Was it in hindsight, a mistake to spin the Ropers off

[TMC]

Not that Don Knotts as Ralph Furley wasn't at all, a terrific replacement for Norman Fell and Audra Lindley, but with the Ropers gone, the whole central conceit of Jack having to pretend to be gay for the landlords no longer made much sense to me. I've addressed this before, that I never completely understood why a man like Mr. Furley morally object towards Jack platonically living with two women not unlike Mr. Roper. Also, the whole "pretending to be gay" angle was probably handled better when the Ropers were around because Mr. Roper seemingly never 100% believed that Jack really was gay, and Mrs. Roper knew the truth about Jack all a long but didn't care. Mrs. Roper was kind of the surrogate mother figure to Jack, Janet, and Chrissy, and they really never had another sensible older figure like that going forward.

[BestTVever]

I think so. Don Knotts was a great replacement but he was used as the dumb one once Chrissy left. I loved the constant hostility between Roper and the kids and the rescue Helen always played. However the biggest thing that was missed was the sexual tension and the banter between the Ropers themselves. Many times they had the best lines of an episode. Many TC episodes began in Roper's apartment and the opening scene between them were hysterical. Mr Roper breaking the 4th wall was so funny.

[ClarenceAlabama]

The mistake was spinning the Roper's off after season 3. Three's Company had a formula and chemistry that worked, and it was the top 2 show on television at the time. They should have continued as it was, since it was working so well.

The British version "George & Mildred" didn't spin off until "Man About the House" was finished. The Ropers should have done the same thing and did the spin off after Three's Company was finished.

[BestTVever]

I was watching Jack on the Lam yesterday. Its the first episode of Season 4 and without the Ropers. Its a great episode but I was thinking if The Ropers were still there how they would have been incorporated into the episode. I can see Roper being terrified of the FBI and seeing Jack in drag would have been hysterical.

[BuffaloBill]

No F - Man ! A famous Chrissy airhead moment !

[TMC]

Originally Posted by ClarenceAlabama

The mistake was spinning the Roper's off after season 3. Three's Company had a formula and chemistry that worked, and it was the top 2 show on television at the time. They should have continued as it was, since it was working so well.

The British version "George & Mildred" didn't spin off until "Man About the House" was finished. The Ropers should have done the same thing and did the spin off after Three's Company was finished.

For some reason, I kind of have to remind myself that the Ropers really weren't on Three's Company that long in the grand scheme of things. Season 1 was only six episodes long and Norman Feel and Audra Lindley ultimately, only appeared in about 56 episodes as part of the main cast. Don Knotts as Ralph Furley in comparison, would go on to appear in about 115 episodes.

I don't even entirely know why the decision came to spin the Ropers off behind there already being a precedent with the George and Mildred series in England. What's funny is that Man About the House only produced 39 episodes over three years (1973-76) and six series (which is typically what "seasons" are called for British television shows). And the Ropers on Three's Company were spun off into their own series after Three's Company's third season within itself.