"Three's Company" invited viewers to come and knock on the door. What awaited them wasn't kisses, but the madcap mishaps of Jack Tripper (John Ritter), Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt), and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers). The terrific trio is the secret sauce of the late '70s/early '80s sitcom, and it was never the same following Somers' departure after the fifth season.

It culminated in one of those situations where a TV show replaces a departing star with a new character, and the results prove to be mixed. Here's the funny part, though: This beloved version of the series only originated on the third pilot!




The first-ever unaired pilot featured Ritter. However, his name is David Bell and he works in Hollywood in this iteration. The premise stays the same — albeit a bit raunchier than the classic "Three's Company" show that everyone knows and loves — as David lives with two women, who are named Jenny and Samantha here.

However, the roles are played by Valerie Curtin and Susanne Zenor — not DeWitt and Somers. This pilot didn't land well with the network execs, so work commenced on another version of the show.




Another pilot aired on TV, containing the characters of Jack, Janet, and Chrissy. However, in this version, Chrissy is played by Susan Lanier.

Ultimately, the execs weren't convinced by Lanier's performance as Chrissy, so the role was recast with Somers. From there, everything clicked, and the magic happened.

https://www.tvline.com/2016387/tv-show-pilots-reshot-before-airing/

Yeah the second season DVD's have both pilots as extras, it's very different how all characters were acting as one would remember them but just a bit out of place.

Also I don't know why maybe it was the 1970's fashion but the actress Valerie Curtain who was the proto-Janet Wood I found her very unattractive.

Thanx Jimmy!!!!

The first pilot was developed by Larry Gelbart of MASH.

When I watch the "For Want of a Boot" episode of MASH, I always feel bad for Susanne Zenor, who played Nurse Murphy. She was thatclose to playing one of the biggest sitcom characters ever.

Lanier said in an interview that she felt she got cut from the show because her agent asked for too much money. She was a bigger name and TV star than Ritter at the time and her agent seized on that. It may not be true but that is her belief.

I totally agree, Lanier had done some movies already and was a bigger name than Ritter.

I totally agree, Lanier had done some movies already and was a bigger name than Ritter.
Hard to believe because she didn't anything of noteworthy afterwords.

Hard to believe because she didn't anything of noteworthy afterwords.
True but she was on an episode of Welcome Back Kotter. She still made TV appearances on shows. But her star was higher than Ritter's when Threes Company was being put together.