3 Reasons why Three's A Crowd didn't appeal to the TC Fans - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TVFactFan · 06-29-2011, 05:48 PM

1. Vicky was boring and plain looking.-she was not as pretty as none of the roomates on the show

2. The Father-sole purpose of his existence on this show was to put down Jack because he was ating his daughter and was not funny

3. EZ-a goofball who acted like he was on some kind of medication every time he was on the how.

So how in the world could Jack SHINE? He was overshadowed by the 3 characters above which made the show watchable but not a MUST SEE.

eleri · 06-30-2011, 10:29 AM

How could Jack shine? If he wasn't a total dishrag, that's how. From the first episode, Jack was basically the whipped puppy of his super-boring girlfriend Vicky.

I thought Mr. Bradford was fine for what he was, but when you have a grumpy character like that, you need an energetic character to balance it out. With Vicky and Jack being such non-entities, Mr. Bradford basically dominated every scene he was in, giving those scenes an overall negative tone.

As for EZ, I didn't think the actor was very charismatic. EZ would have been fine as an occasional character, like Felipe, just to add variety. As it was, we saw too much of him.

In TC, Jack held his own against the likes of Chrissy, Cindy, Lana, Furley, and even Larry and Janet had their outlandish moments. Jack would not have been eclipsed by the likes of EZ and Mr. Bradford, if his character hadn't changed dramatically.

Guy Incognito · 07-02-2011, 12:40 AM

...wasn't THAT bad, from what I remember and the first few episodes I've seen on Antenna TV. I actually think the cast had good chemistry, and the overall tone of the series is a bit more "adult" than what we saw on TC (especially towards the end). And that fact, in the end, was probably one of the things which ultimately doomed the show. For all the alleged raciness, TC was essentially a "kiddie show" like Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, and Three's A Crowd was anything but (I don't know how they got some of Mary Cadorette's outfits past the censors). They may have joked about "Greedy Gretchen" and Stanley's lack of prowess on TC with stealth and clever twists of phrase, but on the spinoff Jack and Vicki are clearly shown to be in an adult, monogamous relationship with normal relationship problems (including impotence, of all things, with the actual phrase being used).

Another weakness is that the writing occasionally lets the cast down, although they still do their level best to deliver the material well. At times, it feels like the writers had a large stockpile of old TC gags that they were trying to unload, but those tired old jokes just don't match the new "mature" tone. The episode about the counterfeit bills was particularly bad, with Mr. Bradford shoehorned into the "Larry" role (and contradicting everything established about the character in the process) and Vicki having absolutely nothing to do except juggle the "idiot ball" with Jack. It felt like an unused latter-day TC script, and it's the first episode of the run that I would call outright bad.

Overall, it's not an awful show or anything, but it's not terribly remarkable, either. It's just sort of...there. An inoffensive way to spend an half-hour, but that's about it.

eleri · 07-02-2011, 09:46 AM

Chemistry? Personally I thought Jack and Vicky had all the chemistry of a glass of stagnant water. Mary Cadorette had no charisma.

Guy Incognito · 07-02-2011, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleri

Chemistry? Personally I thought Jack and Vicky had all the chemistry of a glass of stagnant water. Mary Cadorette had no charisma.

Ouch.

I'm not saying that Mary Cadorette was the next Bette Davis or anything like that, just that she and John played well off of each other. I'm sure he was doing most of the heavy lifting, but still.

06-29-2011, 05:48 PM	#1
TVFactFan Member Forum Junkie Join Date: Aug 17, 2002 Posts: 98,949	3 Reasons why Three's A Crowd didn't appeal to the TC Fans 1. Vicky was boring and plain looking.-she was not as pretty as none of the roomates on the show 2. The Father-sole purpose of his existence on this show was to put down Jack because he was ating his daughter and was not funny 3. EZ-a goofball who acted like he was on some kind of medication every time he was on the how. So how in the world could Jack SHINE? He was overshadowed by the 3 characters above which made the show watchable but not a MUST SEE.

07-02-2011, 12:40 AM	#3
Guy Incognito International Man of Misery Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 30, 2011 Location: The Solar System Posts: 83	Three's A Crowd... ...wasn't THAT bad, from what I remember and the first few episodes I've seen on Antenna TV. I actually think the cast had good chemistry, and the overall tone of the series is a bit more "adult" than what we saw on TC (especially towards the end). And that fact, in the end, was probably one of the things which ultimately doomed the show. For all the alleged raciness, TC was essentially a "kiddie show" like Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, and Three's A Crowd was anything but (I don't know how they got some of Mary Cadorette's outfits past the censors). They may have joked about "Greedy Gretchen" and Stanley's lack of prowess on TC with stealth and clever twists of phrase, but on the spinoff Jack and Vicki are clearly shown to be in an adult, monogamous relationship with normal relationship problems (including impotence, of all things, with the actual phrase being used). Another weakness is that the writing occasionally lets the cast down, although they still do their level best to deliver the material well. At times, it feels like the writers had a large stockpile of old TC gags that they were trying to unload, but those tired old jokes just don't match the new "mature" tone. The episode about the counterfeit bills was particularly bad, with Mr. Bradford shoehorned into the "Larry" role (and contradicting everything established about the character in the process) and Vicki having absolutely nothing to do except juggle the "idiot ball" with Jack. It felt like an unused latter-day TC script, and it's the first episode of the run that I would call outright bad. Overall, it's not an awful show or anything, but it's not terribly remarkable, either. It's just sort of...there. An inoffensive way to spend an half-hour, but that's about it.

06-30-2011, 10:29 AM	#2
eleri Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 27, 2011 Posts: 56	How could Jack shine? If he wasn't a total dishrag, that's how. From the first episode, Jack was basically the whipped puppy of his super-boring girlfriend Vicky. I thought Mr. Bradford was fine for what he was, but when you have a grumpy character like that, you need an energetic character to balance it out. With Vicky and Jack being such non-entities, Mr. Bradford basically dominated every scene he was in, giving those scenes an overall negative tone. As for EZ, I didn't think the actor was very charismatic. EZ would have been fine as an occasional character, like Felipe, just to add variety. As it was, we saw too much of him. In TC, Jack held his own against the likes of Chrissy, Cindy, Lana, Furley, and even Larry and Janet had their outlandish moments. Jack would not have been eclipsed by the likes of EZ and Mr. Bradford, if his character hadn't changed dramatically.

07-02-2011, 09:46 AM	#4
eleri Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 27, 2011 Posts: 56	Chemistry? Personally I thought Jack and Vicky had all the chemistry of a glass of stagnant water. Mary Cadorette had no charisma.