Did 80s fashion kill Three's Company?

[Chocolate Moose]

i don't blame hair or clothes

[rusty spike]

Had the show not updated the wardrobe (even if the fashion would be later deemed tacky and god awful) it would have been a sign to viewers that the show was not fresh or current with viewers.

[TMC]

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.

I was watching Three's Company yesterday on the Logo channel, and I was reminded that during the early seasons with the Ropers, Joyce DeWitt had sported a short, curly hairstyle (almost like a perm). And then around the time that Don Knotts joined the cast as Mr. Furley, it was when Joyce started sporting I suppose what you can call the Liza Minnelli look or Pat Benatar look. You know that sort of layered, short and dark hairstyle. It was like Joyce was trying harder to "glam herself up" when she at the start of Three's Company, may have looked kind of frumpy in comparison.

[ClarenceAlabama]

Originally Posted by TMC

I was watching Three's Company yesterday on the Logo channel, and I was reminded that during the early seasons with the Ropers, Joyce DeWitt had sported a short, curly hairstyle (almost like a perm). And then around the time that Don Knotts joined the cast as Mr. Furley, it was when Joyce started sporting I suppose what you can call the Liza Minnelli look or Pat Benatar look. You know that sort of layered, short and dark hairstyle. It was like Joyce was trying harder to "glam herself up" when she at the start of Three's Company, may have looked kind of frumpy in comparison.

People always mention she had a nose job too, which changed her look in the later seasons.

I always preferred season 1-3 looks for Janet and Chrissy.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by king of comedy

I prefer Terri with long hair not the perm.

It seems like Priscilla Barnes during the last season, was really trying to "Eighties-Up" her look. Like I said, I think that she looked her best in her first season (which would've been Season 6 overall), when her hair was really long, voluminous, and thick. She looked far more elegant and sophisticated. In a way, the drastic change in hairstyle towards the end of Three's Company's run actually kind of aged her in my mind. Or it sort of seemed like Terri was going through a mid-life crisis.

[CJMD03]

Originally Posted by JackJanetChrissy

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.

They were supposed to be. The apartments in MATH were supposedl to be very low class places to live.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by SledgeBarone

I would say the lack of creativity from the writers/producers killed the show.

I recently posted about how the Jack's Bistro storyline was cited as the exact moment that Three's Company jumped the shark (not Suzanne Somers' departure as most commonly accepted or believed). And I wouldn't disagree with that argument. When did Jack ever express interest in wanting to run a restaurant when previously, he just wanted to be a world class chef? It isn't like Jack had the business acumen to run a restaurant to begin with.

Plus, having Jack running is own business really stretches the credibility of the show's premise. I mean, when you really think of it, why would Jack still need to live with two roommates and presumably, still not own his own car, and yet be "well off" enough to manage a restaurant?

[king of comedy]

The show was evolving to keep up with the times. It couldn't stay in the 70s forever.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by king of comedy

The show was evolving to keep up with the times. It couldn't stay in the 70s forever.

It just occurred to me that it has been over a week since the 40th anniversary of the penultimate episode of Three's Company, "Cupid Works Overtime" officially occurred. "Cupid Works Overtime" was originally broadcast on ABC on March 15, 1984. That is the episode that introduces Vicky Bradford (played by Mary Cadorette) and would plant the seeds for the forthcoming Three's a Crowd spin-off.

[TMC]

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

Mary Cadorette (Vicky Bradford) probably got hit with this the worst come Three's a Crowd.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by ClarenceAlabama

People always mention she had a nose job too, which changed her look in the later seasons.

I always preferred season 1-3 looks for Janet and Chrissy.

Somebody else argued that the show really "died" when Joyce DeWitt began to grow her hair out instead of keeping her pixie cut in Season 7.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

That hairstyle of Terri in the hospital was awful

In the series finale in 1984, Priscilla Barnes sported what I suppose in retrospect, was something close to a "fem-mullet":


Lisa Whelchel sported something similar to that around the sixth season of The Facts of Life from roughly around that same time. Somebody on YouTube said that Priscilla totally sported "Vanna White hair".

[ClarenceAlabama]

Originally Posted by TMC

I recently posted about how the Jack's Bistro storyline was cited as the exact moment that Three's Company jumped the shark (not Suzanne Somers' departure as most commonly accepted or believed). And I wouldn't disagree with that argument. When did Jack ever express interest in wanting to run a restaurant when previously, he just wanted to be a world class chef? It isn't like Jack had the business acumen to run a restaurant to begin with.

Plus, having Jack running is own business really stretches the credibility of the show's premise. I mean, when you really think of it, why would Jack still need to live with two roommates and presumably, still not own his own car, and yet be "well off" enough to manage a restaurant?

I agree with this! The Jacks Bistro storyline was the "jump the shark" moment for the show... I don't blame the 80's fashion.

[CJMD03]

TC died only because of age. It reached eight season and most of those seasons had at least twenty episodes (barring Season 01). What was cutting edge in 1977 was rote by 1984. As I have said before, the obligatory episodes multiple times every season where they all have to lie to their parents about living together was dumb. This was 1977 and orgies, drugs, disco, Studio 54, et al, were at their apex. Who gave two sh-ts about three people in their late twenties and early thirties livening together. No one cares (and before anyone says it was a dif time then and they would have cared what their parents thought, it was pathetic to see a grown man - Jack - be bosses around by a parent at his age). A new series would have to flip the premise - three people living together and they have to pretend they’re STRAIGHT when they’re really gay.

And why was it that, in the beginning of the series they made it very clear that Janet and even Chrissy had love lives, yet they morphed into pristine virgins as the show progressed. I can see Cindy being a virgin, but NOT Terri. She was an erudite grown woman with a successful career. As I said, early Janet and Chrissy def weren’t pure!!!

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by ClarenceAlabama

I agree with this! The Jacks Bistro storyline was the "jump the shark" moment for the show... I don't blame the 80's fashion.

True
I also think the network was already planning the spin off with Jack having a restaurant. The show outgrew its original premise of 2 girls so desperate to pay the rent they take a guy in to help with the bills. Jack in unemployed and they struggle with paying the rent. Fast forward 6 years later in the 1980s, they are all wearing designer clothes, Jack has his own restaurant and their new roommate is an emergency room nurse that works overtime. Each would have enough money to get their own apartment. Yet now in their 30s they are living like college kids. The premise no longer worked and lived past its expiration date.