Season 4 is too wacky for me

[JSP]

I'm six episodes into Season 4 and the show is getting CRAAAAZY!

I think you can figure out the reasons why. I don't need to go into details, but this is when it really turns into a "farce" for me.

Lana is hot and it's silly that Jack's resisting her. Guess I'm just a sucker for Lana's Southern accent.

But I definitely prefer The Ropers over Furley. Furley isn't repairing anything when the kids ask him to.

Say what you will about Roper, but he always fixed something when the kids asked him.

Mr. and Mrs. Roper were good people. Furley is neglectful in his duties. That already to me makes him less likeable. Furley at least early on is adversarial and not as friendly with the kids as The Ropers were.

I thought Season 3 made me miss the first 2 seasons, but Season 4 so far is making me miss the realism of Season 3.

[JackJanetChrissy]

Season 4 has some great episodes, like "Handcuffed" and "Baby Makes Four," but I agree, my favorite seasons are 1-3, for a lot of the same reasons. The first three seasons with the Ropers had a more complete vibe to them. It was always interesting to see what the Ropers were up to in their apartment and then get back to the trio. With Furley there is less of that scene switching, because most of his scenes had him interacting with the kids.

I also liked the family feel of the trio and the Ropers. Mr. Roper was more of an adversary or disapproving father figure, whereas Furley became just another friend. You hardly ever hear him asking for rent or threatening to throw them out.

Btw, John Ritter had a problem with Jack resisting Lana, too. He didn't understand why the writers were writing it that way, especially when we saw him in Season 3 go for an older woman. So the writers contradicted themselves there.

[Mace Dolex]

It's interesting to hear the opinions of those just discovering or re-discovering the show and picking up on things throughout all seasons.

In my case I've seen every episode dozens of times on TV whether on syndication or recorded VHS tapes that most of the nuances I've just gotten used to consider it transitional in the show.

[JackJanetChrissy]

I saw Three's Company as a kid, but I don't remember anything about it other than the credits, lol. Like most impressions, the first ones last. My "rediscovery" of TC was two years ago, when I saw "The Bake-Off" on syndication. So I consider that my true first impression of the show, and probably explains why I love the early seasons with the original cast so much. Just a hypothesis.

[comedyfreak]

I've seen the show when it originally aired and in reruns and I have all 8 seasons. My favorite is the first three seasons, Mr. Roper became like a father figure to the trio which was cool.

[JSP]

Originally Posted by JackJanetChrissy

Season 4 has some great episodes, like "Handcuffed" and "Baby Makes Four," but I agree, my favorite seasons are 1-3, for a lot of the same reasons. The first three seasons with the Ropers had a more complete vibe to them. It was always interesting to see what the Ropers were up to in their apartment and then get back to the trio. With Furley there is less of that scene switching, because most of his scenes had him interacting with the kids.

I also liked the family feel of the trio and the Ropers. Mr. Roper was more of an adversary or disapproving father figure, whereas Furley became just another friend. You hardly ever hear him asking for rent or threatening to throw them out.

Btw, John Ritter had a problem with Jack resisting Lana, too. He didn't understand why the writers were writing it that way, especially when we saw him in Season 3 go for an older woman. So the writers contradicted themselves there.

Lana was just a sexy young cougar. What man wouldn't like being pursued by her?

It's not funny that he's turning her down, just annoying. Unfortunately I think it's often very difficult for a woman to play sexy and goofy at the same time. The major exception to this is Catherine O'Hara, whom I consider the best comedic actress of all time and was great on SCTV. Anne Wedgeworth wasn't right for the show because this comedy show didn't need another attractive woman, as crazy as it may be that I'm saying that.

It would have been funnier if Jack was being pursued by a gray-haired old lady with a cane. Then the realism and the comedy kicks in. The old lady could then say filthy and brutally honest things and the audience would roar in laughter. There's not a lot of humor when it's an attractive woman getting rejected. Then it's just "WTF", not "LOL".

[JackJanetChrissy]

Originally Posted by JSP

It would have been funnier if Jack was being pursued by a gray-haired old lady with a cane. Then the realism and the comedy kicks in. The old lady could then say filthy and brutally honest things and the audience would roar in laughter.

Yes. I think some of the funniest moments of the show were in "The Older Woman" when Chrissy and Janet think Jack is dating an elderly woman. And then Larry's come-on scene was priceless.

[Mace Dolex]

Is season 4 when Nichol Ross West had run out of episodes from Man About The House that they had to come up with original scripts? And they probably thought bringing in a fresh face with the Lana character would be more funnier?

[JSP]

Season 4 is when the actors really start earning their pay. The over the top humor is really turned up a notch here.

I can appreciate an episode like "A Camping We Will Go" because it's an exercise in the entire cast being goofy and I can't really classify anyone, even the guest star, as a "straight person" in the episode, however John Ritter really earned his pay there, particularly with the hammock scene. How he never severely injured himself in his physical comedy scenes I will never figure it out.

But is any of it realistic? No. I would imagine as actors they probably found the early years of Three's Company more interesting from an acting perspective. By now they're acting like cartoons. Funny cartoons, though, granted.

Maybe the fact that grown real-life adults are being able to act like cartoon characters is a sign of a great acting job in itself! They were in a hit TV show, making good money for the time (or at least no one but Suzanne appeared to mind), but they couldn't have been very pleased with having to do what the writers were coming up with them to do. The depth of the characters was out the window and it was just pure wackiness.

If I recall Nicholl Ross and West didn't write any episodes in Season 4 and it wasn't too long after Nicholl passed away anyway. So far though no other writers are coming up with scripts as good as NRW did, with the exception of maybe Paul Wayne and George Burditt as they were the other major writing team in Season 1 and 2. NRW made effort to make sure the realism was still there.

[JSP]

Originally Posted by JackJanetChrissy

Yes. I think some of the funniest moments of the show were in "The Older Woman" when Chrissy and Janet think Jack is dating an elderly woman. And then Larry's come-on scene was priceless.

If you've ever seen the TV show "Phyllis" the character I have in mind they could have brought in would have been in the style of someone like Mother Dexter. Though it couldn't have been Mother Dexter (Judith Lowry) herself because she passed away by then.

Btw, John Ritter made a guest appearance on Phyllis before too.

He appeared to be a property of MTM before "Three's Company" came along. Seems really odd that MTM didn't make him a star of a sitcom of their own before he was snatched up by Three's Company.