Well, it’s time for our Come and Knock On Our Pod event to come to a close, as Mr. Furley is demanding his rent money, yet Mr. Angelino didn’t give us any shifts at his restaurants this week. So, Adam & I are here to cover the final entry in the Three’s Company universe, the ill-fated Three’s A Crowd.
As Three’s Company was wrapping up its eight and final season in 1984, the network wasn’t quite done with their golden boy John Ritter. So, just as Three’s Company had been adapted from the UK’s Man About The House, ABC started conversations with Ritter about adapting Man‘s spinoff, Robin’s Nest. See, Man About The House had wrapped its run after 5 series, and the character Robin was spun off into his own series, where he and his girlfriend lived together above his restaurant. That show proved to be as successful as the first, and ended up producing more episodes than Man About The House. The show followed Robin and Victoria through courtship, marriage, and eventual parenthood. Despite ABC’s failure with The Ropers, they felt confident that they could repeat the Robin’s Nest success over here, in a series they were calling Three’s A Crowd.
The conclusion of Three’s Company was sort of rushed, as Janet meets a man, falls in love with him, and marries him, over the course of the final 3 or 4 episodes of the series. Terri is considering taking a job in Hawaii, as Jack has a chance encounter with a flight attendant named Vicky during a bad trip back to Santa Monica. And, like Janet, Jack also enters into a superfast courtship with Vicky, culminating in him proposing to her. She tells him that she can’t marry him, as she had to endure her parents’ ugly divorce. However, she tells him that doesn’t mean they can’t be together, and she suggests that they live together. Jack, as an old-fashioned guy, can’t fathom living with a woman to whom he isn’t married…even though he just spent the last 8 years living with TWO (!). That was different, though. He wasn’t in love with them. So, instead of a controversial show about men and women living together platonically, Three’s A Crowd tackled the idea of men and women living together, in a relationship, yet unmarried. Oh, and Vicky’s dad is their landlord.
Notice how I said that ABC started conversations with Ritter? Well, that’s because they didn’t really tell the rest of the cast about the spinoff. While I’m sure Don Knotts was probably fine with a little rest, Joyce Dewitt felt betrayed, and this is after Suzanne Somers betrayed her with her pay increase demands. So, it’s wasn’t exactly a rosy transition.
There’s a lot to love about Three’s A Crowd, but also a lot not to love. Was it a worthy continuation of the Three’s Company story, or should everything have ended with the Three’s Company finale? We discuss all of this and more, which you can find here, or wherever you get your podcasts!