Were the producers of Three's Company very frugal

[TMC]

For example, when they reshot the trolley scene at the zoo for the intro after Jenilee Harrison left, they could've at least reshot Joyce DeWitt's intro scenes to reflect the fact that she had let her hair grow longer the next season? So she has long hair on the new trolley scene, and her old short hair-do in her other scenes. They went back anyway to reshot the trolley scene, so why not reshot Joyce's other scenes while they were there?

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by TMC

For example, when they reshot the trolley scene at the zoo for the intro after Jenilee Harrison left, they could've at least reshot Joyce DeWitt's intro scenes to reflect the fact that she had let her hair grow longer the next season? So she has long hair on the new trolley scene, and her old short hair-do in her other scenes. They went back anyway to reshot the trolley scene, so why not reshot Joyce's other scenes while they were there?

But did not Jack have the same intro scene? It would be strange to only edit her and not everyone. My memory is they just cut Jenilee out. The last season they cut the intro and used the same footage of Mr Furley growling but the small kid was cut out, etc.

[biffbronson]

Those intros seem to be quite expensive to produce, I saw that the changes to The Mary Tyler Moore Show opening cost in the neighborhood of $15,000 (in mid-'70s money) when the production team and actors (Mary & Valerie) went to Minneapolis to film on location. A hair length change was also apparent in that case, when Mary's older, longer style appears in the distance, right before new footage as she walks along the shore with a shorter length.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

But did not Jack have the same intro scene? It would be strange to only edit her and not everyone. My memory is they just cut Jenilee out. The last season they cut the intro and used the same footage of Mr Furley growling but the small kid was cut out, etc.

Besides the length of Joyce DeWitt's hair getting longer, a clear indicator that they likely reshot portions of the credits in-between Seasons 6 and 7 is John Ritter's white shoes sporting different logos and patterns. In the first credits sequence with Jenilee Harrison, John has a red Nike swoosh on his white shoes. While in the second credits, he's still wearing white shoes, but they have three stripes on the side.

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by TMC

Besides the length of Joyce DeWitt's hair getting longer, a clear indicator that they likely reshot portions of the credits in-between Seasons 6 and 7 is John Ritter's white shoes sporting different logos and patterns. In the first credits sequence with Jenilee Harrison, John has a red Nike swoosh on his white shoes. While in the second credits, he's still wearing white shoes, but they have three stripes on the side.

I will have to check this out. I know the intro was edited in the last season but used many of the same clips.
Joyce's opening at the zoo was gold and was not going to change. That is John's son who spontaneously went up to Joyce. Joyce was so professional she kept going with it and it was perfect.
On another note, I always hated the zoo opening and hated the final intro song in the last season.

[TMC]

https://www.reddit.com/r/threescompa...mment/ojdnsu3/

Three’s Company was an independent production (Don Taffner was the principal producer). There was no major studio behind it, like Paramount or Universal. ABC leased each episode from Taffner to run on the network 2/3 times. But the money ABC paid for the show was not enough to cover production costs. Instead, the show was deficit financed; the producers lost money on each episode initially, with the hopes of selling the show into syndication to run 5 days per week and reaping huge profits. That was the typical model back then.

With Taffner and his partners deficit financing the show as an independent studio, that meant they had to closely watch the budget. You can tell when you look at sets and things like that that. And that’s a primary reason the Ropers didn’t return - why pay two actors when you could pay just one? And their departure didn’t hurt the show’s ratings.

[thejasoomian]

I'd say definitely a money issue. If I recall correctly in Season One and Two during the end credits the blonde actress from one of the pilot episodes is seen on the beach. It's not SS. So they clearly did not want to spend any money on reshooting. And they probably didn't think anybody would notice.

[Chocolate Moose]

Dunno. I feel that shows in that time didn't think the audience had much in the way of brains.

[biffbronson]

Network shows were under pressure to not go over budget, as alluded to in an earlier post. Likely ABC is primarily the frugality culprit in this case. If the TC producers were able to run with the frills of an unrestrained budget, things could have been quite different.

Another thing is that we now watch these shows on big screen TVs, where inconsistencies are more readily evident as opposed to back when our screens were much smaller -- and we weren't able to binge-watch a series.

There's a tendency today by some to somewhat unfairly knock the work that was done. When I gave the Mary Tyler Moore example earlier in this thread, it was an observation -- not an attempt to rag on the production.

[BuffaloBill]

Just ask Suzanne Somers (well you can't now) if they were cheap.