Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums - Three's Company

Contradictions over Larry's singing talent and abilities

TMC — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:43:54 GMT

Has anybody else noticed that Larry in relatively short order, is portrayed as both a reasonably decent singer (in the "Strangers in the Night" episode from Season 6) and a flat-out lousy singer (in the "The Impossible Dream" episode from Season 7)?

Comedian Godfrey lists Three's Company as one of the best sitcoms of all time

TMC — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 06:24:37 GMT

He starts talking about Three's Company at the 1:15 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGG3sW4T5SBXmgtv

He also sings the theme song! :lol:

Real life "butterfly effects" pertaining to Three's Company

TMC — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:45:03 GMT

For example, Audra Lindley was added to the cast of a short-lived TV series Doc at the start of the show's second season in September 1976. But Doc however, was canceled soon after in October 1976. If Doc had been canceled in 1977, it would have been unlikely that Audra would have been on Three's Company. Keep in mind that Three's Company after-all, debuted as a midseason replacement in March 1977.

Perhaps, the most obvious or consequential "butterfly effect" would be regarding Suzanne Somers' contract dispute during Season 5 (1980-81). If that particular incident never happens and Suzanne stays on Three's Company for the duration of its run, then Priscilla Barnes and Jenilee Harrison would've in all likelihood, have never had joined the show after Suzanne's abrupt departure.

Times that the cast worked together outside of "Three's Company"

TMC — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 05:02:52 GMT

I just thought about this after learning that Norman Fell once guest starred as a ventriloquist in a 1989 episode of John Ritter's TV series, Hooperman.

Norman Fell was previously on the same episode of Murder, She Wrote as was Priscilla Barnes. Of course, Priscilla never actually interacted with Norman nor Audra Lindley on Three's Company. Priscilla and Norman didn't even interact with one another in this particular episode of Murder, She Wrote.

Don Knotts made a guest appearance on Suzanne Somers' show, Step by Step in a Christmas centric episode in 1993. Don later made a cameo on John Ritter's final TV series, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXmH9hEl6ug

The Southfork Experience 2025 Episode 20: Three's Company Panel

TMC — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 06:15:59 GMT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61fyg8WuaSU

Quote:

William Keck hosts the "Three's Company" Panel featuring Joyce DeWitt, Jenilee Harrison and Priscilla Barnes at The Southfork Experience.

Richard Kline with his wife, Sandra Molloy in 1983

TMC — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 23:50:27 GMT

She kind of looks like Lisa Kudrow with Joyce DeWitt's hairstyle as Janet Wood. :lol:

But seriously, Sandra is the woman who walks by John Ritter during opening credits at the zoo (Seasons 6-8 or the "Terri seasons" with Priscilla Barnes), which causes John to fall off the top of the fence. She also appears in the "Up in the Air" episode from Season 6.

What if the Ropers met Terri

TMC — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 04:25:39 GMT

The last time that Mr. and Mrs. Roper appeared was in the Season 5 episode, "The Night of the Ropers". Terri of course, would first appear in Season 6. In "The Night of the Ropers", Cindy is at this point, living with Jack and Janet, not Chrissy.

Did a show like "Three's Company" begin to look outdated once "Cheers" came along

TMC — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 10:01:39 GMT

The early seasons of Cheers (it premiered during the 1982-83 season) do overlap with the final seasons of Three's Company (which would've at the time, been in its seventh season). Cheers wasn't a huge hit at the time. For its first season, it only ranked as high as 74th in the Nielsen ratings whereas as Three's Company in comparison, was the sixth highest rated show for the 1982-83 season. And for the 1983-84 season, they were about neck and neck with each other. Cheers for its second season, finished at 34th place in the Nielsen ratings while Three's Company for its 8th and final season, finished only one spot ahead of Cheers.

Regardless, I recently read this about a presumed paradigm shift in 1980s American sitcoms:

Quote:

The **1980s television transition** features one of the most violent "Nirvana moments" in entertainment history. Entering 1984, the situation comedy was not just struggling—the television industry had officially declared the entire genre **dead**.

In the early 1980s, the airwaves were dominated by massive, serialized prime-time soap operas (*Dallas*, *Dynasty*) and high-concept action-adventure shows (*The A-Team*, *Knight Rider*, *Magnum, P.I.*). Comedies that survived were either aging relics of the 1970s or incredibly broad, high-concept gimmicks involving aliens (*Mork & Mindy*), cross-dressing (*Bosom Buddies*), or wacky setups.

Then came September 1984, and the entire ecosystem was blown apart.

---

### 1. *The Cosby Show* (The Total Extinction Event)

Before its legacy was permanently tarnished by its star’s real-life actions, *The Cosby Show*’s premiere on September 20, 1984, was the exact television equivalent of *Nevermind* dropping in 1991.

* **What it killed:** High-concept gimmick comedies, nighttime soap dominance, and the executive belief that "sitcoms are dead."
* **The Paradigm Shift:** Bill Cosby insisted on dropping standard, loud, one-liner setups and theatrical plots. Instead, the show focused on the quiet, realistic minutiae of upper-middle-class family life—things like a son squandering his allowance or a mock funeral for a pet goldfish. It was an immediate, monstrous rating blockbuster. It revived the sitcom genre overnight and single-handedly built NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday night empire.

### 2. *Cheers* (The Sophisticated Realignment)

While *Cheers* premiered in 1982 to dead-last ratings, it was saved by critics and network patience, exploding into a cultural powerhouse right alongside the mid-'80s sitcom renaissance.

* **What it killed:** The static, simplistic, episodic comedy structure.
* **The Paradigm Shift:** *Cheers* brought a cinematic, highly literate level of writing and character depth to the multi-cam stage. It introduced the intense "Will they/Won't they" multi-season serialization of Sam and Diane. It proved that a sitcom could feature deeply flawed, adult characters who didn't always make the right choice, setting the stage for everything from *Frasier* to *Friends*.

---

### The Casualties: What Got "Market Corrected"?

When the shift toward realistic family dynamics and sophisticated workplace banter took over in 1984, the loud, gimmicky, joke-machine remnants of the late '70s and early '80s instantly felt like corny relics.

| The "Pre-Grunge" Early 80s Trend | The "Nirvana" Correction |
| --- | --- |
| **High-Concept Gimmick Sitcoms** | Shows that relied on bizarre, fantastical hooks to generate plots (*Alf*, *Small Wonder*, *My Living Doll* style formats) were suddenly pushed to the creative fringes or relegated purely to children's time slots as adult audiences demanded grounded realism. |
| **The "T&A" / Slapstick Comedy** | The early '80s relied heavily on broad, physical, innuendo-laden farces in the vein of *Three's Company*. Post-1984, the industry pivoted sharply toward witty, sharp dialogue and authentic emotional stakes. |
| **The Action-Adventure Block** | The broad, explosive hour-long escapism of *The A-Team* or *The Dukes of Hazzard* lost its stranglehold on the Top 10 as networks rushed to fill their schedules with half-hour, stand-up comedian-led family sitcoms (*Roseanne*, *Growing Pains*). |

> **The '80s Irony:** The ultimate testament to this shift is the trajectory of the production company **Carsey-Werner**. The executive producers had previously found success with the high-energy, cartoonish magic of *Mork & Mindy* and the broad setups of *Three's Company*. Realizing that style had run its course, they completely inverted their strategy to produce *The Cosby Show* and *Roseanne*, defining the new era by executing the very "market correction" that left their old hits in the past.

In a nutshell, the basic and fundamental argument is that Cheers did the following

It introduced character‑driven, sophisticated, adult ensemble comedy.
It made broad, joke‑first '70s sitcoms feel simplistic.
It set the template for prestige sitcom writing.

And in the process, Cheers in essence, killed:

Door‑slamming farce
Broad physical comedy
“Joke machine” sitcoms

Who knew that Priscilla Barnes has also done stand-up comedy?

TMC — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 03:56:54 GMT

LANGUAGE WARNING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlVh6g8wAp8

Quote:

Ice House 11/20/2025

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2022 at 12:00pm PDT

Priscilla Barnes is scheduled to be at the Super Jersey Comic Expo

TMC — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 03:41:54 GMT

https://www.facebook.com/SuperJersey...zQaZRl?__cft__[0]=AZbUBiePXjcUG38KEJXRaxzvWD1WHkqTyGr0SWqDjLwWJwi6DtvJMCbyVxFCA7xgFm6C1KycdHpEFidcPx_-1YlgrfrzKETOgf34t6ixhxHhMF_OKPZn0JFw5icB3crK_xFvRQW-EA0KLg7V1qIIN-hGYY0rtkmeV3XMT2oJcEMnqQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Quote:

Oh, I'm sorry - did you think we were done?

The legendary PRISCILLA BARNES, who portrayed the ever-memorable Ivannah the fortune teller in Mallrats has officially joined the cast reunion at Super Jersey SUMMER SPECTACULAR Comic, Toy & Collectible Show, making her the NINTH cast member on the roster.

Priscilla is a New Jersey native now living in California has had a storied career as a Terri Alden on Three's Company from 1981-1984, the wildly underrated "Bond Girl" Tella Churchill in License To Kill, The Crossing Guard with Jack Nicholson and in the modern horror classic The Devil's Rejects in 2005.

The addition of Priscilla Barnes also confirms August 29th in Hillsborough will not only be the largest Mallrats cast reunion in New Jersey history, but the largest ON RECORD since the movie's original red carpet premiere!!!

CURRENT LINEUP:
• Kevin Smith
• Jason Mewes
• Jason Lee
• Joey Lauren Adams
• Jeremy London
• Ethan Suplee
• Renee Humphrey
• Priscilla Barnes
• Brian O'Halloran

Attached Images

The initial airdate for the "Room at the Bottom" episode (Season 5)

TMC — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 04:07:20 GMT

It didn't hit me until just now that the original airdate for that particular episode was December 9, 1980, the very day after John Lennon was assassinated. John Ritter in real life, was a huge Beatles fan. If you look at Jack Tripper's bedroom, then you'll see a stylized Beatles poster on the wall:

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2022 at 12:00pm PDT

Do places like the Regal Beagle still exist in real life

TMC — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 06:13:21 GMT

Let me put this in another way, if Three's Company was say, on the air today (in the year 2026) than it was back in the late 1970s-early '80s, would Jack, Janet and company, now frequent a coffee shop instead of a bar or pub? I don't know how accurate this is, but I've read the suggestion in r/cheers that a community bar setting and normalized drinking culture like the one found in the Regal Beagle wouldn't connect with modern and Generation Z-type of viewers.

RIP Anne Schedeen

TMC — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 05:06:02 GMT

I didn't realize until reading the news of her passing that she was in quite a lot of episodes of Three's Company. Anne Schedeen played at least three different characters on Three's Company over the course of five episodes, most predominately as Jack's one-time girlfriend, Linda.

Happy 68th birthday, Jenilee Harrison (June 12)

TMC — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 04:24:40 GMT

This is from last year:

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2022 at 12:00pm PDT

Can you picture Kathy Bates as Janet?

opus — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:00:32 GMT

The video was posted 14 years ago, so this isn�t new information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVpSOx85kKE?si=7rbExBcypzSwYZK8
https://youtu.be/WVpSOx85kKE?si=7rbExBcypzSwYZK8