Why were many actors used over and over in different roles

[TMC]

The most notable of this was Jeffrey Tambor, who started on the spin-off The Ropers as their snobby neighbor, appeared on Three's Company times as 1) an overbearing millionaire pursuing Cindy; 2) an overwrought doctor who Terri brings home from the hospital; and 3) a dentist whom Terri wants to break up with.

Anne Schedeen appeared over the years not as one, not as two, but three different women paired with Jack.

Terry Kiser appeared as the thug who wanted to kill Jack because he thought he was fooling around with his girl; later he appeared as the mobster who wanted Jack to be his personal chef.

Before reappearing as Angelino, Jordan Charney first played Larry's boss whose wife tried to seduce Jack when Jack moved in with them to be their personal chef.

General Hospital's Shell Kepler appeared a couple of times as a bubble-headed girlfriend of Larry's.

Louise Williams, who played Larry's actress girlfriend in the "Camping" episode was brought back a couple of seasons later as a stewardess girlfriend of Jack's.

Michael Bell, who played the hippie guru who tried to lead Chrissy astray into his cult reappeared seasons later as the dance instructor who tried to lead Janet astray with dreams of a dance career.

[JackJanetChrissy]

Mickey Deems appeared in four episodes as several different "background" characters, and Paul Barselou first appeared as Wanda X in "The Love Diary" and then as a Jack's Bistro patron in Season 7.

My guess is that the production company had a good rapport with the actor so asked them to return. Three's Company never pretended to have any kind of serious continuity, and that wasn't a concern then as much as it is today. In the DVD/streaming world of today we notice when people reappear on a show, but back then they probably figured nobody would remember.

[Mace Dolex]

Karen Austin who was Larry's girlfriend in 'Chrissy's Cousin' and then Jacks girlfriend in 'Jack's 10'.

[Lyverbe]

Sondra Currie appeared in 3 episodes ("Alone Together", "Janet's Secret" and "Jack takes off") as 3 different characters.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Since they ignored these obvious inconsistencies why didn't they just have Janet move in with Jack for Three's a Crowd? After all there were no DVDs back then so who would remember that a different guy played Janet's dad in an earlier episode??

[Coffeecup]

I just think it's a throw back to actors work in the early years, 1950's. Actors played on a show in different characters. You get work, you take it. If you only did one character per show, you wouldn't work much. One can't alway get a long running part on a hit show. Character actors would be out of business.

[RetroGuy2000]

I think it stems from Three's Company producers, as JJC said, not caring about continuity. Producer Ted Bergmann came from a DuMont Network background, where (it pains me to say it) cheap sets and quickie scripts were a necessity. (While Jackie Gleason was on DuMont with Cavalcade of Stars, there were no re-takes if an actor or actress flubbed his/her lines, and writers and actors came and went.) Considering continuity, Three's Company looks kinda cheap in comparison to the shows that aired around the same time, which had better attention to continuity in terms of casting.

[Heenan Fan]

In the episode where Jeffery Tambor plays a dentist, it's funny because his name is Dr. Phil. A lot of people think Tambor looks like the Real Dr. Phil.

[Chocolate Moose]

a lot of shows did that. Night Court. Newsradio.

[Wawwie]

In the "Jack's Navy Pal" episode, the slimy guy "Bill" was also in an episode years earlier where he played one of Janet's dates. It's the episode where Jack breaks his leg and Mr. Roper thinks Janet's date is Jack's lawyer. I can't remember the name of that episode.

[TMC]

There was also Joanna Kerns, who first appeared as Bobby Trilling, in the Season 4 episode "The Love Lesson". She was the woman who Jack tells Mr. Furley is actually a man, when Furley catches Jack kissing her.



Kerns later appeared as Cheryl in the episode "Jack Be Quick" from Season 8. In this episode, she plays a woman who wants Jack to be the father of her baby.

[BestTVever]

I started a thread about this that lists all the actors and their various roles over all the seasons. Its mind blowing. There was no other sitcom that used so many actors over and over assigning them different characters.
I find it fascinating. I see it as the show being very loyal to people that worked for them. If you have not seen it, check out the thread and you will be amazed what all has been posted.

[ClarenceAlabama]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

I started a thread about this that lists all the actors and their various roles over all the seasons. Its mind blowing. There was no other sitcom that used so many actors over and over assigning them different characters.
I find it fascinating. I see it as the show being very loyal to people that worked for them. If you have not seen it, check out the thread and you will be amazed what all has been posted.

Here is the Thread you started with the list of all the roles and actors who returned.

I loved Jeffery Tambor on Three's Company in all 3 roles. He was so much better on Three's Company than The Ropers.

[Mace Dolex]

Since the producers loved reusing familiar actors I always wondered if either Anne Schedeen or Joanna Kerns would've been perfect for the Vicki Bradford part in Three's A Crowd I remember seeing I think it was the E! THS in which John Ritter had suggested Joanna Kerns at one point.

[thejasoomian]

I know in the early days of TV networks had actors on contract. They were contract players who worked for either CBS, ABC or NBC. They would appear on shows that were on their network. So that's why I think you saw the same actors appearing on the same shows a lot of the time. But by the time 3's rolled around , I think they were phasing out of contract players so maybe the 3's folks just liked the actors they gave multiple roles too.