How come John Ritter never really had another successful, long-running show

[TMC]

This is probably unfair to say because Three's Company was a big deal when it was on and is still a big deal today. Still, none of the shows that John Ritter starred on post-Three's Company lasted longer than three seasons.

Of course, his first big post-Three's Company starring vehicle was Three's a Crowd, which was the direct continuation of Three's Company. But that show only lasted for a single season. There actually was going to be a second season, but the network was only willing to order 13 episodes. John Ritter didn't like that idea as he wanted another full, 22 episode order.

His first starring vehicle where he wasn't playing Jack Tripper was Hooperman, also on ABC. Hooperman was more of a "dramedy", where John played a San Francisco cop. But it only lasted for two seasons and 42 episodes.

Next, John starred on a political sitcom for CBS called Heart's Afire alongside Markie Post and Billy Bob Thornton. This was probably his most successful post-Three's Company show, but it still only lasted three seasons and 54 episodes (with one left unaired).

Of course, John later on starred in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. We'll never know for sure how successful that particular show could've been in the long run since John tragically passed away shortly into its second season. And the show in itself lasted for one more season before you could say, it was finally put out of its misery.

[Chocolate Moose]

Three's Company was definitely his best. Too bad he didn't get movies too.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Moose

Three's Company was definitely his best. Too bad he didn't get movies too.

He was in some movies.

[ClarenceAlabama]

Originally Posted by TMC

This is probably unfair to say because Three's Company was a big deal when it was on and is still a big deal today. Still, none of the shows that John Ritter starred on post-Three's Company lasted longer than three seasons.

Of course, his first big Three's Company starring vehicle was Three's a Crowd, which was the direct continuation of Three's Company. But that show only lasted for a single season. There actually was going to be a second season, but the network was only willing to order 13 episodes. John Ritter didn't like that idea as he wanted another full, 22 episode order.

His first starring vehicle where he wasn't playing Jack Tripper was Hooperman, also on ABC. Hooperman was more of a "dramedy", where John played a San Francisco cop. But it only lasted for two seasons and 42 episodes.

Next, John starred on a political sitcom for CBS called Heart's Afire alongside Markie Post and Billy Bob Thornton. This was probably his most successful post-Three's Company show, but it still only lasted three seasons and 54 episodes (with one left unaired).

Of course, John later on starred in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. We'll never know for sure how successful that particular show could've been in the long run since John tragically passed away shortly into its second season. And the show in itself lasted for one more season before you could say, it was finally put out of its misery.

I was the biggest John Ritter fan ever and I didn't like Hooperman or Heart's Afire.

I was excited when they announced 8 Simple Rules and was even more excited when it turned out to be a great show. When they brought in David Spade and James Garner, it wasn't that good anymore. That's why it didn't last.

I think 8 Simple Rules would have lasted for years if he didn't pass away. It's sad to think of what might have been....

[TMC]

Originally Posted by DJM77

He was in some movies.

John Ritter was in among other things, Problem Child, Sling Blade, Bad Santa (which was his final feature film), Stay Tuned, Real Men, Noises Off, and North, so it wasn't like he was strictly a TV actor.

[thejasoomian]

I didn't care much for Hooperman although I do own the dvd's. The writers of the show were not in sync with each other or they had numerous show runners. Because they would have John Ritter's character say/do one thing in one episode and in the very next episode it would be the complete opposite. And it was that way throughout the show.

I did like the first season of Hearts Afire. But when, they changed it and moved away from the politics setting and went with the newspaper angle that ruined it for me. I am surprised that the Bloodworth's gave in .

Of course you know that I loved Three's A Crowd.

8 Simple Rules , I'd watch when I could but really wasn't that interested in it to be honest.

Several of his TV movies I really liked. I listed them in another thread. I've seen all of his movies except "Breakfast In Bed" and I really would like to see that one.

[TMC]

How come John Ritter never really had another successful show after Three's Company? Three's a Crowd (1984-85), Hooperman (1987-89), Fish Police (1992), Hearts Afire (1992-95), and 8 Simple Rules (2002-05) all never lasted more than 4 years.

Hmmm….

Outside observations:

1. Three’s Company was perhaps a little too much of John Ritter for most people’s tastes - Basically he appeared in ever single episode and the overwhelming majority of the episodes had him being the center of attention. If they had retained Suzanne Sommers then he would have had someone to play of off and the series, Ritter’s shtick” wouldn’t have been tired. They didn’t and Three’s Company was folded into:
2. Three’s a Crowd - This series had both Robert Mandan and Jessica Walter to boost a tired John Ritter, but it still wasn’t enough. The series just wasn’t that funny and people stayed away from it in droves.
3. Hooperman - It was a show which had a good premise which offset that with a bland cast. Excluding Felton Perry (an underrated actor) the remainder of the cast was “blah” and the dramady nature of the series just didn’t hit with audiences who were used to laugh tracks on comedies. Ritter foundered around and so did the show before it was canceled.
4. Hearts Afire - The series changed locations in the second season and things went downhill from there. Markie Post (RIP) gave it her best…but her best just wasn’t good enough. Ritter just looked bored. I didn’t like the series and it has episodes on YouTube. Judge for yourself.
5. 8 Simple Rules - My opinion: It was decent enough, Katie Sagal was coming off Married With Children and Futurama, and even Ritter was in top form. Unfortunately Ritter received a medical checkup for the production which wasn’t very thorough, and he died after collapsing on the set. Had this series lasted longer, it would have been moderately successful (Think According To Jim or Last Man Standing) and Ritter would have achieved a “comeback”.

OPINION: John Ritter’s career was completely mishandled.

He remained too long on Three’s Company, his film career never took off (See below), and his choices of projects later in life were (with only a few exceptions) were uniformly terrible.

If he could have had better management and had he made better choices (excluding Sling Blade and 8 Simple Rules) he would have been a bigger star than he was at the time of his death.

[TMC]

John Ritter was also on an episode of The Cosby Show in 1991 called "Total Control" alongside his real life wife (although, I don't think that they were actually married yet) Amy Yasbeck. It was apparently, a backdoor pilot for a series that ultimately, never got made.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

How come John Ritter never really had another successful show after Three's Company? Three's a Crowd (1984-85), Hooperman (1987-89), Fish Police (1992), Hearts Afire (1992-95), and 8 Simple Rules (2002-05) all never lasted more than 4 years.

Other results that I got when I poised this particular question elsewhere:

• ChatGPT
  
• Google AI Overview
  
• Google AI Mode
  
• Grok
  
• Perplexity
  
• Poe