Did 80s fashion kill Three's Company?

[eleri]

TC got its start as jiggle TV. Girls (plus Jack) in tight-fitting outfits engaged in various comedic high-jinks. Then along came the 80s: shoulder pads, flowing, oversized clothes. Gone was the jiggle.

TC dropped DRAMATICALLY in the ratings between the 7th season and the 8th. Could it be that oddly conservative, 80s fashions killed the show?

[JSP]

Originally Posted by eleri

TC got its start as jiggle TV. Girls (plus Jack) in tight-fitting outfits engaged in various comedic high-jinks. Then along came the 80s: shoulder pads, flowing, oversized clothes. Gone was the jiggle.

TC dropped DRAMATICALLY in the ratings between the 7th season and the 8th. Could it be that oddly conservative, 80s fashions killed the show?

Well I will agree Season 8 episodes were a lot lamer compared to the earlier seasons.

The edge was gone. While I don't think it was the clothes that killed the show, it didn't help.

And yeah, shoulder pads were never sexy.

The same fashion problem happened in Season 5 of Rhoda. Rhoda's hair and clothes were ugly compared to the other seasons.

And let's not forget the puffy poodle hair look on gals in the 80s. Not good.

[JackJanetChrissy]

Janet started dressing differently starting in Season 4, and Chrissy got her 80's heavy-makeup/bleached doll makeover, too. I preferred the more natural looks at the beginning of the show.

It's an interesting question. Terri was a lot less provocative with her outfits (and I'm sorry, the culottes are not attractive in any era), but when she first came on she sometimes went braless and had a more natural, carefree look. By the end of the series she had those awful bangs and a lot of frosted lipstick. Perhaps the 80s was just an unattractive fashion era, and everyone suffered, lol.

When I think about it, the more natural look of earlier seasons inspires a kind of nostalgia and affection for the 70s, whereas the hard look of the 80s seems more recent and therefore more drab to me. Weird, I know.

[eleri]

Originally Posted by woodsdellis

people like to see retro theme fashion program mes

But 80s fashion wasn't retro when the show came out.

[TMC]

It makes me wonder how Charlie's Angels would've dealt with changing tastes in fashion had it been on much longer than five years. Charlie's Angels ended its run in 1981 (it generally takes a few years for the aftertaste of the past decade's style to disappear) and if of course, considered to be the ultimate "jiggle show" of that time.

[thejasoomian]

The fashion on Three's Company isn't bad. I was watching some Man About The House episodes yesterday and talk about fashion! The girls wearing these big puffy sleeved dresses that you see in the old Hammer Films. Robin could have dressed better, he seemed to be always wearing a pullover sweater or sweatshirt. But Man About The House had a lot better sets and just about everything else. It really looked like a roomy two bedroom apartment. The furnishings on Three's Company looked sparse in comparison.

[eleri]

Originally Posted by thejasoomian

I was watching some Man About The House episodes yesterday and talk about fashion! The girls wearing these big puffy sleeved dresses that you see in the old Hammer Films. Robin could have dressed better, he seemed to be always wearing a pullover sweater or sweatshirt.

And let's not forget MATH Chrissy's puffy hair-do. What was that even?

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

As John Ritter himself said it was the lack of quality scripts that was the death knell of TC.

If they had great scripts to keep us laughing the show would've gone on one way or another! Already in 8 seasons most of the plots involved a misunderstanding or mixup and that was kind of getting old eventhough they always made it funny thanks to Jack.

I always wondered couldn't they get new writers to try other plotlines besides the usual mixup/misunderstanding??

[JackJanetChrissy]

Originally Posted by thejasoomian

The fashion on Three's Company isn't bad. I was watching some Man About The House episodes yesterday and talk about fashion! The girls wearing these big puffy sleeved dresses that you see in the old Hammer Films. Robin could have dressed better, he seemed to be always wearing a pullover sweater or sweatshirt. But Man About The House had a lot better sets and just about everything else. It really looked like a roomy two bedroom apartment. The furnishings on Three's Company looked sparse in comparison.

I always thought MAtH sets looked drab and cramped, especially George and Mildred's apartment compared to Three's Company Ropers' apartment. The film quality may have washed it out a little, though. I agree with you that the MAtH sets were much more cluttered than Three's Company's.

[BestTVever]

80s fashion ruined many 70's show. Threes Company had 3 struggling roommates in the 70s. Janet had patches on her jeans, etc. When the 80s hit, they kept this crummy apartment but suddenly had a big budget for fashion. Janet wore lots of make up too. Their wardrobe was all about flashy 80s fashion. I wonder how they would have made Mrs Roper dress in 1984 LOL

[biffbronson]

You make a good point regarding the apartment. They struggled to pay the rent, yet bought lots of clothes. But I will say that a lot of people spend beyond their means for a lot of clothes & shoes they don't really need.

I think to me the attractiveness of the actors overrides what they're wearing. There continued to be some very sexy stuff worn in later seasons anyway. For example we see Priscilla Barnes / Terri in a bikini in 1983, Season 8...!



Yeah baby, EXTREMELY hot!

[Fallon97]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

80s fashion ruined many 70's show. Threes Company had 3 struggling roommates in the 70s. Janet had patches on her jeans, etc. When the 80s hit, they kept this crummy apartment but suddenly had a big budget for fashion. Janet wore lots of make up too. Their wardrobe was all about flashy 80s fashion. I wonder how they would have made Mrs Roper dress in 1984 LOL

Personally, I thought Janet and Jack looked better in the 80s.

[Fallon97]

Originally Posted by JackJanetChrissy

Janet started dressing differently starting in Season 4, and Chrissy got her 80's heavy-makeup/bleached doll makeover, too. I preferred the more natural looks at the beginning of the show.

It's an interesting question. Terri was a lot less provocative with her outfits (and I'm sorry, the culottes are not attractive in any era), but when she first came on she sometimes went braless and had a more natural, carefree look. By the end of the series she had those awful bangs and a lot of frosted lipstick. Perhaps the 80s was just an unattractive fashion era, and everyone suffered, lol.

When I think about it, the more natural look of earlier seasons inspires a kind of nostalgia and affection for the 70s, whereas the hard look of the 80s seems more recent and therefore more drab to me. Weird, I know.

Some people in the 80s were natural and some people in the 70s had a hard look. Everyone did not look the same. Also, people wore "awful" bangs and frosted lipstick in other decades, not just the 80s. All decades had good and unattractive fashions.

[DEH55]

80's hair was the worst. Guys with mullets and everyone with just big hair. I think the show that suffered the worst was The Facts Of Life. Nothing but shoulder pads and giant sprayed hair. Awful.

[Mace Dolex]

Mr. Furley was still wearing godawful polyester clothes until the very end.