f_AhXqEVkFHdpyDeoQ0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=1600&bih=757&dpr=1) whom I would imagine looked like in the 1980s:
https://resizing.flixster.com/2UiG0hdeIFkEPM5qBlQ-45q5OhY=/300x300/v2/https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p1230952_e_h10_ac.jpg

https://resizing.flixster.com/AIrTHV0_GkY5VH3wssSgFxHeifs=/206x305/v2/https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p1230966_e_v8_ab.jpg

Priscilla with the bangs kind of gives me Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface (https://www.google.com/search?q=Michelle+Pfeiffer+Scarface&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiMw4-8z-f_AhWhjYkEHcRRBo8Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Michelle+Pfeiffer+Scarface&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIICAAQgAQQsQMyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQ6BAgjECc6BwgAEIoFEEM6CggAEIoFELEDEEM6BAgAEAM6CAgAELEDEIMBUABY40NgyEloBXAAeAiAAZAGiAHHTpIBDTAuNC43LjYuNC41LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ7ABAMABAQ&sclient=img&ei=pwWdZMzTEaGbptQPxKOZ-Ag&bih=757&biw=1600&hl=en) vibes.

Superswiper
07-12-2023, 02:14 AM
Both. You could make the case for either one, and I wouldn't disagree. It helps that the show was actually on the air slightly longer during the 80's.

BestTVever
07-12-2023, 05:46 AM
Both. You could make the case for either one, and I wouldn't disagree. It helps that the show was actually on the air slightly longer during the 80's.
I agree. It is both. Its so vintage 70s with the clothes, themes, and styles when it debuted. The show went into the mid 80s and the clothes, styles and trends of the 80s were in full effect on the show. It almost had equal years in the 70s and 80s which is why you could not select a decade.

Latka Gravas
05-27-2024, 11:12 PM
Three's Company is both a late '70's & an early '80's show. It ran from 1977-1984 so it's '70's run was almost as long as the '80's run.

TMC
05-28-2024, 01:20 AM
I agree. It is both. Its so vintage 70s with the clothes, themes, and styles when it debuted. The show went into the mid 80s and the clothes, styles and trends of the 80s were in full effect on the show. It almost had equal years in the 70s and 80s which is why you could not select a decade.

There was an episode (https://factsoflifeshow.tripod.com/tc.html) from one of the later seasons with Priscilla Barnes that featured Julie Piekarski (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kilT5Y3iXww) (who was Sue Ann Weaver on The Facts of Life) as basically, a Valley girl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_girl). I don't think that a stock character like that would've been utilized earlier in the show's run since Valley girls (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ValleyGirl) on TV and film just seems inherently more like an "'80s thing" than a "'70s thing".

king of comedy
06-23-2024, 08:20 AM
It came out in the Spring of 1976. It was 70s all the way.

DJM77
06-23-2024, 09:02 PM
It came out in the Spring of 1976. It was 70s all the way.

Spring of 1977

king of comedy
06-24-2024, 07:52 AM
Sorry. My bad.

1960'sTVfan
06-24-2024, 09:56 AM
Three's Company started in 1976/77 so I consider it as a 70's show although it ran until 1984. Same thing with The Love Boat. Several episodes are from the 1980's, but the show started in 1976/77 so I consider it as a 70's show.

Now if you're talking about any show that started in 1979 and ran several years into the 1980's, then I would have to consider shows like these to be 80's shows.

DORVID
06-24-2024, 11:55 PM
Both.:lol:

TMC
05-31-2026, 10:47 PM
There was an episode (https://factsoflifeshow.tripod.com/tc.html) from one of the later seasons with Priscilla Barnes that featured Julie Piekarski (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kilT5Y3iXww) (who was Sue Ann Weaver on The Facts of Life) as basically, a Valley girl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_girl). I don't think that a stock character like that would've been utilized earlier in the show's run since Valley girls (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ValleyGirl) on TV and film just seems inherently more like an "'80s thing" than a "'70s thing".

Speaking of which:
DY2ZbnBOh9O

Dude111
06-01-2026, 12:48 AM
Your awesome TMC!!

TheLittleFaerie
06-02-2026, 02:01 AM
One of the few that is evenly split. The Chrissy years were 70s, the Terri years were 80s!

Usually when a show cross over from one decade into another it never lasts, but this show was an exception

Dude111
06-02-2026, 11:40 PM
YEA ITS SAD it isnt on more!!